Surya Namaskar: Spiritual Transformation through Ritual Movement

The Sun Salutation, a common sequence found in yoga classes today, is a set of movements-linked-with-breath that is the combined ritual practice known as surya namaskar. This thousand plus year old practice was first seen in ancient Tantric texts which advised spiritual practitioners to perform ritual oblations to the rising sun in a methodical way. Today, a large amount of the richness of this ancient rite has been lost-in-translation and the modern practitioner's understanding is often lacking some of the key ingredients which, when introduced, can bring a far more robust flavor and juiciness to what has unfortunately descended into a dry and mechanical sequence of movements known in many yoga classes as the "warm-up" or the thing you do before all the cooler shit that comes after it. Well, I feel inspired to share a little bit today on what is my favorite vinyasa sequence of all time and hopefully rewrite the story so that surya namaskar is restored to its bright-and-shining solar glory and that anyone out there who is reading and practicing can bring a little more invigoration and substance to this beautiful ritual.

I was first exposed to this "simple" vinyasa as a beginning practitioner of yoga -- back in 2014 I was in recovery from being a weight-lifting/ exercise junkie and I found myself in a highly gentrified upper-middle-class yoga studio practicing all these new, interesting and highly challenging "stretches" surrounded by a bunch of older women. I really didn't know what I was doing back then -- I still don't -- but luckily I've stumbled across some great teachers and teachings as I made my way along the path. The first thing that stuck out to me about what I later discovered to be the "sun salutation" was that this was a rhythmic & flowing sequence which seemed to following a pattern or cycle which repeated. I fell in love immediately with the repetitive nature of it and when I learned that this sequence was a way to somehow honor the Sun (I didn't understand how or why at first), I loved it all the more. "Yeah, I'm honoring the Sun!" I would think as I lifted my arms up or exhaled myself down. But, as I said inside of my little parentheses above, I didn't really know HOW or WHY.

Rewind a bit. 2013 and 2014 were tough years for me. I was working a corporate job and living a very ... mechanical life. Dry. Not boring, but dry. There was no juiciness to what I was doing. I did cool things on the weekends with my friends, I worked out (a LOT), I worked, I made good money. I lived in a home alone and cooked myself delicious food. I obsessed over health and studied it intensively, which was interesting because at this time I was far from what I would now consider to be ACTUALLY healthy. I just did the day-to-day and the time went by. I felt the pressing absence of something that I couldn't name and wouldn't even have known how to talk about it to anyone. Things took a turn south when I experienced a pretty severe health breakdown. Complete adrenal failure, they called it. "They" being the proverbial "experts". I went from doctor to doctor getting tests and bloodwork done and they all said similar but different things. The expanding list of diagnoses looked bleak. My supplement cabinet was growing both in size and monetary value. There was no light at the end of the tunnel.

One day I woke up and decided -- "I'm not going to live like this." I was supposed to go for another test or appointment of some sort with another one of the "experts" who was a paid professional in the field of health (hah!), and I just ... didn't go. I realized that if I got myself in the situation I was in, then it was up to me to get myself out of it.

These were decisions made first thing upon rising. It was almost like I'd been stewing it over all night, or perhaps for the months of this desperate healing process I was in, but they crystallized into some sort of revelation or epiphany that morning. I went outside to go for a run, which was something I would do every morning when I woke up, only this time I decided to walk. I slowed down and made a conscious choice to observe my environment and the day that was just dawning. I remember getting to the park and standing barefoot in the grass by a tree. I looked out towards the horizon where the Sun rose everyday -- Arizona sunrises & sunsets are the BEST -- and watched the Sun peak His shiny head over the far corner of the Earth. My eyes met the first rays of Sun and I just.... breathed. I felt what I guess could be described as a spiritual feeling -- it was a combination of all the gratitude and wonder and awe for the immensity of the Sun and all that He represents. The sensation was ... enlightening. I was still defining my relationship to what we would call "God" and this moment was one of those pivotal moments in life for me. Like I had opened my eyes finally and was seeing things for the first time. I was like... "OH. Yeah. Duh."

I made my way back to my house, filled with these solar-charged feelings. I guess I started praying on my walk back home. It was... humbling. I realized that I didn't even know how to REALLY ask for help. I mean, I was seeing all the experts and blah-blah-blah, SEEKING help... but up until that point I was never really open and receptive enough to listen for it and receive it. When this shift occurred, and I started to pray in a very sincere and honest way, I started to receive... instructions? Guidance? Pretty clear information started to pour into me from somewhere "beyond". Maybe it was coming from the Sun. Maybe it was coming from somewhere deep inside of me. Maybe it was both. All I know was that a variety of clear and precise instructions were bubbling into my consciousness. Simple and straightforward but also odd and "against the grain" of my current conditioning. But I knew that I needed to listen and so I did.

I'll keep this part of the story brief, but I ended up following the "guidance" and healing from my situation. It took the better part of a year but I managed it well. This event that I'm describing with the Sun is what led me into my first yoga class... and so you can imagine how I felt when I discovered that there was actually a sequence of postures I could do to honor the Sun!

What I learned during this time was a few very key teachings that I've carried with me in my life until today. 1) To get something NEW (in this case I was searching for a state of health that was unbeknownst to me) I have to be willing to do things I've never done. and 2) For prayer to be effective, it's a two-way street. I have to be open enough, humble enough, and willing enough to "hear" the "echo" of my prayer. I believe that this is where the answers are found. Oh, and I guess I also learned 3) The Sun, in addition to being the life-giving essence of our entire solar system, is also a quality or an essence which exists inside of us, and we can activate it with our intention and ATtention. There is a life-giving essence within each of us that so generously and consistently is pumping energy into every one of our cells. Problems occur in the same way in our bodies as they do in a garden -- if there are too many weeds cluttering the garden it will choke out the plants you want to grow. Those weeds (negative thought patterns are like weeds in the mind) will suck all the energy and prevent the other stuff (positive thought patterns) from optimal growth. Ew! Treating the bodymind like a garden can help us get the sunlight and water and other essential nutrients to go where it needs to go. This doesn't always look like doing more but rather re-arranging and re-organzing what we already have. This was a tough lesson from me, being an ambitious go-getter, and being used to setting goals and achieving them. But I could put all the fertilizer and plant-food I want and miss the essential fact that some stuff just needed to GTFO of my garden...

ANYWAYS

The Sun Salutation! How is it all connected to this story?

Well, in the Tantric texts that explain this practice, the very important thing to know is that these scriptures (we call them shastras) didn't explain the exact details but rather explained HOW to do them. There was no ancient text that said "now exhale, downward facing dog". Instead, there was a description of the beauty and radiance of the Sun and the exclamations of joy and appreciation we ought to feel when we face Him as He rises in the sky. Indeed, there is even a part of the text that says to LAUGH out loud with happiness. Now, its debatable if they are instructing us to perform a sort of pranayama (like Bhastrika, with a forceful exhalation through the mouth HA-HA-HA), or if they are telling us to have a chuckle... but we digress. The point I'm making is our modern yoga scene has really ripped this stuff off and put it in a package that they sell for $108 a month for unlimited hot-and-sweaty yoga classes. The original instructions for surya namaskar were far more devotional than we have turned it into.

Without getting too technical or long-winded, I suppose I can leave you with this. A simple inquiry. Where is the power to do anything in your life coming from? Really....? Is it the ego? If it's not, then where is it, and how can we connect to it? Would it seem possible that there are rituals which help us strengthen our relationship to the forces beyond us? Our ancient shaman-yogi-seers seemed to believe so. And they believed that as we allotted portions of our life (i.e. the precious, precious resource of TIME) to cultivating these relationships, a channel to the Divine would open up.

I am going to distill a few essential spiritual teachings which came to me through this process. I think these are relevant and a great conclusion of this post:

The Divine goes by many names and has many functions but the basic premise is this: there IS Something GREAT and It wants something from ME. If I fail to align myself with It's wish, then challenges may arise in my life. These challenges are there to direct me towards a more appropriate alignment, which is essentially harmony and balance with All That Is. If this is not happening, suffering occurs. It is up to me to discern if I am living a harmonious and balanced life. No one else can make that decision. If I am "right" with my Creator, I will experience health, joy, and ease. If I am not "right", uh-oh.

Happy Sun Salutations, everybody.

Om Suryaya Namaha

Grant