In the west, Surya namaskars are generally associated with building heat and sweat. If you want a sweaty class, just add in some Surya namaskars at the beginning, is what I was told. This probably was one of the reasons that I did not like Surya namaskars apart from the fact I could not do a Chaturanga before. I used to think, if I need to sweat, I could easily run up and down the hills of SF. This was quite unsettling as I always felt there was more to this.

Then I ended up at KYM, where one can find the real explanation to all things Yoga. One of my teachers at KYM mentioned that Surya namaskar is a complete exercise. (more…)