Mellow Morning Yoga Flow (15 min)

This gentle morning yoga flow invites the body to wake up gradually through slow, balanced movement.

The sequence includes twists, lower body stretches, and strengthening poses such as half splits, lunge twists, boat pose, and hero pose, creating both mobility and stability in the body.

Designed as a chaturanga-free practice, the flow moves smoothly between poses while encouraging steady breathing and mindful movement.

A supportive practice to begin the day with clarity, warmth, and ease.

Transcript

Welcome to this morning flow. This is a great practice to do in the morning when you would like to stretch it out and it's a fairly gentle practice that you can do to gently awaken and arise into the rest of your day with a balanced sense of energy and calm. So we're going to start towards one side of your yoga mat and we're going to actually end off on the other side and then we'll repeat the same mirror sequence so that we come back to where we began. So let's start. We're going to come towards one side of the yoga mat maybe facing towards your left side and you can lay out the mat horizontally. So I'm your mirror if that feels good for you and we come into Tadasana pose with your feet about hip distance apart. Ground down through the four corners of your feet. Relax your shoulders down. As you root to rise, Sweep the arms up when you inhale and as you exhale fold all the way down. Let the hands either touch the shins ankles or the feet or maybe the yoga mat and breathe in to find lift through the spine as you form an L shape with your spine and breathe out to fold in Uttanasana. Inhale lifting, Exhale folding. Let's try one last time. Inhale lifting and exhale folding. From here we'll step your right foot long and far behind you. Drop the right knee down and inhale rise up. The hands can stay on the front thigh if that feels good for you and we'll start to shift the hips forward and back. Just feeling moving very gently this morning without rushing taking all the time you need feeling into the thigh and groin area. Now when you feel like you've had enough slowly lunge forward and then maybe one or two hands in your heart center or maybe one or two hands in the sky. One more breath here and from here slowly and gently we'll let the hands come down towards the yoga mat or press down through the right hand and turn and lift your left hand up to the sky. Option to stay here and you might also slide your left foot to the edge of the mat or even turn the foot out slightly to give you more space to rotate your chest if that helps. If you want more you can tuck the back toes under and lift the back knee off the ground. Staying here for three, Two, One. Let's drop the back knee down and then reach the bum back slightly. Shift the hips back use your hand left hand to hold on to the back foot and then once again roll the shoulder blades back and open your chest. Come into a thigh stretch for your back leg for three, Two, One and then slowly and gently release. Place both palms back on the yoga mat. Now we're going to come into half splits. Slide the left heel slightly forward, Lift the toes of your left foot off the ground. Breathe in to find lift, Breathe out find some surrender and softness. Let's stay here breathing in and out for three, Two, One. From here reset your left foot back then place the hands on the inside of the left foot. We'll tuck the back toes under and start to walk your hands from one side of the yoga mat all the way to the other side. So we come into the same sequence again now with the other leg. So the hands slowly walk up onto the thigh of your other leg and we lunge forward and back, Forward and back. When you've had enough lunging forward maybe one or two hands in the heart center, Maybe one or two hands in the sky. Shoulders relaxed, One more breath. As you exhale slowly let the palms flow down. Press down through the left palm and keep it right under your left shoulder and rotate your right arm up to the sky. Turning towards your right leg away from me, You might slide your right foot to the edge of the yoga mat. You might also turn your right foot out diagonally away from you. If you want more you might tuck the back toes under and lift the back knee off the ground. We'll stay here for three, Two, One. Drop the back knee down, Shift the hips slightly behind you and lift the back toes off the mat. Use your right hand reach it far back and maybe hold on to the toes, The back of the foot, The ankle and then shift the hips back forward. Roll the shoulder blades back, Open your chest, Come back into a lunge, Lizard variation, Opening your heart. Staying here for three, Two, One. Gently release the back foot without rushing and set the right foot back. Now we'll slide the right heel slightly forward and lift the right toes off the mat. Let your fingers either connect with the ground or your palms or maybe you come onto blocks. Press through the contact points to find lift and as you breathe out find softness. We'll stay here breathing in and out for three, Two, One. Now once again bend the right knee and this time we'll step back into an all fours position. From an all fours position we'll come into three rounds of cat cow. Roll the shoulder blades back, Breathe in, Reach up to the sky with your nose, Your gaze, Your chin. Breathe out around the spine and look into the belly. Every breath in you find lift through the spine. Every breath out you find spaciousness through the back of the heart. Moving at your own rhythm, Your own pace. When you come to the end of that very last round, Slowly and gently we will cross the feet or the shins behind you. Walk the hands all the way to the knees and then sit back so you come into a cross-legged seated position. From here sweep the arms up to the sky as you breathe in. As you breathe out turn and face towards your left side so the right hand comes to your left knee, Your left hand comes behind you. Stay here breathing in and out for three, Two, One. Inhale arms up, Exhale let's try the other side turning and looking beyond your right shoulder. Every time you inhale you find lift, Every time you exhale you find a little bit of rotation and unravelling. One more breath and we release. Great now we will release the feet out in front of you and we will actually come into a boat pose. Let the feet come out in front, Lean slightly back but lengthen the spine up to the sky. So the first option might be simply to stay here. The second option would be to hold on to the back of the thighs, Walk the feet in slightly closer so only the tippy toes are touching on the yoga mat. If you want to move further maybe one foot comes off the yoga mat, Maybe two feet come off the yoga mat, Maybe one arm reaches out, Maybe two hands reach out. The last option is to lengthen both legs away from you, Keep the spine long, Keep the belly drawn in and stay here breathing in and out for three, Two, One. To release let the feet come back down and then lengthen both feet in front of you, Walk the bum slightly out and then from here breathe in, Sweep the arms up to the sky, Breathe out, Flow like water towards your legs. Let's try this three more times. Breathe in, Arms sweep up and exhale, Flow like water towards your legs. Last two times, Follow your own rhythm, Your own pace. When you come to the end of that last round then we will stay there for about three to five breaths, Feeling that stretch behind or through the back of the legs, From the heels to your calves to your hamstrings to the back of your spine. One more breath, And then slowly releasing. Let's try this again, Same sequence one more time. Coming into your boat pose, Whatever option that is, One or two feet off, Maybe one or two hands by the side, Maybe coming into full boat pose for three, Two, One, And then slide the heels away from you, Paschimottanasana, Forward fold, Seated forward fold, Breath in, And breath out, Draw the belly in and flow towards your legs. From here, Slowly and gently rising with your next breath, Cross the shins, Cross the hip position, Plant the palms down and step back briefly into a downward facing dog, Stretching out the back of the legs, Reaching your tailbone up to the sky. If this is the first dog of the day, Feel free to bend one or both knees, Peddling out your feet, Reaching your tailbone to the sky and the heel to the earth. When you feel like you would like a bit more, You can lengthen both heels away from you, And we'll stay here, Breathing in and out for three, Two, One. Now, Drop both knees down in child's pose position, Reach the bum towards your heels, Walk the palms forward, Rest the forehead on the yoga mat. If you'd like a stretch for the shoulders and arms, You can turn the palms to face upwards towards the sky, You'll feel a slight sensation in the forearms, The shoulders, The armpit areas as well. One more breath. Now, We'll add a side stretch. If your palms are turned up, Place them down, Walk the palms all the way to the left side and reach your left bum towards your left heel, And if you wish, You can place your right palm on top of your left, Forming a crescent moon shape with your spine. One more breath. Let's slowly come back through the center and let's try the other side, Walking your hands all the way to the right side. This time, The left palm can come on top of the right and reach your bum back towards your right bum, Your right heel, Then slowly and gently let the palms come back through the center, Walk the hands closer towards the knees, Bring the thighs together and sit in a variation of hero pose. We'll take a moment to notice how this feels. If it feels good for you, You can come into the yana mudra, Letting one palm rest on top of the other and letting the thumbs touch and resting this mudra or hand gesture on your thighs as you relax the shoulders down, Drawing your awareness inwards. And as you draw your awareness inwards, Start to connect with how you'd like to feel for the rest of today, Connecting with this intention and letting this be your feeling tone and how you begin to reach out and send your energy out into the world today, As well as how you receive energy from others. From here, You're welcome to transition into your meditation practice if that feels good for you. If you feel, However, You are ready to conclude this practice, Then slowly we bring the palms together in a gesture of gratitude, Of prayer, In front of the heart center and let your head bow slightly down towards your heart, Taking a moment to acknowledge everyone and everything that made it possible for you to be here this morning. And then slowly and gently letting your eyes blink open. Thank you so much for joining me for this morning practice. I hope you enjoyed this practice and looking forward to seeing you in the next one.