April 24, 2025
Question: For someone just beginning yoga practice, who is prepared to get up at 4:30am or 5am, how could one best use an hour and a half? What proportion of time should they give to meditation, asanas, pranayama etc.?
Swami Venkatesananda: It depends a lot on whether the person is fresh at that hour. Some are night birds and some are day birds. People who go to bed late may find their mind sleepy and dull at 4:30 AM. Others are early birds who go to bed at 9 PM and are awake at 4 AM. If a person is wide awake at 4 AM, then it is good to jump out of bed and practice some meditation first thing — it is better to catch the mental agitation at its source. It is possible then to look at the agitation as it arises as it wakes up.
If a person is not wide-awake in the morning, then one asana for a couple of minutes, without too much physical movement, will help. Too much physical movement will bring you into mid-day at 4 AM. One quick posture will wake you up just enough to enable you to meditate. Pranayama may also help; two or three minutes of asana, two or three minutes of pranayama and then meditation.