Hey Yogi,
Welcome back.
This is your 10 minute morning wake up flow.
Please meet me on the mat with any props that you might need,
Maybe a glass of water,
Coffee or tea.
We'll start standing at the short edge of the mat.
In our mountain pose.
So roll the shoulders back,
Open up the palms to receive some of this morning energy.
Close down the eyes or have a soft gaze.
See if you can add a little bit of space between the shoulders and the ear.
We'll start to sensitize any temperatures in the room.
Any sounds,
Maybe it's your breath.
Birds.
Maybe your dog.
If you can't hear your breath,
See if you can make it a little bit more audible.
So we can connect to this source of life,
This source of energy,
Our breath.
So you fill all the way out.
On the exhale,
Blink your eyes open if they're not already.
Reach the arms up overhead.
Interlace the fingers.
Keep the index finger pressing up towards the ceiling.
You can untuck the thumbs as well.
Reach the chest up.
Have a little mini back bend in your upper back if that feels okay.
Inhale,
Lengthen.
Exhale,
Send the heart forward into your forward fold.
Release the hands down towards the mat.
Heel toe the feet so they're a bit wider than hip width distance.
You grab opposite elbows and bend the knees as we rock from side to side.
Pouring weight from left to right.
So you open up the hamstrings and the low back.
Giving a bit of extension to the spine.
As it lengthens down with gravity.
Minimize that movement,
Release the hands down towards the mat,
Inhale to a halfway lift,
Lengthen your spine,
See if you can hover the fingertips.
Exhale to your forward fold.
One more time.
Inhale,
Halfway lift,
Cover the fingers.
Exhale forward fold.
Step back,
Downward facing dog.
Pedaling through the heels.
Pressing through both hands equally and creating some space between your shoulders and the ears.
So you might need to widen your hands.
Taking two more juicy breaths in our down dog.
The next exhale sends the knees down towards the mat.
Let's bring the toes together,
Knees to come wide.
Walk the hands back and send your hips towards the heels for your wide-legged child's pose.
Resting the forehead on the mat,
Rocking from side to side,
Massaging the third eye center.
Allowing your hips to melt towards the heels.
Arms to relax.
One more breath.
Next exhale,
Walks your hands towards yourself.
Swing the legs around you.
Long on the mat and we'll start wide bending the left foot in towards the right inner thigh.
Doing the best that you can to energetically get that square pelvis and we'll walk our hands down beside the right leg.
Releasing through the back of the neck.
Finding a prop.
If you need it.
If you'd like to,
You can grab your foot here in front and pull your chest down towards the leg as well if you'd like more of an active stretch.
If you'd like more passive,
We'll place the hands on the mat and just release the back of the neck.
Let's walk the hands to the inside edge of the right foot,
Walking to face the left knee.
So twisting through the core.
And coming back up to center.
Let's cross the left foot over top of the right knee.
And if it's available to you,
You'll bend the bottom leg.
If not,
We'll just stay with this leg straight.
Inhale,
Reach the right arm up,
Twist towards the left side.
Use your left hand as a kickstand or guide for where your chest is opening to.
Energy out of that bottom foot if we have the leg extended.
Inhale,
Lengthen your spine.
Exhale,
Twist a little bit deeper.
And let's unwind,
Give yourself a little counter twist.
And come back to neutral coming to the other side right leg comes to meet the inner thigh on the left side walking the chest down either having your passive stretch or grabbing the foot for an active hamstring stretch connecting with your breath.
See if you can guide your muscles to open up.
Using the breath.
Such a wonderful thing to do in the morning is get your body moving and your mind into your body.
Helps you to set up for success in your day,
Walking the hands back towards yourself.
Crossing the right over top of the left.
And again,
Option to bend the left leg.
We've got the straight leg.
We've got lots of energy out of that heel.
Inhale the left arm up.
Turn towards your right side.
Right hand comes behind you like a kickstand.
On every inhale,
You lengthen a little bit taller.
And on the exhales,
You twist a little bit deeper.
Make sure you're breathing.
And twists our breath.
Sometimes we'll lose depth.
See if you can untwist just slightly so you can find that depth again and then come into your twist.
Last full breath,
Inhale.
Excellent.
One more inhale.
The exhale,
You untwist,
Mini counter twist.
And stretching both legs forward.
Let's bring both of the soles of the feet to touch.
So we're in a butterfly position.
You could rock from side to side to.
.
.
Aim to yourself back so you have a wider diamond.
Or you can come forward.
Just a little bit of a different stretch.
You can play with the length yourself to see where your body is hanging out today.
So once we've found our length between heels and pelvis.
Let's lengthen through the spine.
See if you can lift your chest just slightly,
But still keep the core engaged.
Nice,
Long,
Tall butterflies.
Inhale lengthen even more on your exhale keep all of this length and just hinge Hinge at the pelvis.
You're not going to get very far.
That's okay.
We're just hinging.
Yeah,
Use the core,
Pull yourself back,
Neutral.
Keep a long,
Flat spine.
Don't use your arms.
You can hover them if that helps.
And pull it back.
Last one,
Coming forward.
And release.
Releasing down,
Curving the spine,
Taking the hands either to the outsides of the feet,
Pressing them in.
You can place the thumbs on the soles of the feet,
Give yourself a bit of a foot massage.
I like to use my elbows to press my knees further towards the ground.
As you're taking your breath in this posture,
Be mindful to let go of the muscles behind the eyes and the forehead,
The jaw.
If you can soften through the face.
One more full breath.
Coming back up to a neutral spine.
And you can either stay here with your feet or you can come up to a big sole of the foot stretch or any other position that feels good.
We're moving into an arm and shoulder stretch.
So you can choose either butterfly,
Sole,
The feet stretch,
Or any other position that is seated.
We'll bring the arms up to a cactus.
Sweep the right arm underneath the left.
Try and connect the palms.
That's not happening for you today.
We can grab opposite shoulders,
Opposite elbows,
And round forward.
It's really important if you're grabbing opposite elbows or shoulders that you actively round forward and press your elbows.
If we're in our twist here,
We want to try and draw the shoulders down and out.
Moving the elbows up and down is going to also help.
Centering.
One more breath.
And release your arms.
Give them a shake.
Find your cactus.
Left arm sweeps underneath right,
Trying to connect the palms.
Again,
You have your option.
Breathe through the center of your spine.
One final breath.
On the next exhale,
Release.
If you're on your toes,
Come forward.
Bang the tops of them to get more blood flow back into them.
And we'll meet in an easy seat.
Bring your hands to heart center.
Bow the chin to your chest.
Thank yourself for showing up this morning and I thank you for meeting me on the mat.
I appreciate your energy.
Namaste.
