Wake Up Your Spine

The morning practice that wakes the spine in every direction it didn't move overnight. Gentle, accessible, and designed to leave you feeling taller, less hunched, and properly awake in just ten minutes. Best for first thing in the morning, before email and before scrolling.

Transcript

And we're going to start it off with where it all began. Are spines. You and I are vertebrates, Which means that we have a vertebral column with a skull on the top. And our oldest known ancestors are the sharks. They showed up in the record 450 million years ago. So there are a lot of vertebrates running around this planet. And I'm sure you and I have had the experience of moments where our spine felt less than healthy. I know I've fractured two vertebrae in my spine, And I know just how important it is for me to do this sort of movement that we're going to do today to keep my spine balanced, Strong, And healthy. So let's get into it. Go ahead and lay down onto your back. If you're in bed, Perfect. You can just take the arms out to the sides. Hmm, Take a breath just to land. Breath out to bring the knees in. And again, Bring our knees over to the left, Head turns right. And taking a breath in. Use your breath out. And using your breath out to. . . Roll the legs. Laugh. Turn the head right. Now the important part to. Potentially help align the spine here as with your next breath in. Take the breath out just to relax all the muscles. Around the spine. Inhale to center. Exhale, Switch sides. Turning the head, Taking a breath in, And then using that exhale, Relax the hips, The spine, The shoulders. If you get a little adjustment in there, Perfect. We're ready to move. Plant the feet. After coming to center onto the floor. And with your next breath in, Lift the hips. And exhale, Lower. Now, You might like the arms by the sides here as I have them. You might enjoy the arms up overhead. But what I want you to focus on here is the exhale. So with the inhale, Our hips come high. And with the exhale, Like you're releasing a string of pearls onto the floor, I want you to create space between your vertebrae. So inhale, Rise. Exhale, Draw your hips towards your heels and unfurl the spine. Two more. Inhale, Lift. Exhale, Unfurl and lengthen. Let it feel good. Oh, Yes Legs go either on the floor as you were or straight up towards the sky. We're going to bring our arms down by our sides now and curl up a little bit. Put some energy through the legs if they're lifted and we're just going to reach to the right and then reach forward to the left. Side bending a little. Opposite side. Rates. Reach. Rates. Rates. Now, As you do this, As we fire up the core, As we remember that we are alive and grateful to have a spine that can move, A core that can carry us, I want you to draw navel to spine. Moolabandh, Puriyanabandh. And draw pelvic floor up. Mula Banda. Last five, Four, 3. M1. Good, Touching back down. Take a moment, Settle. Then we're just going to roll over onto our belly. And I'll meet you in Sphinx pose. Setting up with the elbows underneath the shoulders, Forearms parallel. I often need to walk my elbows in just a little so they're directly underneath my shoulders. And then draw the heart forward. Put some energy through the legs so the tops of the feet press down. Take a breath in. Push down to rise the heart. And breath out. And extend back through the toes. Once more, Inhaling, Feel some length being drawn through the low back. And then exhale, Release down. Arms come down by the sides. Palms face the floor. Chin touches down. And just continuing to work with extension here, Lifting your shoulder heads up. Chest up. Tops of the feet pressed down. Now we're just going to move the arms here so you can float the arms. This might be enough. But if you want a little bit more, Right arm reaches forward. Inhale. As you exhale, Switch. Left reaches forward. Inhale. Exhale, Switch. Right? Switch. Each time an arm reaches forward, Reach that thumb skyward. Lift the arm, Lift the chest. Lengthen through the crown of the head. Two more on each side. Last one. Oh yeah, Felt that press down come up onto all fours. Set yourself up, Stack! Shoulders over wrists, Knees underneath hips. And our familiar cat cow. Inhaling. . . How? Exhaling to cat And as we move. . . I want you now to Initiate the movement from your tail. So the tail starts and the head moves last. Tail start. Head moves last. See if he can feel. All 26. Prawns. Over a hundred joints in your spine. That allow such intricate, Delicate, Sophisticated movements. Good. Come back to center. Inhale, Draw your hips forward, Chest rises. Exhale. Round the spine, Shift back. So inhaling, We're gonna arch the spine. Go gentle, Go easy, Look up. Exhale, Let the spine lift. Dome your upper back. SHIFT BACK inhaling as you focus on movement, Particularly in the thoracic spine. The low back and the cervical spine move quite easily, So we don't usually have to accentuate those or focus. In fact, We're often trying to stabilize in those areas as we mobilize. In between the shoulder blades. Last one. Good. Come back to center. Cross the legs come to set Hands to knees, Inhale, Lift the heart. Exhale, Round. Once more, Lift up. I'll just bring Chen. . . Where it's chest come to neutral. Sit tall if you would love to meditate. Your spine is ready. I thank you so much for your practice today.