For those of us living in climates that have temperature changes, it is great to be at peace with all kinds of weather and to have the knowledge to deal with both extremes.
Cold is pertinent right now... Dressing in layers is a great way to start. Perhaps your yoga practice space isn’t as warm as you would like it. Modify and make sure YOU are warm; you can always peel layers off if you like.
In general however, we sometimes forget to warm up for our asana practice. The warm ups are not a waste of time, as they warm up our minds as well as our joints/muscles and enable us to put our focus on our breath and off our “to do” list.
Here’s a favorite from the Kundalini tradition to really get you going:
• Sitting in Sukhasana, place your hands on your knees with palms down.
• Leading with your chest and chin, begin to rotate your rib cage as if it could circle over your knees.
• Moving in circles in one direction for 3 minutes, and then repeating in the other direction, will awaken that dormant energy
curled up at the base of your spine.
• In addition, this motion will really warm you up.
• Pay attention to the grounding of your sitting bones. Try not to let them come up from the earth.
You can gently press on the knee of the side that is coming up and alternate on the other side as is necessary.
This is also great to use with young students in a guided meditation. Pretend to stir up all sorts of wonderful, healthy things to eat as we “grind” or “stir” the ingredients.
This also helps incite laughter, another wonderful warm up.
Try it. I think you’ll find this will warm you up!
Sat Nam.
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