Yoga Breathing Warm Ups

Series Summary

Yoga poses have become increasingly popular as a form of exercise and meditation. The focus of yoga is a holistic one, employing a broad range of practices which focus on a new way of living, thinking and being in the world. Aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit, the health benefits of yoga are also great and varied. From relieving stress to strengthening and toning muscle, integrating yoga positions and exercises into your daily routine can be beneficial on many levels.

A proper warm up is important for any exercise routine, but is especially important for yoga poses where the spine and neck are so often utilized and worked. In this free video series, our expert yoga instructor will teach you how to do yoga warm ups. You will learn a variety of yoga poses and exercises that are perfect to begin a yoga session, including breathing exercises, shoulder warm ups, the chair pose and spinal rolls. You will also learn how to do the half lotus pose, the bound ankle pose and cat extension warm ups. If you are interested in yoga, be sure to learn how to keep your body safe and healthy with these easy but important warm up exercises.

Video Transcript

"Yoga is a great way to increase flexibility in a muscle-skeletal system and enhance joint stability. In breathing and relaxation, it is also a unique way to reduce stress, so it's a good way to, good form for stress management. We're going to start out by breathing. And rib-cage breathing is a good way to engage the diaphragm, with a deep breath in through the nose, lifting through the top of the head and grounding the feet, and exhale. Taking a full breath, where you feel the rib cage expand. Open and release. Two more times. Open. Full rib cage and then empty the belly, navel to spine. Big inhale through the nose. Open the rib cage to the point where you actually feel it moving as a result of breath. Then we're going to add some open-heart arms as you're presenting your heart. Open. Chest. Lung capacity. Release. And close. And inhale. Open. Heart-opening breath. And release. If it helps to close your eyes and focus, this is a great way. Keep your feet grounded. All four corners of the feet on the mat. Inhale. And release. We're going to try another arm pose with it up. Sun, rain, moon, link. And back up. Bring the elbows together. And release. Big open wide. Inhale. Don't forget to activate the diaphragm. If the arms get too complicated and you forget that rib cage breathing, just take out the arms and simply stand and remember to lift tall. Grow with each vertebrae. Inhale. Open up the rib cage. Release. One more time. Even put your hands here, so you can feel that expansion. And release. Once you get about five minutes of breathing in, diaphragmatic breathing, then you're ready to roll into some of the poses."