20 min Morning Yoga - Full Body Morning Stretch

Hey , everyone .

Welcome .

My name is Cassandra and I'm gonna take you through this morning yoga class , which is actually a sequence .

I shared a little while back as a youtube shorts and it was sped up .

So a lot of you guys asked me to slow it down and teach it in real time .

So that's what I'm gonna do for you this morning .

It's a great all levels practice and it's very stretchy , so definitely great to get into your hips and your hamstrings .

Um , but also opening up through your shoulders as well .

You don't need any props and we're gonna start in Belo a child's pose with your knees wide and just a disclaimer .

I am really sore today .

So if you notice me moving a little bit more awkwardly or if I seem a little bit more stiff , that's why so big toes together , knees as wide as you would like them to be .

So maybe just towards the edges of your mat and then think of really lifting out of your lower back as you walk your hands out in front of you without letting your shoulders lift up towards your ears .

Just start to melt on down a little tuck of the chin to keep the back of our neck .

Nice and long use this first pose to anchor in to find your breath rhythm that is nourishing and easy to sustain .

So , breathe in through your nose and feel it travel down towards your low belly and exhale still out through your nose , draw your lower belly towards your back .

So naval pulls back and with that same steady rhythm , soften your hips .

And as with all of my morning practices , I invite you to use this time to set an intention for your day and we'll stay in Bessa , but let's add a spinal twist .

So you can just lift your head and chest up a little bit and you're gonna thread your left arm underneath .

You reaching that shoulder as far over as you can .

So that left shoulder and left ear now come down to the mat and you might just want to push your right hand into the floor .

I find that to be the best here .

We're just looking to rotate through our upper back , getting a little bit of stretch between the shoulder blades and keep pressing back through both hips evenly .

And if you can't breathe here , you've twisted too deeply , one more breath in this twist and let's release , make your way back through to center .

Keep your legs as they are .

We'll just twist to the other side , right arm threads through shoulder and ear come down , maybe use your left hand pushing into the floor to help maintain this rotation , press your shoulders away from your ears and coming back through to center .

Let's now lift up onto all fours , take your time .

So align your spine and you can lift your hips back up , bring your knees in and we'll find a variation of a low lunch .

So step your right foot through to the top of the mat , trying to align your knee directly over the top of your ankle .

Let's start by really just pressing those hips forward and down .

And now I'm gonna bring my left hand to the back of my head and think of opening your chest over towards the left side of your mat .

So trying to open up through our left shoulder , you'll probably feel it as a side bend as well and you can bring your right fingertips a little bit more towards the side of and then straight that left arm .

So just a side bend here , reaching your left arm up and over , moving through that shoulder a little bit more .

Take a cactus shape with that left arm .

So bend your elbow at a 90 degree angle and start to open up your chest a little more .

And let's straighten that left arm and circle it around all the way and bring that hand back down , framing that front foot .

Go ahead and push through your right heel to straighten that right leg .

So , just getting into our hamstrings here .

Oh , so , especially first thing in the morning , this might be really tight .

You can absolutely keep that knee bent .

You don't need to be perfectly straight here and let's bend into that front knee .

Now , from here , you're going to pivot the left hose towards the right side of your mat .

So , towards the long edge of your mat .

So you're in this low side lunge .

And I'm kind of using this back leg as a kickstand to help distribute my weight and balance me .

And we're gonna bend into that right knee .

And I want you to really push that right knee open .

At the same time , you're lengthening your tailbone down , staying really engaged through your abdominals .

It's a big stretch through the inner groin and inner thighs into your gate pose , straighten that right leg and turn the right toes in .

So you have that foot parallel to the longer edge of your mat .

Another side bend , left arm reaches up and over , relax your shoulders away from your ears .

And now a variation of our hamstring stretch that have splits that we did before keep facing kind of in a diagonal .

So in between both legs and you can pivot so that your right toes are pointing up towards the sky again and start to shift your hips back , maybe even sitting your hips on that back heel , keeping that right leg fairly straight and just crawl and reach your arms and your chest forward .

So , a different way of working those hamstrings .

But I also want you to really emphasize the length you're creating along your spine and I'm feeling or trying to get a bit of a lift through my shoulders and armpits as well stretching into that shoulder joint .

Yeah .

And you'll need to use a little glute strength to lift your hips back up and now facing towards the top of the match , you can start to bend a little bit here .

Get a nice big stretch back into your table top , pose on hands and knees and we'll just do the same thing to the other side .

Low lunch first , your left knee is over the top of your left ankle , find your alignment first and then when you're ready , you bring your right hand to the back of your head and you're trying to pull that right elbow back .

So a big chest opener , a little bit of a side bend , a little bit of a back bend , slow steady breaths , really just melt your hips down and you might want to bring your left fingertips further back to help with balance .

Facing forward again .

Here , just find your regular side bend by reaching that right arm up and over straightening through your arm , bend your elbow into that cactus shape .

So 90 degree bend , open up your chest once more and continue this motion by straightening your arm and we'll take one big circle .

Right hand , reaches back down , forward , up and lowers all the way back down towards the floor .

Push into your left heel , half splits will bend into that front knee , finding our side low lunch .

So this time your right toes will make their way over to the long inch of your mat before you lift on up , keeping your shoulders over your hips and you can keep your right hand to your hip .

I like to use my left hand to help push my left knee a little bit more as I try to sink my hips down .

Yeah .

But with this practice , keep asking yourself what is my intention today ?

Maybe just choosing one word straighten that left leg , turn the left hose in and you're gonna reach your right arm up and over into the gate , pose lots of length here .

Find the diagonal between both legs and you can pivot to roll onto that left heel so your toes are pointing up and you're gonna send your hips back , maybe all the way back to rest on that right heel and you can crawl and count to reach .

So as if someone was pulling back on your hips and pulling forward on your hands and one more deep breath here , and we'll start to lift up , lift your hips up , first , spin your way forward , bending into that front knee .

So like a wider lunge and back into our table top stance .

Let's find our puppy stretch , keep your hips over your knees , walk your hands forward and melt your chest and forehead down to the mat .

So focusing again here really on pressing your armpits down , drawing your lower belly in .

So you're not collapsing through your lower back , really trying to get this through the area of your heart and come forward into Sphinx pose .

So sliding on your belly with a quad stretch , right , like first switching sides , I'm letting this go .

Let's find our first downward facing dog .

Make sure your palms or shoulder with distance apart , spread your fingers wide before lifting all the way up and back and just move .

However you'd like here , find a nice wrapping of your shoulders as if you were trying to get your armpits to face towards one another and the crease of your elbows to face forward , curling your tailbone up .

Let's reach our right leg up towards the sky three like a dog .

Bend your right knee , open up your hip .

Get a big thigh stretch here as you point that knee up nice and high and set your right foot back down .

Second side , left leg up and release it back down .

Let's find our rag doll fold at the top of the mat .

Walk your feet forward .

You can bend your knees a little or a lot .

I like to just hold onto my elbows and maybe add a little bit of a sway side to side .

Let's take a cleansing breath in through the nose and a big exhale out the mouth , letting it go , release your arms down , bend your knees even more and push primarily through your heels to roll up .

Take your time .

You can always brace your hands on your thighs to support yourself as you lift .

And we'll make our way to mountain pose at the top of the mat , shining the palms forward , tailbone , drawing down lower belly , hugging in and opening your eyes .

Keep your feet hip with distance apart .

You're gonna step your left foot all the way back , finding this high lunge .

So right knee is bent .

My left knee needs to bend a little bit here and I'm gonna interlace my fingers and place them towards my top upper thigh .

And I want you to imagine you're pushing that right thigh away from you .

And at the same time you're rounding and contracting in and you can bend your back knee a little bit as well .

And you should really feel this through your hip , flexor down that left leg contract contract contract .

And let's open up Vidro to your warrior too .

So spin that back , he'll parallel to the short edge of your mat and keep that reverse going .

Left hand down .

Right arm reaches up and over straighten your right leg and let's find triangle pose .

Reno reach that right arm all the way forward and down somewhere along the inside of your right leg .

Left arm stretches up to the sky trying to stack one shoulder over the other come all the way back up and you can start with your hands at your heart .

Bend into your front knee a little , we're gonna come into our vera three .

So Warrior three , you're gonna balance on that front leg and you might just want to bring that back foot in a little bit stabilize yourself , make sure everything is squared .

And then you can go ahead and tilt at the same time lifting that left leg up .

Any arm variation that you'd like here , they don't need to stay at your heart .

They can open up more like an airplane to help with your balance .

Try to keep your hips squared and let's come all the way up , really shake it out .

Same thing to the other side .

So feet hip with distance apart , step your right foot all the way back .

You might need to wiggle it back a little here .

So from this high lunge , interlace your hands , place them to that upper thigh and really think of rounding and contracting here .

And at the same time , I'm bending my right knee to really stretch deeply along the front of my right thigh .

Pulling the lower belly in contract and let's open to our vera and a two or two palms facing down towards the mat , bending into that front knee , reverse right hand down , left arm rises straighten your left leg , move into your triangle pose , left arm down , right arm up , push evenly through both feet .

In order to lift back up hands at your heart will come into our balancing pose into your warrior three .

So you can face forward , maybe bring that right foot in a little bit .

Take your time .

Try not to dig your toes into the floor .

Don't rely on toe grip for balance and said I want you to really work on lifting up from the arch of your foot and sending that energy and stability all the way up your left leg .

And if you fall out , it's no big deal all the way up mountain pose and let's release , you can find your rag doll pose .

We're just using this to transition here so you can bend your knees quite a bit .

Keep bending your knees all the way .

Let's find our boat pose .

Legs come up .

If you can straighten your legs , reach your arms up overhead into your low boat .

So you're just hovering , bring your knees to your belly , reach your arms forward , back into your low boat , straighten arms and legs and hail and release exhale .

Let's pull our right knee into the chest , slowing things down .

Move this into a twist .

So you're gonna cross your right thigh over your body towards the left and you might just want to stay here reaching your right arm out to the side or you can always straighten your right leg and your left hand further down here .

So feeling the effects of your practice work its way through .

You come back to that slow steady breath rate you had when you first stepped onto your mat and reconnect to your intention , bend your right knee , roll back through to center and we'll just switch sides .

So right leg straightens , pull your left knee to your belly and cross it over .

So again , maybe just holding in this twist or straightening your left leg , bend your left knee , release the twist and pull both knees in towards your shoulders .

So as wide as you can maybe be holding here or taking your Ananda belo your happy baby pose , you might even want to check in and straighten your legs .

You can keep your knees bent , lots of variations here and we'll release .

So in my morning practices , I very rarely do Shawana .

I prefer to end in a seated meditation .

So this is up to you .

You can either recline back and take Shiva .

1249.089 --> 1309.92

Let's bring our palms together at the heart and let's chant together one time .

We'll inhale the chant , big breath in .

Mhm Thank you so very much for doing this practice with me .

So it is a morning for me right now and I'm filming this .

So my intention today is peace of mind before you go .

Please do , let me know what your intention today is .

I always love to hear those from you guys .

They're really inspiring .

If you don't already , please subscribe to my channel and I hope you will make this a daily habit of doing morning yoga every day with me .

Thank you again .