Deep Stretch Morning Yoga | Vinyasa + Yin

A Yang + Yin yoga flow to open up the body. Starting off with a Vinyasa flow, and ending with gentle stretching. Enjoy a Deep Stretch in the morning to get your day started! For beginner to advanced yogis - do what you can, take modifications where needed.

Transcript

Good morning everyone, It's Nina. Today I'm going to walk you through a really amazing deep stretch morning flow. So it's not going to just be all deep stretches, We're actually going to warm up the entire body first. So a little bit of a vinyasa flow with some sun salutations and some twisting just to get that body a little bit more awake and then we'll settle into some deep stretches so you feel nice and open and relaxed and at peace before you get your day started. So to get started, I'm just going to come onto your hands and your knees, We're just going to get right into this. So coming into a tabletop position, Starting off with a couple of cat cows, So inhale lifting up the chin and exhale rounding through the back. Inhale, Lifting the chin up and exhale rounding. Inhale lifting up, Exhale rounding. Just one more, Inhale lift up and exhale round. Coming back to a neutral spine, You're just going to rock forward and back to start to open up the wrists and then rocking from side to side, Maybe bending the elbows or just shrugging into the shoulders and then start to bring your hips into the mix, Taking circles with the hips in both directions and you're starting to feel some cracks or some openings in the body. Switching directions, Moving your hips and then coming back to center, You're going to tuck your toes under, Shift your hips back onto your heels, Lifting your arms all the way up towards the sky, Clasping your hands together, Lifting up, Taking a little bit of a back bend here, Taking nice deep breaths and exhale, Bring your hands to your heart center, Drop your left hand down, Reach your right arm up and over to your left, Big deep breath here and exhale, Drop the right hand down, Lift that left arm up and over to your right, Taking a big deep breath here, Bringing both of your arms up towards the sky, One more back bend here and exhale, Hands back on the mat, Untuck your toes, Just kind of tap them out a little bit here, Roll your ankles around a little bit and you're going to tuck your toes under and lift your hips up and back into your first down dog. So taking a few moments here to kind of pedal the feet out, Pushing the hips from side to side and then start to roll the spine forward, Coming high up on your toes, Starting with the lower back and rolling all the way up to the front of your spine, Coming into plank pose and then bending your knees, Pushing your hips up and back. Just one more time, Rolling out the spine nice and slowly and then on your exhale, Bending your knees, Pushing your hips up and back and then taking a really nice big bend in your knees, So kind of dropping the knees down but then use your hands and your shoulders to push your hips up and back, So really feeling that length in your spine and then from here you can start to lower the heels down a little bit, Feeling that deep stretch in your calves. Start to walk your hands towards your feet and inhale, Halfway lift and exhale, Fold. Take a deep bend in your knees, Bring your chest to the top of your thighs, Grab opposite elbows, Swing from side to side. It's okay if you're feeling really stiff, Especially if you just woke up in the morning or you've been sitting all day, Just giving your body some time to slowly begin to open up. Release your hands down and inhale, Lift your arms all the way up towards the sky, Take a little back bend here and exhale, Hands to heart center. Release your hands by your side, Shake your arms and your legs out a little bit. We're starting to move some of this energy in the body and sometimes that requires a little bit of shaking. Alright, So lift your arms all the way up towards the sky, Take a little back bend here and exhale, Fold forward and inhale, Halfway lift. You're going to take the peace fingers of both of your hands, Wrap around your big toe, Take a nice bend in your knees and relax your head and your neck here. And then from here you can start to straighten out your legs if that feels okay for you. You want to feel this in the belly of the hamstring, The back, Middle back of your legs and just allow your shoulders to relax, Your head and your neck to relax. Taking two big deep breaths here. Slowly release your big toes, Inhale, Halfway lift and exhale, Bring the hands down, Walk your hands forward coming into a plank and start to activate the core a little bit here. So keeping your shoulders in line with your wrists and just slightly tuck your tailbone under to really engage that lower core. If this is a bit much you can always come down to your knees. Coming into this modified plank, So really working this core here, Take nice long deep breaths. Take one big inhale in and exhale, Lower all the way down to your mat and inhale, Up low cobra and exhale, Lower down. Inhale, Up low cobra, Holding it here, Squeezing your glutes using the lower back to really lift you up, So not really using your hands too much here. Really activating that lower back. Continue to breathe and exhale, Lower down. Just one more time, Inhale, Lift up, Squeeze your glutes, Use your lower back. Think about really pulling your shoulder blades together here. Good, Finding your breath. Exhale, Lower down. Inhale, Lift all the way up to upward facing dog and exhale to downward facing dog. From downward facing dog, You're just going to kick your left leg up towards the sky. You can square your hips to start off and then start to open up the hips, Bend your top leg, Maybe roll the hip around a little bit in both directions and release that left foot down. Inhale, Lift that right leg up, Squaring your hips and then open up your hip, Bend your top leg, Roll the knee around in both directions. We don't think about these simple movements here really. Start to open up the body and loosen it up a little bit. Release that right leg down. Walk your feet all the way up to the top of your mat. Take your feet about the width of your mat with your toes slightly pointing out. You're going to drop your hips down to the ground coming into the slow squat. So if you need a block or something to place underneath your hips for a little bit of support, You can do that as well. Bring your hands to your heart center, Pushing your elbows on the insides of your knees. So just hanging out here for two deep breaths, Starting to open up the hips now, Preparing for those deeper stretches we're going to do in a little bit. Just close your eyes and release your hands down to the mat. Lift your hips all the way up and then inhale with a flat back. Reach your arms all the way up towards the sky, Hands to heart center and jump your feet together with the arms by your sides. We're going to start to move the body a little bit more here. So you're going to shift the weight into your left foot. Lift your right knee up. So you're just really balancing on this left leg. So squeezing that left glute, Keeping it nice and tight. You're going to bring your hands to your heart center. Bring your right knee over to the side. So really feeling this in the glutes, In the legs, In the glutes and then you're going to start to lean forward and starting to reach that right foot back coming into your airplane or your modified warrior three here. You can take a nice deep bend in that left leg or straighten it up. As long as you're not locking out the knee, That's what we're going for here. Start to bend your left knee, Drop the right foot down, Drop that right knee down, Untuck your toes, Lift your arms up to the sky, Take a little bit of a back bend here, Maybe pushing the hips forward, Squeezing that right glute and exhale hands down to the ground. You can shift that right leg back a little bit more if that feels good for you and start to straighten out that left leg. You can bring your hands closer to you, Closer to your heel, Starting to wake up these hamstrings. Just two deep breaths here. And start to bend your left knee. You're going to lift your arms up towards the sky. On an exhale, You're going to twist over to your left and bring your right elbow to the outside of your left knee. So keeping your hands to the center of your chest or just coming into this modified revolved low lunge. If you'd like a little bit more of a challenge, You can tuck your toes under and just lift that left knee off the ground. Continuing to breathe here. And release that knee down if you had it up. And slowly come all the way back up to center, Reach your arms up towards the sky. And exhale, Bring your hands down to the ground. And you're going to tuck your back toes under, Lift that right knee up off the ground. And you're going to start to straighten out that left leg. Just stretching through the back of the leg a little bit more. Bend that left knee back just one more time. Straighten that left leg as much as you can. And then bend the left knee. Step that left foot back, Coming into plank. You can come down to your knees if you need to. And then lower down, Chaturanga, Or all the way down. Inhale, Upload cobra or upward facing dog. And exhale to downward facing dog. Alright, We're going to repeat that on the other side before we get into our deep stretches. So from downward facing dog, You can walk, Jump, Or step all the way up to the top of the mat, Whichever you would like to do. And we'll open up the hips one more time. So bring your feet to the outer edge of the mat, Toes slightly turned out. Sitting the hips down, Bring the hands to the heart center. Continuing to breathe. If you'd like to go a little bit deeper into this squat, You can reach that left arm out to the side and the right arm up, Getting a nice twist here, Stretching that lower back. And then switching sides, Bringing that right arm out to the side and the left arm up towards the sky. Alright, If you'd like to go a little bit deeper, You can. And then bring the hands down to the ground, Lift the hips up, And with a flat back, Reach all the way up towards the sky, Take a little back bend here, And hands to heart center, Jump the feet together. So we're going to repeat this on the other side. So this time you're going to shift the weight into your right foot. Lift that left knee up, Finding your balance here. It's okay if you feel like maybe you need to hold on to something or just kind of getting your balance for the day. Really squeeze that right glute. You're going to take that right knee out to the side. So really feeling this in the glutes now, Just allowing your legs to kind of calibrate. If you fall out, Come back into it, Just slowly and gently. Now we're slowly going to come into our Modified Warrior 3. So you're going to start to hinge at the hips, Keeping your left knee nice and lifted, And then extending that left leg back behind you, Squaring your hips. So if you feel like your left hip is lifting up, Just guide it towards the mat, So squaring the hips. Keep your hands at your heart center, Or bring them back behind you, Taking a deep bend in that left knee, Or maybe straightening it without locking the leg out. Just one more breath here. And slowly bending that right knee, Dropping that left foot down, Dropping the left knee down, Untucking the toes, Reaching your arms all the way up towards the sky, Taking a little back bend here, And pushing the hips forward, Really squeezing that left glute. And then bringing the hips back to center. You're going to bring your hands down to the ground. If you want, You can move your feet, Or your foot and your knee a little bit farther apart. You're going to shift your hips back, Pulling the toes towards you, Coming into this runner's lunge. So if you need to bend your right leg a little bit, You can totally do that. And then start to straighten, Or bend that right knee. And we're going to come into this twist again. So reach your arms up towards the sky. On your next exhale, You're going to bring your hands to your heart center and twist to your right, Bringing your left elbow to the outside of your right knee. So bringing your hands to your heart center, Taking really nice, Slow, Deep breaths here. If you'd like, You can tuck the back toes under and lift that left knee up off the ground, Really squeezing those left glutes, Feeling that stretch in the hip flexor while also really opening up and lengthening through the spine. So if you feel like you're kind of hunching, Really think about pulling that chest forward and extending the top of the head forward. So really lengthening through that spine. And lower that left knee down. You're going to come back to center, Reach the arms up towards the sky, Take a little back bend here, And drop your hands down to the ground. You're going to tuck your back toes under, And you're going to start to lift that left knee up off the ground, And then start to straighten out that right leg. So feeling this in the hamstrings, And then bend that right knee again, And then straighten out the right leg. Bend that right knee. You're going to step that right foot back, Coming into plank, And taking your modification down to your knees if you need to. You can lower down chaturanga, Or all the way down to the ground. Inhale, Upward facing dog or low cobra, Your choice. And exhale, Downward facing dog. Taking two deep breaths here. And dropping your knees down to the side, Bring your feet together, Drop your hips onto your heels, Coming into child's pose. So you can go into child's pose with your knees apart, Or together, Whichever feels good. You can extend your arms forward, And just drop your forehead onto your mat. So this is where we start to go into these nice, Slow, Deep stretches. So allow yourself to begin to relax. You've done a little bit of that pre-work to open up the body, So we're going to go a little bit deeper now. And start to kind of wiggle your hips from side to side. And come up onto your fingertips, Feel that stretch in the shoulders. And then make your way up into table top. So, We're going to start off with the upper body, The shoulders. So, You're going to start to walk your hands forward, But as you do this, You're going to keep your hips nice and in complete alignment with your knees. So we're just coming into puppy pose here. So the goal here is you can bring your forehead, Your chin, Or your chest all the way down to your mat. You should feel this really deep stretch in your shoulders. So we're just going to be here for about five deep breaths. I know this can be an uncomfortable posture. You can also create this shape against the wall. So if this is too much for you, You can go to a wall, Standing in front of the wall, Placing your hands on it, And dropping your chest down. And from here, Start to bring the chest forward, Dropping your belly onto the ground. So you're coming into the sphinx pose. So, Shoulders are in line with your elbows. And slightly pull the chest forward. And just a gentle gaze down at the ground, Just in front of your hands. It's a very gentle stretch for the front of the belly and the chest. Lower the chest down. Bring your hands next to your chest. Push up into tabletop. So we're going to go into a deep hip stretch here. And if you need a block or a pillow, You can grab that now to put underneath your hips. So what we're going to do is we're going to cross that right leg behind the left. So we're coming into this cross-legged position. And you're just going to bring your feet out to the sides and drop your hips back. So if this is too intense for you, Like I said, Place a block under your hips, Or a pillow, Or just something to give you a little bit more height. So from here, If this is an intense enough stretch for you in these outer hips, You can hang out here. Just closing your eyes. If you'd like to go for a deeper stretch, You can walk the hands forward. Or maybe go down to the elbows. And just relaxing as much as you can. We'll be here for five to ten deep breaths. And slowly start to push yourself back up. If you are leaning forward, You're going to come back into that tabletop position and crossing your legs. And this time we're going to switch sides. Before we do that, We're just going to roll out that left hip. So rolling it forward and back in both directions. Good. And then bringing that left knee to cross behind the right. Bringing those legs apart and pushing your hips back onto the ground. Grabbing that block or pillow if you need it. So sitting up nice and straight. Maybe this feels like a deep enough stretch for you, So just hanging out here. And closing your eyes. Maybe leaning forward a little bit. Placing your hands on the ground. Or your forearms going fully into this stretch. And giving yourself some time for five to ten deep breaths. Gently begin to push yourself back up. And then coming back forward into your tabletop position. Untangling your legs and this time bringing that right leg out. Rolling your hip in both directions. And then we're going to come into a seated position. Coming into our butterfly pose. So a couple of options here. You can bring the heels in nice and close. If you like, You can bring them a little bit farther out. If this is pretty intense, You can place some blocks or some pillows underneath your knees for support. So take your variation. Find what feels really good for you. No need to force anything here. This is a very gentle, Deep stretch. So we're just going to allow gravity to begin to bring the legs down a little bit here. So sit up nice and straight here. And then begin to fold forward with your back as flat as you can. And when you feel that stretch, We're really working on externally rotating and opening up these hips. So the opposite stretch of what we just did. So going as far as you can. And when you've gone as far as you can, You can place your hands down maybe around your feet. Maybe out in front of you. And you're just going to round through the back and relax your head and your neck down. Maybe coming down to your elbows depending on your flexibility. Again, Not forcing anything. Just allowing gravity to provide this nice deep stretch for you. We'll be here for 5 or 10 deep breaths. And slowly start to push yourself all the way back up. And bring your knees together. And then take your feet actually a little bit farther than hip distance apart with your hands behind you. Just going to windshield wiper the knees from side to side. We go into these deep hip stretches. They can be kind of intense. So we always want to make sure we're doing these counter stretches. And the next thing that we're going to go into is just more of a side stretch. So we're going to come into Janu Sirsasana. So bring that left leg forward and that right foot to the inside of that left leg. We're actually going to open up and bring that right knee out a little bit more. You're going to reach that left hand for the shin or your foot and reach that right arm up and over to your left. So feeling that deep stretch here. We'll be here for 3 nice long slow deep breaths. So really feeling that side body expand. Turning those right ribs up towards the sky. Coming all the way back up. Switching sides. Extending that right leg forward. Bringing that left foot to the inside of your right thigh and then opening up that left leg a little bit more. You're going to reach for that right shin or that right foot and lift the left arm up and over to your right. Again just turning your chest up towards the sky a little bit more and really reach that left arm up and over. Breathing deeply into that side body. And slowly begin to make your way out. We're going to come back onto our hands and our knees. Coming into our final stretches here. Going for the hips again because who doesn't like to open their hips. So you're just going to bring that left knee up to that left wrist and then bring that, Bring your foot up towards that right wrist. So we're coming into pigeon pose. So stretching that right leg back behind you. If this is a bit much you can bring that left heel in closer to you or you can come into deer pose which is a modified version. You're still getting that outer hip. Both of these poses do very, Is a very similar stretch so there's no right or wrong or better or worse. So if you're coming into deer pose you can just lean onto that left hip and then from here you can start to fold forward over that left leg. If you're in full pigeon doing the same thing. You can always place a block or a pillow or something underneath that left hip if you're in full pigeon and you need that support. Again no right or wrong here. It just matters how you're feeling this in your body. You don't want to feel any stress in your knee. You want to feel most of this opening in that outer hip. So coming down wherever you're at. We'll be here for five to ten nice slow deep breaths. And slowly begin to push yourself back up and we're going to make our way back into that tabletop position. So if you'd like to roll onto the side of your hip. Bring that left leg in a little bit closer and then coming back into that tabletop. We're going to roll that hip around that left hip forward and back a few times. And then switching sides bringing that right knee to the right wrist. That right foot to that left wrist. So if you're coming into full pigeon extending that left leg back. Maybe placing a block or pillow under that right hip. Or if you're going into deer pose just kind of staggering your legs here. Again you can bring that back leg in closer or farther. Bringing that right leg in closer or farther. And then finding that happy place for your body. Folding over that right leg. Or if you're in full pigeon folding over your front leg. Taking five to ten deep breaths here. And you're slowly going to start to make your way back up. Maybe rolling onto that left hip and making your way back into or onto your hands and your knees into tabletop. We're going to roll that right hip around both directions. And we're just going to drop onto the right side of our hips. Bringing our legs around and we're going into the best pose of all. Shavasana. Where all of the stretches and all of the energy that we've moved has time to really clear out and even out and balance through the body. So come all the way onto your backs. Your arms by your sides. Maybe you like them out so it really opens up the front of your chest. Maybe this hurts your lower back. You want to tip your knees in together. So bending your knees and bringing your knees in. So whichever position feels really good for you. This is where you're going to be for the next few minutes. So enjoy. Find as much stillness as possible. Try not to move your body. So that you can allow the energy to continue to move through the muscles and the joints and the ligaments. Clearing any blocks or remaining stiffness you may have in your body. Begin to come back into your body. Maybe wriggling your fingers and toes. Your wrists and your ankles. Rocking your head from side to side. Reaching your arms up and over your head. Getting a nice deep stretch. Rolling over to one side of your body. Hanging out here for a moment. And then pushing yourself all the way up to a seated position. Placing your hands on your knees. Taking a big inhale in. Exhale letting it out. Just one more time. Inhale in. Exhale out. Reach your arms all the way up towards the sky. And exhale hands to heart center. Thank you all for joining me for this nice deep stretch morning flow. You had a little bit of yang in the beginning. Ending with some yin. So I'm hoping you're feeling a little bit stronger. A little bit more open. And a little bit more relaxed. So you can get your day started. So thank you guys so much for joining and I hope to see you guys on the mat in the next video. Bye.