10-Minute Morning Yoga Routine for a Full Body Stretch | WebMD

Transcript

hi I'm Beth I'm a certified yoga instructor and I'm going to show you how to do a 10-minute yoga routine that's perfect to do in the morning it's going to Center your mind stretch your entire body and give you energy to take on the day all you need is a mat and no prior experience necessary let's get started we're going to begin in child's pose take your knees as wide as your torso place the big toes together stretch your hips back to to your heels and stretch your arms forward let your forehead rest on the floor find a couple of deep breaths here then lift your head look at your hands lift your wrists up high off of the floor continue to stretch and pull your hips away from the hands and begin to engage your navl up into the spine from here we're going to walk the hands over to the right keeping the wrists High off of the ground and feeling the length along both sides of the body walk the hands back through Center take them over to the second side still lifting the wrists high off of the ground still engaging your navl by lifting it up into the spine lengthening both sides of the body waking up the body your hands walk back to Center place The Palms flat on the ground lift up onto all fours coming into some cat Cow stretches so this is a lovely way to open up and lengthen the spine continuing to engage the core warming the body so we deepen the cat Cow poses by bending the elbows and stretching the chest further towards the floor and higher up in the air from here we're going to slide one arm underneath the other come to rest on top of your shoulder take the opposite hand up and over your head and Feel the opening between the shoulder blades you can begin to stretch the hips back a little bit further at the same time returning back to Center the second side so Slide the arm underneath resting on top of the shoulder your hand comes over the head and again lifting the rest high off of the ground back to all fours we're going to come into a downward facing dog so bend your elbows a lot bend your knees a lot stretch your chest back towards the thighs as you slowly straighten the arms and then stretch your heels towards the ground downward facing dog is your go-to pose and yoga for engaging and working every muscle of the body come into a plank position with the knees to the the ground bending the elbows keeping them close to the sides of the body shoulders pull away from the ears you're going to lift up into an easy Sphinx pose so the forearms support you as you pull the shoulders back hands under shoulders lift one leg and then lift the second leg engage your abdomen as you're doing this as you stretch the leg back and fully extend continue to engage the abdomen as the leg lifts tuck your toes come back to all fours and stretch back into that downward facing dog walking the feet forward now place the big toes together place the heels together place your knees together reach the arms up and overhead as you bend the knees deeply into chair pose stretch all the way up and then we're going to fold right in let the head be heavy and lengthen the sides of the neck as well as the shoulders stretch up halfway placing the hands back to the floor step back downward facing dog pull your chest back towards the thighs straighten the legs straighten the arms come forward again to your plank Knees Down chest down stretch the forearms onto the ground as you lift up and pull back hands into the shoulders come up to all fours stretch one leg forward between the hands take the hands to the quadricep and lift the chest either stay here or lift the arms up into the air hands released to either side of the front foot step back second side hands to the quadriceps lift your for so up stretch the arms up straight arms long spine hands releasing to the ground pull that foot back and step right into downward facing dog take as many steps as you need to walk yourself forward forward fold with the feet together knees bending lift right up into your chair pose so all these are really wonderful for warm ing the body warming all the muscles folding forward again hands to shins as you lift and lengthen the spine once again hands Place onto the floor step back straight arms straight legs strong core strong legs from here we're going to lift one leg straight up in the air for onelegged downward facing dog try to level your hipbones towards the floor when you lift the second side you have to remember to re-engage your core as you stretch your chest back towards the [Music] thighs come forward to plank knees down lower down and now we can take it a little deeper now into a cobra pose stretch back hands and knees and back into a downward dog right foot forward back knee to the ground lift up low lunge and we're going to lift into a higher lunge now so one hand on the floor one hand on the quadricep straighten the back leg and slowly turn your chest towards the bent knee lift the arm in the air hands released to either side of the front foot step it back come to all fours and step the opposite Foot In Front low lunge arms lifting high and strong navl pulling back to the spine shoulders away from your ears hands to the ground stretch your back knee up turn the chest and extend the top arm release and step it back downward facing dog take a few deep breaths here continuing to engage the muscles in the arms the abdomen the legs walk yourself forward feet together bend the knees lift all the way up into that chair pose straighten the legs and then one more time we'll fold forward knees can be bent as needed and then have a seat on the ground so lie on your back straighten the legs and bend one knee into the chest and extend up through the heel interlacing the fingers behind the hamstring and then push up through the ball of the foot pull your shoulders back away from your ears and press them into the ground release and try the second side so interlace the fingers behind the hamstring lift and straighten the leg push through the heel and then through the ball of the foot push the shoulders into the ground release Bend both knees take the feet wide extend the arms out to the sides keeping the shoulders anchored into the ground turn and twist the knees over to the side turn the head as available lift the knees back up come through the middle and over to the side gently turning the head continuing to keep the shoulders anchored gentle Twist of the spine come back to Center coming into shavasana the final pose so let the feet just relax out to the sides rest the shoulders on the ground with the Palms up feel the back of the head as it rests on the ground let the face be soft let the eyes be soft let the breath be smooth and easy see if you can simply focus on your breath here this is a good place to set your intention for the rest of your day to come out of the pose bend the knees one at a time roll to your side push into your hands to help you lift up to a seated position and then very easily stand up and begin your day