Five Yoga Poses To Help Energize Your Morning And Prepare You For The Day

Moving your body in the morning can be one of the best ways to wake up and prepare yourself for your day! Not too long ago I posted a short 10 minute morning yoga routine and it was a huge hit. The best part about this routine was that you could do it all from the comforts of your bed. However, if you’re looking for something a little more active to practice, throw these energizing yoga poses into your morning routine!

What I love about these postures is that they’re all beginner friendly, and offer myriad variations to suit everyone’s practice. This also means that it’s hard to get bored of these postures since there’s always more variations to explore.

Cat/Cow

There’s a reason cat and cow is a favored warm up among yoga teachers and practitioners. Cat cow moves the spine through flexion and extension, helping to create space in both the front and back side of your body. This can feel super good after a long night of sleep.

Additionally, yogic philosophy believes the spine acts as a container for prana. Prana is the sanskrit word describing our vital life energy. This energy is a part of us and the world around us. When we move our spine in the morning we are not only releasing tension from our night of sleep, but we are also stirring our bodies natural energy. This helps to wake us up both physically and mentally.

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How To

Find tabletop, stack your shoulders over your wrists, and hips over your knees. Find a neutral spine by gently lifting the small of your back towards the sky and engaging your core. Lengthen through your tailbone and the crown of your head.

Inhale as you gently drop the front of your pelvis down Lowering your belly towards the floor. At the same time, lift your chest and gaze forward finding cow pose. Exhale as you press into your palms, gently lower your chin and tuck your tailbone. Curl your back towards the sky allowing your shoulder blades to move away from one another finding cat pose.

Side Plank

Side plank taps into the core and shoulders, building strength and heat. In order to stay lifted and balanced in side plank, we need to hug our muscles onto our bones and create stability. Side plank can increase concentration and motivation due to the refined movements of strength and balance.

Additionally, side plank taps into the energy of our third chakra, a space of action and personal will. Our third chakra energy aids us in feeling confident and able. By moving into the third chakra space, we are mentally preparing ourselves for a successful day.

How To

From Tabletop, cure your toes under and lift your knees for plank. Draw your low belly and pelvic floor up and in. Press through the finger pads of your palms to lift your weight into your arms and shoulders.

Come on to the outer edge of your right foot as you stack your left leg on top of your right leg. Lift your left arm towards the sky, reaching through your fingertips to draw your energy up. Stay active in your feet, and lifted in your hips.

Modification

You can always drop your bottom knee down for more support in this pose. Do your best to stay long through both sides of your body in this variation, try not to collapse your bottom ribs.

Triangle Pose

Triangle pose helps create space in our side body, and hips. It is a great pose to releive tension in our low back, while gently opening our chest and shoulders. Due to the subtle core engagements, triangle pose activates our digestive tract improving metabolism and function.

In this posture, our body is moving in multiple directions. Our feet are pressing down while our top arm is reaching up. The crown of our head is moving forward in space, compared to our tailbone which is moving away from our upper body. This creates space throughout the legs, hips, torso, and shoulders, allowing prana to move more efficiently.

How To

Stand at the top of your mat and step back with your left leg. The length of your stance should be the length of one of your legs. Keep your right toes pointed towards the top of your mat, and angle your left toes towards the upper left-hand corner.

Then lift your arms open like a T, fingertips should be long and shoulder height. Start to extend your torso towards the front of your mat, leading with your right fingers. When you can’t extend any further, lower your right arm to your shin, a block or the floor. Lift your left arm towards the sky and shift your gaze toward your left hand. Gently tuck your right hip underneath your left, spiraling your right hip open and back. Press firmly into the outer edge of your left foot for stability.

Twisted Crescent Lunge

Most twists in yoga can be considered energizing. When we move into a twist, we are drawing the energy from the base of our spine, up towards the crown of our head. When we twist from a lunge, we are also focused on balancing. This helps us start our day grounded and connected to our surroundings.

Additionally, twists massage out the internal organs and clear away any stuck ama, or undigested food. Jump starting our metabolism after a night of sleep.

How To

Stand at the top of your mat, and step your left leg back. Square both your hips to the front of your mat and lunge into your right leg. Stack your right knee on top of your ankle, and keep your back heel lifted. Stay tall through your torso, stacking your shoulders and ribs above your hips.

Take your hands to your heart and extend your torso forward and down towards the front of your mat. Turn your torso towards the right as you hook your left elbow to the outside of you right knee. Press your elbow into your knee to help spiral and lift your chest open towards the right.

Wheel Pose

Like Twists, most backbends can be incredibly energizing. Wheel pose is no different, wheel opens up the energy channels along our spine and stretches out the front side of our body which can become tense and constricted after sleeping all night. Wheel pose is great for reducing stress, as well as moving stagnant energy. Practicing wheel pose in the morning leaves us feeling light and lifted throughout the rest of the day.

How To

Lie on your back and bend your knees. Take your heels underneath your knees hip distance apart, point your toes forward. Take your hands underneath your shoulders, fingers facing your feet. Press into your feet and palms as you lift your hips and straighten your arms. Allow your neck to gently fall in line with the rest of your spine. Gently press your shoulder blades into the back of your heart space to help open your chest. At the same time, move your shoulders above your wrists, or as close to above your wrists as comfortable.

Modification

Bridge pose is a great option if wheel pose is not comfortable yet. Wheel pose can be tricky since it requires a great deal of strength in your back, and flexibility in your shoulders. If you feel any pain in wheel pose come out immediately and try Bridge pose instead.

Setting up for bridge is the same as setting up for wheel pose except you keep your arms down by your sides. Press firmly into your arms, hands, and feet, to lift your hips and chest. If you would like, you can walk your shoulders underneath you and interlace your fingers to help open up our chest. Continue to press firmly into your upper arms as well as your feet so you are lifting up evenly throughout your spine.

Keep in mind there are many more postures we can practice to help energize our bodies for the morning, so don’t worry if these aren’t your favorite few! I personally love them for both their simplicity and challenge, they can be easily woven into a flow or practiced on their own. Have a few of favorites yourself? Let me know in the comments I’d love to have more tricks up my sleeve to battle morning grogginess. If all else fails though, coffee! Coffee, tea, caffeine, in general, can be quite the life saver on those really rough mornings.

Love always,

Sarah