Morning yoga beats shower power

In the last two weeks my yoga schedule was getting a little confusing. I was doing all sorts of immersions in different styles like acro yoga and vinyasa and in different moments of the day. These are harder practices, very appealing and motivating for my vata type (ayurvedic constitution representing air, movement, cold and lightness), but especially now that this heat wave came, I had to realise, best is if I return to my own yoga. I do what feels right for me, and I return to my classical early morning practice.

Another thing is that with all this inner and outer heat, I started to feel that my Pitta got disturbed (that is the fire element in all of us, and one of the ayurvedic body constitutions). My skin started to go bad with pimples and I could feel a general laziness overwhelming my days. I just needed to "cool down" a little, so this morning I got up in "normal" time for yoga, and started doing my warm ups at 7am. This is not even that early compared to India, where we used to start at 5.30, but I still I was proud of myself. Santoshaaa.:)

The morning was already quite sunny, but the temperature was still fine. I decided, nothing too exciting today, but I will use this heat to attempt some deeper stretches, forward and side bends and backbends. These are generally calming and grounding, while backbends also give you the feel of energy. They are really powerful excersises if done carefully. And as the blood flows into your brain in inversion and in many of the backbends, they are really improving your mental abilities for the day.
I even skipped surya namaskar this morning, there is already enough heat in me.

I did almost two hours of asana and then some very soothing pranayama, and then a 30 minutes meditation finished by shavasana. When I got up and finished chanting my three Oms, I felt like a newly born person. My day has really started. I felt awake and ready to go. And until I started cooking at 2 pm, I got sorted out many things. My focus was just perfect despite the by then boiling heat, and without any air conditioning I felt just right, even when I was cooking in the kitchen which place at this time could have been better named as "the oven".

Wow, I am back, I feel strong and powerful, I am ready to go. Wouldn't it be nice to get to your office or workplace every day with this feeling. People tend to moan. They are either pissed because of the heat or the bad weather. Imagine if you would not be prone to all this climatic changes, or any other mood swings, but could just have a fresh start every morning.

Yes, you got me, I want to promote morning yoga here. People usually go to evening classes because that is appropriate for their schedule. Maybe, but I think many start work only at 9 am so they could do some yoga before. Even 40 minutes or less would do it, but I am sure it is more beneficial. In the morning your body may feel more stiff, but in fact it has more energy than by the evening. You just got up from the longest relaxation one can experience in daily life.
Also if you really want to advance in your asana practice, I think the best indicator is that you are on the right path, if you become able to do most of the things you are capable of achieving in the evening also after getting up. This means that your practice is getting more consistent and on this you can build further layers. By practising in the morning you also make sure that your practice is getting safer, since imagine, if momentarily in the evening you feel more flexible or warmed up by all the daily activities, and you try something, but physically your body is already tired, you might hurt yourself easily. You may not even feel it that moment, but you might have some bad surprises next morning.  This is coupled with the tendency that many come to a class after work to release tension, some wants to relax, but others want to burn out the stress of the day, even if unconsciously. Therefore they might easily have a tendency to be mentally stiffer, and to overdo or overforce in their practice. And again, this may cause pain and injury.

Evening yoga is totally legitimate, but it shall be relaxing and slow, preparing for resting. However, there is an expectation from many that if I come and pay for instruction, then I want to have a challenging 90 minutes. Well, good luck with that if you can sleep afterwards, but I speak of my own experience here, this might be problematic. Yoga is not only a physical exercise, it is tuning your energetic body, and working on your nadis and subtle energy fields. Asana moves this energy, takes away the blockages, the tiredness or stiffness and energises the whole body. It is a wonderful impact, but not if it starts intervening with your sleep. Just do whatever suits you, but keep these basic principles in mind.

I think though that morning yoga is more efficient than a shower alone.