Welcome in this mindful movement practice.
This morning I invite you to start your day with some gentle stretches that will help you make more space in your body,
Connect to the peaceful and grounding energy within and keeping your mind calm and open for the blessings of the day.
So first just make yourself comfortable.
You can do this practice on your bed just when you woke up or maybe on the mat or a carpet.
Sit in a comfortable cross-legged position and lengthen your spine.
Be aware of your posture,
Relax your shoulders.
Notice if you're not holding any tension in your jaw,
In your facial muscles,
In your shoulders and your back.
Let's just take a few deep breaths to bring more oxygen to your brain and to your body.
So exhale all the air out,
Just letting go.
Inhale,
Filling yourself up with peace,
Filling yourself with the fresh energy.
Exhale,
Relaxing,
Letting go.
Inhale,
Inviting love,
Expanding love through your heart.
And exhale,
Let it spread through you.
So a few more breaths like this.
Slow inhales and slow exhales,
Focusing on opening up to the fresh peaceful energy that will guide you through the day.
And now with the next breath in,
Lift your arms all the way up over your head and stretch your arms up.
You can keep the hands together or separate,
Just reaching your fingers up to the sky,
Lengthening your spine here.
And exhale,
Bring your hands to heart.
Two more times like that.
Inhale,
Spread your arms around you and lift them up to the sky.
Holding here,
Keeping your spine nice and long.
And exhale,
Bringing your hands together down to your heart.
And one more.
Inhale,
Arms around and stretching up.
Stay there.
And exhale,
Slowly bringing the hands back to your heart.
You can place your hands now on the floor or on your knees.
And just start now with your neck,
Taking two and slow big circles with your neck to the right,
Feeling different parts of your neck,
Keeping your head relaxed here.
And then taking two big circles to the left,
Just moving your head,
Your neck with awareness.
And then coming back to center,
Bring your right ear to your right shoulder.
Inhale to center.
Exhale,
Left ear to the left shoulder.
Inhale to center.
And again to the right.
Try not to lift your opposite shoulder.
The opposite shoulder is relaxing away from the ear,
Lifting up.
And then left ear goes down to your left shoulder,
Right shoulder relaxing.
Do it two more times on each side,
Nice and slow.
Lovely.
And let's go to a twist now.
So lifting your arms up and on the exhale,
You're going to place right hand behind you,
Left hand on your right knee,
Twisting your whole torso behind your right shoulder,
Keeping your body weight in the center,
Lifting up through your spine.
And exhale,
Twisting your whole torso through your waist,
Through your ribs,
Your chest and your head.
Stay here.
One breath in and full breath out.
Inhale,
Lifting the arms up.
Exhale,
Change the side.
So now your left hand is behind you,
Right hand on your left knee.
Inhale,
Straighten the spine up,
Keep yourself in the center.
Exhale,
Twisting behind your left shoulder,
Looking behind,
But keep your shoulders relaxed here.
Inhale,
Stay here.
Exhale,
Twist your torso a little bit more.
And inhale,
Arms up.
Exhale,
And hands together to your heart.
Now let's move on the hands and knees.
So just lift yourself up and hands underneath your shoulders,
Knees underneath your hips.
Adjust your body here,
Wherever you are.
Let's do two big circles with the hips towards the right direction.
So moving your hips,
Your glutes,
Feeling your lower back here as well,
Inviting some gentle movement to this part.
And then moving your hips in a circular motion to the left.
Nice and slow,
Big circles here.
And come back to center.
And now on the inhale,
You're going to arch your back.
So stretching your belly,
Looking up,
Arch your back.
And exhale,
Roll your back and looking down towards your belly button.
So we're going to do a few rounds of a cat and cow.
Inhale when you arch your back and looking up.
Exhale when you press your hands down and roll your spine,
Feeling the stretch of your whole back here.
Inhale slowly again,
Stretching your belly and your chest when you lift your gaze up.
Exhale and belly button towards your spine,
Rolling here.
Two more rounds like this.
Feel your spine here.
And on the next exhale,
Just move your hips to the back and stretch in child's pose.
So your arms are stretching front,
Your forehead is resting down on the mat or on your bed.
And hips and glutes are reaching to your heels.
Nice and long spine here.
Relax your neck,
Relax your head.
Relax through your shoulders.
Take three deep breaths here.
And on the inhale,
Slowly rolling up,
Sit on your heels.
Or if it's uncomfortable,
Just sit back on your glutes again,
With your legs crossed,
Whatever feels comfortable.
Take a big inhale,
Arms around and stretch your arms up to the sky one more time.
And exhale,
Bringing hands to heart.
Thank you so much for this practice.
It's a short but very effective practice to do in the morning.
Even five or ten minutes of movement in the morning is already helping you to wake up better,
To move your body gently,
Make more space,
Release that stiffness from the whole night of just lying down and open up for a beautiful day.
If you still have some more time,
I invite you to do some more movements,
Some more stretches,
Maybe even some dancing,
Whatever feels right for you right now.
Or if you want to finish this practice,
Just bring your hands to your heart,
Express love and gratitude for yourself.
Love and gratitude for waking up another day and being gifted the gift of life.
Thank you so much for this practice.
Wishing you a beautiful day with a lot of blessings and nice surprises.
Namaste.
You
