This entry was posted on Oct 28, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.
What are your go-to poses proper after you step onto your mat? I wish to heat up with a “gooey” Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Going through Canine Pose). By gooey, I imply that I heat up with a number of motion. I mobilize all my joints, together with these in my legs and arms and all my vertebral joints. I stretch each side of my physique, however I don’t fear about stretching symmetrically from one aspect to the opposite. The purpose is to test in with my physique and hearken to what it wants on a given day. As a result of it’s really easy to stretch virtually every thing in Canine Pose, it’s my favourite yoga warmup pose.
Particularly for those who apply very first thing within the morning, your physique must ease into yoga apply. Warming up is important, and it feels good too. After an evening of relative immobility, the fascia (the connective tissue that surrounds the muscle tissue) varieties a layer of what anatomist Gil Hedley calls “fuzz.” (Right here’s his nice video on the fuzz.)
Fuzz, tiny fibers that join muscle tissue to one another, varieties on the sliding surfaces between your muscle tissue. This can be a pure course of that occurs at any time when we’re motionless for a time frame. Nonetheless, the fuzz inhibits the muscle tissue’ skill to slip in opposition to one another, as a substitute inflicting them to stick to one another.
Stretching and motion soften the fuzz, permitting our muscle tissue to slip over each other once more. That is why we’re normally extra versatile within the afternoon than we’re within the morning. Our our bodies have had an opportunity to maneuver round and soften a minimum of a few of the fuzz. If we don’t make a degree to maneuver and stretch on a given day, the fuzz begins to thicken, making it tougher to dissolve once we do determine to apply.
For that reason, even for those who can’t do a full-on yoga apply, it’s a good suggestion to apply a yoga warmup pose (or two or three). This may maintain the fuzz at bay in order that whenever you do find time for formal apply, your muscle tissue might be extra amenable to it.
Fuzz Busting with a Peanut
Earlier than I even get to the fuzz-busting poses, I like to start out apply by rolling a Therapeutic massage Peanut beneath my ft and legs. Right here’s how:
From a seated place in your Yoga Mat, roll the Therapeutic massage Peanut beneath the only of your foot 7 to 10 occasions. Then work your means up, 7 to 10 passes beneath (or over) the next physique elements:
- Outer foot
- Interior foot
- Calf
- Outer calf
- Shin (You’ll want to do that from arms and knees, or roll the peanut over the shin from a seated place.)
- Hamstrings
- Quadriceps (One of the simplest ways to do that is to sit down and roll the peanut on high of the quads.)
- Glutes
- Outer glutes
Repeat on the opposite aspect.
In fact, you’re fairly welcome to improvise. There are many different physique elements that may use your consideration. The Therapeutic massage Peanuts have turn into an important a part of all my yoga courses, and my college students use them at dwelling, take them alongside on holidays, and so forth.
3 Yoga Warmup Poses to Break Up the Fuzz
Along with Canine Pose, there are a couple of different poses that make nice yoga warmup poses for those who don’t have time for a full-on apply. You would possibly wish to have a yoga mat and yoga strap useful. Listed below are three of my favorites:
- Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Going through Canine Pose): As I discussed, Canine Pose is a superb all-over stretch. While you apply it as a fuzz-busting pose, transfer by way of all of your joints, and keep in movement. Don’t fear about type. Take into consideration when your canine or cat does this pose. They do what feels good, not what they suppose seems good. I wish to apply a Half-Canine Pose with my arms on the kitchen counter whereas I’m ready for my tea water to boil within the morning.
- Talasana (Palm Tree Pose): Talasana zeroes in on the edges of the physique. When you can stretch your sides to an extent in Downward Going through Canine Pose, Talasana stretches the complete lateral line of the physique, from the outsides of the ft to the arms. Be at liberty to maneuver round on this pose as nicely. Discover twisting in Talasana. Utilizing a yoga strap between the arms on this pose permits your chest to broaden extra simply.
- Urdhva Hastasana (Upward Fingers Pose): Urdva Hastasana focuses on axial extension, however you may add a backbending factor to it as nicely. Experiment with completely different hand positions—palms collectively, yoga strap between the arms, fingers clasped with palms going through upward.
This can be a good, well-rounded fuzz-busting apply for very first thing within the morning. You can too simply apply Talasana and Urdhva Hastasana in noon, as a brief yoga break out of your desk. This quick apply can stand by itself or be a warmup for the remainder of your common yoga apply.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and started instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Observe and Yoga for Meditators, each printed by Rodmell Press. Her third ebook is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and folks sextet Purple Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards.