Everyday Yoga: Morning Routine
Stretching, Breathing, and Meditating can Transform your Day
Many yoga students complain that they don’t have time to commit to their practice. In the western mindset, yoga is a workout; we envision ourselves visiting gyms and studios on a regular basis for 90-minute sessions full of asanas and sun salutations and 15-minute savasanas. There is another way to approach yoga that can have a much more significant impact on your life.
Yoga is about changing your habits and attitudes, both in your body and mind. To that end, yoga can be a small part of your daily life, rather than something you do a few times a week.
The most effective times to practice are immediately after waking or before going to bed. This can prevent you from rushing into your day burdened with worries or tossing restlessly in bed filled with distracting thoughts.
The following is a ten minute morning routine. See Everyday Yoga: Evening Routine for a bedtime plan.
Sunrise Yoga
1. Stretch
- Twists: while still in bed, bend one leg at a time, tucking the toes behind the opposite knee. Spread the arms out shoulder height and let the knee fall to the opposite side, using the opposite hand on top of the knee to deepen the twist, if desired.
- Full body stretch: Reach the arms over head and stretch through the fingers and toes, shifting the hips up and down to stretch out your sides.
- Upper back stretch: Sitting up in a cross legged position, inhale your arms overhead and interlace your fingers behind the back of the head. Exhale your chin to chest, using the weight of the hands to stretch the back of the neck and shoulders. Move the head gently from side to side.
- Pigeon: From the cross-legged position, roll onto your right hip slightly and place your fingertips in front of you. Extend the left leg back, coming onto the top of the left knee and foot. The right leg is bent, right foot at left hip, right knee behind right hand. Walk the torso forward and come down to the elbows, then round the spine and let the forehead come to the floor. Repeat on the opposite side.
- Heart Opener: From a kneeling position, knees hip width apart, place your palms together at your heart and bring your sit bones to your heels. As you inhale, rise up to kneeling and arch through the upper back, dropping your head and opening your arms wide into a T. Repeat four to eight times.
2. Breathe
- Three-part breathing: Come to standing and close your eyes. Breathe (through the nose) deep into your belly. The diaphragm pushes out and the abdomen expands. Breathe into the rib cage, feeling the back of the body expand as well as the front. Finally, feel the collarbones rise up as you breathe into the upper lobes of your lungs.
- Cleansing breath: Place your hands on slightly bent knees. Inhale deeply through the nose and round the back. Exhale forcefully through the mouth, bending forward to force the air out completely of the lungs. Repeat three to six times.
- Rapid twists: Stand with the feet at least hip width apart, arms wide at shoulder height. Twist from side to side, bringing the opposite hand across the chest as you twist to one side. Exhale forcefully through the nose.
3. Listen
- Come back to a seated position and close your eyes. Take a minute to sit in silence and listen to the sound of your breath. If your mind is busy with thoughts, do not fight it, but ask it to listen with you. Using a sound (said internally) with the inhale and exhale can help focus the mind’s attention. Try “so” and “hum.” In Sanskrit, this loosely translates to “I am that.”
4. Sing
- Sound has a very powerful affect on the body, literally harmonizing and entraining our energy on a cellular level. Chanting the sound “Aum” (pronounced ah-oh-mm) has many physiological and psychological benefits, but you can also hum, sigh, or sing a favorite verse from a song. Anything pleasing to you will send good vibrations through the body that you can carry with you through out the day!
