Morning Yoga: The Benefits of Starting Your Day on the Mat
There is something different about practicing morning yoga.
When you decide to practice yoga first thing in the morning you’re making a conscious decision. You have decided to look after yourself first.
Before you start looking into your phone messages…
Before you start tackling your “to-do” list…
And before your responsibilities and concerns start taking over your mind…
You’re taking advantage of the morning silence to look within, to connect with your body and sould and to begin your day feeling at peace.
After morning yoga your day suddely starts looking more manageable.
What is morning yoga?
When we mention “morning yoga” to our students many of them visualize an outdoor practice at sunrise. Laying their mat on the grass, still wet from morning dew, and slowly warning up their bodies with a series of asanas under the first rays of sun.
While that is definitely an amazing option…It’s not always practical or realistic in everyday life. Morning yoga simply means practicing yoga at the beginning of your day, whether that means a full studio class, a 20-minute home practice or just a few minutes of stretching, breathing and meditation.
There is no perfect time to practice yoga. The best time is ultimately the one that fits your life and allows you to practice consistently.
That said, having this morning ritual has something special about it: it creates a small space between waking up and getting caught up in everything else.You begin by checking in with yourself.
And that simple change can make a difference.
5 benefits of morning yoga
1. You’ll start the day with less stress
Moving slowly through yoga poses and paying attention to your breathing can help reduce mental and physical stress. You don't need a complicated sequence.
Sometimes ten or fifteen minutes on the mat is enough to tell your nervous system: The day has started, but I don't have to rush into it.
2. It can help you wake up your body
As we grow older it is more and more common to wake up feeling stiff, especially around the back, hips, shoulders or neck.
Morning yoga gives you an opportunity to gradually introduce movement into your day.
Gentle twists, standing poses, spinal movements and simple stretches can help you reconnect with your body and explore how it feels after a night of rest.
You don't have to prove anything. Morning practice can be about warming up, moving with awareness and gradually becoming more comfortable in your body.
3. It gives you time for yourself before the day gets busy
This might be one of the biggest benefits of morning yoga.
Once the day gets going, it becomes very easy to put yourself at the bottom of the list.
Work needs your attention.
Children need your attention.
Emails need your attention.
Other people need your attention.
If you decide to do your yoga practice in the morning, you’ll start the day giving you the most valuable gift of all…”Me time”.
When you start your day doing something for you…It changes the way you face your day. And we say this from our own personal experience (and from the feedback we get from our yoga students).
4. Morning yoga can support your mental wellbeing
If you tend to overthink, a complete yoga practice can be a real life-saver for you.
While you are “busy” breathing, making the transitions correctly and concentrating on holding the different poses you are giving your mind a break from the everyday concerns.
If you spend much of your day thinking, planning and worrying…Make sure you try a morning yoga practice that’s slightly demanding on a physical level. You’ll see that your mind won’t be able to take over with those recurring thoughts…It’ll be too busy concentrating on keeping your body in balance.
Yoga isn't a replacement for professional mental health care but it surely is a regular wellbeing practice and it can be a useful way of creating moments of pause and awareness.
5. It can help you create a consistent healthy habit
There is another practical advantage to practicing yoga in the morning…You get it done before the day has a chance to get in the way.
If you leave your yoga practice until the evening, there are hundreds of reasons why it might not happen:
You are tired.
You left work late
Other plans come up
You don't feel like exercising.
Morning yoga removes some of those obstacles. Of course, not everyone is a morning person. And there is no need to force yourself into a 6 a.m. yoga routine if it makes you miserable.
But if mornings work for you, practicing before your responsibilities take over can make maintaining the habit easier.
What does a morning yoga class look like?
A morning yoga class at Lemon Yoga Sevilla feels a lot like this:
We welcome you into our studio with dimmed light and the scent of essential oils to make you feel comfortable and at home
We start with some breathing exercises combined with some easy asanas
As we start to warm up, we move on to slightly more complex sequences. That’s where concentration kicks in…Our bodies and minds are definitely awake now.
We finish our class with a guided relaxation practice (Oh, glorious savasana!)
If this is something you’d like to try while you are in Seville, don’t hesitate to contact us to book your spot at our morning classes. We do drop-in classes but you must contact us first. See you at the studio!
Comments