Body and Breath - Yoga Shop Talk

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Yoga shoptalk, February, 2003

I would like to practice hatha early in the morning, but I have a difficult time getting started, especially when I'm by myself. And I ordinarily don't ever manage to get really enthusiastic for standing poses, which I know from experience are the best way to start my day. Do you have any suggestions?

Answer: You are not alone. Many people have difficulty getting started in a hatha practice early in the morning. Here is one formula. First, take a brisk walk and/or a jog for five minutes. If you are unable or disinclined to go outside, jog in a figure eight in the biggest nearby room available to you. The idea of the figure eight is to lean first in one direction and then the other rather than constantly leaning into curves in the same direction. If you are not up to a walk or jog, skip directly to the next suggestion. Second, take five minutes to do the series of hip-opening poses illustrated in Chapter 6 of Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, illustrated in figures 6.19a-f and 6.20. Don't get too leisurely doing this series, as it is very relaxing and can easily stretch into 10-15 minutes. And above all, resist the perilously easy temptation to stretch out and relax for a moment when you are done, especially if you have skipped the first suggestion to take a brisk walk or jog and are still lying in bed to do this series. Third, after completing the hip opening series, immediately get down on the floor in a prone position and spend another four minutes doing a personalized selection of prone backbends (figures 5.8-23 on pages 284-306). Don't try to do postures in this series that are at the edge of your capacity. Rather, emphasize doing several repetitions of easier poses. The main thing is to keep up the pace for four minutes and to energize your mind and body in preparation for standing. Your last backbending pose (perhaps the camel, at the end of the chapter five) can be done more leisurely over a period of an additional minute while preparing yourself mentally to stand. Fourth, stand up and immediately begin a personalized ten-minute series of standing postures (see the many suggestions in chapters 4 and 7), again emphasizing keeping up a reasonable pace and doing fairly easy poses. This warm-up (25 minutes with the walk or 20 minutes without the walk) should get you ready for whatever you want to do next, which might be breathing exercises, meditation, or a more extensive practice of postures. Do resist going back to bed, which misses the entire point of the warm-up.