Have you ever noticed your muscle tissues feeling tighter in the winter? Bundling up and hunching away from the cold causes contraction in the body, which in turn, frequently leads to physical discomfort in the shoulders and spine.
Similarly, shortened days and cooler temperatures can also have a damaging impact on other regions of daily life such as sleep, mental well being, and motivation.
To mediate that encounter, we advise turning to a winter yoga sequence that inspires you to bring heat back into the body.
These Yoga Poses Will Help You Combat the Winter Blues
From gently opening the heart and hips to realigning you with your breath, there is normally anything to be gained from leaning into your practice.
Practice This Winter Yoga Sequence to Warm You on the Coldest of Days:
Not certain exactly where to get started? Here’s a speedy winter yoga flow to get you began.
1. Seated Side Stretch
Stretch out your side body with this uncomplicated pose.
Let’s attempt it:
- Begin in a comfy seat (Easy Pose) with your legs crossed
- If this is not accessible to you, really feel free of charge to slide blocks beneath your knees to assistance your decrease body or extend your legs out in front of you
- Place your ideal hand to the floor with your elbow slightly bent
- Take your left hand more than your head and stretch gently to the ideal
- Rotate your gaze up toward the ceiling and keep in mind to hold your seat rooted into the mat
- Repeat on the other side
2. Seated Spinal Twist
Unwind your tense muscle tissues with this gentle twist.
Let’s attempt it:
- From Easy Pose, inhale and take each arms up overhead
- Relax your shoulders down away from your ears
- On your exhale, take your ideal hand to your left knee and your left arm gently behind your body
- Inhale with your heart facing forward, then on your exhale, commence to twist toward your back left arm
- Inhale to bring your arms back up to the sky, and repeat on the other side
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3. Cat/Cow Pose (Marjaryasana/Bitilasana)
Start to develop heat in your body with this uncomplicated flow that is ideal for winter yoga.
Let’s attempt it:
- From Easy Pose, roll more than your knees onto all fours
- Be certain to verify in with your body right here. Your shoulders ought to be more than your wrists and your hips ought to be more than your knees
- Splay your fingers wide, and root into your palms
- Push the floor away to activate your core
- On your next inhale, drop your belly, tuck your toes, and lift your chin toward the sky into Cow Pose
- On your exhale, round your spine, tuck your chin, and flatten your feet to the floor into Cat Pose
- With just about every round of breath, let your spine to lead as you produce space in each your front and back body
4. Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Continue constructing heat as you add more complexity to your winter yoga sequence.
Let’s attempt it:
- After moving by means of a couple of rounds of Cat/Cow, bring your hands slightly in front of your shoulders, and after once more, spread your fingers wide
- Root into all 4 corners of your palms as you commence to lift your knees off the floor and tuck your toes beneath
- Gently pedal out your feet and turn the eyes of your elbows toward the front of the area
- Bring your head in line with your shoulders and shoot your hips up and back as you energetically send your heels toward the floor
- Straighten your legs and bring your gaze toward your shins
- Breathe to lengthen your tailbone and lift your seat toward the sky
5. Plank Pose (Kumbhakasana)
Much like preparing for a push-up, Plank Pose fires up your core and demands you to stack your body, thereby engaging your abdominals to add even more heat to your winter yoga sequence.
Let’s attempt it:
- From Downward Facing Dog, roll your weight forward into a higher Plank
- Align your shoulders more than your wrists
- Engage your core and kick back by means of your heels
- If you have an established practice, really feel free of charge to comply with this up with a “vinyasa” by lowering into Chaturanga and lifting into Upward Facing Dog. Otherwise, just return back to Down Dog
6. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)
Chair Pose is the ultimate winter yoga pose due to the fact it instantaneously builds heat in your legs, core, and arms.
Let’s attempt it:
- From Down Dog, step or hop to the best of your mat
- With your feet collectively, squeeze your legs as you bend your knees and let your fingers graze the floor ahead of stretching your arms overhead
- Slightly sit back into your heels, taking stress off of your toes
- Relax your shoulders away from your ears and sink deeper into your seat
- Breathe as you discover strength by means of your legs and core, noticing a sense of grounding coming from the bottoms of your feet
- On your exhale, fold more than your legs and step your left foot back
7. Crescent Lunge (Anjaneyasana)
Build even more heat with some Lunges.
Let’s attempt it:
- With your left leg behind you, drop your back left knee gently to the floor
- With your hands framing your front foot, verify in to make certain your ideal knee is situated straight more than your ankle
- As you inhale, bring your hands onto your front thigh
- On your initially exhale, gently push into your leg, enabling you to sink a bit deeper into your pelvic floor
- If you notice discomfort or strain in your low back, activate your left leg by pushing it deeper into the mat
- When you are prepared, take your arms overhead, continuing to lengthen on your inhale and sink on your exhale
- Bring your hands to frame your front foot, and prepare to transition into your next pose
8. Peaceful Warrior Pose (Shanti Virabhadrasana)
Build more fire in your legs, core, and arms with Peaceful Warrior Pose.
Let’s attempt it:
- Cartwheel your arms up and overhead as you enter into Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)
- Your ideal foot ought to be facing the front of the area, though your back foot ought to be parallel with the finish of your mat
- Bend into your front knee, generating certain you can see at least your initially two toes
- Relax your shoulders away from your ears as you gaze more than your front hand
- On your inhale, flip your front palm toward the ceiling, and exhale, to attain it up overhead, building space in your heart
- Your left hand can settle on your back hamstring
- After a couple of rounds of breath, exhale to cartwheel your hands down to frame your front foot, and prepare to transition into your next pose
9. Wild Thing or Flip Dog (Camatkarasana)
Fire your self up in the peak of your practice with this incredibly heating winter yoga pose.
Let’s attempt it:
- Extend your front foot up to the sky and take a pitstop in Three-Legged Downward Facing Dog
- Bring your chest toward your standing leg as you extend your best toes toward the ceiling
- Stabilize your shoulders by splaying your fingers and rooting your palms equally into your mat
- On your exhale, commence to bend your best knee and open your hip, maintaining the upper half of the body in location
- Take your time, enabling your hip to continue opening
- You can keep right here, or sooner or later, let the toes of your best ideal foot to meet the floor, flipping your chest toward the ceiling
- When you are prepared, safely transition back into Three-Legged Downward Facing Dog by engaging your core and pushing your bottom hand into the mat to flip your leg from the floor back up to the sky
- Feel free of charge to take a “vinyasa” right here or pause in Downward Facing Dog ahead of repeating this sequence of poses on the other side
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10. Child’s Pose (Balasana)
Start to release some of the fire and unwind with this gentle release.
Let’s attempt it:
- Once you have taken your flow on each the ideal and left sides, drop your knees for Child’s Pose
- Bring your toes collectively, and separate your knees to the width of your mat
- Sit back, reaching your seat toward your heels as you stretch your arms forward
- Relax right here for a couple of deep breaths
From this resting pose, really feel free of charge to take a couple of more movements or transition straight into Corpse Pose (Savasana). For Savasana, lay down on your back with your arms by your sides and close your eyes. Surrender right here for as extended as you’d like to totally absorb all the warmth of this winter yoga sequence.
Warm Up With This Heating Winter Yoga Sequence
Remember, this flow is just a jumping off point for you to dive deeper into your desires, each on and off the mat. So make it your personal.
After all, the aim of yoga is to discover!
Let us know in the comments how you enjoyed this speedy winter yoga sequence, and what other poses your body craves in the winter.
