From Bed To Standing Yoga

A 15-minute practice that you begin from the comfort of your bed. The practice consists of some gentle leg and hip stretches, that you would find in the warm-up or cool down of a Vinyasa yoga class, ending standing in Tadasana. Ending standing you are in the perfect position to continue with your usual morning routine, ready for the day ahead.

Transcript

Good morning.

To begin,

Stay lying down in your bed,

Although you will need a bit of space so if that space is not available to you,

Then perhaps taking your duvet or blanket onto the floor.

When you're settled,

Place one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly button.

And just notice your breath.

Notice the rise of your chest with each inhale,

Followed by the fall of your belly with each exhale.

Continue to notice the breath without changing it in any way.

Noticing how you woke up,

What your body feels like,

What your breath feels like.

And as you hold yourself in this way,

Just noticing any feelings that arise.

I now invite you to slow your breath,

A long,

Slow,

Gentle inhale,

Followed by a long,

Slow inhale.

Do this a few more times.

At all times,

Being aware and present.

Feeling the movement in your body as it breathes.

On your next inhale,

Raise your arms up,

Reaching above and behind you,

Stretching from fingertips to toes,

Lengthening your body on the bed or the floor.

You may need to turn yourself diagonal if you are limited in space.

From that stretched position,

On your next exhale,

Allow your hands to float down to the side,

Grazing the bed or the floor,

Like wings flapping,

Until your fingertips touch your thighs.

Inhale,

Sweep them up again,

Like you're making a snow angel,

Except you're making a morning angel.

Follow with another exhale.

Inhale,

Waking that angel up.

Exhale,

Bring the arms down by the side.

On your next inhale,

Bend the right knee to the chest,

Interlace the fingers on the shin.

Gently hug the knee closer to your chest.

Very gently,

Your body is only just moving from a night of rest.

You can rock from side to side,

Inviting any movement that feels comfortable to you at this time.

I invite you to point and flex the toes.

Perhaps now some ankle circles in one direction,

Followed by ankle circles in the opposite direction.

Come to a place of stillness.

Release the grip from the right shin,

Moving it to the back of the thigh.

Straighten the right leg into the air,

Towards the ceiling.

On your next exhale,

Bend the knee.

Take a hold of the outside of the foot or thigh.

Draw the knee down towards the bed,

Sole of the foot facing the ceiling for a half happy baby pose.

Allow some movement here,

Perhaps a slight rocking from side to side,

Being very gentle with your hip.

Relax the grip.

Remove the hand with your left hand.

Come across the body and gently grasp the outside of the right knee.

Gently pull the right leg over to the left,

Allowing your hips to move with it for a nice supine twist.

This is a variation of Jatthada Parivantanasana,

Revolved Belly Pose.

If it's comfortable for you,

Allow your gaze to look to the right.

Take one more inhale and exhale.

At the bottom of the next exhale,

Release.

Return the leg to the bed.

Now doing the same on the other side.

Bend the left knee to the chest,

Interlace the fingers on the shin.

Gently hug the knee closer.

Again,

I invite you to rock from side to side,

Allowing any movement that feels comfortable.

Begin to point and flex the foot,

Followed by ankle circles in one direction,

Then rotating in the opposite direction.

Find a place of stillness.

Change the grip to the back of your thigh.

The left leg straightens up into the air.

Exhale,

Bend the knee.

Take a hold of the outside of the foot or thigh.

Draw the knee down,

Sole of the foot facing the ceiling.

Half Happy Baby Pose,

Rocking side to side.

Come to a place of stillness.

Release the grip.

Right hand grasp the outside of the left knee.

Pull the left knee across the body to the right,

Allowing your hips to move.

Gentle supine twist.

And if comfortable,

Move your gaze to the left.

A few more inhales and exhales.

At the bottom of your exhale,

Take the bent left leg and place the sole of the foot on the bed.

Right leg straight,

Left leg bent.

Bend the right knee into the chest.

Flex the foot.

Gently place the right ankle on the left thigh just above the knee,

Making a triangle between your thighs.

Keep the right foot flexed,

Pressing through the ball of the right foot to protect the knee.

Begin to softly move the right knee up and down.

Very small,

Subtle movements,

Further wakening up the hip.

Option to stay here,

Moving or not,

Or to take it further,

Reach the right hand through the triangle between your thighs.

Left hand reaches around on the outside of the left leg.

Interlace the fingers on the shin,

Draw the knee towards the chest and softly press the right knee away from you.

Take one more inhale and exhale.

At the bottom of your next exhale,

Release the shin.

Allow the right leg to straighten before bending the knee and placing the sole of the foot on the bed.

As we did on the right,

Bend the left knee into the chest,

Flex the foot,

Gently place the left ankle on the right thigh above the knee,

Making a triangle between your thighs.

Keep the left foot flexed,

Pressing through the ball of the foot.

Begin to softly move the left knee up and down.

Option to stay here or take it further,

Thread the left hand through the triangle between your thighs.

Right hand reaches around the outside of the right leg,

Interlacing the fingers on the shin.

Draw the knee towards the chest and gently press the left knee away from you.

Take another inhale and exhale.

At the bottom of your exhale,

Release the grip,

Straighten the left leg,

Then softly hug both knees to the chest.

Ensuring you have something soft under you,

Place the hands behind the knees and roll back and forth on the spine.

Spinal rolls.

You can rock and roll as many times as you like.

If you're on the bed,

Be careful not to roll off.

The next time you rock up,

Hold the position,

Calves parallel to the floor,

Balancing on the sit bones,

Strong engaged core.

Lengthen through the spine as if someone has placed a block of ice behind your bare back.

Modified paripurna navasana,

Boat pose.

Hold for one more full inhale and exhale.

Exhale,

Place the legs down either hanging down the side of the bed,

Feet flat on the floor or bent knees if on the floor.

On your next inhale,

Stand up,

Feet hip width apart,

Soft knees.

Exhale,

Standing tall and strong in a modified tadasana,

Mountain pose.

Inhale circle the arms up overhead into udvahasasana,

Upward facing hands pose.

Palms facing each other.

Exhale,

Interlace the fingers,

Flip the palms.

Inhale,

Pressing up through the palms,

Making space and length through the waist.

Exhale,

Gently tip right,

Creating a soft side bend.

Option to gaze under the left arm up towards the ceiling.

On your next inhale,

Come back to center,

Reaching up through the palms.

Exhale,

Tip left,

Creating a gentle side bend.

Option to gaze under the right arm towards the ceiling.

Inhale,

Reach once more through the center.

Exhale,

Release the hands.

Clasp the hands behind you,

Interlacing the fingers.

Inhale,

Squeeze the palms together as you puff the chest up towards the ceiling.

Exhale,

Soften and bend the knees,

Hinge at the hips as you fold forward.

Release the grip,

Allowing the hands to dangle down in a ragdoll position.

Find stillness,

Feet parallel,

Place the right hand on the floor below your face.

Inhale as you graze the left fingertips up the right arm across the chest,

Raising it in the air towards the ceiling,

Bending the knees as much as you need to.

On your next exhale,

Bring the left arm down,

Place the left hand on the floor below your face.

Inhale as you graze the right arm with your fingertips across the chest,

Reaching it in the air towards the ceiling.

On the next exhale,

Bring the hand down to meet the other.

Inhale as you slowly circle the arms up,

Reaching into the air.

Exhale as you bring the hands down to your side in your Tadasana.

Standing tall and strong on your foundation in your mountain pose,

I invite you to place one hand on your chest and one on your belly,

Just like we began.

Soften the gaze and begin to notice your breath.

Feel the movement of your body as your breath nourishes you,

Not trying to change it in any way,

Just noticing it.

Find comfort in the gentle movements of your body with each inhale and exhale.

Know that wherever your day may take you or whatever it may hold,

You can always return here to your breath.

Allow the rhythmic inhales and exhales to soothe you and to remind you that you are enough.

Have a lovely day.

Reviews

Exactly what I needed

A nice and gentle yoga practice to start the day. I felt relaxed by the end and the practice alleviated some stress too.

This has become one of my go to practices when I'm needing some gentle movement and coaxing to get going in the morning. Thank you, Marina!

Great for the days you just don’t want to get up and out of bed

Beautifully gentle way to start the day (and get yourself out of bed 😜) ❤️

A great way to start a morning. A gentle and easy-to-follow exercise. Well-narrated!

First time - great way to clear the sleep fog from my brain and transition to getting out of bed. Some background gentle music or nature water sounds would also be good. Thank you so much.

AMAZING!! What a fantastic way to get the day started! Just the right amount of stretching all over. Absolutely loved it! Would be nice with a little background music, but still fantastic 🥰

Lovely morning practice. Gentle, but so good to get the motion back into the body. Perfect selection of movements for a waking up body. I feel great after this. Thank you.

this was lovely! thank you ❤️