10 min Yoga Warm-Up - Pre-Workout & Morning Yoga

Transcript

namaste welcome everyone my name is cassandra and i'm going to take you through this quick practice which serves either as a morning yoga class to help you warm up and energize for the day ahead but it can also be a really good warm-up before another type of workout so no props are required and we're really going to try to get into the entire body both stretching and strengthening let's get right away into it we're going to start with some essential spinal movement so really focusing on the spine and also getting into our wrists and our ankles so we'll begin in tabletop pose coming into cat and cowl we're also going to add a wrist stretch from this pose so you want to be on hands and knees and now you're either just going to rotate your palms out 90 degrees so that you have your fingertips pointing towards the outer edges of the mat if you don't feel much and would like to go further here you're going to rotate fully 180 80 degrees so that your fingertips are pointing more towards your knees if you're doing this option you're probably feeling it through your forearms and into your wrists really try to spread your fingertips wide and really claw down into your fingertips and knuckles just doing cat and cow from this pose as you inhale drop your belly lift your gaze curl tailbone up exhale to round and contract push the floor away and keep going here a few more inhale to open exhale to contract pull your belly in get into every little inch of your spine noticing where there might be tension last one here inhale and exhale now tuck your toes under we're gonna sit on our heels you can start coming off of your palms and really sit down so getting into our ankles now and into the soles of the feet and you might want to bring your thumbs in four fingers over top and just take a few wrist rolls here maybe just some little half circles really try to pull up through your core and shake it out let's extend and reach our arms up a different kind of spinal movement now adding a twist you're going to reach your left arm forward push the right hand back keep both hips facing forward inhale lengthen up exhale twist the other way and really try to draw and press that left shoulder back inhale lift and exhale release you might be feeling this in your feet come back through to center open it up last one here inhale reach and lift and let's release back into our tabletop pose roll out your ankles a little and we'll take one last twist here from hands and knees coming in to thread the needle to target more the upper back and our shoulders extend your right arm up to the sky and then go ahead and thread it through so you want to let your right shoulder and ear come down to the floor you might come up onto your left fingertips really push into your left hand push also into your right arm into the ground and see if you can lean a little more on your right knee and into your right hip three breaths here into your upper back trying to create even more space and flatten the left hand let's come back into our tabletop pose switching sides left arm rises exhale thread it through shoulder and ear to the mat come up onto the right fingertips push into the ground lean onto your left knee a little more onto your left hip we're really trying to just isolate through our upper body and flatten your right palm down come all the way back up so from your tabletop pose walk your hands a little bit forward and then shift your hips forward so you're in this modified plank position try to lengthen your tailbone down pull the navel in shift your gaze forward and a little tricep push-up so you want to keep your elbows in just lowering about halfway and then push to lift on up we'll do two more like this exhale brand keep pushing into your fingertips and knuckles the weight should not all be in your wrists last one strong core press back up and now tuck your toes under lift your hips up and back downward facing dog think of reaching your chest towards your thighs pressing back into your heels as you stretch out into your calves let your head dangle here leaning onto your left leg reach your right leg up to the sky bend your knee open up your hip big thigh stretch here and as you exhale tap your knee to your nose come forward into your plank pose try to close the gap between your thigh and your chest inhale back up three legged dog exhale squeeze it in same thing need a nose reach it up and back exhale need a nose hold here and step that foot through now from here see if you can start to straighten that front leg any amount the hamstrings might be really really tight which is totally normal and now go ahead and bend into both knees so we're going to bend and then we're going to stretch and if you'd like to add on you can bend down and when you stretch maybe you try flexing your front foot to get even deeper into that calf and ankle so bend and stretch three more bend and stretch push into that back heel last one bend and stretch and go ahead and bend all the way so you're making your way into a low lunge you can point those toes back make sure your knees over your ankle press down into the feet in order to lift on up let's add a little cactus shape with our arms here bend your elbows squeeze your shoulder blades behind you here to lift through your heart pressing the hips forward and down let's bring our palms back down flat to the floor step back into your plank pose holding here reach the crown of your head away from your feet draw your lower belly in we're just holding two more breaths think of hugging your inner arms towards one another and we'll lower all the way to our belly point your toes back roll your shoulders back bujangasana this is your cobra pose exhale release let's find child's pose balasana big toes together knees as wide apart as you would like forehead to the mat a few breaths here to slow down your heart rate and just check in to see where you're feeling this flow right now and come back up onto hands and knees keep your hands slightly forward of your shoulders we're gonna take those same little modified tricep push-ups again so lean your hips forward nice little plank pose roll your shoulders back and we're gonna exhale coming down halfway inhale pushing back up two more lower and lift last one lower and lift tuck your toes under downward facing dog let's reach our left leg up to the sky bend your left knee open up your hip and let's tap our knee to the nose come forward into plank pose squeeze it in inhale lift it back exhale pull it in inhale lift it up last one pull it through hold and step that foot in between your palms to the top of the mat we're going to try to straighten that front leg any amount it might not get perfectly straight which is totally fine do what you can here in the pose just trying to get our hamstrings to open up a little bit now let's bend into both knees and straighten maybe you're also flexing that front foot keep going bend and stretch bend and stretch bend and stretch two more stretching it up and let's bend all the way down on janiasana our low lunge point the right toes back behind you and lift on up think of lengthening your tailbone down pulling your lower belly in lifting everything up a little taller and with this action cactus the arms bending your elbows squeezing your shoulder blades behind you and maybe lifting your gaze slightly let's release we're coming back to plank with your feet hip width distance apart and this time holding plank pose but you're gonna drop your heels side to side so right left right left keep going try to keep your hips leveled so they don't jump up and down as the heels drop four three two one back to center and lower down cobra open through your chest child's pose again big toes together knees as wide as you would like and relax five deep breaths here walk your hands in so i like to end these shorter practices just by sitting up nice and tall especially if you're doing this in the morning i don't want you to fall back asleep if we were to lay down on our backs in shavasana so instead sit in a way where you can feel the length in your spine you can roll your shoulders back close your eyes noticing how you feel now as opposed to when you first stepped onto your mat let's draw our hands together at the front of the heart and we'll close with the chant of om inhaling to chant big breath in [Music] namaste thank you so much for doing this short yoga warm-up with me i don't know about you but i certainly feel a lot more warmed up and ready to take on the day please leave me a comment below before you go just let me know how this went for you and if you don't already do hit the red button just to help support free yoga on the internet if you'd like to step up your mind game a little bit more you could do this five-minute meditation right here hopefully i will see you again tomorrow for another yoga practice namaste