Using Heat to Arrive on the Mat
The why and how of warming up in yoga, so your practice feels even better.
A good warm-up sets the tone for your entire practice, not just physically, but mentally and energetically too.
Whether you’re rolling out your mat first thing in the morning or settling into your practice after a long day, creating warmth in the body is key to arriving safely and fully.
It prepares your muscles and joints, protects you from injury, and brings your mind into the space you’re about to enter.
In this post, let’s talk about two main types of warming: passive and active. Each has its own benefits, and when used together, they create the most supportive, powerful foundation for your practice.
Passive Warming: External Heat for Internal Readiness
Passive warming uses outside sources to heat the body, and it can be incredibly effective.
It doesn’t require physical effort, which means it’s especially great if you’re recovering from fatigue, injury, or just waking up the body.
Some examples:
- Heated room: Adjust your thermostat or use a space heater to gently warm the air.
- Warm bath: Soaking before practice helps loosen tight muscles and prepares the nervous system to relax.
- Heating pad: Target specific areas like the low back or hips if you’re feeling stiff.
- Natural sunlight: Practicing outdoors (or even by a sunny window) brings not only heat but the grounding and uplifting benefits of nature.
Passive warming can generate more heat than your body might naturally build on its own, and helps you open up before you move a muscle.
Active Warming: Movement That Creates Heat
Active warming is self-initiated.
You use your own movement and breath to generate internal heat. It’s especially important when external heat sources aren’t available or you’re preparing for a physically demanding sequence.
There are two main kinds:
General Active Warming
This is full-body movement that gradually builds heat and wakes up the entire system.
It’s ideal to start your practice with general warming and maintain that heat as you move toward your peak pose. Some go-to options:
- Ujjayi breath: Gentle breath through the nose with a slight constriction in the throat, creating warmth and focus. It should create a soft snoring sound, or like ocean waves crashing on the shore.
- Cat-Cow: Awakens the spine and gets your breath and body in sync. From your tabletop position, undulate the spine from arched to rounded. Inhale as you arch the spine, exhale as you round. You can even add circle movements with the hips as you flow.
- Sun Salutations: A full-body sequence that energizes and activates. Flow through poses like Mountain Pose, Forward Fold, Plank, Chaturanga, Up Dog, and Down Dog. This rhythmic sequence builds heat, wakes up your muscles, and connects movement with breath.
- Core activation: Gentle ab work to center and stabilize the body. Examples include holding a forearm plank to fire up your deep core, lifting knees in tabletop to gently activate your lower belly, or practicing a few slow, steady boat poses to build heat from the inside out.
The goal is to build steadily, warming through movement rather than launching into intensity.
Practice bringing these warming poses into the beginning in your flow, and avoid cooling poses until after you’ve reached your peak.
Targeted Active Warming
This focuses on areas of the body that might need extra attention. If you know you’re tight in a specific place, this is where you listen deeply and warm that space intentionally:
- Tight hips? Try gentle hip openers like Figure Four or Butterfly Pose. For Figure Four, lie on your back with the knees bent, and place the foot of one leg across the knee of the opposite (making a “figure four”). For Butterfly, sit up straight and bring the soles of the feet together and let the knees fall out wide, gently leaning over the legs.
- Stiff low back? Gentle twists or supported bridges can help mobilize. For a gentle seated twist, place one foot outside the knee of the opposite leg, and begin to twist over the same shoulder as the bent leg. For a supported bridge, lie on your back with the knees bent, then use a prop like a block or bolster and place it underneath the hips to lift them higher than the rest of the body.
- Cold hands and feet? Circulatory movements like wrist and ankle rolls get blood flowing.
Targeted warming is a great way to personalize your practice and tune in to what your body needs on any given day.
Heat in Harmony
Each type of warming has its place, but the real magic happens when you use these techniques together.
Passive warming can soften and support the body while you build awareness and engagement through active warming.
When paired together, they help you move more safely and deeply into your practice.
Even outside of a full yoga flow, these techniques can be used any time:
- As a gentle morning ritual to wake up the body.
- Before strength training or cardio as a safe warm-up.
- When you’re stiff or tight and just need to move a little energy.
Final Thoughts
There’s no need to rush.
Let your warm-up be a chance to check in, to listen, and to feel. The way you begin sets the tone, not with force, but with care.
Just begin gently, and let presence be the goal.
Hey!
I’m a beginner beginner! I signed up for a yoga 1 hour session in March at Disney with hundreds of people. I signed up in hopes that that would motivate me to start learning yoga. I’m excited about learning yoga! I believe Jennifer is your mother in law. She and I knew each other back when are girls went to school together. Wishing you much success on your new endeavor!!
I’m so excited for you as you are starting this journey! Sometimes the hardest part is taking that first step in trying a new experience.
What I love about yoga is that we are all beginners in some sense. The learning and exploring truly never ends.
How lovely that you know Jennifer! Thank you for the encouragement!