Warming Up Before a Yoga Practice: A Simple Five-Part Routine

What a yoga warm-up looks like

A yoga warm-up uses small, easy movements that gradually get larger, moving joints through a comfortable range before you hold deeper positions. It is not stretching to your limit. If a warm-up movement feels intense, make it smaller.

The five-part warm-up

This is an illustrative menu, not a validated warm-up prescription. Choose familiar, easy movements and allow enough time to feel ready; a short class does not require rushing the warm-up.

1. Arrive: sit or stand and notice your breathing for a few breaths.
2. Spine: gentle movements bending forward and back, side to side, and small twists, seated or on all fours.
3. Shoulders and arms: shoulder rolls, arm circles that start small, reaching the arms overhead.
4. Hips and legs: marching in place, gentle knee lifts, shifting weight side to side, small lunges with a hand on a wall.
5. Build: one or two easier versions of the poses you plan to do, such as half a Sun Salutation or a short standing sequence.

Match the warm-up to the practice

Weight the warm-up toward whatever the main part of the session will ask of you.

• Standing and flowing practice: include weight-shifting and leg movement, and a few slower rounds of any sequence you will repeat.
• Floor and stretching practice: include easy walking or marching first, then gentle movement of the hips and spine.
• Balance practice: include standing weight shifts near a wall before lifting a foot.
• Practice with weight on the hands: include gentle wrist and hand movements and a few breaths on all fours or at a wall before plank-type poses.
• Restorative or gentle practice: consider your planned positions and individual needs rather than assuming no preparation is needed.

Cold rooms and early mornings

Many people feel stiffer first thing in the morning or in a cold room. Wear a layer at the start, spend longer on the warm-up, and take it off as you warm up. Avoid going into your deepest stretches straight out of bed.

Warm-up mistakes

A warm-up should leave you feeling more ready, not tired.

• Starting with long, deep holds.
• Bouncing in stretches; the American Heart Association advises slow, smooth stretching.
• Making the warm-up so long that you skip the practice.
• Copying a warm-up from a style that does not match today's session.
• Holding the breath.

The other end: cooling down

The end of a session mirrors the start: gradually smaller movements, gentler poses, and a few minutes of rest. Leaving time for this is as useful as the warm-up, and it is the part most often cut when time runs short. If you must shorten a session, shorten the middle.

If you have a health condition

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises starting physical activity slowly and working up gradually, and suggests that people with chronic conditions talk to their health care provider about the right types and amounts of activity. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health gives similar advice for yoga specifically.