In short
Regular Surya Namaskar builds upper-body and leg strength, moderate aerobic fitness and spinal mobility, and several small trials report lower perceived stress. One round at a traditional pace burns roughly 3–4 kcal a minute. For a beginner, 4–6 slow rounds a day is plenty for the first month; 12 rounds is the classical daily practice once the body has adapted.
Most of what is written about the twelve steps of Surya Namaskar lists twenty benefits and cites none of them. Here is what has actually been measured, what the tradition claims beyond that, and how to choose a number of rounds you will still be doing next year.
What Surya Namaskar is doing to the body
The sequence alternates forward bends and backbends, takes the weight onto the hands twice, and lunges each leg forward once. In one round the spine flexes and extends fully, the shoulders bear load, the hamstrings and hip flexors lengthen, and the breath is tied to every movement.
That combination is unusual. Most exercise does one of those things; a sun salutation does all of them in about twenty seconds, which is why the tradition treats it as a complete practice on days when there is time for nothing else.
What the research has measured
The studies are small and mostly Indian, so read them as encouraging rather than conclusive. Four are worth knowing about.
| Study | Who and how long | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Sinha et al., 2004, Indian J Physiol Pharmacol | 21 trained men, one measured session | About 13.9 kcal over a 3 min 40 s practice, an average of 3.8 kcal a minute; peak heart rate around 101 bpm. Described as moderate aerobic exercise. |
| Bhutkar et al., 2011, Asian J Sports Med | 79 adults, 24 rounds, 6 days a week for 24 weeks | Bench press and shoulder press strength rose in men and women; push-ups and sit-ups improved; body fat fell in the women; BMI fell in both groups. |
| Suwannakul et al., 2025, Hong Kong Physiother J | 44 overweight female students, randomised, 8 weeks | Better forward-bend flexibility, grip and leg strength, VO₂max, and lower perceived stress than the control group. |
| Parajuli et al., 2023, Complement Ther Clin Pract | 63 schoolchildren aged about 14, 2 weeks | Higher self-control and mindfulness scores than the control class; no change in general mental-health scores. |
Put plainly: practised regularly, it makes people stronger and a little fitter, and it seems to make them feel calmer. That is a modest claim, and a well-supported one.
The benefits, one by one
Strength. The plank, the lowering and the upward dog load the arms, shoulders and chest with your own body weight. Twenty-four rounds a day for six months produced strength gains comparable to a basic gym programme in the Bhutkar study.
Heart and lungs. At a steady pace the heart rate rises into the moderate range and stays there. Done fast, as in some gyms in India, it becomes genuinely vigorous; done slowly with held positions, it is closer to a brisk walk.
Flexibility. The forward bends lengthen the hamstrings and calves, the lunge opens the front of the hip, and the cobra and upward dog extend the spine. If you are working on tight hamstrings, daily rounds do more than an occasional long stretch.
Breath and attention. Every movement has its own inhale or exhale. That pairing is what makes it yoga rather than calisthenics, and it is probably what the stress findings are picking up.
Weight. It helps, but less than many websites promise. At 3–4 kcal a minute, twenty minutes uses about the same energy as twenty minutes of brisk walking. There is more on this in our honest piece on yoga for weight loss.
What tradition adds. In the Hatha texts and in our Sivananda lineage, Surya Namaskar is also said to warm the body, balance the movement of prana and prepare the mind for stillness. Those are claims about experience rather than measurements, and in fifteen years of teaching I have found them to describe what students feel rather well.
How many rounds a day?
One round is the full twelve positions leading with the right leg, then the same again leading with the left. Counting styles differ, so check which one a teacher means.
| Where you are | Rounds a day |
|---|---|
| First two weeks, new to yoga | 3–4, slowly, resting after each |
| First month | 4–6 |
| Regular practice | 12, the traditional daily number |
| Strength or fitness goal | 12–24, as in the six-month study |
| Special occasions | 108, for solstices, equinoxes or fundraisers, with preparation |
In a class at the school we usually do between four and twelve, depending on who is in the room, and then move on to the held postures. A sun salutation is a warm-up for a Hatha class as well as a practice in its own right.
The number matters less than the pace. Four slow rounds with full breaths are worth more than twenty hurried ones where the lower back takes every landing.
When to practise it
Facing the sunrise is the classical answer, and there is something to it: the body is stiff but rested, the stomach is empty, and the air is cool. In Kerala we practise at 7:30 because by 10 the heat makes vigorous rounds hard work.
Whenever you do it, leave two to three hours after a meal. For more on timing, see the best time of day to do yoga.
Who should go carefully
- Lower back pain: bend the knees in the forward folds and use cobra rather than upward dog.
- Wrist pain: spread the fingers wide and keep weight in the knuckles; see wrist pain in yoga.
- High blood pressure or heart conditions: keep the pace slow, keep the head above the heart where you can, and ask your doctor first.
- Pregnancy: after the first trimester, practise a modified version taught by someone trained in prenatal yoga.
- Hernia or recent abdominal surgery: wait for medical clearance.
Learning it properly
Most people learn Surya Namaskar from a video and keep the same small errors for years: the hips sagging in the plank, the knee drifting past the ankle in the lunge, the breath held through the hard part. A single class with hands-on corrections fixes most of that.
If you are in Kerala, our daily two-hour Hatha classes in Fort Kochi include sun salutations every morning and afternoon, taught slowly enough for a first-timer to follow.
Common questions
Is it OK to do Surya Namaskar every day?
Yes. It was designed as a daily practice. Start with 3–6 slow rounds and add a couple each week; rest a day if your wrists or lower back feel strained.
How many calories does one round of Surya Namaskar burn?
Roughly 3–4 kcal a minute at a traditional pace, according to a 2004 study by Sinha and colleagues. One full round of both sides takes about a minute, so 12 rounds uses around 40–50 kcal.
Can Surya Namaskar reduce belly fat?
No exercise removes fat from one area. Regular rounds did reduce body fat in women in a six-month study, but diet and overall activity matter far more.
Is 12 rounds of Surya Namaskar enough?
For general health, yes. Twelve rounds daily is the traditional practice and takes 12–15 minutes. Studies showing strength gains used 24 rounds, six days a week.
Should I do Surya Namaskar before or after other yoga?
Before. In a Hatha class it comes after the opening relaxation and breathing, and warms the body for the held postures that follow.
Known to his students as Achu, Aksharanand trained in the Sivananda tradition and holds an Advanced Teacher Training Certificate. He has taught Hatha Yoga, pranayama, meditation and Vedanta philosophy in Fort Kochi for over fifteen years, across more than 5,000 group classes and seventy international teacher training batches.
More about Achu and the school · Book a class or ask a question