8 Easy Ways To Start Your Morning With Mindfulness

Light yoga and mindfulness can completely change your day; they can help with ailments from anxiety to pain to high blood pressure. Fortunately, Monique Schubert, Lead Yoga Faculty for Kripalu Center for Yoga + Health, shows us how easy it is to incorporate a mindfulness routine into your morning — before you even get out of bed.

1) Move before you get out of bed.

Before your feet touch the ground, try the reclining twist pose to wake up your body. Lay on your back and stack your bent legs on your right side for several breaths, then repeat on your left side.

2) Stretch in child’s pose.

From a belly-down position, bend your knees and push your hips back towards your heels in a version of child’s pose. You can prop your chest and torso on a pillow to add support to this child’s pose, making it even more restorative.

3) Take a few slow, smooth breaths.

Starting the day with a few minutes of breathing through the nose can set the ground for a more easeful day, one in which we can respond from a calm and centered place. Since breath is always with us, this is one practice you can take with you as you get ready for the day.

4) Ground yourself in the moment.

Finding moment-to-moment awareness at the start of the day gives us a place to return to as our days swing into full motion with all the complexities and challenges that will demand our attention.

5) Bend forward and backward.

Although all yoga poses can stretch and strengthen the body, the health of the spine is a primary focus. Start by bending forward at the hips, as if to touch your toes. Then bend backwards as far as you can go. Repeat until you feel loose.

6) Bend to the right and left.

Continue waking up the spine by curving first the the right, then the left. You can do this seated in a chair or on the floor, from a standing position, or kneeling on hands and knees. Repeat as needed.

7) Twist the spine to the right and left.

Rotate to either side to finish stretching your back to finish moving the vertebrae through all the vital directions while helping to foster and maintain mobility and provide natural lubrication to the spinal column. Repeat as needed.

8) Take a long sip of water.

Use this moment to ground yourself again, connecting to your physical senses by honing in on the sensation of drinking water. By doing this, you’ll also help regain the hydration you lost while sleeping.