Sun salutation (Surya Namaskar): A and B, step by step

One movement per breath

In Ashtanga yoga, sun salutation A has 9 counted movements, each on a breath in or out, with 5 breaths in downward dog; B has 17, adding chair pose and warrior I on each side. Ashtanga practice opens with 5 rounds of each.

Sources 1, 2

Schools differ

The 12-step versions taught by the Sivananda centres and the Bihar School of Yoga use a lunge, a knees-chest-chin lowering and cobra, leading with one leg and then the other.

Sources 3, 4

Younger than it looks

Sun worship is ancient, but the flowing sequence was promoted in the 1920s and 1930s and entered yoga through the Mysore school.

Sources 5, 4

Around moderate, depending on pace

Estimates run from 2.9 METs (metabolic equivalents: 1 MET is the energy you use sitting still) in a video-led practice to 3.5 METs in the Compendium of Physical Activities, and experienced practitioners reached about 80% of their predicted maximum heart rate. Brisk rounds can count toward your 150 minutes a week.

Sources 6, 7, 8, 9

Every step has an easier version

Bend your knees in the folds, lower with your knees down or knees-chest-chin, use cobra instead of upward dog, step rather than jump, and learn A before B.

Sources 3, 10

Some people should modify it

Sore wrists, osteoporosis, glaucoma, uncontrolled high blood pressure and pregnancy all call for changes: the wrists bend back up to about 85 degrees, the folds round the spine, and the head drops below the heart.

Sources 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

A salutation to the sun

Surya Namaskar means salutation to the sun. Sun worship with prostrations is old: a 132-verse "Surya namaskar" chapter of a Vedic text, the Taittiriya Aranyaka, is chanted with a salutation after each verse.

Source 4

The flowing sequence is modernStrong evidence

The Wellcome Collection's history of modern yoga says the first systematic presentation of sun salutations appeared in Aundh, promoted by its Rajah in the 1920s and 1930s, whose book never describes surya namaskar as yoga, and that it entered the canon of yoga postures through the Mysore school. Its movements resemble wrestlers' dand exercises. A 2022 review says it "is considered neither an Asana nor a part of traditional Yoga".

Sources 5, 4

A warm-up in many classes

It opens every Ashtanga practice, and many vinyasa classes, which link each movement to the breath, build on it (our description).

Sources 1, 16

The Ashtanga count

One movement per breath, as Ashtanga teachers count it:

• Start: stand tall, feet together, arms by your sides (mountain pose).
• 1, breathe in: raise your arms overhead.
• 2, breathe out: fold forward, hands to the floor or your shins.
• 3, breathe in: lift half way with a long, straight back.
• 4, breathe out: step or jump back and lower to a low hover, elbows by your ribs (chaturanga).
• 5, breathe in: roll over your toes and lift your chest between straight arms (upward dog).
• 6, breathe out: roll back over your toes and lift your hips into downward dog, and stay for 5 breaths.
• 7, breathe in: step or jump forward and lift half way.
• 8, breathe out: fold forward.
• 9, breathe in: rise with your arms overhead, then breathe out and lower them.

Source 1

What the 3D demo shows

The demo steps back to a plank before lowering, as many classes do. In Ashtanga you step or jump straight to the low hover on one breath out. Either is fine.

Source 1

Where to look

Ashtanga also sets a gaze point for each count: your thumbs as you reach up, your nose as you fold and lower, between your eyebrows as you lift, and your navel in downward dog. If looking up strains your neck, look straight ahead.

Source 1

The 17 counts

Ashtanga's sun salutation B, one movement per breath:

• 1, breathe in: bend your knees into chair pose, arms up.
• 2, breathe out: fold forward.
• 3, breathe in: lift half way.
• 4, breathe out: step or jump back and lower.
• 5, breathe in: upward dog.
• 6, breathe out: downward dog.
• 7, breathe in: turn your left foot out to about 45 degrees, step your right foot forward and rise into warrior I, arms up.
• 8, breathe out: hands down, step back and lower.
• 9, breathe in: upward dog again.
• 10, breathe out: downward dog again.
• 11, breathe in: warrior I with your left foot forward.
• 12, breathe out: hands down, step back and lower once more.
• 13, breathe in: upward dog for the third time.
• 14, breathe out: downward dog, and stay for 5 breaths.
• 15, breathe in: step or jump forward and lift half way.
• 16, breathe out: fold forward.
• 17, breathe in: chair pose, arms up; then breathe out, straighten your legs and lower your arms.

Source 2

Learn A first

B lowers you three times a round instead of once, and Yoga International describes it as an advanced practice. In Ashtanga, each practice starts with 5 rounds of A, then 5 of B.

Sources 10, 17

The Sivananda 12 steps

One round is two halves: the right leg leads first, then the left. The Sivananda centres suggest starting with four rounds and building gradually to twelve.

• 1, breathe out: stand with your palms together at your chest.
• 2, breathe in: stretch your arms up and arch back from the waist.
• 3, breathe out: fold forward, palms beside your feet, bending your knees if you need to.
• 4, breathe in: take your right leg back, knee down, and look up.
• 5, hold the breath: take the other leg back into a plank.
• 6, breathe out: lower your knees, then your chest and forehead, with your hips up.
• 7, breathe in: lower your hips and lift into cobra.
• 8, breathe out: lift your hips into an inverted V (downward dog).
• 9, breathe in: step your right foot forward between your hands, left knee down, and look up.
• 10, breathe out: bring your left foot forward and fold.
• 11, breathe in: stretch your arms forward, up and back.
• 12, breathe out: stand upright with your arms down, then repeat, leading with your left leg.

Source 3

The Bihar School of Yoga

Its version uses the inverted V (which it calls mountain pose, parvatasana) in place of a plank, holds the breath out in the eight-limbed salute, and chants a mantra or seed sound at each step.

Source 4

Krishnamacharya's version

It has 13 steps, adding chair pose, a jump back to the low hover and a full lowering to the floor.

Source 4

Vinyasa studios

Many studios add a plank before lowering, as our 3D demo does, and offer knees-chest-chin and low cobra as options (our description).

Sun salutation C

There's no shared definition: studios use the name for their own variations, often with a low lunge, knees-chest-chin and cobra. We found no school that defines it.

The mantras

In some traditions each step has a mantra: the Bihar School chants one of the 12 names of the sun, and the Sivananda centres give each position its own. Many modern classes, especially exercise-based ones, don't chant.

Sources 4, 3, 18

Around moderate, depending on paceStrong evidence

The Compendium of Physical Activities lists sun salutations at 3.5 METs, in the moderate band of 3 to under 6, and a review of 17 energy-cost studies found sun salutations among the few yoga sequences that reach moderate to vigorous intensity.

Measured values cover a wide range. In a beginners' Ashtanga video, 24 minutes of sun salutations averaged 2.9 METs, about 55% of predicted maximum heart rate. Army volunteers trained for 3 months used 3.79 kcal (kilocalories, the calories on food labels) a minute, with a peak heart rate of 101. Six young practitioners with more than 2 years' experience averaged 80% of their predicted maximum heart rate over four rounds, in a session of about 30 minutes. Fast rounds used more oxygen and energy than slow ones.

Sources 6, 19, 20, 7, 21, 8, 9, 22

How long a round takes

A fast 12-step round took about 2 minutes in a lab study and a slow one about 6; another study timed a round at 3 minutes 40 seconds; and in the video, the poses changed every 3 to 8 seconds. Count minutes rather than rounds when you want to know how much you've done (our suggestion).

Sources 9, 21, 7

Calories: our arithmetic

Calories are roughly METs × body weight in kg × hours, and include the energy you'd use sitting anyway. On that basis, 10 minutes of steady sun salutations at the Compendium's 3.5 METs uses about 35 kcal at 60 kg, 41 at 70 kg and 47 at 80 kg; at the gentler 2.9 METs measured in the video, about 29 to 39; and brisk walking about 48 to 64, for comparison.

So 20 minutes uses roughly 60 to 95 kcal for a 60 to 80 kg adult. These are our sums, not measurements, and experienced practitioners working hard in a lab used more.

Sources 6, 7, 23, 8

It counts toward your 150 minutes when briskStrong evidence

Moderate activity of any length counts toward the 150 minutes a week in the World Health Organization and US guidelines, which dropped the old 10-minute rule. Continuous, brisk rounds count if you can talk but not sing; slow rounds with long holds are light activity.

Sources 19, 24, 15

Fitness, flexibility and stress: small studiesEmerging evidence

A 2026 review found 14 studies, mostly in India, lasting 4 to 24 weeks with 2 to 6 sessions a week. They suggest better flexibility, fitness and stress scores, but the certainty was low for fitness and very low for psychological and body composition outcomes. In 44 women with overweight or obesity, 8 weeks of sun salutations 3 times a week improved flexibility and perceived stress more than no exercise. In 79 medical students building to 24 rounds, 6 days a week for 24 weeks, strength and endurance improved, but there was no comparison group.

Sources 25, 26, 27

Most studies used the 12-step version

Most research used the traditional 12-step sequence, not the Ashtanga A or B forms, so treat the results as a guide to sun salutations in general.

Sources 25, 9

Bone: no gainMixed evidence

In 34 premenopausal women, an 8-month Ashtanga-based programme that kept adding sun salutations didn't increase bone density, though a marker of bone formation held steady while it fell in the control group.

Source 28

Weight: not tested on its ownMixed evidence

No trial has isolated sun salutations for weight loss. In the 8-week trial, body mass index (BMI) fell within the sun salutation group, but not significantly more than in the control group. Our yoga for weight loss guide covers the rest.

Sources 26, 25

What it asks of your body

Motion capture of 10 trained practitioners showed the wrists bending back up to about 85 degrees, the neck up to 76 degrees, and the spine moving from 58 degrees of forward bending to 44 degrees of backward bending. In 8 practitioners, the back muscles worked hardest in the forward fold and the glutes and thighs in the lunge, the abdominals stayed low, and moving between poses demanded more than holding them.

Sources 11, 29

As a warm-up

Ashtanga practice opens with 5 rounds each of A and B, and the Sivananda centres suggest starting with four rounds and building gradually to twelve. Our starting point: 3 to 5 rounds of A to warm up.

Sources 1, 2, 3

As a workout

Our editorial starting point: 10 to 20 minutes of continuous rounds, 2 or 3 times a week, learning A before B. Trials used 2 to 6 sessions a week.

Sources 25, 10

108 sun salutations

A popular challenge with no research behind it: trials used anything from a few rounds to about 24. If you try one, build up over weeks and use the easier versions.

Sources 25, 27

Every day?

Fine if your wrists, shoulders and back feel good. Vary the pace, and use the easier versions on tired days.

Source 11

Sore wrists

Your wrists bend back up to about 85 degrees and take your weight in the plank, the lowering and both dogs. Do the standing half only, make fists or come down onto your forearms in the plank, and keep the dogs short.

Source 11

Shoulders

Repeated lowering loads the shoulders, especially when you're tired: lower with your knees down or skip the lowering, use cobra instead of upward dog, and rest in child's pose between rounds.

Source 10

Back pain

If arching hurts, keep cobra low or skip it; if bending hurts, bend your knees in the folds and keep your back long. Stop if pain travels down a leg, and check the warning signs below (our suggestion, in line with each pose's page).

OsteoporosisStrong evidence

A UK consensus advises modifying or avoiding sustained, repeated or end-range forward bending of the spine. Keep every fold to a flat-back half way, with your hands on your thighs or on blocks.

Source 12

Glaucoma or high blood pressureEmerging evidence

In 20 people with and without glaucoma, eye pressure rose within a minute in downward dog and the standing forward fold, and fell back within 2 minutes of coming out. With glaucoma, ask your eye doctor about yoga. With glaucoma or uncontrolled high blood pressure, keep the head-down parts brief or do the standing half only, keep breathing, and come up slowly.

Sources 13, 30, 14

PregnancyEmerging evidence

Ask your midwife first. As your bump grows, skip the face-down poses and lower to all fours instead, keep your feet hip-width apart in the folds, step rather than jump, and in later pregnancy avoid lying flat on your back for more than a few minutes. In 25 healthy women at 35 to 37 weeks, 26 postures, including downward dog, were well tolerated.

Sources 15, 14, 31

Heart conditions

If you have heart disease, check with your cardiac team before long or hard holds, and keep breathing; with heart failure, our plank page advises avoiding planks.

Light-headed?

Come up slowly from the folds, and rest standing or in child's pose until it passes. If you take medicine that lowers your blood pressure, stand within reach of a wall, as our mountain pose page advises.

Stop

Stop straight away if you feel any pain or become unwell, as NHS exercise videos advise. Come out for sharp or increasing pain; pain, pins and needles or numbness travelling down an arm or leg; dizziness; or a sudden headache or change in your vision while your head is down.

Source 16

Call 999 (911 in the US)

For chest pain that feels tight or like squeezing, or spreads to your arms, neck or jaw; severe difficulty breathing; or signs of a stroke, such as one side of the face drooping, arm weakness or speech problems.

Sources 32, 33

Back pain with these signs: call 999 or go to A&E

Pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs; loss of feeling around your genitals or anus; or changes in your bladder or bowels, such as difficulty peeing, or peeing or pooing yourself. Our yoga for back pain guide has the full list.

Source 34

"The sun salutation is an ancient yoga sequence"Strong evidence

Sun worship is ancient, but the sequence was systematised in the 1920s and 1930s and joined yoga through the Mysore school. One review says it is considered neither a posture (asana) nor part of traditional yoga.

Sources 5, 4

"There's one correct sun salutation"

Ashtanga has A (9 movements) and B (17); the Sivananda and Bihar School versions have 12 positions; Krishnamacharya's has 13.

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

"It's always a cardio workout"Emerging evidence

Brisk rounds reach moderate intensity, but a video-led practice measured 2.9 METs, and slow rounds are lighter.

Sources 7, 9, 22, 6

"Sun salutations build bone"Mixed evidence

An 8-month programme that kept adding sun salutations didn't change bone density.

Source 28

"Sun salutations burn belly fat"Mixed evidence

No trial has isolated them for weight loss, and 10 minutes uses roughly 35 to 47 kcal for a 60 to 80 kg adult (our arithmetic). No exercise burns fat from one spot, as our weight loss guide explains.

Sources 26, 25, 6

"Jumping back is the real way"

Ashtanga's count cues a float back, but the Sivananda version brings one leg back and then the other, and our sun salutation flow says to step back while you learn.

Sources 2, 3

"You should do 108 every day"

There's no research on 108 rounds: trials used a few rounds up to about 24, 2 to 6 times a week.

Sources 25, 27

"Chaturanga and upward dog are compulsory"

Knees-chest-chin and cobra are standard in the Sivananda version, and our sun salutation A page says to substitute them freely.

Source 3