24 Min. Morning Sun Salutation Flow | All Levels Yoga

Start your day with this 24-minute morning sun salutation yoga flow for focus, energy, and reconnecting with your inner light. This all-levels yoga practice blends gentle movement, breath, and flowing sun salutations to help you wake up your body, clear your mind, and move into your day with confidence and intention. This practice is perfect for mornings, but you can return to it anytime you need a reset, a boost of clarity, or a reminder that your light is already within you. In this class, we’ll move through accessible sun salutations, mindful transitions, grounding breath, and a heart-centered flow designed to help you feel focused, open, and radiant.

Transcript

Hey there, My name is Lisa, And welcome to your morning movement meditation. I'm laughing because this is the second time actually recording this video. I recorded the first time and my sound died, But it was kind of a good, Beautiful moment where I could get in my body before I share something with you. Today, As we dive on into meditative movement and sun salutations, I want us to think about what we wish to shine light on. It's very easy for us to shine light and spotlights on the things that don't serve us. So we can shine lights on, For example, Our mistakes. We can shine light on an argument from five years ago. We can shine light on all the things that are wrong in our life. Or we can work and think about the things we wish to shine light on. For me, It's not being so hard on myself. It's focusing or releasing self-neglect narratives. That's like a whole thing I want to dive on into. And to allow myself to start again, To always start again. No matter how the day goes, You can always start again. So with that, Let's go ahead and dive on into this moving meditation. Feel free to find your comfortable position or any starting position. It can be lying down, It could be one leg out. I'm on a blanket today and it just feels nice and cozy. So feel free to prop yourself up on a pillow or a blanket and just feel free to sway from side to side as you meditate on the question, What do I wish to shed light on? Light on? What do I wish to shed light on? You can begin to roll the shoulders. How are you feeling today emotionally, Physically? Maybe notice, Shed light on, Let the truth speak with that without necessarily thinking that it's bad or shameful. Maybe shed a compassionate light. On how you are feeling today. Or an honest slate. Maybe begin to send the heart forward to the side, Back and to the side. And then take it into the opposite direction when you're ready. For me, I'm very future-oriented and my brain tends to like to shed light on all the things I haven't achieved yet, All the things I need to do. And for right now, Again, It makes me, Being future-oriented makes me forget what I need in the present. So I tend to self-neglect. I don't drink my water. I don't get enough sleep. And so this summer, Because I'm feeling very good this summer, I just want to bring that energy back to myself and shine light on that. So let me know in the comments what you want to shed light on if it if you want to if you feel called to do it and then go ahead maybe we come back to center you can continue on with those movements whatever feels good maybe we add on by inhaling the arms on up And exhaling the arms on down, Maybe the head comes down. Inhaling the arms on up. And exhaling the hands on down. Continue at your own pace. I'm doing this practice first thing in the morning. It feels so good when I do a morning meditation that's in alignment and I do it in the morning. It feels weird when I'm recording a morning meditation, It's like the afternoon. But sometimes I gotta do what I gotta do. The schedule will not wait. So if I feel like recording a morning meditation in the afternoon, I do it. But then when I actually am doing this first thing in the morning with you guys, It feels great. All right, From here, Whatever it is that you're experiencing, Whatever it is that you're feeling, Maybe play around with one hand up, One hand down, Maybe sending the right hand down, Left hand comes up, Moving up and over to the side, And switching, Left hand comes on down, Right hand comes on up, Moving at your own pace. What do you wish to shed light on? In terms of your emotions. What emotions do you wish to expand into like a sunflower? I love that song by Harry Styles, Sunflower. Oh my God, It just, It's so perfect. Such a good, A good song to brighten up your day. Take three more breaths. Inhaling And exhale. And again, You don't have to do what I'm doing. You can do your own thing. It's a moving meditation. So whatever feels good somatically for you. Beautiful. And from here, Let's go ahead and slowly bring both hands on up. We reach. Take a moment to reach towards that sun that shines light. And all beautiful things and all things that need to be seen. Hmm. . . And when you are ready, Go ahead, Release the hands on down. Let's go ahead and come onto the hands and knees for tabletop position. I'm going to go ahead and Use a blanket. Why not? I'm going to use a blanket today for my knees. I like to make it thin so it's not too bulky. Oh, This feels lovely. It feels extra cozy. Go ahead, Ground down through the fingertips. Press the floor away. Curl the toes under. Take a nice big, Deep inhale. We're just gonna scoop the heart forward. The pelvis will naturally tilt forward and down. The belly will naturally come on down, Inhaling. Exhale, Bring the tops of the feet to the floor around and the upper back chin comes towards the chest. Inhale, Scooping the belly on forward, Curling the toes under, Getting a nice stretch in the toes and in the front of the body and the back of the feet. And then exhale, Two rounds. Slight bend in the elbows, Especially if you have flexible elbows like me. They tend to hyperextend. Two more breaths in traditional Cat-Cow. And then we're going to mix it up with creative cat-cow. Digging back on into the theme of that moving meditation, What we wish to shine light on. So on this last cat-cow, Notice what may feel stiff in the body. Maybe it's the lower back, Maybe it's the hips, Maybe it's the shoulders. And I want us to begin to move into what needs a little bit of our love. Maybe we're like, The tops of the feet need a little bit of our love. I'm going to sit into the tops or sit on the heels, Get a nice stretch in the feet. Maybe we round the heart one way and then the other. Maybe we kind of scoop the heart forward and through and then round but this is your opportunity to move creatively. I even invite you to play around with maybe hand movements if your wrists are tired maybe sending the hands in prayer and then opening them up like a book and then back the hands come towards each other. Maybe we play around with a little bit of side to side movement. Make this really your own Moving Meditation We're going to play around with this for six more breaths. You can feel free to move in any way that feels good. It can be traditional cacao. It could be a little bit of opening up in the arms and the shoulders. It could be all of the above. Sighing out, Releasing, Letting go, Maybe shaking out. Maybe playing with different types of hip movements. Ooh, I felt that in my hip. Feeling a nice stretch, Whatever feels good. You can be lifting one arm and then the other. And last two breath cycles. You're doing great. There's no right or wrong to this. There's just what feels good. And what doesn't feel so good. Beautiful. Let's come into a child's pose, Bringing the big toes together, Allowing the knees to be as wide as the yoga mat and coming to sit towards the heels of the feet, Bowing on down. And again, What is it that you wish to shed some light on? What is that intention, That prayer, That wish you have for yourself? What do you wish to shine light on in your practice today? Maybe playing around with creativity. Maybe taking it easy or challenging yourself. Beautiful and when you're ready slowly coming back onto the hands and knees, Grounding down through the fingertips, Crawling the toes under, Pressing the hands and feet, Lifting the hips up nice and high, Coming into downward facing dog, Moving into pedal out the legs. We're going to play around with a little bit of creative plank to downward dog, Or it could be even tabletop to down dog. So tabletop to down dog, We release the knees, We open on up, And then we come on into downward facing dog. You can do that as many times as you wish. Or we can move, Coming up onto the tippy toes, Sending the shoulders over the wrists and bringing it up and back. I'm trying that. For about three more breath cycles. Maybe for those who are my seasoned yogis, We play around with Upward Dog. Make sure to really press into the hands, To not dump into the shoulders for that. You can always utilize your knees if that feels better. Move with the breath, Inhaling to start the movement. And exhaling to do the movement or complete the movement. And when you are ready, Come back into Downward Facing Dog. Begin to walk the feet towards the hands. Coming into Forward Fold at the front of your yoga mat. Swing from side to side. Swaying the head yes. Swing that, No! Blubbering the lips, Release the jaw. Great work, Great work. Slaying the arms like palm trees, Slaying the summer's breeze. Beautiful, And let's go ahead and inhale, Sweep the arms out to the side. See if you can rise. You can always place hands onto the tops of the legs to rise, If that makes more sense for the body today. Reaching the hands on up. And exhale, Fold forward, Releasing all that doesn't serve you. Let's do that three more times. So inhaling to rise, Always feel free to support yourself by placing hands onto the knees, Using your core to rise, Sweeping the arms out to the side, Not locking the knees, Keeping a slight bend in the knees as you rise on up. An Axe I'll fold. You're doing great. What do you wish to shine light on? Moving at your own pace. Inhaling on up to rise. Maybe adding some more movement. Inhaling dry. And exhaling. And last time. Inhaling to rise. And exhale. Beautiful. We're gonna step back into our plank pose, So stepping one foot back, Then the other, Keeping shoulders over the wrists, Pressing the floor away. See, A lot of people in plank, They wanna back out of it. They almost wanna come into a plank downward dog. I'm gonna challenge you to really send the shoulders over the wrists, Come up onto the tippy toes, And see if you can get your glute muscles in alignment with the heels of the feet. You will feel it in your lower abdominals as well as your upper abdominals. Take a nice, Big, Deep inhale. Exhale release the knees on down come into child's pose Breathe, Take it back to that intention. Sway from side to side, That prayer. What do you wish to shine light on for your day today? From here, Gaze between the hands and press up and back, Downward facing dog. Let's add on to this. Go ahead, Gaze between the hands. Step, Hop, Or float forward. I'm gonna take a step forward. Taking a nice big, Deep inhale, Ground down through the feet, Bend the knees, Come to rise in any way you need to. Maybe bending up and over to the right, Saluting that sun, Inhaling, Bending up and over to the left. You got this, Inhaling, And exhale, Fold on forward. Inhale, Slide the hands towards the knees for your flat back like there's a teacup resting right on the shoulder blades. Neck is nice and long and exhale fold forward step back into your plank again You can play around with plank downward dog waves here, Maybe coming into downward dog and then moving into plank. Coming into downward dog. And moving into plank, Moving at your own pace for about three more breaths. You can skip, You can even come to knees and do cat-cows. You can just hold your plank. Last round here, Take a nice big, Deep inhale. And exhale, Beautiful. Let's go through our first vinyasa. Release knees on down and slowly lower belly and chest. Perfect. You can bring the tops of the feet to the floor and then some elbows underneath the shoulders and just sway from side to side. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM You are doing fantastic. Take a nice big deep inhale. And exhale, Slide the hands to frame that heart space or place the hands to frame the heart space. If your mat's super sticky and you don't want like a mat burn or a rug burn, Curl toes under, Press up and back. Downward facing dog. You can always come onto the knees. And rise into Downward Facing Dog. Gaze between the hands. Step, Hop, Or float forward. I'm always gonna step, Because that's where I'm at in my practice. And ground down through the heels of the feet. Inhale, Sweep the arms out to the side, Rise. Let's go ahead and find an Utkatasana. Bend the knees and come to sit. Ground down through the heels of the feet. Draw the ribcage and navel on in. Take a nice, Big, Deep inhale. And exhale, Fold forward. Let's do that again. Inhale coming to rise. What do you wish to shine your light on? Reaching up towards what you wish to shine your light on. Grounding down into it, Grounding down through the heels of the feet, Sending it into your moment of reality. And how. Exhale, Let everything else go. Distractions, Noise, Things that don't serve you. One last time. Inhale, Sweeping the arms up towards the light, Reaching towards that light. Urdhva Hastasana, Saluting that sun. Exhale, Come to sit, Grounding into that reality, Bringing that intention into your reality, Taking a nice big deep inhale. Exhale, Fold releasing all that doesn't serve you. Grounding down through the fingertips. Step back, Last plank pose. You got this. Holding your plank. For those of you who want to play around with side plank, Maybe sending the left hand to center and reaching the right hand up. And then flipping the toes, Sending the heels to the side, Sending the right hand to center. And rising on up. Hips come up nice and high back to center now you don't have to do this you could have done something else and that's perfect and go ahead knees, Chest, Chin or chaturanga to downward dog your choice so knees, Chest, Chin or belly on down coming to cobra or that sphinx pose we did earlier with the elbows underneath. And take a well-deserved child's pose. Whoo! Hopefully that woke you up a little. I know this type of movement always wakes me up. Take a moment to bring it back to what you're shining light on and may I shine a little bit of light on you. You chose this video. You did a practice for yourself. It is very easy to neglect our need for movement. Our need for connecting to ourselves or breath. For being. And if you take the time, Because it's so easy. Life can be so demanding, But if you take the time to say no, I'd choose this anyway. And you should be so proud. Shine light on pride and gratitude and thanks to yourself. For making this happen. Coming to rise all the way on up, Sweeping the legs in front. I hope you're doing, Feeling good. How are you feeling? Let's take a yeah butterfly pose so you can either bring the feet a little bit further away from the pelvis or bring the feet a little bit closer to the pelvis the closer you bring the feet the more you will feel a bit of a stretch. But if you bring it further away, The more you'll feel a lower back stretch. So closer feet, Hip stretch, Or closer feet to the pelvis, Hip stretch, Feet further away, We'll feel a back stretch. I'm actually gonna bring my feet further away, Because I want a little bit of a back stretch for this. But your choice. Inhale, Lengthening from tailbone to the crown of the head. And exhale to fold on into that diamond shape or that butterfly shape. Ooh, This feels lovely. Giving your toes a little bit of a massage. Maybe you can bring the hands to prayer and open up pages of a book and then flip palms and then bring it back to prayer and just roll out those wrists. From all the work they did with the plank poses and the downward dogs. Mmm. Is there one thing that you're really proud of yourself for in this practice? It could be like, I just clicked and I just started it. It could be I made it all the way through. It could be I was slow or soft with myself. And feel free to always, You know, It almost feels like a shameless plug, But the more you do these morning sun salutations, The more you notice how you change, How you evolve, How you get better, How you feel more free, And it becomes more of a moving meditation. The first round, It may feel a little janky. Like you're just trying to get the steps and the breath and you're trying to feel it in your body. You do it again and again and then it becomes a true moving meditation. So, And I will just be your guide. So taking a nice big deep inhale. And exhale. Beautiful. Let's dive on into our Shavasanas. Inhaling to rise all the way up, Bringing the knees together, Coming to lie on down. I always like to place a blanket underneath my knees to help release that lower back, But you don't need really any props for this. It's just optional. And come to lying down, Actually, Before I lie in down, Let's go ahead, Bend the knees, Hug them in towards the lower back or hug them in towards the chest to get a release in the lower back, Tracing the circles one way. And then in the opposite direction. Windshield wiper ring. The knees from side to side. Ooh, This feels absolutely lovely. Beautiful. And go ahead release the legs when you're ready let's take a moment to dive on into final resting pose, Shavasana. And just meditating on what you wish to shed. Light on. Imagining that glowing. Imagine yourself glowing with that light. Knowing you're not only worthy of it, You are. Made from it. You are a part of it. We are all made from sunlight and star stuff. So if you ever doubt it, Just bring it back to that fact. That this light is in each and every single one of us. Feeling that light vibrate from your belly, Your heart, To your head, All the way down to your toes. From shoulders to fingertips. Grounding down through that intention. That hope, That wish, That prayer, That key word. Or affirmation for your day ahead. It can even be the affirmation, I am light. I am light. You can stay here for as long as you wish, But if you wish to close the practice with me, Feel free to roll onto your side, Cradling the head, Resting there, Taking a moment to really thank yourself for all that you do, For all that you are, For the light you're shining back onto yourself and where it needs to be. Ah and slowly come to rise on up whenever you are ready pressing into the hands and coming to rise how are you feeling checking in with yourself hopefully you're feeling good let me know in the comments as well I want to say I thank you so so much for joining me, It is always a pleasure, It is always such a joy. And with that. Bring the hands to prayer. Thumbs connecting to the heart space. Let us bow on down to the light that is within you. And within each and every single one of us. Aum, Shanti, Shanti, Peace my friends. Have an amazing rest of your day. Or if you chose to do this at a different time, The rest of your 24 hour period, Shine that light and I'll see you next time. Bye for now.