How we start our day truly sets the tone for our day. Starting your day on a happy mindset allows for a positive outlook, increased productivity, stronger relationships, improved health, and reduced stress. The perfect way to start your day comes with 5 yoga poses. These yoga poses will not only awaken your body, but awaken your mind and soul.
Move into these 5 yoga poses from your bed the moment you wake up to start your day and set you up for a fantastic day ahead! Imagine your mattress as your yoga mat and feel the sensation of support through it.
- Start in a Supta Baddha Konasana, or reclined bound angle pose, so bring the bottoms of your feet to kiss and your knees out wide. Once you get into the yoga pose, place one hand to your belly and one hand to your heart. Energetically push your knees a little closer to your mattress to feel your hips open up. Take a deep inhale in and feel your belly and heart rise, and then exhale everything out through your mouth. Take a few more just like that. With each breath you take, allow every inhale and exhale to slow down. In this day and age, many of us wake up with racing thoughts so allow yourself to focus on your breath to release some of those thoughts. When we slow our breath, we automatically slow our mind. Let your mind come to your breath.
- Next, move into a supine figure four on each side. This is a fantastic yoga pose to open your hips. Start in a half Savasana, so keep both your feet planted about hips-width on your mattress. Keep your left foot planted. On your inhale, straighten your right leg and send your foot towards the sky. On your exhale, bend your right knee and cross your ankle over your left thigh. Keep your right foot flexed to protect your joints. Rock side to side and feel your right hip open up. Take this yoga pose on the other side. Honor whatever comes up as you open your hips. When we are asleep, our joints tend to tense and lock up, especially our hips and especially if we sleep on one side. It’s important to warm up our joints before starting our day. A supine figure four is not only the perfect way to warm up our hip joints, but also strengthen our hip joints.
- From there, reverse table top your legs so you come into a happy baby pose. Grab for both of your feet, ankles, or shins. Since you just woke up, maybe you reach for your shins first. Take a few breaths in this yoga pose. Slowly start to grab for your ankles and take a few breaths and now add a gentle rock from side-to-side. Maybe you start to reach for your feet now. Continue to rock from side-to-side and allow your low back to also awaken as you rock. Start to open your hips a little deeper by energetically pulling your knees towards your mattress. Continue to allow your breath to be slow and breathe into your hips. Soften your shoulders away from your ears by pulling them together and then down your back.
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Then, take a supine twist on each side. From your happy baby pose, hug your legs together. Give yourself a hug with your legs squeezed in and find a rock from side to side. Then, find stillness with a straight spine. On your inhale, hug your knees closer to your chest and on your exhale, drop your knees (stacked on top of one another) to the right. Glue both your shoulder blades down to your mattress and take your gaze upwards or to your left. Slowly start to bring your knees back to center and give yourself another hug. Invite your gentle rock from side-to-side once again. When you are ready, drop your knees to the left and take your gaze upwards or to your right. In each twist, find the strength in your mid-spine. Find some flexibility, some strength, and some stretch in your spine as you twist. With each inhale you take, find length in your spine and with each exhale you take, find a deeper twist. As you twist deeper, continue to keep both shoulder blades connected to your mattress. When we twist our bodies, we allow for the blood vessels around our internal organs to widen and work a little more for us, specifically our kidneys and liver, and are able to detoxify more.
- Lastly, take a full body stretch. Let your low back lift off from your mattress, point your toes, and send your arms over your head. Think about awakening for the second time as your body, mind, and soul awaken deeper. Feel space be created in your spine between each vertebrae. Stretch out your fingers and toes. Allow this stretch to invite the energy into every inch of your body that you want to carry through the day. Take a deep inhale and let this stretch go further, and on your exhale come to a fetal position to whatever side is calling to you. From there, start to get out of bed. On your inhale, take both feet to the earth, stand up tall, and take one more stretch where your hands go over your head and on your exhale bring your hands to heart center. Take a moment to thank your body for being able to invite gentle movements to start your day in a positive way. Take another moment to set an intention for your day. Allow your breath to take you through your day, as well as your intention and gratitude for your breath and body.
Awakening your mind, body, and soul through light and feel-good movement before jumping into your day is vital for a fantastic day ahead. Our yoga practice is as important off our mat as it is on our mat. Start to roll out of bed and have a beautiful day ahead!
By, Samira Agarwal, RTY