Kriyas and Pranayama are the two main pillars of Yoga. The present study was
conducted to determine the combined effects of Suryanamaskar and Ujjayi Pranayama on Heart
Rate Variability (HRV) and Resting Heart Rate (HR). Thirty healthy female volunteers (age range,
20 to 25 yrs) were randomly allocated to three groups, Group I (Ujjayi Pranayama){n=10};
Group II (Combination){n=10} and Group III (Suryanamaskar){n=10}. Training lasted for a
period of 4 weeks. A short term HRV and Resting HR analysis (3 minutes) was done with the help
of Vital Sines (A Pulse Analysis System), before and after the training. There was a significant
improvement in HRV (p=0.001) as well as Resting HR (p=0.001) for the combination group. The
results suggest that Ujjayi Pranayama is better than Suryanamaskar alone but combining both of
them into one technique gives more beneficial health effects as compared to the individual technique.
Key words: Heart rate variability, Suryanamaskar, Ujjayi pranayama, Cardiac autonomic control,
Yoga exercises.
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