Best Yoga Warm-Up Pose—Which One’s Your Favorite?
Cat Pose — Marjaryasana (mahr-jahr-ee-AHS-uh-nuh) — is usually paired with Cow Pose — Bitilasana (bee-tee-LAHS-uh-nuh) for a gentle warm-up flow. Together, they stretch the body and prep you for everything else.
Cat-Cow is a smooth back-and-forth that heats the body and wakes up the spine. It lengthens the back body and neck, lightly fires up the abs, and cracks open the chest so your breath gets slow and deep. The rocking motion also gives the kidneys and adrenals a little massage. Sync it with your breath to melt stress and settle the mind.
Flowing through these two shapes builds full-body awareness and balance, keeps the spine happy, and—done regularly—helps keep back pain away.
👀 HOW TO
1. Start on hands and knees: wrists under shoulders, knees under hips, fingers forward. Knees and shins hip-width apart. Gaze softly down, neck neutral.
2. Cow: inhale, drop the belly toward the mat. Lift chin and chest, eyes toward the ceiling.
3. Broaden shoulder blades, shoulders away from ears.
4. Cat: exhale, draw belly to spine, round the back toward the ceiling—like a cat stretching.
5. Let the crown of the head release toward the floor; keep chin off chest.
6. Inhale back to Cow, exhale to Cat.
7. Repeat 5–20 times, then sit back on your heels, torso tall, and chill.
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