Surya Namaskar: 3 common mistakes we all make while doing Sun Salutation

Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation is gaining popularity worldwide for its amazing benefits for weight loss, digestive health, muscle and bone health and is an excellent cardio workout for the entire body.

It is also the asana which many celebs like Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Shilpa Shetty practice to maintain their hourglass body and fitness. According to Himalayan Siddha Akshar Surya Namaskar helps mobilise your entire body, balances and stimulates all the organs in the body, including endocrine, respiratory, creates good energy in all of the body parts, boosts immunity, heals indigestion and helps build power and strength in your body.

Sun salutation can alone work wonders for your overall physical and mental wellbeing provided the 12 step-by-step postures are done correctly. Of course, there are variations of sun salutation or Surya namaskar suiting different body types but synchronising body movement with breath is the key in all forms. There is always greater possibility of doing a posture incorrectly in case the preceding step was wrong. Since the various postures in sun salutation work on most parts of body organs it’s important to focus on alignment and breath while performing it.

The 12 postures of Surya Namaskar are – Pranamasana, Hastauttanasana, Hastapadasna, Ashwa Sanchalanasana, Dandasana, Ashtanga Namaskar, Bhujangasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Ashwa Sanchalasana, Hastapadasana, Hastauttanasana, and Tadasana.

Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar in her recent Instagram post talks about mistakes people usually make while doing Surya Namaskar or Sun Salutation which can cause health issues and negate its health benefits.

“Watch out for these common mistakes when doing Surya Namaskar. In our zest to do more, we do more damage to our neck, shoulders and back. And we promptly go from 100 to 0. It’s the quality and not the quantity that matters. Even 3 a day are good, if done right. Build it to a 5 or a 7 max but keep your focus on the basics, the form and the technique,” write Diwekar.

3 mistakes while performing Surya Namaskar explained by Rujuta Diwekar

1. Shoulders drop towards the ears

When we bend forward to touch our palms down instead of moving our shoulders away from the ears, we tend to bring it down towards our ears so if you want to extend your knees make hips the tallest part of your body.

Place your palms down, lift your shoulders and move them away from your ears and not towards them.

2. Hips are not aligned

The second mistake is that when you go into a plank, instead of squeezing the hips and pushing the thigh down, we tend to lower our thigh or allow our hips to fly out. So squeeze your hips and keep them and thighs together in one straight line.

3. We collapse on our front body

When we go down on downward dog, instead of making our hips the tallest part of our body and pushing ourselves back, we tend to collapse on our front body. Lift yourself from your front body. Remember again to keep shoulders away from ears.

Diwekar also recommends to start Surya Namaskar from the top of your mat, remove all the jewellery while doing the asana and have at least three rounds daily.