Earlier we offered some thoughts on beginning your yoga practice with Pranayama breathing as part of your warm up. Ujjayi Pranayama – Victorious Breath – is a great way to start your day, too! You can check out that post, here. Today, we’re following up on the subject of warming up by integrating the Sun Salutations sequence.
There are so many benefits to a proper warm-up before any strenuous activity, and that includes your yoga practice. You want to prepare your body & mind for the movements that comprise a thoughtful and deliberate yoga sequence. The word yoga loosely translates to mean union, or connection. Throughout most of the day, our brains conserve energy by not focusing on the subconscious metabolic functions like breathing, digestion, blood circulation, etc. This helps the brain focus on the other aspects of our hectic routines. Yoga is an opportunity to reconnect, and create space for the union between your mind, your body, and after a conscious practice you may even find a deeper connection with your self – your soul. That’s what we want for you to discover as you lead your own tribe.
In order to get there, we really encourage a conscious warm up to begin your yoga practice. Pranayama breathing is a natural beginning, and helps to prepare your mind to connect your body with your breath. This connection is important as you shift into Sun Salutations. As you follow the clockwise sequence we have sketched here, you can visualize the inward-outward movements of your body while you also imagine the cycles of your breath moving fluidly with your body. For many people, Sun Salutations can really get your blood pumping & at first, you might find it challenging to control your breath as you move. That’s ok! Just be mindful of how your breath & body are moving. This is just the beginning of your practice.
Without a proper warm up it is difficult to separate your mind from your daily routine – picking up the kids, getting groceries, that guy who cut you off in traffic, or that deadline at work. As long as your mind is distracted, you are missing out on the rich benefits of your practice. Unfortunately, most of us have been conditioned to try harder, and push ourselves so far that we can break down. As a result, many people grow accustomed to plugging in the head phones, cranking up the music, jumping on the treadmill, and tuning out the rest of life while we grind it out.
Life can be hard enough, your yoga practice doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, it should be the opposite – a chance to unplug, unwind, and let go of those distractions. A good warm up will help prepare your mind & body to connect on a deeper level, and we’re here to help guide you through that practice.
Stay tuned for more tips & updates as we draw closer to our grand opening in Carmel, this Fall! For those of you who are already following us on the web, we are truly grateful – we have so many exciting things to share with you & we can’t wait to meet in person. If you haven’t Liked us on Facebook, or signed up for our newsletter at https://yogigotsol.com please don’t forget to connect & give us a thumbs up. In the coming weeks we will start announcing special offers on our classes & swag.