What most guides get wrong

Almost every article about the sun salutation opens the same way: this five-thousand-year-old sequence… It's half right, and the half that isn't is the more interesting story.

The reverence is genuinely ancient. Surya, the sun, appears throughout the Rig Veda as a divine being and the source of life. The word namaskar comes from namas — to bow to, to adore — the same root that gives us namaste, which is why the practice is sometimes called yoga namaskar. Some traditions call it a sun greeting, which is closer to the literal meaning than salutation. Salutation of the sun as a devotional act in India goes back millennia, and for many practitioners it still is one.

The flowing twelve-pose sequence is modern. The anthropologist Joseph Alter has documented that this sequence appears in no Hatha yoga text before the nineteenth century — it isn't in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika at all. The choreography we practise was codified in the early 1900s, most influentially by Bhavanrao Pant Pratinidhi, the Raja of Aundh, and then within the teaching of T. Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace, who set out a structured version in his 1934 text Yoga Makaranda. Swami Sivananda promoted a simplified form in the 1920s.

Two of Krishnamacharya's students carried it worldwide: K. Pattabhi Jois, who founded Ashtanga yoga, and B. K. S. Iyengar, who founded Iyengar yoga.

This isn't trivia. It's the thing that makes the rest of this guide make sense. Sun Salutation A and B come from Pattabhi Jois's Ashtanga system — that's precisely why they look different from the classical twelve-pose Hatha sequence, and why nobody can quite agree on what "the" sun salutation is. There isn't one. There's an ancient devotional impulse and about a century of different people arranging poses around it.

Classical Surya Namaskar: the twelve poses

This is the Hatha version — the one usually meant by surya namaskar poses, surya namaskar yoga, or surya pranam steps. Twelve positions, each paired with one breath, returning to where it started. Here is the step by step surya namaskar sequence in order. Each individual sun salutation yoga pose has its own name and its own breath, and the full sun salutation yoga sequence is those twelve linked together.

1. Pranamasana — Prayer pose, also called the salute pose. Stand at the top of the mat, palms together at the heart. Exhale
2. Hasta Uttanasana — Raised arms pose. Reach overhead and slightly back. Inhale
3. Padahastasana — Standing forward fold. Hinge from the hips, hands toward the floor. Exhale
4. Ashwa Sanchalanasana — Equestrian pose. Right foot steps back into a low lunge, chest lifts. Inhale
5. Dandasana — Plank. Left foot joins the right, body in one line. Exhale
6. Ashtanga Namaskara — Eight-limbed salutation. Knees, chest and chin to the floor, hips lifted. Hold
7. Bhujangasana — Cobra. Slide forward, chest lifts, elbows soft. Inhale
8. Adho Mukha Svanasana — Downward-facing dog. Hips up and back. Exhale
9. Ashwa Sanchalanasana — Equestrian pose. Right foot steps forward between the hands. Inhale
10. Padahastasana — Standing forward fold. Left foot joins, fold over the legs. Exhale
11. Hasta Uttanasana — Raised arms pose. Rise and reach overhead. Inhale
12. Pranamasana — Prayer pose. Hands return to the heart. Exhale

One full round is those twelve. Most traditions then repeat leading with the left leg, and count that pair as one complete cycle. If someone says they did twelve rounds, ask which they mean — practitioners genuinely differ.

Sun Salutation A

If you have taken a Vinyasa class, this is almost certainly what you did in the first ten minutes. Surya Namaskar A comes from the Ashtanga system, and it's shorter and more athletic than the classical form. Often abbreviated to sun a on class plans, or written simply as sun salute yoga on studio timetables.

1. Samasthiti / Tadasana — Standing at the front of the mat. Settle
2. Urdhva Hastasana — Arms sweep overhead. Inhale
3. Uttanasana — Fold forward over the legs. Exhale
4. Ardha Uttanasana — Halfway lift, spine long, hands to shins. Inhale
5. Chaturanga Dandasana — Step or jump back, lower halfway with elbows in. Exhale
6. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana — Upward-facing dog, chest open, thighs off the floor. Inhale
7. Adho Mukha Svanasana — Downward-facing dog, held for five breaths. Exhale, then five
8. Ardha Uttanasana — Step or jump forward, halfway lift. Inhale
9. Uttanasana — Fold. Exhale
10. Urdhva Hastasana — Rise, arms overhead. Inhale
11. Samasthiti — Hands to heart, or arms down. Exhale

The key difference from the classical version is chaturanga. It replaces the knees-chest-chin position, and it's considerably harder on the shoulders — which is exactly where most Vinyasa injuries come from. Dropping the knees for chaturanga is not a lesser version. It's the correct version if your shoulders aren't ready.

Sun Salutation B

Surya Namaskar B — sun b for short — keeps the spine of A and adds two things: Utkatasana (chair pose) at the start and finish, and Virabhadrasana I (warrior I) on each side in the middle. That makes it noticeably longer — and considerably more demanding on the legs and lungs.

1. Utkatasana — Chair pose, knees bent, arms overhead. Inhale
2. Uttanasana — Fold forward. Exhale
3. Ardha Uttanasana — Halfway lift. Inhale
4. Chaturanga Dandasana — Lower halfway. Exhale
5. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana — Upward dog. Inhale
6. Adho Mukha Svanasana — Downward dog. Exhale
7. Virabhadrasana I — Warrior I, right foot forward. Inhale
8. Chaturanga → Up dog → Down dog — The vinyasa again. Exhale, inhale, exhale
9. Virabhadrasana I — Warrior I, left foot forward. Inhale
10. Chaturanga → Up dog → Down dog — Held five breaths at the end. Exhale, inhale, exhale
11. Ardha Uttanasana → Uttanasana → Utkatasana — Return to the front. Inhale, exhale, inhale

Ashtanga practice traditionally runs five rounds of A followed by five of B. If you've ever wondered why people talk about sun a sun b as a pair, that's why — they're a matched opening set, not alternatives.

Sun Salutation C

Sun salute c is the gentlest of the three, and it's the one most commonly taught in Hatha and beginner classes. It swaps chaturanga for a low lunge with the back knee down, and replaces upward dog with cobra — a much smaller backbend.

The rough shape: mountain, reach up, fold, low lunge with the right leg back, plank, knees down, cobra, downward dog, low lunge forward, fold, rise. It's essentially the classical sequence with a softer transition, which makes it a good bridge for anyone whose shoulders or wrists aren't ready for the Ashtanga version.

A vs B vs C, side by side

Half sun salutation

The half sun salutation is the abbreviated version, and it's genuinely useful rather than a consolation prize. Four movements: reach up, fold, halfway lift, fold, rise. No floor work at all.

It's used as a warm-up before the full sequence, as a standalone practice for anyone with limited mobility, and as a way to move when getting down to the mat and back up isn't practical. If a full round feels like too much today, this is the honest answer rather than skipping entirely.

The twelve mantras

Traditional practice pairs each of the twelve poses with a mantra, each invoking a different name of Surya. The traditional mantra for sun salutation — the sun salutation mantra sequence — mantra yoga surya namaskar — usually runs: Om Mitraya Namaha, Om Ravaye Namaha, Om Suryaya Namaha, Om Bhanave Namaha, Om Khagaya Namaha, Om Pushne Namaha, Om Hiranyagarbhaya Namaha, Om Marichaye Namaha, Om Adityaya Namaha, Om Savitre Namaha, Om Arkaya Namaha, Om Bhaskaraya Namaha.

Each name points at a different quality — friend, shining one, dispeller of darkness, giver of nourishment, and so on. They are a devotional element from the Hindu tradition, not a performance-enhancement technique, and it's worth being straightforward about that. Many people practise the sequence without them and that's entirely normal. Many others find the mantra is the point and the movement is the vehicle.

What it actually does for you

Honest version, because the benefits of sun salutation get oversold constantly.

What it genuinely does: it moves your spine through flexion and extension, loads the shoulders and arms, opens the hips and hamstrings, and links all of it to breath. That's an unusually complete package for something that takes a few minutes. As a warm-up it raises temperature and prepares the joints for harder work. Practised as a standalone, a handful of rounds is a real, if modest, whole-body session.

What is traditional rather than demonstrated: claims about detoxifying organs, balancing the solar plexus chakra, or absorbing solar energy come from the practice's devotional and yogic framework. They're meaningful within that framework. They aren't physiological findings, and any guide presenting them as such is blurring two different kinds of claim.

The advantages of sun salutation that hold up plainly: it's efficient, it needs no equipment, it scales from gentle to demanding, and it's short enough that people actually keep doing it.

Who should be careful

Learning it live

A sun salutation is a chain, and the whole chain is only as good as its weakest link. These four instructors each teach a component the sequence depends on — and three of them are based in India, teaching within the tradition rather than adapting it from outside.

Yoga for Backbends

★★★★★4.9 (41 Reviews)

The backbend — cobra & upward dog

Rabab Bazar · India · English, Hindi · 5 years · 60 min · Intermediate · $30 private / $10 group

Poses 7 and 6 of the classical sequence, and the upward dog in Sun A and B, are all backbends — the part people most often force. Rabab is the most-reviewed yoga host on the platform, at 41 reviews.

Book Backbends — $10 group Rabab's profile

Hip Opener Yoga

★★★★★4.6 (11 Reviews)

The lunge — Ashwa Sanchalanasana

Anahita Pooja Kapur · India · 45 min · Beginner · $30 private / $10 group

Poses 4 and 9 are deep lunges, and tight hips are what make them feel impossible. Warrior I in Sun B asks for the same opening. At 45 minutes this is the shortest option here.

Book Hip Opener — $10 group Anahita's profile

Beginner Gentle Yoga

★★★★★5.0 (7 Reviews)

The entry point — start here

Dhwani · India · 60 min · Intermediate · $30 private / $10 group

If you have never done a sun salutation and the pose lists above look daunting, start here rather than jumping into a flow. The highest-rated class on this page.

Book Gentle Yoga — $10 group Dhwani's profile

Beginner Vinyasa Yoga Flow

★★★★★4.9 (25 Reviews)

Sun A & B in context

Yanina Nesteruc · Argentina · 8 years · 60 min · Beginner · $30 private / $10 group

Reading a sequence and flowing through it are different skills. A Vinyasa class is where Sun A and Sun B are actually practised — repeatedly, with someone watching whether your chaturanga is holding up by round four.

Book Vinyasa Flow — $10 group Yanina's profile

If you'd like to understand where sun salutations sit within the wider styles, our guide to Hatha, Vinyasa and Yin covers how the lineages differ. For gentler entry points there's chair, gentle and restorative yoga, and if you're building a morning habit around this, morning mobility routines covers the consistency side. More at the blog, or browse the full host directory.

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