Start Your Day Right

Hi everyone, and welcome to this three part series. It's a series that's gonna be very close to my heart. I know I wake up every morning feeling quite stiff, the heaviness of the day before is still in my body, and I need something really simple, slow, to bring the mobility, the flexibility, and the strength back into my body. So I'm gonna take you through this series, just some nice ways to open up our joints, muscles that stay cramped because we're sleeping in different positions overnight. It's gonna be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to share this with you.

So roll out your mats and come and meet me in child's pose. Now there are different variations of child's pose, but because we're first waking up, you want that length in your spine. I in particular tend to sleep like a little ball, so it's a really nice way to lengthen my spine. So what I want you to do is keep your knees on either edge of the mat, okay? And then just keep the bum squatted on the heels, and if this connection is hard, you can even place like a small pillow, and then reach your hands forward and rest the forehead on the floor. This itself is a nice way to begin because you create that length in your spine. I don't need to hunch around.

Remember to just create as much length. Spread your fingers wide, so we want to stretch even in between everything, okay? Reach your fingers forwards, like you're almost curling your way out of bed. Inch by baby inch, inch by baby inch. And you can see that my spine is getting longer as I slowly move my hands forward. Create as much length as you can in your spine while still keeping the hips on the heels.

Take an extra second here, and slowly, as your belly, moving both your hands to the left side. Reach with the right fingers, and you'll want to tend and see to just roll out the dough. Just keep the right arm tight going toward the floor, like the wears when it hurts the floor, and when you think you speak with the earth is standing. Keep reaching with the fingertips, creating this really beautiful extended stretch on the right side. I'm trying to let the right fingers move a little bit more. Keep pushing down on the right shoulder blades, allowing your skin, your fabric of your muscles, to expand and release all of this stiffness that comes with long sleep.

Slowly come back, and we'll do the same on the opposite side. So the left hand is doing all the leading, but just try and roll it to the left side. I wish I could bring your ears down. I just extend through the left fingers, inch by baby inch, inch by baby inch. Keep more and more space, and try and still keep the hips glued to the heels. With space you want to lift, but don't, just keep this connection so that the back is grounded. Take an extra second here. And slowly come back to the center with your forehead down.

As you stay here, slowly take your hands and interlace them behind your lower back. Lift them out to the sky, and allow the hands to move to the left and to the right, maybe forwards, backwards. There's a few of you that are really, really flexible, and even try and bring your wrists together. But if not, open the spine, just allow your body to move in all directions, creating more and more space in an otherwise stiff upper body. Move it around really slowly.

This is where I love my tension settles, so I like to do this. It makes a couple of times the life I know flexibility and mobility in my shoulder joints, but in other two. One, now keep the hands pointing up. Tuck your belly in and imagine I tied a rope to your fingers, and I'm slowly pulling you up. Lift yourself up all the way as you gently come to seated onto your own heels. Take these fingertips, pull them down to the floor. Drop your head back. You feel really nice stretch in your shoulders. And then slowly release the hands.

And as you do, bring the left hand above the right hand, crossing with the elbows and forming Garudasana arms. From here, pull the elbows to your belly as you round, protract through the mid spine. In this step, we're doing this again. Inhale, taking your hands all the way back. Interlacing them. Peeling the chest open, head is dropping back. Your shoulders opening the front part of your body, compressing the back.

As you exhale, we're going to reverse that. Expand through the back body, compressing the front. This time, right elbow is on top. As you round, squeeze and look inside. We're going to do this again. So again, inhale, taking the hands all the way back. Interlaced, peel open shoulders. Pull back hands to the floor, head up. And then slowly release, you bring the left hand on top. Cross with the elbows as you round, squeeze, and look inside.

We do it one last time. So again, taking the hands back. Interlaced, peel it open. Shoulders and head lifts as you are trying. On the exhale, the right hand is on top. As you cross with the elbows, taking Garudasana arms, squeezing and looking inside. Now, slowly release the hands. Bring them in front of you.

We're going to take some cat and cow. And if your ankles were not used to that, just tap them out so that the blood flows right back. Simple cat, because they're just dropping the spine, shoulders, and the pulling back is your head lift. And then from there, as you exhale, round the shoulders, scoop the navel and lift up. Again, and here, drop the spine, gaze up to the sky lengthening stretch. And on the exhale, rounding the shoulders, scooping the navel in as you gaze and look inside.

Last time, in the hands, dropping the spine, shoulder is pulling back. We're adding something additional. So, we need to pull the heel to the bum and pull shoulder blades back. Kind of going a little bit deeper into that very stretch. And then you're going to curl the toes. We want to build strength as well, right? So, rounding the body is your look to your body, that means seeing if you can lift the knees off one inch. Hold it just for a second. So, feel the energy in your body. Then slowly, gently drop the knees down. Then pull the heel to the bum as your shoulders pull back as you gaze up to the sky, stretch your own spine. And gently from there, curl the toes, round the upper back. Look at your own belly button and lift the knees up. Three, two, one.

Lift the heels and take a Downward Dog. Just pedal your legs. Just trying to bring your nose as close to the knees. Just creating more and more life. If your legs are just pedaling, you're just bending only, straightening the other, creating more space in your back than other three. Two, stretching it all out. And four, gaze forwards, walk your hands back towards your feet. Just grab hold of either elbow as you pull the elbows down to the floor. If it feels really tight on your legs, you can slightly bend them. But I urge you to pull through the hip joints and lifting up as you lean down, which the neck is also not cranking up. The neck is really relaxed. Notice, hanging around like a big pendulum. You're allowing the body to just sway and release any tension in the legs and the lower back. Just sway, release, sway, release. Pulling the elbows even closer to the floor if you can. Just creating more and more space. And every time you're pulling the belly in, so you can almost pull the fingers down or the palms down. The elbows down. Release the hands.

We want to stretch the back of the leg. So take your second and third finger. Padangusthasana. Grabbing the big toe alone. Wrap your hands around the toes. And then inhale, lengthen the cup. And exhale, bending your elbows and moving your nose as close to the knees as you're about to go along. Now, some of you might not have the mobility to grab your feet, and that's okay. You can do this even holding the back of your shin. Lengthen and go even deeper. Same movement, right? And there might be some of you that are extraordinarily flexible. So for you, you can just put the hands underneath the feet. Same thing. The upper body is creating the same movement as you just get deeper or not so deep in the lower body. Hang in there, just creating lengthen your lower back, tucking the belly in and add your knee nose closer. And then gently from there, release the hands.

And slowly walk your hands all the way to the front of the mat, and to our first high plank or Downward Dog. Take a second to stay right here. And then slowly knees, chest and chin, gently comes down to the floor. Slowly open your hearts, lift up, head up. Make sure the shoulders are peeling back. The heart is opening and you're lifting upwards. Don't collapse in. Push the chest up. From there, lean back. Meet me back in Balasana, or child's pose.

All right. Thank you so much, everybody. You can try that sequence about three or four times. And what you'll find is your lower back, upper back and mid back, get a lot more fluid than how you walk up with. That fluidity will help ease you into your day and relieve you of any aches and pains that might normally come.