Eight yoga poses to practise before your retreat
A short, gentle routine to build the habit in the weeks before you travel, so the first morning is not a shock.
You don’t need to prepare for a retreat. Beginners are normal and teachers expect them. But practising a little beforehand makes the first few days more comfortable, mostly because your body stops being surprised.
Fifteen minutes, three times a week, for the month before you travel is plenty. Move slowly, breathe through your nose, and stop if anything is painful rather than simply hard. If you are pregnant, recovering from surgery or managing an injury or a health condition, check with your doctor first, and tell your teacher when you arrive.
1. Mountain pose
Stand with your feet under your hips, weight even through both feet, shoulders relaxed, arms by your sides. Breathe slowly for a minute. It looks like nothing and teaches you how you stand.
2. Cat and cow
On hands and knees, hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Breathing in, let your belly soften and your chest lift. Breathing out, round your back. Move with the breath for eight to ten rounds to warm the spine.
3. Downward-facing dog
From hands and knees, tuck your toes and lift your hips up and back. Keep your knees bent generously and your heels lifted. Lengthening the spine matters far more than straight legs. Five slow breaths.
4. Low lunge
Step your right foot between your hands, lower your left knee to the floor, and let your hips settle forward. Five breaths, then swap sides. This opens the front of the hip, which tightens with long flights and desk work.
5. Standing forward fold
Feet hip-width, bend your knees as much as you need, and fold forward, letting your head hang. Hold opposite elbows and sway gently. Bent knees are not cheating; hamstrings lengthen over months, not in one session.
6. Seated twist
Sit with both legs out, bend your right knee and place the foot outside your left thigh. Turn gently to the right, using your hand behind you for support. Breathe in to lengthen, out to turn a little more. Five breaths each side.
7. Bridge
Lie on your back, knees bent, feet hip-width and close to your hips. Press through your feet to lift your hips, keeping your neck soft and still. Hold for five breaths, lower slowly, repeat twice. Good for the back, the hips and the legs.
8. Savasana
Lie flat, arms a little away from your body, palms up, eyes closed. Stay for three to five minutes without doing anything. This is the pose most people skip and the one that lets the practice settle.
Putting it together
Run through the list in order: it flows naturally from standing to kneeling to seated to lying down. If you only have ten minutes, keep cat and cow, low lunge and savasana.
When you arrive on retreat, tell your teacher what you have been practising and anything that hurts. See also our guide to three simple breathing practices and what a retreat week looks like.
