Lesson 2: Symbolism and Spiritual Significance

To understand Surya Namaskar fully, we need to step beyond biomechanics and ask the more essential question:

What are we actually doing when we bow to the sun?

The Sun as Inner Light

In yogic tradition, the sun isn’t just a star in the sky—it’s a metaphor for the inner Self. The atman. The unchanging witness behind all experience. As Paramahansa Yogananda wrote, “The spiritual eye… is the ‘sun’ in which the yogi sees the inner cosmos.”

Surya, then, is both outer radiance and inner illumination. In performing Surya Namaskar, we aren’t just waking up the body—we’re reorienting ourselves toward clarity, awareness, and truth.

Each pose in the sequence becomes an offering. Each inhale and exhale, a gesture of reverence.

In this way, Surya Namaskar functions like a moving puja—a sacred ceremony that brings the sacred into the everyday.

The Cycle of Life, Reflected in Motion

The classical twelve-step sequence reflects a complete journey, one that mirrors the natural cycles of existence:

• Reaching up (Hasta Uttanasana) invokes aspiration—our willingness to rise.

• Folding down (Padahastasana) reminds us of humility.

• Stepping back and lifting the heart (Ashwa Sanchalanasana, Bhujangasana) express courage and receptivity.

• Plank and eight-limbed pose ask us to surrender.

• Downward dog gives us space to reflect, reset, return.

Each round of Surya Namaskar is a birth, life, death, and rebirth. And just like life, no two cycles feel exactly the same.

As you repeat the sequence, notice this: you’re not just stretching muscles—you’re practising transformation.

Duality and Integration

There’s also an embedded symbolism in the alternation of sides.

By flowing once on the right and once on the left, Surya Namaskar honours duality: the sun and moon, masculine and feminine, action and rest, Ida and Pingala. In moving through both sides of the body, we create balance in the system—physically, energetically, emotionally.

The yogic view of the human system is one of polarities in constant dialogue. Surya Namaskar holds that tension and offers a structure to harmonise it.

In this sense, it’s not just physical alignment we’re after—it’s inner equilibrium.

A Devotional Practice Disguised as Exercise

We live in a culture that often strips the spiritual out of movement. Yoga becomes fitness. Surya Namaskar becomes a warm-up. And we forget that this sequence was originally intended as a sacred act—performed facing the east, at sunrise, on an empty stomach, with mantras or intentions whispered into each posture.

In traditional practice, many would even repeat it 108 times as a form of purification and spiritual tapas (discipline). More on that in Lesson Four—but for now, simply know: this practice was once, and still can be, a form of prayer.

A way of saying: Thank you for this breath. Thank you for this life.

From Symbol to Embodiment

The real power of Surya Namaskar lies in how it’s done, not just that it’s done.

You could rush through 12 rounds and feel little more than a stretch. Or you could move with breath, attention, reverence—and discover that the same sequence becomes a gateway into meditation.

Surya Namaskar reminds us that spiritual practice doesn’t need to be separate from physical movement. When body, breath, and awareness come together, we don’t need to sit still to touch something sacred. We are living the prayer.

Key Takeaways: What You’re Really Practising

• Surya Namaskar is a symbolic ritual honouring both the outer sun and the inner Self.

• The sequence reflects natural cycles: rising, surrender, and renewal.

• Each movement is infused with spiritual metaphor—aspiration, humility, courage, balance.

• Practising both sides of the body represents harmony between polarities (sun/moon, masculine/feminine, Ida/Pingala).

• When done with attention and intention, Surya Namaskar becomes a moving meditation—a path to clarity, balance, and connection.