Warming Up For Yoga

Everybody knows the importance of stretching before running or working out, but what kind of warm-up does yoga require? While traditional stretching is helpful before performing yoga, since most yoga poses are advanced stretches in and of themselves, there are a number of yoga positions you can use to warm up before you delve into the more involved practice.

The unique aspect of warming up for yoga is the process of centering oneself, at the same time you wake up your muscles. A yoga physical warm-up is also a mental warm-up that allows you to move away from your other preoccupations and reach a calm mental stance that will assist you in further yoga work.

An ideal yoga warm-up will include poses that involve both your upper and lower body. It should incorporate stretches that attend to your wrists, your neck, and your spine, key parts of your body that receive the most work when you’re doing yoga. In this chapter, you will discover some great poses you can use as part of your personal warm-up routine.

Warming Up For Yoga Posses

The Mountain Yoga Pose

The Mountain

Focus: Legs, Posture

Level: Beginning

Total Time: 60 seconds

Indications: Sciatica, stress

Contraindications: Low blood pressure, dizziness, light-headedness, headache.

The mountain pose is a great starting warm-up. It can prepare your body for many other standing poses. It is also great for your posture and can help you remain calm under pressure as you face your day. It may look like you are just standing, but there is much more going on than meets the eye. Here is how to perform the mountain pose:

Stand with your feet separated enough to feel stable. If you are pregnant, you may need to adjust your feet further apart, but don’t separate them any farther than your shoulders.
Establish a solid connection with the ground by lifting your toes. Shift your weight distribution so that it is divided equally between the base of your big toes, the base of your little toes, and both left and right sides of your heels. Sustain this weight distribution as you return your toes to the ground and continue through the exercise.
Bend your knees slightly and straighten them. This will relax the knee joints. Your legs should be straight, but never locked.
Beginning from your feet up, become aware of each part of your body as you engage the muscles to support a tall, straight torso, topped by the tip of the “mountain”, your head. Imagine a string reaching up from the top of your head and pulling it – along with your neck and the torso it is connected to – upward.
Activate your thigh muscles by turning them ever so slightly inward.
Allow your chest to open up, shifting your shoulders and arms backward. Tip your tailbone slightly under to offset the adjustment you just made to your chest. This will naturally engage muscles around your bellybutton to support your abdomen and keep your back, neck, and head directly above your hips (which should still be directly above your knees and feet).
Stand tall and straight, with your arms relaxed at your sides. Focus your gaze straight ahead. Look at something that is just below eye level. This will increase your mental focus, remove distractions, and ensure that your chin is slightly lowered, if it hasn’t already been adjusted by that string pulling up from the top of your head!
As you stand in this position, breathe in, filling your lungs, allowing your stomach and chest to expand. When your body is full of air, begin to exhale, taking twice as long to breathe out as you did to breathe in.
Take several full breaths, sustaining this posture for 30 to 60 seconds before you release it.

The mountain is easily practiced while you’re standing in line and waiting for, well, anything. It can help you remain calm if other people around you are growing impatient and angry, allowing you to spread kindness in your wake. You can engage this pose any time you’re standing. It serves as a conscious counter-action to all the time we spend hunched over our computers, bent over a book, or focused on a project.

You can continue to warm up by transitioning from the mountain pose to the forward fold.

The Forward Fold Yoga Pose

The Forward Fold

Focus: Hamstrings, back

Level: Beginning

Total Time: 60 seconds

Indications: Mild depression, stress, insomnia, headaches; stimulates kidneys, liver, digestive system

Contraindications: Back injuries, pregnancy (careful modifications are possible)

To perform the forward fold:

Stand with your feet firmly planted, spread slightly apart for balance. Distribute your weight evenly across your feet, and hold your torso tall and open. Inhale.
Breathe out and bend your body forward at the hips, not the waist. Bend only as far as you can while still breathing easily.
Press your heels into the ground, keeping your hips over the soles of your feet.
If your hamstrings are too tight to straighten your legs completely, keep your knees bent. If you can straighten your legs completely, place your fingers on the ground.
Let your head and neck hang freely.
Breathe in and add more length to your torso, then breathe out to settle more deeply into the pose.

If you were to stop here, you would slowly raise your torso, stacking one vertebra at a time atop the others, until you have returned to an upright position. However, for this warm up you want to transition into the halfstanding forward fold. This will extend your spine and further strengthen your back and knees.

The Half Standing Forward Fold Yoga Pose

The Half Standing Forward Fold

From the forward fold, raise your torso until your flat back is parallel to the ground. Place your hands on the front of your legs. Breathe in, draw in your abdomen and use your back muscles to support your torso and keep your spine straight.
Maintain length from your head to tailbone through your spine
Pull your shoulder blades away from your ears and gaze forward
Breathe several times before rising to an upright position and resting, with feet slightly separated, in mountain pose.

Wrist Stretches

Wrist Stretches

It is important to warm up your wrists before engaging in most yoga poses; many require you to bear weight on your wrists. The following are some basic wrist stretches and warm-ups you can use to prevent injury and increase flexibility:

Get down on your hands and knees; place your hands directly above your shoulders and your knees above your hips. Fold your hands under so that your palms face up and your fingers point toward your knees. Breathe in and rock your body forward slightly, moving gently. Breathe out and slowly move back. Repeat this motion at least four times.
Stand tall and stretch out your right arm in front of you with your palm facing down. Relax your wrist, letting your fingers drop down. Use your left hand to grasp these fingers and gently pull them back toward your body.
Press your hands against each other as if you were praying. Lower your hands gently until you feel a stretch. Hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds, then release. Repeat.
Hold your elbows against your sides with each hand in a soft fist. Keeping your elbows against your sides, move your wrists in a figure eight motion. Continue this motion for 10 to 15 seconds, then rest and repeat.

Neck And Shoulder Stretches

Neck And Shoulder Stretches

Stretching your neck and shoulder area prior to performing yoga is equally important. Here is a great way to get your neck and shoulder joints lubricated and moving smoothly:

Begin in a seated position, keeping your shoulders down and your spine straight.
Keeping your hips grounded, breathe in and reach your arms up so that your fingertips are pointed toward the sky.
Breathe out as you move your left ear toward your left shoulder and bring your left hand down over your head to gently stretch your neck to the left.
Breathe in, straighten your head, and reach your arms up to the sky again.
Repeat the previous motion but to the right.
Breathe in as you reach your arms up and lock your fingers together to push your palms toward the sky.
Breathe out as you bring your interlocked palms down to press on the back of your neck while you move your chin toward your chest.

Pelvic Tilt

Pelvic Tilt

Finally, it is important to warm up your lower back prior to engaging in yoga. Your spine literally supports the rest of your body so it is extremely important to warm up the surrounding muscles prior to engaging in any yoga activities.

The pelvic tilts can help loosen your spine, especially if your back is stiff.

To perform a pelvic tilt:

Lie down on your back and bend your knees.
Press your lower back into the ground, tilt your pelvis up, then release.
It is ideal to repeat a pelvic tilt for at least 15 repetitions.

Another great spine warm-up stretch for yoga is the cat cow stretch.

The Cow Cat Yoga Pose

The Cow-Cat

Focus: spine

Level: Beginning

Total Time: 60 seconds

Indications: intervertebral disks, abdominal organs, menstrual discomfort; stimulates adrenals, kidneys

Contraindications: modification for neck injury.

To perform the cow-cat:

Begin on all fours, with your spine neutral (straight) and your neck long. If you have a neck injury, you will keep your head and neck in this neutral position throughout the exercise. Your knees will be hip width apart, directly under your hips.
Your hands will be placed directly beneath your shoulders, with your fingers pointing forward. Do NOT lock your elbows. If you have a wrist injury, slightly flexing your arms at the elbow will provide additional support. If your injury doesn’t allow you to bear weight on your wrists, rest your forearms on a chair or another slightly raised surface.

The Cow

Breathe in, (optional: curl your toes up on the ground) as you relax your abdomen and let it sag downward.
As your middle back sags, lift your head and look up. Pull your shoulders away from your ears.

The Cat

Breathe out slowly as you change from the cow to the cat position. (optional: relax your toes).
Allow your head to lower until it hangs relaxed. At the same time, press your belly button up toward your spine, pushing your back into a hump, like a cat arching its back.
This will tuck in your tailbone and tilt the bottom of your pelvis forward.

Repeat the cow-cat stretch five times, returning to the neutral spine position we started. Over time, you can increase your repetitions up to 20 in a single setting.

From the neutral back position, you can easily transition into a leg stretch.

Leg Stretch

The Leg Stretch

Starting on all fours with a neutral spine, point your right toes, straighten your right leg behind you, and raise it toward the sky and hold this position for a few seconds.
With your leg in the air, slowly flex your foot and hold the position for a few seconds.
Relax your foot and return your leg to the starting position.
Repeat this stretch with the left leg.

Now, stand up and end your warm-up session with the goddess pose stretch.

The Goddess Pose Stretch Yoga Pose

The Goddess Pose Stretch

Begin in mountain pose, standing with your feet together, your torso upright and tall, lifting through your entire spine up through the top of your head, as if it had a string pulling it straight up to the sky.
Raise your arms out straight from your sides, palms facing down. Spread your legs apart so that your feet are directly below your wrists. Once you’ve established that distance, bend your arms and rest your hands on your waist. Then turn your feet out slightly, to about a 45-degree angle.
With your hands on your waist, feel where your hips are, then tuck them slightly under, tilting the bottom of your pelvis forward.
Bend your legs and let your upper body sink down slightly. Check the distribution of your weight across your feet. Adjust your weight until it is divided equally across all parts of both feet. You don’t want your knees to roll forward; keeping your feet firmly planted will help to keep your knees aligned over your heels.
Straighten back up, now that everything is aligned correctly. Breathe again and lower your torso again, keeping your hips tucked. Allow yourself to sink deeper into the bend, keeping all four corners of your feet (the big toe side, little toe side, inner, and outer parts of the heel) supporting your body equally. As you sink into this stretch, your upper thighs will engage and start to roll out, just a little. Keep your chest high and breathe deeply. Straighten your legs again, raising your torso. Breathe deeply. On an exhale, bend your legs to lower your torso again, keeping your weight distributed evenly across your feet. Tuck your hips and sink down deeper into the bend, letting your legs, from your toes up through your thighs actively support your body.
Now, raise your arms straight out from your waist. Rotate your arms so that your palms face forward, and bend your elbows to raise your hands until your fingers point straight up. Spread your fingers apart, keep your shoulders back, your elbows even with your shoulders, and your face looking forward. Breathe deeply in, then slowly out. Breathe in again, then as you exhale, lower your arms and straighten your legs; rise up, letting the energy pull your torso up through that string reaching up from the top of your head.