Yoga Before Meditation

[Purple]

This week I've started doing some basic yoga in the morning to get myself in better shape, limber up for the day, and fight the aches and pains of getting older. I'm just doing Sun Salutations right now since I've never really done much yoga before.

However, if I do the yoga before I sit - which is what I wanted to do - it gets my heart rate up and I break a light sweat. This is what the yoga is supposed to do, of course, but I'm not sure it's conducive to meditation right after. My normal routine is shower (in order to wake myself up), then sit, then eat, then work. I thought I could just toss yoga in there right before the sit but now I'm wondering if I need to rearrange.

Any opinions on this? Should I go ahead and sit before yoga so I'm not kinda jacked up and sweaty when I begin my meditation?

[Masauwu]

Hi Purple,

I don`t know much about yoga but maybe you can try different types of yoga exercises? Here`s an inspiring success story that involves yoga just before meditation.

[Vivek]

Purple,
 Sun Salutations is an excellent exercise both for mind as well as body. I suggest you continue doing it daily. After yoga wait till your breath becomes normal and the body cools down. Then proceed to meditation. During yoga try to be as much mindful of all movements as possible.

[Matthew]

...
However, if I do the yoga before I sit - which is what I wanted to do - it gets my heart rate up and I break a light sweat. This is what the yoga is supposed to do, of course, but I'm not sure it's conducive to meditation right after. .....

Purple,

Vivek's advice above is good.

Also I would just question whether the yoga is supposed to get your heart rate up and break a sweat. I used to do Ashtanga high impact yoga which was an aerobic work-out: an hour of sun salutations at high speed. Now I do the same postures but at a very slow speed, very mindfully, and it's quite a different thing. Recovery time to be in a position to meditate is very short, actually nothing ... it takes you into a meditative state by itself.

..My normal routine is shower (in order to wake myself up), then sit, then eat, then work. I thought I could just toss yoga in there right before the sit but now I'm wondering if I need to rearrange...

How about yoga, shower sit as a rearrangement? Might that be enough of a pause to quiet the heartrate and wash off the sweat?

Both meditation and yoga are beneficial. You can surely work a way to benefit from both.

Warmly,

Matthew

[Purple]

Thanks to all. I'm going to try yoga then pause then sit. If that doesn't work I'll try yoga then shower then sit. I like the first idea, especially with Matthew's suggestion to slow it down and be mindful of the movements.

[Billymac629]

...
However, if I do the yoga before I sit - which is what I wanted to do - it gets my heart rate up and I break a light sweat. This is what the yoga is supposed to do, of course, but I'm not sure it's conducive to meditation right after. .....

..My normal routine is shower (in order to wake myself up), then sit, then eat, then work. I thought I could just toss yoga in there right before the sit but now I'm wondering if I need to rearrange...

How about yoga, shower sit as a rearrangement? Might that be enough of a pause to quiet the heartrate and wash off the sweat?

Both meditation and yoga are beneficial. You can surely work a way to benefit from both.

Warmly,

Matthew

I agree with Matthew.  I used to do yoga early in the morning..  My routine was yoga, meditation, then shower. But if you can't sit right after the yoga then Matthew's arrangement works quite well.

with metta

[hopper]

Just another recommendation for Hatha Yoga (i.e. postures) before settling to meditate.  I have read in quite authoritative books that the original purpose of Hatha and Prana (i.e. breathing) Yoga was actually to prepare for Raja Yoga (i.e. meditation and concentration excercises), but because they are so effective they have become widely used as a health regime in their own right.

30 minutes of Hatha Yoga in my room first thing in the morning or during lunch break made all the difference during my 10-day Goenka retreat; it kept me smiling, loose and open when the going was tough physically and emotionally, and my progress was apparently faster than most too.