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Warm Up to Warm Up

Tuesday, October 20, 2020 (Part I),

A physical warm up is an essential part to my morning routine and, especially when colder weather moves in, can be as important as the Asanas/Physical Poses themselves. 

That's it...nothing profound.  It's 6:00am as I type this, and it's time to begin. 

Tuesday, October 20, 2020 (Part II), 

I'm writing this post practice.  I'll say that, if I had to do a time breakdown, I spend the time on my mat as follows:

  • 5-10 Minutes- Pranayama/Breathing Exercises, Prayer, Meditation
  • 5-10 Minutes- Warm up before going into my Surya Namaskar/Sun Salutes
    • This warm up can be whatever I want it to be, but it usually includes rolling back and forth on a curved spine to warm up my back, neck, and abdomen, followed by some gentle inversions to "status check" where my legs, and back are that morning.  I do this with the utmost of caution, as the point of a warm up is to see where I am that day; not to push myself to my limits just yet.  After I've done some inversions (plow poses, etc.), I may lay on my stomach, and execute a light bow pose as a first active backbend; again, this is meant to be a physical litmus test to see where I'm at that day, and is not meant to be a full execution of any pose.
  • 15-25 Minutes- Surya Namaskar/Sun Salutes.  This is the beginning of the physical side of the practice; what most people associate with yoga...this is it.  This is, ironically the most challenging part of a practice, which moves the quickest, and has the most physical strain.
  • 15-20 Minutes- Additional Asanas/Physical Postures.  This generally follows the same sequence of standing poses followed by seated poses, followed by reclining poses/backbends.  However, I add, and omit, anything I like. 
  • 5-10 Minutes- Savasana and final prayers close out the sequence. 
As you can see, there can be a fairly wide range of time (45 minutes to an 1.25+ hours on my mat each morning.  I would say that, more important than the time dedicated, is the continual routine of returning to the mat every day. 

Nothing profound today....and that's ok. 

Namaste

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