yoga

I was wondering if Yoga is a good way to stretch a little bit before you begin your warm up. I did a little and it seemed to help. DOes anyone else do this or is it a stupid idea

Sure.

I do the three warrior poses before I do MSH or Straddle L work since I have really tight hips. It helps.

Its not a stupid idea at all.

Now that yoga has been around for a while in the west its become fairly commonplace and accepted. There is still a fair amount of mumbo jumbo that goes with the territory, but that seems to be true of almost any fitness system.

Ironically, its been slowly coming to light that a good deal of what constitutes modern yoga actually may have its roots in early gymnastic traditions from the west particularly a Swedish system of gymnastics that didn't use apparatus at all! I've seen some pictures from the system and it really looks very much like yoga.

The main point of 'distinction' with yoga (you can also lump in Qui Gong and other asian systems, Feldenkrais etc) is the emphasis on a relaxed awareness and mental participation in the stretches and movements. Neuroscience is now at the point that it has confirmed the value in this type of work on many levels, including helping to reorganize and fine tune our mental body maps.

Programing wise, i personally prefer to separate the practices by a few hours, but a light session could be used as part of your warm up and for your flexibility work.