If you're like most people, in the morning that's when you feel the most stiff,
maybe even sore. If you did a workout yesterday or the day before you might feel soreness in
your muscles in your legs or your shoulders. Almost everybody, even if you've done nothing,
feels stiff in their synovial joints, like your knees, and your hips, especially your spine,
in the morning. That synovial fluid congeals overnight and it just leaves you feeling stiff
and sore. What do we do about it? Well, what most of us do about it is nothing,
we just live with it because, well, first thing in the morning very few people feel like rolling
out a yoga mat and very few people feel like getting down on the floor. I'd like to share with
you a very simple routine that you can do in the kitchen while your coffee or your tea is brewing,
without getting down the floor, just using a stool or a chair in the kitchen. It just takes a couple
of minutes. It'll set you up for loose and limber day. Let's give it a try. Welcome to your morning
stretch. Before we get started, there's a PDF reference down below, if you'd like photos and
pose names. To practice we need a chair or a stool, you definitely don't need a yoga mat,
you can quite literally do this right in the middle of your kitchen. We'll begin our practice
today with one round of breath of fire. This is a yoga breathing technique that stimulates your
nervous system, gets you ready for your day. Here's how to practice: place your hands down
on top of your knees, sit up tall, but then soften your shoulders, and especially soften your lower
abdomen. It's a forced exhalation practice that looks and sounds a lot like a sneeze.
I'll force the breath out and then relax completely. Force the breath out and
relax completely. Let's do 20 rounds together. Three, two, one, and we exhale, exhale, exhale,
ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Good. Open your eyes,
slowly make your way to a standing position behind your stool or your chair, step your
feet about as wide as your hips with the outer edges parallel, arms at your side, stand up tall.
Inhale, reach your arms out and up to touch above your head. Exhale, hinge at your hips,
fold forward, place your hands on your stool or chair, step your feet back to a plank position,
like a push-up position. Lower down halfway like a half push-up, keep your toes tucked,
but inhale, lift your heart to an upward facing dog position, and then exhale, roll back
to downward facing dog. In downward facing dog for this first round, try bending your knees a lot,
straighten your arms if you can, drop your head between your arms, and breathe here.
If at all possible, have your heels flat on the floor and imagine your sits bones,
your butt bones, shooting up and back behind you. I'd like you to feel a big stretch along
the backs of your legs and possibly through your chest, and shoulders, and arms as well.
Good. Look forward and step your feet forward closer to your chair,
your feet are as wide as your hips. Roll your body all the way up to stand,
let's reset. We'll do a second variation now. Inhale, reach your arms out and up to touch,
exhale, fold forward, place your hands on the chair or stool, step your feet back into a
plank position, pause here, lower down halfway, inhale, lift your heart, your toes are tucked,
exhale, lift your hips. Stay right here but lunge your right foot forward. See how I stay on my toes
on the back foot in this lunge? My knee is over my ankle, pause here. Right arm reaches straight
up towards the sky, so it's right next to your ear, and then gently, if it's comfortable for
your neck, look up towards your fingertips and breathe here. Kicking back through my left heel,
grounding down into my front heel, gently gazing up towards my fingertips. Good. Place your right
hand down, step your right leg back, high push-up position, we lower down halfway,
inhale, lifting your heart, upward facing dog, and then exhale, push your hips back. Let's transition
again to a push-up position. Lunge your left leg forward, I'm on my right toes on the back foot,
but kicking back strongly through my heel, left arm reaches straight up towards the sky,
so my arm and ear are next to each other, and then I'll gently, if it's comfortable on my neck, look
up towards my fingertips as I breathe here. Left heel is heavy, big toe mound on my right foot is
heavy, as I kick back into the heel. Good. Place your left hand down, step your left leg back,
lower down halfway, inhale, lift your heart, and then exhale, lift your hips. Feet are a little bit
wider than your hips. Two options: you can bend your knees like before, or maybe you can begin
to straighten your legs, straighten your legs but continue to kick your sits bones back behind you.
Good. Look forward and step forward, let's make our way all the way up to stand,
roll your shoulders open. For this next pose we need a shorter stance. Place your hands on your
stool or chair, put your left foot on the ground, so your heel's on the ground, and step your right
foot forward. The alignment that we're looking for here is heel one line back to your heel,
shorter stance is about one meter between your heels. Place your right hand on the stool and
your left hand shoots straight up towards the sky, both legs are really straight,
both arms are very, very straight, look up towards your fingertips and breathe here.
Good. Lower your left hand down, step your right leg back, and wiggle and switch to the other side,
so my right heel is down, my left foot is forward again. You might need to adjust
when you look down at your heels. We'd like heel-to-heel alignment,
both heels down. Straighten your legs, left hand is in the middle of your chair or your stool,
and we reach our right arm up, up, up towards the sky. Both arms are straight and strong,
both arms are straight and strong, look up towards your fingertips and breathe here.
Good. Slowly place your right hand down, step your feet back, and let's switch. Same thing as before,
my right leg is forward about one meter, about three feet between our heels,
nice short stance, and my heels are both down on the floor. This time,
we'll do a twisted variation of that triangle. So, put your left hand in the middle,
take your time here, but keep your legs really, really straight as you reach
your right arm up, and you turn, and twist, and gaze up towards your fingertips.
Good. And then place your hand back down, switch legs. Again, because we're using this chair,
you might need to step over to the side. We're looking for heel-to-heel alignment,
both legs are straight, left foot is forward, right heel's on the ground, place your hand
in the middle of your stool or your chair, twist, turn, gaze up towards your fingertips,
and then place your hand down, and step your feet back to a plank position. Lower
down halfway, inhale, lifting your heart, exhale, lifting your hips,
step about halfway in and then step your feet as wide as your mat, if you're using one, or if
you're using the floor just step your feet wider than your hips, turn your feet out to the sides,
and I'd like you to hinge at your hips. Imagine you're sitting down into a chair back behind you,
except there's no chair, we're using our hands for support, sit down in a chair back behind you,
except there's no chair. I don't want your heels to come up off the ground, so if you get stuck and
your heels want to pop, just stop where you are. But if there's still space, keep sitting down,
there's still space, we'll keep sitting down, if there's still space, we'll keep sitting down,
if there's still space, we'll drop our head and breathe here.
Good. Heels are heavy, slowly make your way up, up, up, let's sit down on our chair or
our stool. If your chair has a back on it, no problem, you can figure out a way to make this
work. Put your feet flat on the ground, interlace your hands behind your back,
squeeze the palms of your hands together, lift your heart up,
and breathe here.
And slowly release your hands, place your hands on top of your knees,
and go the other way. So, drop your chin in towards your chest, curl your spine,
make your way all the way back up to a seated position. That short routine is designed to be
done in the morning, literally while you're making your tea, making your coffee. Again,
forget about the mat, just use a chair or a stool, forget about getting down on the floor,
and forget about getting everything right. Just get through it. Help get your blood flowing, help
get you warmed up, especially in those synovial joints. Don't forget to grab that PDF down below
in the description if you'd like reference to this sequence. My name is Lucas and I publish
science-based yoga videos once a week. If you'd like to get notified, hit subscribe down below. If
you have questions about this, or any suggestions for future videos, I'd love to hear from you down
in the comments. Lastly, you'll find my teaching calendar at yogabody.com. Have a great day.