Attitude Of Gratitude: Morning Yoga For Recovery

Greet the day with an attitude of gratitude with this gentle morning practice to uplift the body and mind. For the most benefit, practice within 30 minutes upon awakening. This practice is done standing and includes breath of joy. No mat or props necessary.

Transcript

Good morning and welcome to this brand new day.

Many of us wake up with the hamster wheel already turning before our feet even hit the floor.

Getting out of the head and into the body is a fantastic way to start the day on a good note.

May this practice help you to pause before considering your plans for the day so that you can draw on the energy of that which inspires,

Nourishes,

And supports you.

As with any yoga practice,

Please proceed with awareness of your limitations,

Injuries,

Or contraindications.

And as always,

Consult with someone from your medical team if you're unsure.

Okay,

So let's get started.

We're going to start standing.

We're rising just as the sun is rising.

Standing in mountain pose,

So feet hip width apart,

Toes pointing forward,

And your arms down by your sides.

Feel the rootedness of your feet pressing into the earth.

Stand tall and alert through the crown of your head.

Take a moment to sense your whole body and the space that it's taking in the room.

Mountain pose,

Tadasana.

Take a couple of slow deep breaths here,

Centering and grounding.

One of my favorite quotes,

Gratitude turns what you have into enough.

Let's start the day with an attitude of gratitude by saying thank you.

Please bring your palms together in front of your heart into Anjali Mudra.

Close your eyes and turn your awareness inward and downward toward your heart center,

The center of your chest.

And repeat after me.

Thank you for this new day.

Thank you for lungs clear enough to breathe.

Thank you for legs strong enough to stand.

Thank you for all that supports me right here,

Right now.

Now call to mind that something that you feel particularly grateful for today.

Take your arms down by your sides.

On your inhale,

Stretch your arms out wide and reach up to the sky.

Bring your palms overhead,

Touching.

And exhale,

Draw your palms down center line of your body,

Pausing at the heart.

So we're going to take a moment or three to keep coming back to the heart.

With your hands at your heart,

Call to mind another thing you feel grateful for today.

And again,

On your inhale,

Sweep your arms wide and up toward the sky.

Palms together.

Exhale down to the heart.

Another thing you feel grateful for.

And again,

Inhaling the arms wide,

Reaching up,

Looking up and turning the corners of your mouth upward into a smile.

Exhale the palms down to the heart.

Another thing you're grateful for.

Half salutations.

Again,

Inhale your arms wide and reach up,

Look up,

Smile.

This time on your exhale,

Hinge at your hips to bend forward and down toward the earth.

Arms come out wide like airplane wings.

Release your arms and your head down at the bottom of your forward bend.

Pause here for a moment.

Bend your knees as much as you need to.

Legs do not have to be straight.

It's not a prerequisite to have straight legs.

Take a few breaths here,

Stretching out the back of the body,

The low back,

The hamstrings.

Wherever else you might feel the sensations of this pose,

Uttanasana,

Forward bend.

And now on your inhale,

Lift your torso halfway up so it's parallel with the floor and reach your heart forward,

Away from your thighs,

As you take your shoulders back away from your ears.

And on your exhale,

Surrender back down to the earth.

Letting your head hang heavy,

Your arms hang heavy.

On an inhale,

Come back up to standing with a flat back like a reverse swan dive,

Taking your arms wide,

Reaching up to the sky,

Looking up toward the sky,

Smiling.

And exhale your palms back down to your heart.

With your palms pressed together at your heart.

Bring your thumbs into contact with your sternum.

The corners of your mouth turn slightly upwards into a smile and call to mind yet another thing that you feel grateful for.

And we'll go through that again,

Another half salutation.

Inhale,

Arms wide,

Reach up,

Look up,

Smile.

Exhale,

Surrender forward to the earth.

Let the head go,

Let the arms go at the bottom.

And then let your inhale energize you halfway up,

Stretching the heart forward and the shoulders back.

Exhale,

Back down to the earth.

Inhale to rise up to standing,

Arms reach wide and up,

Palms together,

And exhale down to your heart.

And with a slight smile on your face or maybe a big smile,

Another thing that you're grateful for.

Good.

One more just like that.

Inhale wide,

Reach up.

Exhale,

Forward bend,

Uttanasana.

Inhale to your half lift,

Ardha uttanasana.

And let your exhale bring you back down,

Bowing in toward the legs.

Inhale to rise,

Reach up,

Look up,

Smile.

And exhale the hands down to the heart.

Once more,

Gratitude.

So in the spirit of being happy,

Joyous,

And free,

We'll now practice breath of joy.

This pranayama or breathing technique awakens the whole body and mind by increasing oxygen levels in the blood,

Stimulating the nervous system,

And releasing pent-up tension.

So there are four arm positions for breath of joy.

Let's practice those together.

First the arms come straight out in front of you,

Parallel with the floor,

Palms facing up.

Now take them wide out to your sides like the wings of a bird,

And then back in and up overhead.

And finally,

Sweep them down and back behind you,

And you'll bend at the knees and bring your torso down toward the earth as you do this.

And come back up to standing.

Arms straight out in front,

Palms face up.

Arms wide.

Arms in and up.

Down and back.

Stand up,

Arms in front.

Wide.

Up.

Down.

Good.

Come back up to standing.

There's also a breathing pattern with breath of joy.

That's where the real magic is,

Is with the breath.

The breathing pattern is a total of four breaths,

One to go with each arm movement.

And the breath pattern is three inhales through the nose and one exhale through the mouth.

The inhales are short,

So they're about a third of your full capacity.

And the exhale makes a HH sound.

That HH sound can be as loud as you want it to be.

You can think of the exhale as a big release of stagnant energy from the night's sleep,

Bad dreams,

Pent up emotional baggage,

Whatever you want to just let go and expel out of your body that can come out on the exhale.

So the breath sounds like this.

So that's inhale,

Inhale,

Inhale,

Exhale.

Go ahead and do that with me.

Good.

Now pause.

You should not be lightheaded.

If you're lightheaded,

You're breathing too fast or too deeply.

So we're going to pair the breath with the movement now.

Arms come in front.

Inhale.

Wide.

Inhale.

Up.

Inhale.

Down and back.

Exhale.

Front.

Inhale.

Wide.

Inhale.

Up.

Inhale.

Down.

Exhale.

Good.

Two more times.

And the next time you're bent down in a forward bend,

Stay there.

And notice the body's natural inclination for a deep inhale.

Good.

And come back up to standing,

Taking your arms wide,

Reaching up,

Palms together overhead and exhale your palms down to your heart.

Bring your hands down by your sides,

Your arms down by your sides.

Close your eyes.

Listen in for your balance and just notice what's present for you right now.

Notice your heartbeat,

Your body temperature,

Your breath,

Any sensations of warmth or tingling in your body,

Perhaps in the palms.

You may feel qualities of lightheartedness.

Your mind is calm and focused,

A feeling of steady,

Stable energy.

Just notice.

Pause and notice.

And now we're going to take some spinal rotations by twisting from a standing position.

So please walk your feet out a little wider than your hips.

Yes,

And you can turn your toes slightly outward and from here,

Turn toward the right.

And as you turn to the right,

Let your left heel pick up off the floor so that you don't tweak your knee.

And then come through center,

Plant the left heel,

Turn to the left,

Pick the right heel up and come back through center.

Turn to the right.

So whatever direction you're turning,

You're picking the opposite heel ups.

Just move in between,

Turning from left to right,

Twisting the spine and let your arms now be heavy and swing from side to side as you twist.

Let them swing so much that one hand comes behind you and taps your lower back as the other hand comes in front and taps the lower rib cage,

Twisting from left to right,

Letting the arms swing freely.

Good.

And now speed up your twist a little faster.

A little faster.

Only as fast as feels comfortable and pain free.

A little faster,

Maybe.

Make sure not to turn your head.

Keep your gaze looking straight out in front the whole time.

Breathe.

Good.

Now start to slow it down a little.

A little more.

A little more.

So that you slowly make your way back to standing without movement back to stillness right in the center.

Arms down by your sides.

Interlace your fingers in front of your heart.

On your inhale,

Breathe into your hands.

On your exhale,

Press your arms straight out in front of you,

Palms facing away.

Breathe here a couple breath cycles.

On an inhale,

Take your arms with your interlaced fingers straight up toward the sky.

Here and breathe a couple breath cycles,

Breathing into the sides of the ribs here,

The sides of the rib cage.

And on an exhale,

Take your arms out wide,

Pressing your palms away from you and down by your sides again.

We'll repeat that.

Fingers interlaced at the heart.

Inhale into the hands.

Exhale to press your palms straight out in front of you.

Inhale arms straight up to the sky.

And exhale wide,

Pressing the palms outward and down.

Again,

Inhale into the hands.

Press the arms forward.

Inhale to rise.

Exhale wide and down.

And one more time,

Inhale hands at heart.

Exhale,

Press forward.

Inhale up.

And exhale wide and down.

Good.

Find your mountain pose once again,

Stepping the feet in to about hip width apart.

And just notice,

Notice your quality of energy.

Notice the mind activity,

The heart,

The breath.

How do you feel?

So this concludes the active movement of the practice.

To finish your practice,

You can either come down for a Shavasana or corpse pose laying on your back on the floor or sit for meditation.

I recommend 10 minutes.

If you have a timer,

You can set that.

So make your way to your meditation seat or Shavasana.

And to end the practice,

I send you some good wishes.

May you pause when agitated or doubtful today.

May you pause and ask for the right thought or action.

May your thought life be more and more on the plane of inspiration.

And may you keep coming back to that innate goodness that is your heart.

Have a great day.

Namaste.

Reviews

A lovely practice. Breath of Joy, gratitude, & recognizing our innate goodness. Thank you 🙏

Thank you so much for this practice. Your guidance was easy to follow and the flow felt amazing. I am ready for my day filled with gratitude and presence.

What a wonderful way to start my sober day! This has everything I need and I feel great!! Thank you! Thank you! 🙏🏻 I'll keep coming back to this one.

These movements and breath’s were new to me and I love them! I feel exhilarated and ready for the day ahead with a positive and energized mindset. This is definitely one for my playlist. Thanks for sharing. Namaste 🙏🏻 🎶🧘‍♀️💜😊🌻🦋

Thank you. I greatly appreciate - I am thankful to you! And me! For this wonderful, gentle, energizing wake-up practice.

This is my favorite yoga to start my day fresh. Thank you 🙏

Excellent. Namaste 🌞

Really helps to add movementg in the morning

What a wonderful way to start my day! Thank you Sadie!🙏🏼 I am so grateful for the 12 Steps!

beautiful. I would have loved if you included the Shavasana In this meditation still it was lovely thank you so much

What a beautiful meditation and practice for my well-being! Thank you so much! 🌺🌸 The directions for the yoga are very clear, carefully described, and easy to follow.

Really made me feel great. Wonderful start to the day. Thank you! 🙏🏻

Wonderful movement. Reminded me of the practices of one of my MBSR teachers. Wish I’d had another 10 minutes to meditate after!

I hope to do this with some friends at a home retreat!!

Wonderful practice to start your day. Lots of focus on gratitude and heart center. I felt lighter to release tension, energized, happy and grateful 💖