Effect of 11 months of yoga training on cardiorespiratory responses during the actual practice of Surya Namaskar

BACKGROUND: Surya Namaskar (SN), a popular traditional Indian yogic practice, includes practicing 12 physical postures with alternate forward and backward bending movement of the body along with deep breathing maneuvers. The practice of SN has become popular among yoga practitioners and other fitness conscious people. The long-term effect of practicing SN and other yogic practices on cardiorespiratory responses during SN are lacking. AIM: The present study was conducted to study the effect of yogic training on various cardiorespiratory responses during the SN practice in yoga trainees after a time interval of 3, 6, and 11 months. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was conducted on 9 healthy male Army soldiers who underwent training in various yoga postures including SN, meditation, and pranayama for 1 h daily for 11 months. First, second, and third phase of the study was conducted in the laboratory after completion of 3, 6, and 11 months of the yoga training. The participants performed SN along with other yogic practices in the laboratory as per their daily practice schedule. The cardiorespiratory responses of the volunteers were recorded during actual practice of SN. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: One-way repeated measure ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD. RESULTS: Oxygen consumption and heart rate during actual practice of SN was 0.794 ± 0.252, 0.738 ± 0.229, and 0.560 ± 0.165 L/min and 92.1 ± 11.6, 97.9 ± 7.3 and 87.4 ± 9.2 beats/min respectively at 1(st) , 2(nd) , and 3(rd) phase of yoga training. Minute ventilation and tidal volume also reduced from 19.9 ± 4.65 to 17.8 ± 4.41 L/min and 1.091 ± 0.021 to 0.952 L/breath from 1(st) phase to 3(rd) phase of yoga training. However, respiratory parameters like breathing rate (f(R)) did not show any reduction across the three phases. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicated that yogic training caused conditioning of cardiorespiratory parameters except f(R,) which did not reduce across three phases of training.