“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Warming up your joints is an indispensable part of any yoga practice. Although some joints tend to be slightly overlooked.
San Francisco Bay Area yoga teacher David Moreno teaches a series of joint exercises that can be used as part of a pre-practice stretching routine. Though most warm-ups emphasize major muscle groups, Moreno focuses on some of the smaller joints as an effective way to energize the body and ensure a safe practice or workout.
It’s also good for the long-term health of your joints. “When you move your joints through the full range of motion, it increases circulation and lubricates the entire joint,” he says. Moreno suggests the following practice adapted from a longer sequence taught at the Bihar School of Yoga.
4 Yoga Warm-Up Moves for Your Joints
Practice slowly, repeating each movement eight times. Take slow, deep breaths as you go.
1. Knees
Sit with your sitting bones on a folded blanket and your legs straight in front of you in Staff Pose (Dandasana). Bend your left knee, draw it toward your chest, and interlace your fingers behind your thigh. Make large circles with your lower leg, straightening your leg at the top of the circle, if that’s comfortable. Repeat on the opposite side.
2. Elbows and Shoulders
Sit cross-legged with your fingertips on your shoulders. Draw your upper arms toward your ears with your elbows pointing toward the ceiling and then circle your arms forward and try to touch your elbows in front of your chest. Continue to circle your arms down alongside your side ribs and finally bring them back up to shoulder height. Repeat and then switch directions.
3. Ankles
Sit in Staff Pose with your sitting bones on a folded blanket. Rotate your feet at the ankles in unison, starting with several clockwise circles and then switch to counterclockwise.
Then separate your legs about a block’s distance apart and rotate your feet at the ankles in opposite directions, bringing your big toes to touch as they come toward each other and then circling away from each other.
Finish by flexing and pointing both feet several times.
4. Wrists
Stretch your arms straight in front of your body at shoulder height. Bend your hands backward from the wrists as if you’re pressing your palms against a wall, fingers pointing upward.
Then bend your hands forward from the wrists so your fingers curl in toward the undersides of your forearms.
Finish by making your hands into fists and rotating your wrists in clockwise circles and then switch to counterclockwise.
This article has been updated. Originally published September 13, 2013.