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A short sit before training is not a warm-up and is not a way of getting fired up. What it does is narrower: it gets you into the session you are about to do rather than still in the one you came from.
What this practice is
Most people arrive at training carrying the previous two hours. The first part of a workout then goes on catching up, which is where a lot of poor form and half-hearted first sets come from.
The practice is a brief transition. Attention comes off whatever it was on, settles, and the intention for the session gets stated once. That is all, and it takes very little time to do.
It is not activation. If you need arousal raised before lifting, that is what the energizing breathwork is for, and sitting quietly will not provide it. This is the opposite adjustment and suits people who arrive scattered rather than flat.
The tradition puts a settling and an intention before practice as a matter of course, and treats it as part of the practice rather than as preparation for it. What people commonly report is a better first ten minutes. Any claim about performance would need clinical evidence and is not made here.
When to use it
In the few minutes between arriving and starting, once you have changed and before you warm up. It goes before the physical preparation rather than instead of it.
It suits arriving scattered, straight from work or from a commute. If you arrive flat and heavy, the energizing breathwork does the job this cannot.
Skip it on the days you already arrive present. A transition practice for a transition that has already happened is just delay.
The sessions
Pre-Workout, one practice at two lengths, 7 to 16 minutes. Every session in this collection needs Premium. Four other meditation collections have a free session in them, and the free tier covers twelve guided sessions across the app.
| Length | Tier |
|---|---|
| 7 min | Premium |
| 16 min | Premium |
How long to practise for
The shortest session is the practical one. Anything long enough to cool you down or eat the session is working against the training.
The longer one suits a rest day or a morning before a big session, where the point is settling generally rather than the minutes before a set.
The general version of this, and what a longer session actually adds, is in How Long to Meditate For: Choosing a Session Length.
How to use it
Sit rather than lie, and keep it brief. Getting comfortable is not the aim.
Name what the session is for, once. Not a target and not a pep talk, just what you came to do.
Warm up afterwards. This does nothing physical and does not replace anything that does.
Skip it entirely if you are short of time. The training is the point, and a practice that eats it has the priority backwards.
What usually goes wrong
Using it as a warm-up. It has no physical effect at all. Tissue and joints need the usual preparation and this does not touch them.
Expecting to feel fired up. It settles rather than activates. If arousal is what you want, the energizing breathwork is the collection for it.
Taking a long session before training. It cools you down and eats the time you came for. Short is the whole design.
Turning it into a visualisation of the workout. Rehearsing the session is a different exercise and tends to produce pressure rather than presence.
Two minutes, then warm up
PanchPrana keeps the shorter session short enough to sit between arriving and warming up. The energizing breathwork is the one to reach for on the days you arrive flat rather than scattered.
Who should take care
This is a brief sitting practice with no physical component and the cautions are short.
It does nothing to prepare the body for exertion. Warm up as you normally would, and do not let a settled feeling substitute for raised tissue temperature and mobile joints.
If you live with panic disorder, take care with attention on the breath immediately before exertion, where breathing is about to change anyway. Use the feet or the hands as the object instead.
Stop if it leaves you drowsy or disinclined to train, which happens to some people, and move to a warm-up instead. Chest pain, dizziness or breathlessness around exercise are reasons to see a doctor rather than to adjust a meditation.
See our full Health & Safety Disclaimer.
Common questions
Will this improve my workout?
What people commonly report is a better first ten minutes because they arrived present. Nothing about performance is claimed.
Is this a warm-up?
No, and it does not replace one. It has no physical effect on tissue or joints.
Should I do this or breathwork before training?
Breathwork if you arrive flat and need arousal up. This if you arrive scattered and need to be present. They are opposite adjustments.
How long before training?
Immediately before the warm-up, and briefly. A long sit close to training tends to cool you down.
What if it makes me sleepy?
Skip it that day and go straight to warming up. It suits some people before training and not others.
