Hello everyone! I have quite a steady routine of doing half an hours yoga in the morning but I am becoming disheartened because I can see I am much more flexible in the evening. I really don’t want to change my routine because it would be too inconvenient so my question is 'will the morning stiffness go away?'
no pun intended 
I have been very much in the same boat, subalster. When I began my morning practice, I found that I was very stiff indeed (hardy har har)! Evening practice netted much greater flexibility. As with all things, however, my body got used to the morning routine, and greater flexibility came. Then, guess what happened? I became that much more flexible in the evenings!
Consider, also, what you are attempting to “achieve” with your morning practice. Is it simply greater flexibility? Is it enhanced energy for the day, greater focus and clarity, is it a support of your greater yoga practice? Perhaps listening deeply to that stiffness would net you more than merely enhanced flexibility!
Edit - consider also that your morning stiffness lends itself to more opportunity for injury. Take it slow. Listen to your body
When the body arises in the morning we come out of the past and into the present (presuming we are sleeping on our back). At that time of day the body is stiff but the mind tends to be alert and well rested. In the evening, the body is more supple but the mind is more depleted. So the practice does and should differ in the morning and evening to accommodate our two respective natures.
thankyou for your replies but hmmmmmmm
i know that the morning is in satva guna and thus better for the mind and spirituality and so on but right now im just annoyed coz i cant get my knee on my head
i guess really the question is…
if i want to be really flexible is it better to practice in the morning or the evening?
or…
that question is kind of weird coz i will always be more flexible in the evening
so
will i make faster progress in general if i practice in the morning or the evening?
IA, the wise one has told you abt body n mind. he is the one whose advice you can blindly take.
keep that in mind and the sattavic state you talked.
Please do suraya namaskar (even numbers) as a warm up routine, this is the only dynamic routine in yogic practice. It will loosen you up,
Take NO advice or direction blindly, especially mine. Discern it all for yourself.
As for your question(s) you are right it is a bit odd to discuss the gunas and your flexibility frustration in the same breath. It simply doesn’t matter if you can take the knee to the head, balance on your thumbs or the like. There’s no such thing as achieving the perfect pose otherwise Iyengar would have stopped his asana practice about 40 years ago
It is the experience, the striving, the nature of you being revealed to you. Deal with the frustation - THAT you can take with you when you leave the physical body. Open hamstrings you cannot.
ok look, i dont want to be funny or anything and i do appreciate the answers that your giving me but its still not answering my question
lets say im just a gymnast and i dont care about the spiritual side of yoga
is the morning better or worse or no different?
its basically a yes no answer
sorry, im british
A hot bath in the morning might help but not to the level one is in the evening.
We’re also sorry you’re British
Note that we are free here now - LOL.
Granted we’ve mangled that freedom.
But bollocks mate, I’ve answered your question. The body is more stiff in the morning. My goodness, after a day of worldly movement your bod is more flexible? Imagine that.
Assuming you’re not hunched up in a ball in a box all day long you will continue to be more supple in the evening and more stiff in the morning.
How stodgy you simply don’t want to change your practice due to inconvenience. Life is inconvenient. Responsibilities are inconvenient. Having to feed one’s self, damn inconvenient. Should we all just remain in the pram?
The morning is better to work gently on the stiff body. The evening better to work on the stiff mind.
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
thats not the question!!!
i know im more flexible in the evening, i already stated that,
and changing the routine isnt the issue
the question again is the following…
will i make more physical progress by practicing in the evening or in the morning?
thats it
the answer can go three ways
either
morning
evening
or it makes no difference
you can sideline the question by saying that the morning is better for spirituality and so forth but thats not what i am asking, i am asking about physical stretch power
you can also sideline the question by simply stating that i am more flexible in the morning but thats not the question i already know that
you could also sideline the question by simply saying that it doesnt matter how much progress you make but that is not answering the question thats just saying dont ask the question
really to make it clear i am asking if i do yoga in the morning for a year will i be phycially more flexible at the end than if i had done the same amount of yoga in the evening
thats it.
sorry for this but i do like to make myself clear and i am grateful for anybodies reply if they have one
fair enough upon reading my original post i realise that i didnt actually ask the above question in such a clear way
hahahahaha
but i suppose that is what the process of inquiry is for…
[QUOTE=subalster;61830]ok look, i dont want to be funny or anything and i do appreciate the answers that your giving me but its still not answering my question
lets say im just a gymnast and i dont care about the spiritual side of yoga
is the morning better or worse or no different?
its basically a yes no answer
sorry, im british[/QUOTE]
Maybe you should ask your question to a gymnastic forum.
Well, it is quite normal to be stiffer after waking up in the morning than in the evening after an active day. So the problem might be the degree of stiffness felt. It is difficult to write anything like that without more information or direct interaction, but a short practice including asanas in the evening could improve the flexibility in the morning.
Philippe
That is what the process of SELF inquiry is for. But clearly you’re not interested in that “spirituality”, which I’d not at all mentioned.
No one actually KNOWS the answer to your question. We have no friggin idea how your particular rate of progress will go morning or evening, with eyes open or closed, chanting or not, intended or not. Yoga is not a rational persons pursuit. It’s not Step Aerobics or Nia, or Pilates, or Tae Bo.
In short, figure it out. Determine it for yourself. What works better for you? If gain is your middle name then find out of you achieve that best in the morning or in the evening. Maybe it’s both. Maybe it’s neither. Maybe it’s different on Monday than it is on Thursday? Maybe it’s different when you’re eating and sleeping well, and maybe it’s best when you’re out getting slogged and practicing with a hangover.
ok thankyou
I find that if you perform some activities before hitting the yoga routine right away in the morning, you’re able to do more and be more flexible. I guess the body has laid ‘stiff’ for a while and needs some movement - about 45 minutes after waking is when I like to start - it sure seems to make a difference
It is always advisable to do physical activities in morning so that you can work well in your day time. still if you do not have aother option please do it in evening. it is always better to do something rather than not doing it.
[QUOTE=subalster;61453]Hello everyone! I have quite a steady routine of doing half an hours yoga in the morning but I am becoming disheartened because I can see I am much more flexible in the evening. I really don’t want to change my routine because it would be too inconvenient so my question is 'will the morning stiffness go away?'
no pun intended :)[/QUOTE]
whats the problem? we all more flexible in the evening. Are you trying to show off in front of someone in the morning?
I would recommend to stick to the routine. Since the routine is the most imporatnat thing in any practice, especially yoga.
Teaching-wise… I teach stretchy, restorative classes in the evening to sooth and relax
Put another way (hopefully more digestible to you) “neither”. Physical “progress” is not at all dependent on the time of day in which one practices (in yoga).
The Internet is littered with opinions on the “best time to work out”. Some say the early afternoon. Try that.
Sorry for the delay in cutting to the quick for you.