Morning - Wake Up - Yoga

This is a 10-minute yoga practice beginning in bed, ending standing by your bed, ready to continue with your morning. Slow, flowing movements to help waken the body, removing any stagnation left over from sleep.

Transcript

Good morning.

Begin by sitting upright in your bed,

In the center of your bed or against the wall because we are going to be stretching to the side.

And if there is no space in the center of your bed,

Then simply take a pillow and sit on the floor with your back against the bed.

Begin by placing one hand on your chest and one on your belly.

And just noticing your breath.

Without trying to change it,

Just noticing the inhale followed by the exhale.

On the next inhale,

I invite you to roll your shoulders up to your ears and back.

Just keep going with shoulder rolls,

However fast or slow you would like,

Depending on how you're feeling this morning.

At the bottom of your next exhale,

Switch directions.

Again,

Lifting those shoulders up to your ears and rolling them forward now.

Come to a place of stillness.

Now on the next inhale,

Look to your left.

Exhale,

Look to the right.

Inhale,

Left.

Exhale,

Right.

Inhale,

Look back into the center.

Exhale,

Left ear to left shoulder.

Inhale,

Center.

Exhale,

Right ear to right shoulder.

Inhale center.

Exhale,

Left ear,

Left shoulder.

Inhale center.

Exhale,

Right ear,

Right shoulder.

Inhale center.

And now in your next exhale,

Begin to slowly roll your neck.

Chin comes to chest,

Rolls down towards one side,

And as you inhale,

The head rolls back and looks up.

Just keep rolling with these neck circles.

Now I invite you to change direction.

Again,

It's an inhale looking up as you roll your head back and exhale as the chin comes down to the chest and rolls in front across your body.

Come to a place of stillness.

Taking your left arm,

Place it beside you and slide it out to the side as you inhale and the right arm comes up and reaches over for a gentle side stretch.

Inhale,

The right arm lifts and the left arm comes with it as the right arm now comes down to your right hand side on your bed and the left arm is now reaching up and over.

Inhale,

Side bend.

Inhale back to center,

Bring both arms up and exhale as you fold forward.

It's just the morning.

Bend your knees if you need to.

You may only reach your thighs,

Knees,

Shins,

Or perhaps your feet.

Inhale slowly come up.

I invite you now to step out of your bed,

Stand up if you're on the floor and standing on an with your feet hip width apart,

Nice gentle soft knees.

Inhale as you circle your arms up and over,

Palms facing each other.

With your right hand,

Your right index finger and your thumb,

Grasp your left wrist.

Inhale to stretch up,

Reaching through the hands.

Exhale,

Lean to the right,

Gently pulling on your left hand.

Inhale back to center.

Stretch your hands,

Your left finger and thumb,

Now grip the right wrist.

Inhale,

Reach up,

Exhale,

Lean to the left.

Another gentle side stretch.

Inhale,

Come back to center.

Bring your hands down in front of you,

Forearms each touching each other,

Palms touching each other in front of your face.

On an inhale,

Open your arms wide like a cactus standing in the desert,

Puffing out your chest forward looking up.

Exhale,

Round to the back as you bring your arms back together touching,

Standing cat cow.

One more time,

Inhale,

Open your arms wide becoming that cactus in the desert,

Looking up,

Chest puffing out.

Exhale,

Round the back sucking the belly in,

Hands come together.

Relax the hands down beside your side.

In preparation for another inhale as you reach up through the fingertips,

Exhale as you bend at the waist slowly and gently,

Folding down and over.

Your hands,

Fingertips may touch the ground or they may not.

Keep your knees soft as you gently sway from side to side,

Releasing any tension in your back.

Come to a place of stillness.

Your toes should be facing forward,

Hip width apart or slightly more.

Place your left hand down in the center,

Right under your face and on an inhale,

Reach the right arm up using that left hand to support you for a gentle twist through the waist.

You can do this with your back against the wall if you'd like for support.

Exhale,

Come down,

Switch hands,

Right hand now comes down on the floor and then on an inhale,

Reach the left arm up towards the ceiling.

If that is not comfortable for you on either side,

Place the hand on the hip and just reach the elbow up to twist.

Exhale,

Bring that hand back down and again,

Swaying ever so slightly again.

Come to a place of stillness.

Inhale,

Slowly roll on up,

One vertebra at a time.

Reach the arms up,

Stretching any last little kinks,

Then exhale,

Bring the hands down by your side.

The last thing to wake that body up,

Something I like to call disco shoulders.

So rolling your shoulders again,

But swaying as you do it while you're standing.

So like you're at the disco,

It's just 1970s and you're trying to do your little Saturday night fever disco move,

But without your hands,

Just with your shoulders.

One shoulder reaches up,

The other dips down,

Just getting those any last little movements out to wake you up.

Reaching your body and just having a little bit of fun,

Keeping again,

Nice and soft and gentle.

All right,

Slowly slowing down.

Coming to stillness,

I invite you to put your hands in prayer position in front of your heart,

Or just place your hands down by your side,

Palms facing out in front of you.

Take a big deep breath in through the nose,

Exhale out through the mouth.

Take another big deep breath in through the nose.

Now exhale audibly out through the mouth,

Allowing any last minute sleep come out.

Good.

I hope that you have a lovely day.

Thank you for joining me this morning.

Reviews

A nice gentle way to start the day. I appreciate your pacing, gentleness of voice, and accommodations. Feeling ready to start the day!

Hello beautiful 🎀🌺🎀🌺🎀Thank you so much for the lovely morning practice 🌞🌞🌞my sun is shining and I smile 🗺️much love 🕉️Namaste

💕

Wonderful way to get some movement in right at the start of the day. Thank you!

Great start to the day. Morning fog cleared! Thank you.

Thank you! This was a great start to the day to get you out of bed

Thank you for offering this lovely morning yoga session. 🙏💕✨

Marina, thank you. I had yoga come up recently and I decided to make the effort to practice today and I found this lovely practice. Thanks for sharing. Much appreciated. Lovely session. Namaste 🙏

Loved this first thing!! Sometimes I’m still groggy as I sit with my coffee in the morning. Did this and lifted the fog. Will repeat this often. Thank You! 🧘🏻‍♀️ 💐

An excellent way to start your morning! Stretching, breathing, this leaves you feeling energized and ready for the day! It's quickly become part of my morning ritual. Love it!

I love this morning practice and it’s slowly becoming part of my ritual. It really helps me collecting all my energies and bring them out of bed and in the new day!

Lovely, energizing morning practice. I feel stretched and ready for the day. Thank you!

Excellent! Really helpful! Namaste

Wonderful, thank you🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

very good verbal cueing. sweet wake up practice. maybe you could do another with some pranayama or a body scan to check in with the body before the movement. thank you! blessed be!