Try this yoga flow to help you to wake up in the morning
With working from home becoming the norm, sliding ourselves out of bed in the morning can feel all the more difficult.
It’s tempting to avoid the desk all together, choosing instead to work from bed until you can bring yourself to get up.
If you struggle to wake up in the morning, starting the day with an easy yoga flow might be just the remedy.
‘Doing yoga in the morning can help release tension throughout the body that has perhaps built up whilst you’ve been sleeping,’ says yoga instructor Francesca Elliot.
‘It can completely transform the way the body and mind feels, setting you up for your day ahead.
‘Taking a moment to move, breath and be present is all it takes to shift your mindset.’
Francesca has shared the perfect morning yoga sequence that works into the hips, opens the chest and lengthens the hamstrings.
Repeat the flow as many times as you’d like, starting and finishing in child’s pose.
Try this full body yoga flow for the best start to your day
Disclaimer: Yoga isn’t supposed to hurt. Always ease out of a pose if you feel any pain, especially if you’re working with injuries.
Child’s Pose
Sit back on your heels, with your knees wide, big toes touching and lengthen the arms forward to make this nice and active.
If the buttocks don’t touch the heels, you can use a cushion to sit on to bridge the gap.
Inhale through the nose, exhale through the mouth.
As you exhale, melt your heart space down towards the earth and take a little rock from side to side to work into the hips.
Stay here for five breaths.
Cat and Cow
Make your way into a table-top position, with your knees under your hips and hands and wrists under your shoulders.
As you inhale lead with the chest and slowly look up to the sky.
As you exhale round through the spine pushing the mat away, doming the upper back.
Close your eyes and take five rounds of breath, connecting the movement with the breath.
Thread the Needle
Again in your table-top position, inhale and lift your right arm out to the side and up towards the sky.
As you exhale, thread your right arm underneath your left and lower your right ear onto the mat.
Stay here for five breaths and then repeat on the other side.
Puppy Pose
From your table-top position, place your hands into the top two corners of the mat.
Extend the arms forward and melt your heartspace down towards the earth.
Keep your hips high, close your eyes and breathe.
Perhaps the chin is on the mat or the forehead.
If this is too much then bend the arms and place the forearms on the mat, or use a yoga block.
Remain here for five rounds of breath.
Downward Facing Dog
From your table-top position, tuck the toes and lift the hips up towards the sky, hands pressing into the mat.
Tilt the tailbone up, creating length in the back of the hamstrings.
Draw the shoulders away from the ears and press through the palms.
Bend the knees generously here – the idea is that the spine is lovely and long, the heels don’t need to touch the ground!
Shake the head yes, shake it no to release any tension in the neck and the shoulders.
Stay here for five breaths, inhaling and exhaling, bending one leg and straightening the other if this feels good.
Finally, return to child’s pose to close the practice, taking five lovely deep breaths and noticing how your body and mind feel after a little movement.
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