Morning Micro-Practice

Hi, and thank you for all of the great content throughout the years! I have a quick question about my daily practice (hopefully this is the right place to post it!). For the past year or so, I’ve been starting each day with a quick, five-minute yoga/stretching session. Sometimes I’ll watch a DYWM video, other times I’ll do sun salutations, pranayama breathing, or just pick a few poses which feel right. Having hit something of a plateau lately, I would like to adjust my morning “micro-practice” so that it’s maximally efficient, but still relaxing and grounding.

For context, I am a newbie ultrarunner and casual rock climber (and grad student, hence the limited time!). I usually do exercise, stretching, and/or yoga later in the day, but it’s generally goal-specific. Thus, for my mornings, I’m wondering whether…

  1. I should prioritize something general, like sun salutations or breathing, which can really expand to fill the minutes available to me,
  2. I should rotate daily foci throughout the week, (maybe upper body practice one day, then legs, then balance or core, etc.)
  3. I should just listen to my body and do poses/flows which feel good, and which help me to recover from the previous day’s activities (runs/climbs are usually in the evening).

Essentially, “If I can only do five minutes of yoga today, how can I make those five minutes really count?” I’d like to prioritize general flexibility, pre-workday relaxation/grounding, and efficiency (5min max).

Thank you in advance! Any/all ideas are welcome!

Matt

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Ohhhh! Those all sound really good. I have never done a morning micropractice, but you have inspired me. I am going to give it a try for a week! Thank you!

Hi Matt,

I love your efficiency mindset and trying to optimize the time you have to the greatest benefit. We do have a micro practice challenge you could use if you would like to be guided for your morning sessions. It sounds like you do have some good self awareness and confidence in guiding yourself. If you only have 5 minutes it would be nice to spread the focus out to various parts of your body and practice on different days. Day 1 could be sun salutations, day 2 core work, day 3 upper body strength, day 4 shoulder openers, day 5 lower body strength, day 6 hip openers, day 7 pranayama/ meditation?

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Hi Fiji,
Thank you for your reply! I will definitely check out the micro practice challenge, and will keep your advice in mind throughout the coming weeks. @Charring, I hope you enjoy!

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