Seated Morning Yoga (Rohini) — Release the Sides

Hi everyone, and welcome to the second episode of this series. This is going to be a relatively fun sequence. It's entirely seated — you're welcome to do this even on your bed. You don't even need a yoga mat to do everything that I'm going to teach you. It's the perfect way to start your morning. I find a lot of stiffness on my sides when I wake up, I feel quite cramped, so this is a really nice way to release all of that tension. So, are we ready?

I want you to meet me in Sukhasana, which is essentially the comfortable seated pose. So what I want you to do is take your hands, interlace the hands above your head, and stretch upwards, like you're just waking up for the first time. Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, like you want to touch the ceiling. Then — we all have some stiffness in the neck, right — so just slowly drop the head back, look up at your fingertips, slowly look forwards. Good.

Slowly from here, gently release the hands. Bring the right hand down, left hand parallel to the ears, and stretch sideways. Now it's important that you don't stretch like this — keep feeling the chest open and looking up, getting a nice extension from hip all the way to the fingers. If you can, you can even drop the elbows down, but make sure you're not leaning out. Keep the legs down as you stretch. Remember, this level is fine, this is also fine — just reach.

From there, tracing a semicircle — because you're almost activating your digestion — just flatten the body as you drop the left hand down and reach again over with the right side. Reach and feel the stretch across the whole side body, extending through the fingertips, for another two, one.

Sometimes digestion is slow in the morning, so as you trace a semicircle, place the hand on the left knee as this one goes behind, and you just twist. Just feeling the digestive organs get into a nice little twist as they twist and release all of that tension inside. Slowly come back into the same on the opposite side as you twist in the opposite direction. Peel the left shoulder open, looking back as much as we can. Slowly come back.

And now we're going to do a seated cat and cow. Place your hands on the knees — I'm going to show you this from this side. So, hands on the knees, and then I want you to arch the chest, roll the chin forwards and lean, collapsing so to speak into your back, and then from there round the shoulders, pull the belly in, and just lean back. A few more seconds. Let's do it again a couple more times on the inhale — fill your lungs with oxygen as you lean forwards, chin up, and then exhale, chin down, almost touching your chest, as you lean back and feel the stretch in your body.

Beautiful, guys, two more. In here, really, really opening up the chest — lean, lean, lean, you can go a bit lower with that straight back. And then the exhale, rounding the shoulder, scooping the navel in as you gaze and look inside. One more time, inhale, peeling the chest open, lengthen, and then stretch, and the exhale, rounding the shoulder, scooping the navel in as you gaze and look inside. Beautiful, guys.

Slowly come to a straight spine. Take your hands and interlace them again, place them directly behind the head. Now your elbows turn forwards, okay, and then drop the head — so any tightness, stiffness in the back of your neck will just get released. It's a simple hold. Now it's really important you don't collapse, spine is straight, just the nose is being pulled down. Imagine your elbows weigh a hundred kilos and are slowly pulling you down. Take a few extra seconds here, just feeling the stretch in the back of your neck. As you slowly release all of that heaviness, take an extra few seconds here, allowing your elbows to get heavy.

And slowly from there, start to round the body, almost like you're curving into a circle. Move your nose towards the knees, or rather your belly button, and your elbows backwards, as you feel the stretch in the back of your spine — if I can say, from the brain all the way to the tailbone. Feel the body lengthen and release. Curl, deeper curl, deeper, feeling that beautiful stretch. Make sure the shoulders are relaxed and not coming up — relax them — for one. Slowly lengthen back up.

Release the hands directly behind you, with the fingertips facing the bum. Stretch your legs forwards, or you can even bend them — if you're a beginner, the bent legs is an easier version, I'll show you both ways. Lift the chest up, pull the shoulder blades back, and slowly lift the hips up in a reverse state. Remember, don't collapse, keep pushing the hips up sky high, shoulder blades peeling towards each other. And then gently look at your belly as you slowly, with control, lower back down.

As I said, you can do the same movement — we're going to do it two times. You can do the same movement with pointed toes. So, same thing, if you're feeling stronger: shoulders back and lifting the hips up as you take forward the asana. Gaze on the belly, don't collapse, gaze on the belly. It's slowly, with control, lowering it back down. Whichever way works for you. Last time: shoulder blades back as you push the hips up sky high, drop the head back, and feel that beautiful opening in the body. Slowly, as you look at the belly button, gently, gently, relax the body back down.

From here, straighten the right leg, bring the left foot to the right inner thigh. Reach both your hands up, take the right hand to hold either the knee or the hip, or even just the ankle, whatever you can — I'm going to try the knee today. Reach up and just get a nice twist, like you want to touch your own toes. That's not the aim — even if you're here it doesn't matter. I don't want you to collapse and try and touch. Just peel it open, reach, and if you touch, great, if you don't touch, also great. Twist and open for another two, and one.

Slowly come back, releasing this out. Left leg forward as the right foot comes to the left inner thigh, and we do the same — again finding the knee or the ankle as you reach up and over. Don't collapse, peel the chest open, reach with your fingers, and maybe you'll grab the toes, maybe you won't — it's all okay. For another two, and one. Slowly coming back, reaching both your legs forward as you inhale, reach your hands up.

And exhale, meet me in Paschimottanasana — grabbing the toes, or the ankles, or even just the knees, if that's all that's possible. Shoulders back, drive your chin forwards, coming into a nice, beautiful forward fold. If you can't reach the toes, that's great, wherever the body is willing to go. Sandwich yourself against the thighs, relaxing the shoulders, not pulling it up, remember, dropping it down. Chin forwards for one. Gently release, slowly coming back.

So, I just thought you'd try this really simple sequence. Feel free to repeat it at least two or three times, and you'll find the body gets really fluid and comfortable, and you're walking around your day not feeling stiff but really loose and happy. So enjoy the sequence. Thank you so much.