Full-Body Stretch to Start Your Day (In Just 15 Minutes!)

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This slow-moving, full-body stretching routine for first thing in the morning isn’t super strenuous. It takes only 15 minutes yet it integrates every kind of movement, including opportunities for strengthening and balancing and stretching. It’s simply a way to check in with yourself, connect to your body, set your focus for the day ahead, and put yourself first for a change.

The 15-minute full-body stretching routine begins with some reclined twists and hip openers before practicing a little core strength. And then there are a few standing poses, including a Warrior pose and a standing forward fold, before winding back down with some seated hip stretches.

A morning full-body stretching routine is also an opportunity to select one word that you want to focus on for your day. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It can be as simple as literally one word that captures how you want to feel and what you want to focus on before the busyness of the day takes hold of you.

15-Minute Full-Body Stretch for Rushed Mornings

The following full-body stretching routine is suitable for all experience levels and is a nice, gentle way to open your body and get ready for the day ahead. No props are required although you can rely on them in any pose you like.

Reclined Stretch

Start lying down on your back. First thing in the morning, it might feel good to reach your arms overhead as you stretch through your fingers and toes and really lengthen through the sides of your waist.

Then draw your right knee toward the belly and hold on either to the back of the thigh or the front of your shin. Keep the length through your left leg and really extend and push down a little into your left heel while at the same time closing the gap between your right thigh and your belly.

Reclined Twist

Try to relax your shoulders away from your ears, soften your jaw, and take some deep belly breaths, and we’ll come into a twist from here. So you can guide your right thigh, crossing it over your body toward the left side of your mat. You can reach your right arm straight out to help push and anchor your right shoulder blade into the mat. As you stretch through the lower and mid back, you might also feel this in your right hip as well. Take another breath here in the pose.

Reclined Pigeon or Figure-4

Slowly come back through to center from your twist and find Reclined Pigeon by crossing your right ankle over your left knee, making a figure-4 shape. If you’d like, you can thread the needle by reaching your arms along either side of your left thigh and trying to pull that thigh toward your belly. I like to flex my right foot and lean my right knee away from me. Keep your head and shoulders relaxed on the mat and only use a little arm strength. You’re not trying to work too hard this morning. Breathe in and out through your nose to gently wake yourself.

Release hold of your left leg, and let’s find that big stretch again by extending your legs and arms. Lengthen everything out. Then bring your left knee to your chest and repeat your reclined stretch, twist, and Pigeon on this side. Release one last time, straighten your legs, and reach your arms overhead. Take a big stretch here.

Sphinx Pose (Bhujangasana)

Flip over onto your belly and make your way into Sphinx Pose, focusing on your chest and upper back a little. Bring your feet hip-width apart and your forearms to the mat with your elbows roughly underneath your shoulders. Press your palms into the mat and lift through your chest. You can make this less intense by bringing your forearms farther out in front of you. You never want to feel pain or compression in your lower back. Think of almost pushing into the pubic bone so you’re lengthening your tailbone toward your heels.

Take a big breath in here and release it as you let your chest melt down to the mat. Slide your hands back a little and use your arm strength to push yourself up onto hands and knees with your palms underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips.

Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana-Bitilasana)

You’re going to practice Cat and Cow here to warm up the spine. As you inhale, lower your belly, lift your gaze, and arch your back in Cow Pose.

Then as you exhale, round your back and bring your chin toward your chest in Cat Pose.

If you’d like to add some little strengthening, engage your core as you round your back to lift your knees and shins off the mat. Do this a total of 5 times, pairing your movement with the flow of your breath.

Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Walk your hands out in front of you and lift your hips as high as they can go as you find your Downward-Facing Dog. Your feet will be hip-width apart and your hands shoulder-width apart. If your hamstrings and calves are a little tight, play with bending one knee and straightening the other, making whatever movements and adjustments feel good to you here. Think of lengthening through your arms, lengthening through your chest, and relaxing your neck.

Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

Walk your feet forward to the top of the mat, taking as many little steps as you need to get there. Widen your stance and come into your rag doll or Standing Forward Bend here. You can definitely bend your knees and let your upper body drape and relax over your legs. I like to hold on to my elbows and sway a little side to side.

Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II)

Release your hands to the mat, bend your knees even more, and take your time as you roll all the way up to standing. Really push through your heels as you lift your shoulders and head last. Take a wide stance with your right foot forward and your left foot parallel to the shorter edge of the mat in Warrior 2. Bend generously into your right knee, trying to press that right knee open and reaching through your arms, palms facing down. The tendency often here is to lean your weight forward. Try to pull it back so you really have shoulders over your hips and you’re balanced between your feet. Keep your gaze steady.

Stay in your Warrior 2 as you bring your hands to your heart, straighten your right leg, turn your right toes in, and then point your left toes toward the back of the mat, coming into Warrior 2 on the other side facing the back of the mat, pushing into both feet evenly.

Standing Wide-Legged Forward Bend

Bring your hands together at your heart, straighten your left leg, and once more turn your left toes in and bring your hands to your hips. Inhale as you lift your chin and chest with a flat back. You can bend your knees if you’d like. Then hinge forward at the hips and fold down into a Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend. You might need to readjust your stance and the distance between your feet.

Even though you’re relaxing the upper body, think of shrugging your shoulders away from your ears so there’s length throughout your neck. Relax through your jaw as you walk your hands out in front of you.

Bound Angle (Baddha Konasana)

Take a seat and bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall apart. You can choose how close you would like to have your feet drawn in, maybe holding on to your big toes or simply taking your hands behind you. As you inhale, try to lift and lengthen through your back. See if you can maintain a little of that flat back as you start to pull your heart forward, hinging from the hips in Bound Angle. Hold here for a breath or two, finding that length.

Then, when you’re ready, release and let yourself naturally round into the forward fold, letting gravity take you further into the pose without forcing it. Take 5 deep breaths here. Maybe ask yourself again, what is the one word that captures how you want to feel today?

Deer Pose

Slowly start to walk your hands in and lift your head and chest. You’ll take one more seated hip stretch from here. I really like to do Deer Pose in the morning. I’m going to bring my left leg behind me, so that I have my left knee out to the side in line with my hip, and I’m making a 90-degree angle with that left leg. Then I’m going to push that left hip down and start to walk my hands back until I feel a stretch through the inner left thigh and into my left hip. I know for me, I really don’t need to walk myself back too far to be able to feel the sensation in this pose. You don’t need to feel like you have to do too much. Often less is more.

This is a pretty big internal hip rotation, which is not something we do a lot in yoga, so this can be a really nice stretch to do on a regular basis.

Walk your hands in and go to the other side. Bring your left leg in front of you and then your right leg goes behind you until you have your right knee in line with your right hip and a 90-degree angle with that right knee.

Seated Meditation

It might feel good to straighten both legs in front of you, shake it out, and come to a seat. I usually skip Savasana for short morning classes because I don’t want you to fall back asleep. Instead, sit up tall, close your eyes, and rest your hands on your knees or bring them together at the front of your chest in anjali mudra. Take a moment to check in with yourself and notice how even a 15-minute full-body stretching routine can change the way you feel in your body as well as your mental state. You might focus once again on your one-word intention here before you return to your day.