Warm up first for deeper and better stretches later

Published: Nov 17, 2017 by Lucy Tennyson

Over the years, I have put increasing emphasis on starting my classes with a warm up that moves all of the main joints in the body, before we start to do any posture work, especially anything involving deep stretching.

The Dru style of yoga has developed many “activations” which are basically standing limbering up exercises taking around five or ten minutes.

Some advantages are:

It’s a quick and easy way to warm up and mobilise all the muscles of the body

You can choose sequences to prepare sets of muscles specific to a sequence or asana to help you move into the postures with greater ease

They help take the mind away from thoughts or worries of the day

You can have fun, and add music.

Here is a reminder of this week’s class, which began with a four part activation, and then went on to include some strong side stretches such as Triangle pose, and Half Moon.

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1. PLAN IT

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Now we are heading towards the autumn equinox on 21 September, nights are starting to draw in. It’s a time of change, as we move from the summer into autumn and we start to look ahead towards winter. We might start making plans for the year to come.

Edit post Kickstart your home practice!

Doing yoga at home in between classes will help you keep mobile for the rest of your life - but it’s often hard to know what to do, or get started. You have to first, establish a routine, by deciding what time of day, and how long. Say 10 minutes every morning, for example, or 20 minutes three times a week.