Yesterday someone asked me in the comments section if I should warm up for my yoga practice? Let’s talk about this issue today..
Warming up before exercise and stretching and relaxing after exercise is a consensus issue, and there is no doubt in current research..
Yoga pose practice, no matter how we define it, is considered a form of physical activity for the body, including self-cultivation, mental cultivation, physical exercise, and gymnastics. Since it’s exercise, it’s necessary to warm up. Warming up can help the body enter a state of exercise faster and increase the benefits of exercise, while also moving joints and muscles to reduce exercise risks..
The reason why some people ask if yoga requires warm-up, I think it may be because everyone feels like there is no warm-up session during yoga practice. However, the term “warm-up session” is not mentioned in yoga classes. But in fact, there is, but you may not have noticed it because yoga warm-up is slightly different from warm-up in other sports..
For example, during warm-up before running, you may press your legs on the playground, do several sets of high leg lifts, open and close jumps, jog, and so on, and then officially start running; In the gym, the same goes for you. You may first move your wrists and shoulders, jog on the treadmill for a while, and then complete your training goals for today..
But yoga is different, it directly uses yoga postures to warm up. The warm-up and exercise stages of yoga can be said to be seamlessly connected, both of which are yoga postures, so you won’t feel them. I specifically flipped through the book “Yoga Heart” introduced yesterday, which also mentioned that practicing yoga requires warming up. So first, it is certain that a complete yoga pose practice class requires warm-up..
Many yoga teachers initially like to take everyone to practice several sets of sun salutations, and then transition to practicing postures. The worship of the sun here is equivalent to warming up. When practicing at home, you can learn from this pattern and start by practicing a few sets of Sunday prayers, which is simple and effective. When using the Prayer for the Sun, one thing to note is that Prayer for the Sun A and Prayer for the Sun B are actually more suitable for practitioners with a certain foundation to warm up. The traditional Prayer for the Sun 12 is more suitable for beginners. In our check-in training, we can see that the sun worship ceremony only appears at week 17, and it is not placed at the front of the sequence, but behind the standing position, clearly not for warm-up purposes..
For example, today’s yoga practice mainly trains the body’s balance ability. You can pay more attention to the joints and muscles of the lower limbs during warm-up. For example, if my main goal today is to challenge the chakra, then I will use a series of postures such as opening the chest, flexible shoulder joints, and soft spine to warm up more..
For example, our exercise topic today is to challenge the wheel form. I can do two sets of sun worships first to warm up my muscles and joints throughout my body; Next, practice some postures that open the chest and flex the spine, such as Catwalk, Catstretch, and Bow; Then practice some abdominal and back strength postures, such as locust pose and dog pose, etc; Make a few more sets of bridge structures; Challenge wheel; Do a few wheeled reflexes and enter the resting technique..
This is a complete yoga class. If you are not familiar with it, you may feel that there is no warm-up. If you are familiar with it, you will know everything in front of the chakra, and it can be said that it is a warm-up..
4. Don’t neglect warm-up in summer, winter.