A Guide to Planning a Home Yoga Stretch Routine

The times being as they are, working out has become a bit more difficult. However, doing some yoga at home is a great way to keep exercising and stay fit. But still, be careful not to overdo it with stretching, as there are various types of yoga stretches that can still be a bit difficult to do correctly.

Don’t get discouraged. Just because you’re home, you can still do some awesome stretch yoga to keep yourself active, among other types of yoga. You still need to come up with a plan though, so here’s some help with it. And remember – if you need any advice, feel free to contact experienced yoga pros in Mission Beach, San Diego. 

How do you plan a yoga sequence at home?

Practicing yoga at home can be a lot different to doing some yoga at a premium gym. When you’re at a gym, you just go, change, and follow the direction of your yoga instructor. However, when you want to do some home yoga, you have to do some planning. 

Now, organizing a yoga session at home is nothing difficult, but you still have to follow through a series of steps to ensure your home yoga sessions are as good as they can be.

  1. Grab some gear – While it is true that the only thing truly essential for doing yoga is your body, it’s best to get some gear for your at-home sessions. This is the gear you’re going to be needing, and probably little else besides it:
    • Yoga mat – Choose a 3-5mm thick one.
    • Two yoga blocks – A 4-inch thick blocks are a good choice.
    • Yoga strap or a belt – Not essential for beginners.
    • A cushion for meditation – Just choose a comfortable one.
  1. Choose the right space – As yoga has as much to do with meditation as it does with stretching, the choice of space to practice it in is very important. The perfect yoga space would be a quiet room with no clutter and a relaxing view.
  2. Schedule the time – One of the upsides of doing yoga at home is that you do not have to stick to a schedule. You can practice yoga whenever you feel like it. However, even when you’re home, you still need to develop a rough schedule in order to develop a habit. Also, don’t cut your sessions short, but follow them through to the end.
  3. Find what works for you – There are many yoga apps, podcasts, and video tutorials to help you do better yoga at your own home. However, not all of the programs might be suitable for you. Find the flow that feels good, and do it. Also, check the website of the gym you used to go to before the pandemic. Maybe they’ve put up video instructions of their own.
  4. Start off slowly – Or, if you’d like to get it going with a beginner-friendly yoga sequence, you can try going through the following poses. Do it once on your right side, then switch to your left side, and go through all these positions once again.
    • Cat-Cow
    • Downward Facing Dog into Down Dog Split
    • Low Lunge
    • Warrior I
    • Warrior II
    • Peaceful Warrior
    • Plank into Chaturanga
    • Upward Facing Dog
    • Downward Facing Dog

This is quite enough to start you off easy, while also providing an excellent workout. If you ever feel you need to crank it up a notch, consult some video tutorials.

Should you stretch before or after yoga?

If you’re doing a variant of yoga that is slow and mellow, you don’t really need to stretch all that much before it. However, it’s still always best to prepare your body for what’s to come. Also, it is wise to stretch a bit after yoga too, as yoga poses can make your muscles a bit tight. The best combination is the following:

  • Dynamic stretches: Doing dynamic stretches before a workout session, be it yoga or anything else, is good for preparing your joints and muscles for some exercising. Take five to ten minutes for some pre-yoga dynamic stretching.
  • Static stretches: Nevermind the type of yoga you’re doing – static stretches after a session will elongate and loosen up your muscles, prevent injury, and make you feel even better.

How do you start and end a yoga session at home?

When it comes to starting and ending a yoga sequence, there are no set rules on how to do it. However, there are some pointers that will help you fall into a routine faster, and make the entire home yoga experience a lot more enjoyable.

  1. Starting the session – Here’s what you can to do start your session off:
    • Create sufficient space around you to begin.
    • Arrange the mat and the rest of the equipment.
    • Plan your session out.
    • Do some dynamic stretches.
    • Watch out for the 3 Ps:
      • Pain
      • Pinching
      • Pushing
    • Follow where your body is taking you.
  1. Ending the session – When it comes to ending the session, there are four different ways that are equally great to end your session on:
    • Do some static stretches.
    • Do some restorative yoga positions to relax your body.
    • End your session with Pranayama.
    • End your practice with some meditation. 

Who in Mission Beach, San Diego can help me plan my home yoga routine?Should you stretch before or after yoga

If the times were not such, we would welcome you into our family of yogis and tell you to come to our place. However, at Fit, we care about the health of clients, which is why we’ve decided to temporarily close all our locations.

This doesn’t mean we’re not able to help you. You can check out our YouTube channel and watch some instructional videos, or you can contact us and we’ll see about helping you out. We know it’s challenging, everything is. Not even the visits to San Diego Zoo Safari Park are not as they used to be. But we continue giving it our all. Call us, we’ll help you anyway we can.

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