Cozy Morning Stretch From Bed (With Music)

A gentle stretch to wake up, this time with calming music to deepen the experience. Join me in this 15-minute practice from the bed where we find a slow breath, followed by some gentle stretches for the spine + hips, slowly making our way up to standing. Start your day feeling centered + stretched in just a few short minutes. This track is inspired by my popular meditation, Morning Stretch From Bed. Music by Jay Andrews.

Transcript

Hey,

It's Hannah and welcome to another morning stretch from bed practice.

You can stay just as you are.

Feel free to keep the covers on,

Stay cozy,

You can keep a pillow under your head.

Come to lie down on your back if you aren't already and bring one hand to your heart and one hand to your belly.

Take a long slow breath in and feel how your abdomen and chest inflate and watch how with the breath out,

Everything settles.

Let's breathe in for five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Take a long breath out.

One more like that.

Inhale five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Feel the settling of the exhale.

Start to breathe like yourself again.

You can slide your hands out to the sides,

Wiggle your fingers,

Wiggle your toes,

And start to make that movement bigger and bigger,

Whatever that means for you.

No right or wrong.

Sometime in your next few breaths,

Take that big morning stretch.

You probably intuitively know the one.

Reaching your arms up overhead,

Stretching your legs long.

Your low back might peel up a little bit.

And just rest with your arms overhead and your legs long.

Grab a hold of your left wrist overhead there and pull it over to the right.

Keep your hips where they are and walk your feet to the right as well.

So you're making a banana shape.

Your hips are still planted on the mat,

Heart open to the ceiling.

Think of like a crescent moon.

I like to cross one ankle over the other.

You'll feel this sweet stretch up the side body.

Imagine like you could breathe just into your left side.

Left side lung,

Left side ribs,

Waist.

Come back to center.

Take that classic morning stretch.

Reaching up,

Stretching your legs.

One side might feel a little bit longer.

Grab a hold of your right wrist,

Pull it over to the left,

And walk your feet over there as well.

Coming into the second side of banana asana.

Again,

Enjoying that sweet side bend.

Don't worry too much if this shape doesn't make a whole lot of sense just through an audio recording.

That's okay.

That's part of the risk we take in doing a audio practice.

We're just aiming for a really nice opening through the side of the body.

So if you find that you're finding that,

That's what matters.

Don't worry too much about the specifics of the shape.

When you've had enough on this side,

Come back to center one last time.

Reach arms overhead.

The backs of your hands might touch your pillow or even the headboard.

Point your toes and then try flexing your feet.

So reaching your heels to the foot of the bed and then pull your knees in.

You can do this under the covers.

Pull your knees into your chest.

Wrap your arms around your legs.

Feel all that space you create in your low back.

And then pull your knees wide.

Your hands can rest on inner thighs or inner knees.

Try to roll out through your ankles if your sheets allow.

And drop your head to the right and to the left.

Getting a nice stretch through the inner line of the legs and hips.

Waking up your neck.

Nice.

When you've had enough,

Just let go.

And any way you'd like to,

Make your way to lying down on your belly.

Again,

You can keep the sheets on.

You can just rest with your forehead down,

Resting on the back of your hands.

You can stack your palms to do that.

Legs outstretched.

And then we'll come into a Sphinx pose.

So for this,

We'll walk the elbows in under the shoulders.

Palms reach out in front of you,

Facing down.

Think of like the Sphinx in ancient Egypt.

Forearms are parallel and you'll get this nice little extension through your back.

Really gentle back bend.

Just keep your legs straight out behind you.

And remember that breathing into the hands that we did before,

Feeling the rise and fall of the chest and belly.

See if you could still find that in this shape.

Even with your abdomen flat against the bed,

You might feel this a little bit more in your back now.

Should feel pretty nice.

You could gaze forward towards your headboard or down towards your hands.

Nice.

And then bring your elbows out to the sides.

Stack your palms.

Rest your forehead on the back of your hands once more.

And make your way up to a Child's Pose.

So this is where you might need to move the sheets a little bit.

For this pose,

If you don't know Child's Pose,

You come up to a tabletop,

Hands and knees.

You can widen out through the knees if you'd like.

And then start to pull your hips back towards your heels,

Allowing your spine to stretch and round.

Should feel pretty nice in your hips too.

Really grounding posture.

Stay here as long as you need.

You can always pause this track.

Eventually,

Lie down on your right side.

You can bend your knees,

Stack your legs one on top of the other.

You could use your right arm as a pillow or just keep using the pillow you slept on.

Basically just fetal position on your side.

Listen closely here.

We're going to extend the left arm up like you're trying to touch the ceiling.

Keep your heart facing to that right side of the bed and start to let your left arm get heavy.

Resist the urge to let your heart open to the ceiling.

Just let the weight of your hand start to pull that shoulder back,

That arm back.

You'll get this nice sweet release through the left side shoulder,

Left side chest.

Over time,

That hand will start to get heavier and probably deepen your stretch.

Now allow your hand to fall back and your heart to open to the ceiling so you're in a twist.

Then lazily roll onto your left side.

Again,

Fetal position on the left side.

Left arm could be a pillow or your pillow could be a pillow.

Reach your right arm up like you're trying to change a light bulb.

Really reach.

Keep your heart facing the left side and allow your right hand to lazily fall back behind you,

Just letting it be heavy.

Gravity does the work.

It might not feel like you're making a ton of progress,

But then in a few breaths you might look at your hand and it's two feet lower.

Again,

Keep your heart facing in the same direction as your knees.

And now let your heart open to the ceiling so you're in a pretty classic supine twist.

Roll onto your back,

Pull your knees in.

You might have built up enough energy to swing your legs to the side of the bed.

So you're seated on the edge of the bed.

Take your time to get there.

Feet on the floor.

Reach your arms wide,

T-shaped arms.

Think of like Kate Winslet in that classic Titanic photo.

Heart forward,

Hands back.

And then reach forward,

Give yourself a hug.

Cross right arm over left.

Your hands are reaching for your shoulder blades.

Lift your elbows up.

Feel that sweet stretch between your shoulder blades into your upper back.

Release.

Reach wide,

Titanic arms.

Use your breath out to cross left arm over right.

Give yourself that great big hug.

Variation of eagle arms.

Lift your elbows.

When you've had enough,

Let it go.

Make your way up to standing.

One last time,

That morning stretch.

Reach your arms up to the ceiling.

You might find that your hands naturally make fists.

You can take a little side bend either way.

And once you're standing comfortably,

Just bring one hand to your heart,

One hand to your abdomen.

We'll take one final breath together.

Let's inhale and let that go.

I hope you have a great day.

Take it easy.

Be gentle with yourself.

If you liked this practice,

Be sure to give a nice rating,

Review,

Or just save it and play it again.

There's another track just like this called Morning Stretch from Bed on my Insight Timer page if you want to check that out.

Thanks so much for practicing with me.

Peace.

Reviews

What a calm, gentle way to start a chilly morning while feeling like I accomplished something before I even left my warm bed!

Thank you Hannah. Your morning stretches and morning yoga practice feel wonderful. Can't thank you enough.

So wonderful to take a few breaths in bed and allow your body and mind to stretch, release, relax and awaken slowly before starting the day and leave the comfort of bed. Hannah what a gift to start the day thank you 💝you’re voice is so soothing and grounding 💕

This is my new favorite way to wake up! Can’t wait to try the other versions you’ve created. Thank you!!!

Love this. It helps me wake up in the right position & warms up my body for the day’s movement. Namaste 🙏🏼

I should stretch and do mobility exercises every morning to manage pain and restriction caused by my chronic illness. It's become a drag and feels like an unfortunate obligation for a failing body. Hannah's meditation helped me with this struggle SO much. I feel rejuvinated and like stretching my way out of bed can be enjoyable again. 😌

Thank you Hannah for this sweet and soothing morning stretch meditation :)

Thank you Hannah. Perfect for my “aging” body to prepare for the morning. ❤️

Gentle but slowly energizing stretching, from bed to standing. I feel calm & ready to go.

G’morning ☀️!! this was a wonderful morning practice. I appreciate the gentle stretches to get my body awake and moving and feeling grounded, thank you so much. 🩷🩷🩷

Ow that was perfect !! I was looking for a mindful movement stretch to get in my body and move away from my morning-rush-thoughts. Thank you so much ❤️

I've been looking for a morning routine. This is a great way to start. Thank you.

I've never really thought about stretching from bed but am so glad I found this! Like a mini Yin session to start the day. Thank you 🙏

I loved the simple and connecting stretches to wake up my body before rolling out of bed. 🙏

Thank you! I love this gentle morning stretch to start my day.🌅❤️🙏🏾

All these stretches felt amazing on my lower back! Especially banana 🍌
Beautiful way to start each day! Thank you 🙏🏼❤️

Soothing, sleepy, yoga stretches from the comfort of my bed. Love it Hannah!

Amazing!
Just what I’ve needed to wake up this tired and stiff body of mine. I will do this often - thank you 🙏🏼🩷

Another lovely morning stretch. Thank you Hannah 🌷🧘

This was perfect as I'm recovering from breast surgery and my lymph biopsy is definitely restricting my movements 🙏