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It’s not that common for most of us to check in with whatever it is you need to feel ready to take on your day. But getting yourself out of bed for a 20-minute morning yoga practice helps you do exactly that.
Practicing some side bends will energize you, especially first thing in the morning. Low lunges help open the hip flexors and quads, in case you sit at a desk or steering wheel for a large part of the day. And some simple backbends and shoulder opening help counteract the forward rounding that is most likely going to happen when you’re seated for hours on end.
There’s nothing too strenuous in the practice. Even the Warrior Three is less about the balancing and more about opening the chest and making you feel like you can take a deep breath. If you find yourself moving slowly, rest assured that instead of doing a reclined Savasana, we do a seated short meditation so there’s no chance of you falling back asleep. Just in case.
20-Minute Morning Yoga Practice
The following morning yoga practice is beginner friendly with options to make poses more challenging. No props required.
Child’s Pose
Bring your big toes together to touch and widen your knees as much as is comfortable in Child’s Pose. Lengthen out of the low back, reaching your arms out and folding yourself down toward the mat. Try to shrug your shoulders away from your ears and let go of any tension in your neck and in your jaw. Find a gentle stretch through your lower back and into your hips. You might feel this a little more in your shoulders and your chest. Stay here for several breaths.
Then come onto your fingertips so your elbows lift off the mat as you activate your arms. Think of pushing your shoulders and armpits down toward the mat. Stay here for several breaths.
Sphinx Pose
From Child’s Pose, slide forward onto your belly, bringing your hips to the mat and your feet about hip-distance apart. Come into a little backbend here with your hands on the mat beneath your shoulders in Sphinx Pose. Push down through your fingertips and knuckles and open through your chest, rolling your shoulders back and away from your ears. Push into the tops of your feet so you’re keeping some engagement through your legs. Stay here for several breaths.
Side Sphinx
From Sphinx, roll over onto your right hip and elbow, stacking one leg over the other and resting your head on your right forearm or it might feel good to straighten your arm. Your left hand can be on the mat in front of you to support and keep you balanced in the pose. Let yourself sink into a nice side stretch. Reach out long through your legs and heels.
Move back through Sphinx and then roll over onto your left hip and left forearm, stacking your right leg on top. If one side feels easier than the other, that’s normal. You’re not trying to make this stretch too intense, so take any adjustments you need. Stay here for several breaths.
Cat and Cow
From Sphinx, press yourself up and come onto your hands and knees for a few rounds of Cat and Cow. As you inhale, lower your belly and lift your gaze in a little backbend here in Cat Pose.
Then exhale and reverse that motion as you push the floor away, pull your lower belly in, and round your back in Cat Pose. Keep going at your own pace and at your own rhythm, breathing in and out through your nose.
Thread the Needle
Come back to hands and knees with a neutral back and step your left leg straight out to the side. Make sure that you have your ankle in line with your hip. Keep your foot flat on the floor.
Find Thread the Needle by reaching your right arm underneath you and bringing your shoulder and ear down to the mat. Then you can slide your left arm forward for a big stretch and slight spinal rotation. Try not to roll to the inside edge of your left foot. Imagine you can push down into your baby toe. There should be no tension in your neck. Stay here for several breaths.
Gate Pose
From Thread the Needle, slide your left hand back beneath your shoulder and push into the mat to lift your chest all the way. Find Gate Pose by sliding your left hand down your left leg and reach your right arm up and over for a side body stretch. Roll your right shoulder back so you’re not leaning forward. Stay here for several breaths.
Then find the counter stretch by bringing your right hand down to the floor in line with your right knee and your left arm reaches up and over. Come back to your hands and knees and then find Thread the Needle, Gate Pose, and a counterpose on the second side.
Downward-Facing Dog
From hands and knees, walk your hands a couple inches in front of the shoulders, tuck your toes under, and lift your hips up and back in Downward-Facing Dog. Peddle your feet, alternating bending one leg and straightening the other. Relax your neck. Think of pushing your chest toward your thighs a little more.
Low Lunge
From Down Dog, reach your right leg toward the ceiling, bend your knee, and open your hips by stacking your right hip over the left. Stretch here and then step your right foot to the front of the mat and lower the back knee in a Low Lunge. Bring your hands to your front thigh, lengthen the tailbone down, and move forward into your lunge while keeping your chest lifted. The more you can feel your tailbone lengthen down and your lower belly engage, the deeper you’ll feel this through the front of your left thigh. Be careful not to overarch your lower back. Take one more big breath here and try to maintain your balance.
Half Splits
From Low Lunge, straighten your right leg and flex your right foot. Then hinge at your hips and lean your chest forward in Half Splits. You can bring your hands to your thighs, blocks, or the mat.
Think of pushing down into your right heel and almost dragging it back toward you. Stay here for several breaths.
Humble Warrior
From Half Splits, bend your front knee and come back to Low Lunge. Interlace your hands behind your lower back, roll your shoulders away from your ears, and broaden through your chest. Then tuck your back toes under and lift your back knee off the mat. Maybe you choose to hold here if this is already enough of a challenge for your balance and your hamstrings.
If you choose, hinge at your hips and bring your chest along your inner right thigh in Humble Warrior. Lift your arms and knuckles up and overhead. Breathe here.
Warrior 3
From Humble Warrior, push your feet into the mat to lift your chest. Keep your hands clasped and shift all the weight into your right leg as you start to lift your left leg off the mat in Warrior 3. Try to keep your hips parallel to the mat and pushing through your lifted heel. Squeeze your shoulder blades behind you.
Vinyasa Flow to Downward Dog
From Warrior 3, slowly lower your left foot to the mat alongside your right foot and release your hands. Come into Mountain Pose and turn your palms forward. Take a moment here to breathe.
Take a little flow as you inhale and lift your arms in Mountain Pose. Exhale as you fold forward. You can absolutely bend your knees here. Inhale and lift halfway with a flat back. Then exhale and plant your hands on the mat as you step your feet back into Plank and carefully lower yourself all the way down through Chaturanga to your belly. Inhale as you lift your chest and start to straighten your arms in Cobra. And then exhale as you shift your hips up and back in Downward-Facing Dog.
Set yourselves up to repeat the sequence on the second side by lifting your left leg, bending your left knee, and taking a stretch before stepping through to Low Lunge, Half Splits, Humble Warrior, Warrior 3, and the flow that takes you back to Downward Dog.
Pigeon Pose
From Downward Dog, lift your right leg up and bring your right knee behind your right wrist and lower it to the mat. Straighten your left leg behind you and level your hips so you’re not leaning on one side more than the other. Maybe you want to stay up nice and high, working on a slight backbend. Or maybe you feel like folding forward. You don’t need to go all the way and can stay on your forearms. Find the variation that feels best for you this morning. See if you can relax a little more into your hips as you stay here for several breaths.
If you had folded all the way down, push into the mat and slowly lift yourself. Come back to Downward Dog and find the same Pigeon Pose on the other side.
Downward Dog
Take your time here and take a last Downward Dog. Really make the most of this pose, stretching through the back of your legs, elongating along the back as well as through your arms.
Easy Seat
Come to sit in any way that feels comfortable for your hips and lower back. Shrug your shoulders away from your ears, close your eyes, and take this time to notice how you feel. Show yourself a little gratitude for taking the time out of your morning to get on your mat and do something for yourself. You might like to ask yourself what intention you’d like to set for your day and use that as your one-word mantra as you bring your hands together at your chest and pause here before continuing with your day.
