Mind Warm-ups

I wonder if you have any experience of mental/emotional warm-ups for rehearsal.

Of course we all have experience of physical warm ups (some from hell, some excellent) at rehearsal and workshops. Vocal warm ups and word-play or improvisation games move a little closer to the territory of warming up the "inner self".

There are of course the "lie on the floor and visualise yourself as a large lump of clay", new-agey type warm ups.

I wonder if there are established wamr-up routines for working with complex scripts, with difficult emotional content.

If you have any experiences, please do share.

Why do we NOT warm up the mind as well as the body?

Here are a few ideas that could be used:
- word games
- story telling exercises
- puzzles, riddles and working with paradoxes
- thinking games

The main benefit would be a more "loosened-up" mind, perhaps better quality improvisation and also focus on the work itself.