3 Yoga Poses for Warming Up in the Winter
It’s the darkest time of the year over here in California, which means colder weather, occasional rain and the smell of hot cocoa and spices.
Let’s beat the blues by keeping our blood moving and bodies stretching.
Here are my favorite yoga poses for turning inward, creating warmth inside the body, and providing the mind and body with a boost of energy.
Ustrasana (Camel Pose):
This is a heart-opening pose which, paired with steady breathing, can get the nervous system energized and heart pumping out fresh blood.
Always use the support of blocks, and remove them later if you want to take the pose deeper.
Instructions
1 Stand on your knees on a blanket for extra cushion, with your knees hip-width apart. Put the blocks on the inside of each foot. Place your hands on your lower back, with your thumbs on your sacrum, pressing the hips forward.
2 Inhale to engage your lower belly while pressing the hips forward and start by just reaching one arm up to explore this space. Alternate with the other arm, letting the breath guide the movements.
3 On another inhalation, allow your rib cage to expand while looking up.
4 Keep your chest raised and your core engaged as you reach back with one hand to an ankle with the thumb facing out. On the exhale, come back up and try the opposite hand to ankle.
5 Next inhalation, try to bring both hands back to the ankles, again with the thumbs facing out. Keep lifting through your sternum.
6 Gently lower the head and neck and gaze at the tip of your nose, smoothing out the breath and listening to the body and allowing for whatever comes up in the experience of the pose.
7 To exit the posture, bring your chin back toward your chest and your hands to your hips with your thumbs on your sacrum. Engage your lower belly and use your hands to support your lower back as you come up slowly. Counter into child’s pose and rest. Listen and watch, with non judgement, as the sensations unfold in your body.
— — — —
Bhujangasana (Cobra Pose):
A low-belly backbend, Cobra pose creates a nice opening in the throat space for an immunostrengthening experience. Low-belly backbends are great for any breathing issues, clearing out the passages of the heart and lungs and relieving stress and fatigue.
Instructions
1 Lie on the mat on your belly with legs straight back and the feet pressing down into the mat.
2 Place the hands at the sides of the ribcage, underneath the shoulders with the fingers spread as wide as you can get them.
3 Begin to press the hands down into the floor, keeping the elbows glued to the sides of the body, and straighten through the arms while lifting the chest up off the floor into a backbend.
4 Inhale deeply here, breathing all the way down to the tailbone.
5 Exhale, lower down while keeping the neck long and not crunching the cervical spine.
6 Take three-five more cycles of this
— — — —
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Pose):
This mini-backbend is excellent for relieving fatigue in the legs and hips and draining out stagnant blood and lymph that’s settled after a long day of holiday shopping around town.
Instructions
1 Lie on the mat on your back, bending both knees and placing the feet flat while walking the heels up toward the sits bones.
2 Exhale all of the air out, pressing the sacrum down into the mat for a moment and feeling the support of the mat and earth.
3 On the inhale, shift the hips up, pressing the feet down into the mat (especially the big toes and inner corners of the feet) while actively engaging the inner thighs.
You may even want to place a block between the inner thighs to feel this engagement or use a block underneath the sacrum for a supported bridge pose.
4 Lift the buttocks and low back up away from the floor while keeping the feet parallel and perhaps interlacing the hands underneath the sacrum and rolling shoulders underneath the ribcage. If you’d like to explore further, bend the elbows and create a little table with the hands underneath the sacrum to support this deepening backbend.
5 Keep the breath flowing here, enjoying the draining sensation of blood and lymph that has stagnated in the legs that may now move down into the digestive organs to be rid of so fresh blood can flow into the legs after the pose is complete.
6 To release, exhale and slowly roll the spine down one vertabre at a time. Bring one hand to the belly and one hand to the heart and take a moment to notice (with compassion and non-judgement) the effects of the pose.
Hope you stay cozy and find time to connect with loved ones, including yourself!
Click here to check out my vlog documenting this epic journey on Youtube
Follow me on Instagram Tea the Yogi
❤, Tea Sloane