Morning Stretch From Bed

Transcript

Welcome to our 10 minute morning stretch from bed practice.

And we'll start this practice laying on our backs.

You might bring a pillow underneath the head,

Maybe one underneath the knees too.

And we'll simply take a breath in to arrive.

And breathe out through the nose,

Nice and slow.

And we'll do that once more,

Full breath in through the nose.

And a long breath out through the nose.

You could invite the face to soften here,

Maybe even letting the eyes close if it's not too tempting to fall back to sleep.

And we'll use our next breath in to reach the arms up and overhead,

Stretching the legs out long.

Big morning stretch,

You know the one.

And as you breathe out,

You could let your arms soften overhead,

Knees soften too.

We'll do that again,

Full breath in,

Expanding the lungs,

Stretching long,

Fingers away from toes,

Low back might even peel up.

Exhale,

Let your body soften,

Arms stay overhead.

Last one,

Reach.

Maybe hold at the top of your breath in.

Breathe it out,

Let your hands land beside the body now.

Take a breath here,

Noticing how we feel after just three breaths of stretching.

And from here,

We'll slide the legs in towards you,

Bringing your knees in towards the chest.

Knees could be together or apart,

And you could reach for thighs or shins,

Just giving the legs a good hug in.

You might rock a little bit side to side.

And when you're ready,

You might let your knees fall all the way over towards the right.

Take a breath there,

And let your body soften.

And as you breathe out,

Take a breath there in your twist.

Use your next breath in to bring your legs all the way back to center.

And your exhale could let the knees fall to the opposite side,

Breathing in your twist.

Not your deepest twist ever,

Nice and gentle.

Bring your legs back to center,

And hug them in once more.

And for this next one,

We'll leave the hands on the knees.

Take a breath in,

And as you breathe out,

Let the knees come in closer.

You might bend the elbows.

Use your inhale to let the knees move away,

Maybe straightening the arms.

Exhale,

The legs come in like you're pressing the air out.

Inhaling,

Knees move away,

Arms lengthen,

Palms stay cupped over the knees,

And we'll do a few more just like that,

Following your own breath.

The next time you push your legs away,

Let the left foot land down on the bed or on the pillow,

And keep a hold of your right leg.

Squeeze your right leg in,

And then bring the right ankle over the left knee,

So you're making like a figure four in the legs.

Think of the right knee moving away from the face.

And your left leg could stay bent with the foot resting,

Or you could reach for the left thigh.

Finding some sensation on the outer right hip and thigh.

When you've had enough of that one,

Let your foot land back onto the bed or pillow,

And unravel right leg from left.

Envelop right leg from left.

Inhale,

Hug both of the legs in.

Exhale this time,

Right foot lands down,

Knee stays bent,

Hug the left leg in,

And bring the left ankle over the right knee.

Think of the left knee moving away from the face.

And maybe you stay right there.

I often find that the pillow gives enough height to find a lot of sensation in that left hip.

If you want a little more,

You could reach for that right thigh.

Check that the shoulders can still be soft here.

When you've had enough,

So slowly let go of the leg,

And bring both feet down.

Rest there.

With the feet resting down,

You could either leave them there,

Or you could stretch the legs out.

With your next inhale,

Slide your arms out to a T shape with the palms facing up.

Exhale there and let your shoulders soften.

Use your next inhale to reach the arms up,

Like you're reaching for the ceiling.

And with your exhale,

Wrap your arms around yourself like you're reaching for shoulder blades,

Giving yourself a hug.

You could see what happens if you lift the elbows up a little.

And just notice if you're creating some space in the spine.

You can play with walking your fingers a little closer towards the shoulder blades,

Deepening that hug.

Take a breath or so here.

Remember which arm is on top.

And use your next inhale to unravel the arms all the way out to that T shape.

Really reach through your fingers.

And as you breathe out,

Give yourself a hug with the opposite elbow on top.

You can deepen that hug any way you'd like,

Whether it's lifting the elbows,

Walking the fingers a little closer towards the spine.

And take a breath or so there.

When you've had enough,

Inhale to unravel.

Exhale,

Let yourself soften.

Exhale,

Let yourself soften the arms beside the body.

We'll finish off with one hand on the heart and one hand over the belly.

And see if you can feel your breath.

The inhales expanding the chest and the belly.

The exhales releasing,

Softening.

Maybe after a few moments of that,

You might be able to feel the more subtle aspects in the body.

And you just feel the body.

And you feel your heartbeat in your hands.

Once you've connected to your heartbeat,

Send gratitude to your heart for beating,

To your body for all it does day in and day out,

To your heart and to yourself for carving out this time in your morning to practice.

Thank you.

I hope you have a great day.

Take care and stay well.