You can get your yoga fix, your workout, your breathing practise, and your creative boost all in one session with this full-body stretching and strengthening exercise. Using yoga to energize your day, is a great way to great the morning.
Time is relative, as Albert Einstein’s work has shown us. Count on 30 minutes. When you’re doing something that inspires you to lose yourself—and, at the same time, find yourself—in the moment, whether it’s reading, hanging out with friends, or attending a 30-minute yoga practise, time can seem to pass by inexorably while you’re sitting in a meeting or the waiting room of a doctor. However, time can pass by almost unnoticed when you’re experiencing this.
The advantages of using that half-hour for yourself every day are what are more objective about it. Use yoga to energize your day. Studies overwhelmingly show the tremendous health benefits of moving your body for 30 of your 1440 minutes each day at a moderate exertion, including improved blood pressure, lower risk of cancer and stroke, greater immunity, reduced stress, and improved creativity.
It becomes less of a question of “if” you’ll practise and more of a matter of “when” when you take into account the yoga’s well-documented benefits for strengthening, stretching, and calming. The following yoga routine can be done whenever you can find 30 minutes for yourself, but most of us are more likely to have the time first thing in the morning.
The same, if not more, benefits can still be obtained by attending your practise in more manageable chunks of 20 or even 10 minutes with shorter variations of this practise on days when it’s simply impossible to locate half an hour. Try to fit in more yoga to energize your day and enjoy the ongoing benefits.
Pose: Cat-Cow
Place your shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees while on your hands and knees. When you exhale, Cat, round your back, tuck your chin in, and press your palms into the ground.
Slowly arch your back and elevate your chest into Cow as you inhale. Start moving your spine rhythmically while breathing for however long you need to. Use this technique in yoga to energize your day.
Tabletop
Lift your tummy in toward your spine in the tabletop position while on all fours. Either take a backbend by extending your right leg straight behind you, bending your right leg, and reaching behind with your left hand to hold your foot, or stretch your forearms by angling your fingers away from the middle of the mat or turning them toward your knees.
When backbending, elevate your chest, come into a little backbend, and then press your foot away from you. Inhale here. Lower to the mat gradually and then repeat on the opposite side.
From the Tabletop position, inhale as you tuck your toes under and raise your hips up and back into Adho-Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose). Take a moment to breathe. Take a deep breath in as you lift your right leg high behind you in the Downward-Facing Dog Pose, and then let it out as you round your spine and bring your right knee to your chest.
Maintain a low pelvis while bending your upper spine upward. Hug your right knee to your nose and your right thigh to your chest. Keep using your hands to press down on the floor. Repeat with the left leg, then return to Downward Dog.
Vasisthasana (Side Plank Pose) (Side Plank Pose)
Move your weight forward a little bit from Down Dog until your shoulders are virtually piled above your wrists. Heels turned to the right. Put more of your weight on the outside of your right foot and your right hand. As you assume Side Plank Pose and place your left foot on top of your right (or keep the inside of your left foot on the mat), avert your sight.
As you lift your hips, contract your thigh muscles and press your feet and right hand into the ground. Your right hand should be at your hip or pointed upward. Turn your gaze steadily upward to the ceiling if you feel stable. Breathe. Either go to Wild Thing or go back to Downward-Facing Dog.
a 5-minute yoga session
Step your right foot back gently, Wild Thing From Side Plank. Keep your left leg straight and your left foot firmly planted on the mat. Reach your right arm alongside your ear while lifting your hips and chest toward the ceiling. Lift the remainder of your body into a slight backbend by pressing down through every area of your body that touches the mat. Let your head hang back lightly. Breathe. Go back to the downward dog. Take a few breaths in Child’s Pose if necessary before coming back to Down Dog. On the opposite side, repeat the Side Plank and Wild Thing.
Downward Plank Pose Dog, put your wrists over your shoulders. Press your hands and feet firmly into the mat while maintaining an active core and legs. In plank pose, press your heels towards the wall behind you and reach your head through your crown toward the wall in front of you. Breathe.
Practice the following poses five times, holding each one for 15 seconds or three to five breaths. Practice for 15 seconds on each side if the stance shifts from the left to the right side. Skip the repetitions if you don’t have time for a full 30-minute yoga practise.
Conversational Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose)
From a plank position, bend your elbows and slowly lower halfway to the mat while maintaining Chaturanga Dandasana (elbows bringing in toward sides). Engage your core, push back through your heels, and press your hands into the ground. By bringing your knees closer to the mat, you can alter the stance.
Mukha Svanasana Urdhva (Upward-Facing Dog)
From Chaturanga, elevate your torso into Upward-Facing Dog Pose while pressing your hands and the tops of your feet into the floor to lift your thigh bones off the mat. To open your heart, draw the upper arm bones toward your back. Keep your neck straight and look up.
From Up Dog, roll over the tops of your feet, press your hands into the floor, and raise your hips up and back into Down Dog. Draw your belly and low ribs toward your spine while spreading your fingers widely and raising your sitting bones toward the ceiling.
Lunge High
Step your left foot between your hands to transition from Down Dog. To stretch your back hip flexor, press through your raised back heel and lower your pelvis toward the floor. Lift your waist’s sides away from your hips. High Lunge, with your arms at your sides and your head straight. Breathe.
Bring your hands to your chest in prayer and rotate your chest to the left to do a High Lunge. the outside of your outer left thigh with your right upper arm. Draw your shoulder blades away from your ears as you firmly press your palms together. Either look upward or continue to face forward.
Upon exhaling, return your hands to the mat from High Lunge or High Lunge with a twist. As you return to Plank, either bring your hips up and back or move through Chaturanga and Up Dog to get to Down Dog. On the opposite side, repeat.
After Wild Thing, hold the poses again for up to five rounds. This yoga will energize your day.
Savasana Setu Bandha (Bridge Pose)
Walk or hop forward from Downward Dog and bring your seat to the mat before lying back. Bring your feet to the mat so that your ankles are precisely under your knees. Bring your arms beside your body with your hands facing down. In Bridge Pose, inhale and raise your hips as high as you can. Press the edges of each foot down. Shimmy your upper arms behind your back and press your pinky fingers into the mat. You can also interlace your fingers. Reach your tailbone toward the backs of your knees while lifting your chest. Breathe. a second time.
Dhanurasana Urdhva (Wheel or Upward Bow Pose)
Bridge Pose from there Put your hands next to your ears, palms facing down, fingers pointing toward your feet. As you breathe in, elevate your hips and torso into Urdhva Dhanurasana and press your hands and feet into the floor. Arms should be straight and your head should be relaxed. Smell your upper chest as you inhale. Practice bridge instead of upward bow if you find it uncomfortable to do so. Breathe.
Reclining Bound Angle Pose is achieved by bringing the bottoms of your feet together while lying on your back. This position is called Supta Baddha Konasana. Put your right hand on your low tummy and your left hand on your heart. Close your eyes, inhale through your belly, and exhale through your belly. Breathe. Great yoga to energize your day.
Balasana Ananda (Happy Baby Pose)
Reach for the outside edges of your feet or calves while lying on your back, then gently raise your knees up toward your armpits while attempting to maintain the Happy Baby Pose with your ankles stacked over your knees. Instead, you might rest your hands on your calf muscles. As you place your sacrum on the ground, gently rock back and forth while having fun and feeling lighter inside. Breathe.
Use yoga to energize your day.
Savasana
Relax your legs on the ground by letting your feet go and extending them. Release your arms from your sides and let them to rest palms up on the ground. In this last pose of relaxation, Savasana, allow yourself to open up and occupy a lot of space. Let go of all your tension and let the power of your practise to permeate your entire being. Take deep breaths.
Your 30-minute yoga session is now complete. You can modify it as you go along, adding or removing postures to fit your requirements and preferences.