A Mindful Morning Stretch

Gently wake and warm up the body while still in your bed. Instead of jumping straight out of bed in the morning, take some time to stretch out the body and warm up the joints and muscles with this simple but effective practice. This practice can be helpful if you often wake up feeling stiff and achy and moving in this mindful way will allow you to start your day right.

Transcript

Hello and welcome,

I'm Rachel.

Today we are exploring a mindful wake up for the body.

It can be hard to jump out of bed and feel fully awake and energised as most of us wake up with tired aching muscles and joints.

But by spending just a few minutes to stretch and move mindfully allows the body to fully wake up and allows for better circulation,

Leaving you with more vigour and feeling like you can take on your day.

You may also find that it allows you to start your day feeling a little lighter and calmer.

When we jump straight out of bed with tense tight and aching muscles it isn't really giving us the best start to our day.

We begin this practice whilst still in bed,

Warm under the covers.

By starting under the covers your muscles are already nice and warm and all you are doing is gently waking them up.

So once you feel fully awake,

Remove your pillows and come to lie fully on your back in your bed,

Keeping yourself under those nice cosy covers.

Take a full body stretch here,

Reaching your arms overhead,

Stretching out the body fully,

Allowing that stretch to travel down and out through the toes.

Take a deep inhale through your nose and a long exhale out through your mouth as you stretch.

Take another deep inhale here and again a nice long exhale out through the mouth.

And then one more time,

Deep inhale,

Long exhale.

Now turn your head slowly,

Gently to the right shoulder.

Slowly move back to centre and then turn the head gently to the left shoulder.

Continue this gentle movement right and left three more times,

Making sure that you keep breathing as you do so.

Now shrug your shoulders up to your ears and gently lower them again.

Repeat this movement again three times more.

Now rotate your wrists four times clockwise and four times anticlockwise.

You may want to release your arms from your bed covers here.

Now it's time to remove your bed covers.

Yes,

I know this is the hardest part of the practice.

Now it's time to remove your bed covers.

Yes,

I know this is the hardest part of the practice,

But you can do it.

Draw your right knee to your chest.

Give it a good squeeze and take a nice deep breath in and out as you hold it to your chest.

Once you've released that exhale,

Extend the leg out again.

Now draw the left knee to the chest,

Giving it that squeeze as you take a nice long inhale and a nice long exhale out.

And then extend the leg back along the bed.

Take a deep inhale and draw both of your knees in towards your chest.

Hold the breath once here and give the knees a nice big squeeze as tight as you can to the chest.

Then release the legs fully as you release a really nice long exhale.

Now take a few moments here.

Take a few breaths,

Allow your body to relax and notice how your body is feeling.

Now we will take some lateral stretches.

We're going to make a banana shape with the body.

In yoga this is known as banana pose or banasana.

So when you're ready,

Shuffle your feet over to the right and then shuffle the shoulders over to the right too.

So you're making this banana shape with your body.

Take your arms up overhead and if it feels comfortable to do so,

Cross the left ankle over the right.

Feel this lovely stretch travel down the left side of your body.

Breathe in deeply here.

Let's switch sides.

Uncross your legs and bring your arms down by your side.

Then move your legs over to the left and shuffle the shoulders to the left also.

Take the arms up overhead and if it feels comfortable to do so,

Cross that right ankle over the left.

Feel this lovely stretch travel all the way down that right side of your body this time.

Breathing deeply here.

Now it's time to get out of bed.

So sit on the edge of your bed with your feet flat to the floor.

Interlace your fingers together and then release the legs fully as you release a really nice long and then bring the palms to rest on your chest.

Take a deep inhale through your nose and as you exhale,

Turn the palms to face away from the body and stretch the arms out fully at the same time.

As you inhale,

Turn the palms to face your body and draw them back to rest on your chest.

Repeat this movement three more times.

Exhaling to send the palms away from the chest and inhale to draw them back in.

Release the hands now.

When you feel ready,

Come into a standing position.

Take an inhale now as you sweep your arms up overhead,

Reaching up nice and high.

As you exhale,

Float the arms back down by your sides.

This time,

Inhale and take a little bounce in the knees as you sweep the arms up into the air again.

As you exhale,

Float the arms down by your side.

Again,

Inhale with a little bounce in the knees as the arms go up and exhale,

Floating the arms back down by your side.

Repeat this movement about 10 times.

Repeat this movement about 10 times,

Allowing breath to marry with the movements that you make.

Once you finish,

Stand tall with your arms by your side.

Close the eyes or take a soft gaze out ahead.

Take a moment here to notice how you feel.

Notice the sensations that are moving around the body.

Notice how the muscles and the joints feel now.

Notice if you feel warmer and notice the quality of your breath.

Stay in this standing position until your breath is back to a natural rhythm.

Or until you feel ready to move into the rest of your day.

Try this little sequence of movements each morning over the course of a week and notice how this changes the way your body feels each morning and how it affects your energy and mood.

You may also find it useful to take notes on the positive effects this gentle movement routine has on you.

And if you find it useful,

Try to make it into a positive daily habit.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I hope that you have a wonderful,

Mindful day.

Reviews

This experience was delightful and a wonderful way to start the day. Since my body often aches from old injuries, this was the perfect way to wake it up before getting out of bed. I even had some sound effects reminiscent of Rice Krispies—Snap, Crackle, and Pop! 😁

Thank you so much for this. I will most certainly do it again.

Ps. The sound effects came from my joints. 🙃

I have been doing this for several mornings now and it feels great. Thank you for creating something so perfect for my morning.

Hello beautiful 🌞⭐️🌞⭐️🌞Thank you so much for the sweet morning practice 🌞🌞🌞my sun is shining and I’m smiling 🗺️much love 🕉️Namaste

Thanks, Rachel, this is a really great start to the day!

Sweet & gentle way to wake up the body and begin the day. Thanks for this offering Rachel! It will be in regular rotation on my Morning Ritual playlist. 🫶🏼

Lovely morning gentle stretch... it made me get my mat out & continue the stretch for a bit, namaste Rachel excellent material as always 🙏💜