This is Amelia,
And I'm here to lead you through a morning yoga practice.
So this is a short morning stretch.
You can do it at any time if you're feeling a little bit stiff,
A little bit creaky in the joints and the muscles,
And you just want to create a little bit of space and warm up the body.
So get your yoga mat and maybe add a blanket.
It could even be a towel.
Maybe a little bit of cushioning underneath your knees if you want.
And the first posture we're going to start in is Child's Pose.
And the breath work that we'll use is Ujjayi Breath.
It's an ocean breath,
A whisper breath,
Victorious breath.
You inhale through the nostrils.
You exhale through the nostrils.
You fill it from the belly first.
Exhale from the cholera bones empty,
Squeezing out at the low belly.
All right,
Let's drop into our first posture child's pose.
Balasana.
Knees out wide,
Big toes to touch.
Hands forward and slowly start to wiggle your hips back.
Please take the time like you're swaying your torso.
And you're feeling into how your hips feel.
How does the back feel?
How do the shoulders feel?
And just notice that where do you feel this first,
Just transitioning into this first posture.
And then softly rest your forehead down.
And take five ujjayi breaths here.
You Slowly press the hands down,
Lift the torso up.
Now walk the hands back.
Just see how that feels and bring the knees together.
And then sit back on your heels,
Rest your hands on your thighs.
Look forward,
Open your eyes or close your eyes.
Take a breath in.
And a breath out.
Let it go.
One more inhale.
And one more exhale.
All right,
Let's come into a tabletop.
So this is where you might want to set your knees on a blanket.
Your hips are aligned roughly with your knees,
Your shoulders in line with your wrists.
You can tuck your toes or bring the tops of your feet on the ground.
It doesn't matter.
And as you push the ground away from you,
Round your back with an exhale.
Separating the shoulder blades,
Just starting to stretch that upper back.
And as you inhale,
Slowly arching the spine.
Heart is forward,
Tailbone towards the ceiling.
So gently you can make this really,
Really small.
We're moving with.
The breath,
Exhaling.
Then inhaling as you drop the belly down.
Filling up the breath and the heart is forward.
Do that a few more times just feeling into the body Just waking up,
Creating space in the spine.
As you press the ground away from you,
Maybe feeling some contraction in the arms,
Waking up the muscles of the arms.
You're gently here moving through the back,
The spine,
The neck.
Moving mindfully.
Inhaling just as forward in your cow pose.
And take your knees out wide,
Big toes to touch,
And come into another child's pose.
This time we're going to walk our arms to the right for a few breaths.
And to the left for a few breaths.
So walk your arms over to the right.
And just pause until you feel,
You might feel some tightness in the left side of the body.
And when you're comfortable positioning your arms,
Go ahead and rest your forehead down.
And that left hand,
It might rest on top of the right or not.
Maybe it's separated out wide.
So just notice what's showing up here.
Breathe into the left side of the body.
Lifting the head up,
Lock the hands to the center.
And with your exhale,
Walking your arms over to the left and doing the same thing.
Right hand maybe on top of the left or not.
Rest the forehead down and hold here for a few more breaths.
Lift the head up,
Lock the arms towards the center.
Back to your child's pose.
One more breath here.
Empty and let it go.
And then slowly all the way onto your belly.
And then straighten the legs coming into a Sphinx pose.
Forearms are down.
And you may want to position.
Pelvis on your blanket or not.
So your elbows are just a little bit in front of your shoulders.
The forearms are parallel to each other.
You can wiggle your hips to let the legs relax.
And then the chest lifted off the ground,
It's only to the height where you just start to feel some sensation at the lower back.
If you feel a little bit too much pinching,
We don't want pinching,
Then you can rest your forehead down a little bit.
So open your eyes.
Let's wake up the nine.
Focus the gaze on one spot.
Setting your address sheet.
Hold this for five breaths.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Four more breaths.
Your gaze can be softly looking forward or you can let your head hang loose.
If your head is hanging,
Go ahead and lift the head up softly.
Open the eyes,
Looking forward,
Big breath in.
And big breath out.
Slowly rest the forehead down,
The chest down.
Take your left cheek down.
And now take your right knee out to the right.
Your arms right cactus arms,
Left side of the head.
Her left cheek is on the ground.
And just rest here for a couple of breaths.
So it may not feel like we're doing much,
But we are actually.
Just slowly moving through a couple of postures.
In different shape to create space in the shoulder joints,
The hips.
The back,
The neck.
Also just awakening this connection to your breath.
With your next inhale,
Gently press the hands down and the head up,
Straighten the right leg.
Come back into your Sphinx Pose.
And stay here in Sphinx or rotate the hands out to the right,
Right hand to the right,
Left hand to the left.
Coming into a seal pose as you push the ground away from you,
Straightening the elbows.
Then looking forward looking forward or letting the head hang.
If you find that this is too intense,
You might be feeling some strengthening in the arms.
You might be feeling something in your lower back.
If it feels too intense for whatever reason,
Then come back down into the Sphinx Pose with your forearms down to the ground.
Take your three more breaths.
Let's wake up the lungs.
Let's expand a little bit more with the inhales.
And slowly exhaling,
Keeping the mouth closed.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Gently rest the chest.
Arms or at Cactus arms,
Right side of the head is down now.
Left knee is out to the side.
And rest here.
Breathing,
Opening.
And letting go.
With your next inhale gently.
For your torso.
Back to the center,
Left leg is straight.
And then bring your hands underneath your shoulders.
As you press your hands down,
Press yourself back into a child's pose.
And this time in this child's pose,
Just wiggle side to side,
Wiggle side to side a little bit bigger.
And this time we're going to take some circles with the body.
The torso goes over towards the right,
Towards the right hand,
Moving forward,
Narrowed like in a tabletop.
And then circling over to the left hand.
The hip goes back towards the left heel.
Then circling back towards the right heel.
So moving in a circle.
Just gently moving to the spine and arms and the hips.
And the wrists and the fingers just gently moving through these circles slowly in one direction.
And then pause when you get back into a child's pose.
Let's go the other direction through that.
And keeping that ooh giant breath going.
Inhale.
And exhale.
One more circle.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Back to your child's pose.
One more breath here.
And let it go.
Slowly shift back into a tabletop.
Go ahead and bring your knees onto your blanket if that's what you're using.
Then look toward your right hand.
I'm gonna tuck your toes,
Send your hips up for downward facing dog.
And then you're going to reach your right leg high,
Look at your right hand and slowly bring your right knee towards your chest and slowly start to make your right foot towards the front of your mat.
On the inside of your right thumb.
And then gently set your left knee down.
So take your time if you have to reposition yourself on your blanket.
Or wherever you are.
Just feel how it feels right here.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
See if you can walk your right foot up a little bit more if that's here for you.
Now,
As you do that,
Maybe the back knee goes back a little bit.
So giving you a little bit more stretch in the upper thigh of the back leg.
And now with your right hand,
Press on top of the right knee and gently twist over towards the right side.
Oh,
Gently,
Might even rock.
Forward and back Again,
Creating space,
Saying good morning to the body.
Opening up,
Creating space in the joints.
Waking up the body and the mind.
And then slowly hands down to the ground.
And then shift your weight back into the half splits.
So walking the hands back,
Bouncing on your right heel.
Then exhale,
Melt your chest down.
Make an inch.
Maybe two,
Depending on how your hamstrings are feeling.
So you may or may not be touching your chest towards your thigh.
It doesn't matter.
So just wherever the body lands,
Just listening to your right hamstring and let's point and flex that front ankle.
Saying hello to the front of the ankle,
The top of the foot.
Behind the ankle.
Noticing the count.
Just noticing how it feels and keep that ankle flexed and just hold here for a couple of breaths.
Let your heart lift up,
Lift up forward slightly,
Then see if you can melt the chest down a little bit more.
Wherever you are,
Two more breaths.
Remember,
We're saying good morning to the body,
Patience.
Like letting the body wake up,
Letting the body.
Create space after the muscles have been relaxed overnight.
And then inhale the right foot is forward.
Your left knee is down.
Tuck your left toes.
And then you're going to step your right foot back.
And if you find that it's challenging to step the right foot back,
You can also take your right foot and walk it out to the side off your mat.
All right.
And then work your way back into a child's pose.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Alright,
Let's do the other side.
So again,
Maybe positioning your blanket as you need.
If you've shifted,
Knees on the blanket if you're using that.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Tuck your toes and your hips up towards the ceiling.
Come into a downward facing dog.
You can keep your knees bent.
Keep your gaze on your left thumb.
And now bring your left leg up,
Pulling your left knee towards your chest,
Starting to work that left foot towards the left thumb.
And take your time getting there.
And then right knee rest down onto the mat now.
And just feeling into how this feels.
Again,
Right toes can be tucked or top of the foot can be on the mat.
I just notice what's more comfortable.
So as you're holding here for a couple of breaths,
Do the same thing as you hold it.
See if you want to walk.
That left foot forward a little bit.
Or the right knee back.
So the more distance there is between the front foot and the back knee,
Then there's a little bit more stretch in the upper thigh of the back leg.
Steady your gaze on one spot.
Just seeing how you feel.
We're getting into the front of the legs.
I'm going to get into the hamstring on this leg also on the left side.
And give yourself that grace of acceptance and patience.
Sometimes we get up in the morning,
We feel like we want to moan and groan,
And that's okay.
Just allowing the body to be where it is.
Take one more breath here.
And as you exhale,
You're going to bring your left hand on top of your left thigh.
And we'll do the same thing.
We'll twist over towards the left.
Inhale.
And exhale,
Gently to the left.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
One more breath.
Exhale,
Release it.
And then slowly start to work your way back into that half split.
So balancing on the left heel.
Breathe in.
Heart is lifted.
Exhale.
Maybe the chest lowers one inch or two inch.
Or half an inch,
It doesn't matter.
And just notice how the back of the hamstring,
The left hamstring feels.
And let's flex and point.
The left ankle.
So when we move this way mindfully in the morning.
It's a way to tell the body,
I feel you,
I notice you.
Hey,
How are you doing?
Let me give you a little bit of movement so that as you move through your day.
You won't feel so stiff.
You won't feel so tight.
And then pause with your ankle flexed.
Pause here if you want to melt your chest down a little bit more,
You can.
On starting off your day,
With some mindful movement.
Is also meditation and movement.
It's a way to meditate by focusing on your breath.
Focusing on the physical sensations.
Staying in this rhythm of inhale.
And exhale and then slowly start to bring that left foot down onto the ground.
So the same thing,
If you want,
You can press your hands down and then lift up and step back with that left foot.
Over the left foot,
You might walk it around in a circle over towards the left and start to swing it back.
So the knees are behind for another child's pose.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
All right,
Slowly coming up.
So you may go ahead and set your blanket to the side.
And go ahead and make yourself comfortable as you take a seat.
Let your knees be bent,
Feet are flat on the ground.
So to wake up the body,
We're also going to wake up our core.
Going to do a boat pose.
There are variations of boat pose.
You can keep your feet on the ground.
You can keep your hands on the ground.
You can still feel boat pose.
So let's do that right now.
So imagine that you're pulling the lower ribs in towards the midline.
Your heart is lifted.
And as you're keeping the core gently engaged,
You're breathing up more into the upper chest.
Still holding on.
At the lower abs.
So you may keep your feet here and maybe you add your hands forward.
Again,
You can still be feeling this boat pose here.
Or maybe you're going to lift one foot,
Maybe both feet off the ground.
Maybe knees are bent.
Or maybe you want to explore straightening the legs and the hands.
And now let's wake up the power in the body.
Wake up the mind.
Go ahead and let yourself shake if you want two more breaths.
One more breath.
And then slowly bring the soles of your feet together.
Interlace your fingers underneath your feet.
And just rock side to side.
Let those sits bones root down.
Inhale.
And exhale,
Gently hinge at the hips.
You pause when the body.
.
.
Pauses naturally and let the head hang.
Inhale,
Rise.
Straighten both legs.
Just jiggle them out.
Let's come into some seated forward fold.
Bend your right knee.
Left knee gently rest against the left inner thigh.
Inhale the arms up and exhale,
Reach forward like you're holding a big beach ball.
You're going to hand it to somebody.
And then when the fingertips touch the ground,
Just pause here.
And your chest doesn't need to be close to your thigh,
Just wherever it lands.
Breathe into your hamstring,
Look towards your left foot and pull the left toes back towards your face.
See if you can press the back of the cap.
And the left hamstring down into the ground.
And with your fingertips maybe crawling forward a little bit,
You bring the chest forward and down.
And you might be thinking,
Oh,
I feel this.
Breathe with compassion,
No forcing.
Just be with what's here.
And then slowly walk the hands back.
And then we'll switch legs.
Right leg.
Straight left knee bent.
We'll do the same thing.
Inhale the arms up like you're holding a big beach ball.
Then hinge up those hips and keep those sits bones rooted.
You're going to hand that beach ball to somebody.
Until the hamstring says,
Okay,
That's as far as I'm going to go.
Then you rest the hands down,
Palms down.
And the right toes now,
The ankles flex,
Right toes back towards your face.
Inhale.
And exhale,
Melt in the chest down.
Breathe into the back of the hamstring.
So why do we feel so tight in the morning?
Is actually when the body relaxes in its sleep overnight.
The muscles contract.
Sounds kind of funny.
You would think if they relax that they would expand,
But they actually contract.
They relax into contraction.
And so we wake up in the body,
And they're in a natural contraction.
Not necessarily contraction like we're flexing our muscles.
But just the natural body,
How it holds,
And so in the morning.
It's nice to create a little bit of space.
Take one more breath here.
Exhale,
Let it go.
Slowly walk the hands back.
And the legs forward,
Jingled out again.
So because we want to wake up,
I'm not going to actually lead you into a Shavasana.
We're going to come back down onto our knees.
So swing the legs forward.
Go ahead and grab your blanket again.
And now we're going to move the body a little bit bigger.
So now we've kind of warmed up.
I'm going to warm them a little bit more.
So now come up onto the shins.
Lift the front of the pelvis up towards the belly button.
So keeping the core gently engaged to protect the lower back.
So keep the arms forward,
Elbows are straight,
Looking at the palms.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Round the back,
Pressing away.
And then inhale,
Rising up.
Stretching up,
Stretching up,
Maybe back bend if that's here for you.
Exhale,
Circle the hands down.
Go ahead and sit all the way back onto your heels.
Rest your hands on your thighs.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
We're going to do that two more times.
On your knees,
Arms are straight.
Inhale.
Exhale,
Round the back,
Push away.
Inhale,
Rise up,
Pressing up or going back.
Exhale,
Circling the arms around,
Feeling yourself wake up,
Sitting back on your heels,
Rest your hands on your thighs,
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
All right.
Let's do that one more time.
On the shins.
Arms are straight.
Inhale.
Eyes open.
Exhale,
Push away,
Stretch that upper back.
Inhale,
Rise up,
Lifting up your energy,
Maybe back bend,
Opening,
Exhale,
Circle the arms and around.
Sitting on the heels all the way back.
Chin toward your chest,
Breathe in.
Slowly open your eyes,
Lift your head up.
And then facing the front of your mat.
I'm gonna turn just to face you.
Go ahead and straighten your legs one more time.
I just see if you would like to massage the kneecaps at all.
Maybe the thighs.
Maybe all the way down to the ankles.
Then cross your right shin in front of your left shin.
Coming into a crisscross applesauce.
So your right shin is in front,
Your left shin is back.
Bring your left hand down and then reach your right arm up and over.
Just breathe and see what you feel.
You might be feeling it here in the UL,
The quadratus lumboris.
Feeling that that gets tight.
Tape from setting.
So creating space here and then slowly inhale.
Releasing and let's go ahead and straighten the legs again.
So we're almost done here.
And now let's bring the left shin in front.
The right shin behind.
And this time the right fingertips are going to come down or the right palm.
Inhale the left arm up and over.
And breathe,
Breathing,
Creating space in the left side of the body.
Breathing,
Awakening.
Expanding.
And then inhale,
Rise.
Stay where you are.
Bring your palms together.
Feel your thumbs at your heart.
As you feel your sits bones running down,
Sit up tall in your spine,
Reach the crown of your head up towards the sky.
Maybe reaching it up towards a divine guide or something or someone that inspires you.
And set an intention for your day.
Breathe into your intention.
And sigh,
Release any attachment to outcomes or results.
Thumbs touch into your third eye.
May you move through your day with mindfulness.
Awakens.
And move through your body and mind and your life with ease.
Together we bow down in things.
The light in me honors and sees the light in you.
Namaste.
Thank you for joining me in this morning practice.
I'd love to hear how this was for you.
Come back and repeat this at any time.
Thank you for joining me Have a great day.
