Morning yoga
If you do yoga from time to time, you've probably already heard that it's better to practice yoga in the morning. And I can understand that if you're like me, not (at all) in the morning, it's hard to imagine. So you're going to need some very good arguments to set your alarm clock a little early to get on your mat. Wondering what the benefits of waking up early are? What exercises should you do to start the day off on the right foot? In this article, I explain everything about morning yoga. I promise, you will soon be convinced!
Practicing morning yoga
Perhaps you are familiar with Miracle Morning? This concept was born from the American author Hal Elrod. According to him (and many others!), the way you start your day would be decisive. Thus, he set up a complete morning ritual that is very beneficial for our daily life. The Miracle Morning is about waking up earlier to take some time for yourself. Yoga or sport, meditation, visualization, positive affirmations are some of the exercises that Hal Elrod advises to do every day in order to start your day well. Indeed, this would completely change our level of motivation, but also our level of happiness. Similarly, getting into a positive state of mind upon waking up would be an excellent way to say "Yes" to opportunities.
You can practice a complete morning routine to follow his idea. But if you don't have the time, practicing a few yoga postures while jumping out of bed will have many benefits as well. In fact, yogis did not wait for the Miracle Morning to take advantage of it. You will see, it will allow you to completely change the course of your day and your feelings. Indeed, morning yoga will help you to wake up your body gently, to circulate your energy but also to acquire a more positive mind.
The idea is to take 5, 10 or 20 minutes each morning to do some movements or breathing. It is better to have a short daily practice than a long practice once a month. In any case, by observing all the benefits of this new ritual, you will certainly want to continue to offer yourself this moment of well-being as the days go by.
Morning yoga: what are the benefits?
That's all well and good, but you really need to be motivated to set your alarm clock earlier each morning. So let's look at all the benefits of morning yoga.
Waking up the body: Practicing yoga in the morning allows you to awaken every part of your body after a long night's sleep. You don't need to do a series of difficult exercises. Just make a few slow movements and gently move all your muscles.
Boost your metabolism : In our daily lives, we don't allow ourselves the time to wake the body up. However, during the night, our metabolism is at rest as well. The problem is that once awake, moving directly from bed, chair and then to the car does not allow us to restart our functions. So, taking a few minutes to do yoga each morning is a good way to get your body's incredible machine up and running again. These exercises will also allow you to circulate energy within your body to feel fitter and healthier.
Taking care of you : Taking care of yourself. It's easy, you might say? And yet, in our busy days, it can be difficult to have time for yourself. Even if it's only a few minutes every day... Five minutes a day, that's for sure, we can find them... In the end, it's not the lack of time that's the problem, it's mostly that it can seem difficult to put yourself first. We have so many other things to do!
So, taking a few minutes for your yoga each morning, before the day starts, is to make sure you put yourself first in your life. With morning yoga, you can take a moment for yourself every day. And as you'll see, the benefits are many. You are the most important person in your life, so don't hesitate to take care of your own well-being before giving time to others.
Start the day in a positive state of mind through morning yoga
Although we are all different, we all have the same morning rituals: waking up at the last possible moment, having a quick breakfast, hurrying to get dressed or taking the kids to school, grumbling in traffic because it's not going fast enough and arriving at work already upset. We start our day mechanically and feel stressed and overworked in the morning.
So now imagine waking up one to two hours before you have to leave for work. You could take a few minutes to do yoga, make yourself a hearty and healthy breakfast, take time to listen to the birds or observe nature on your way. In addition to taking care of yourself, morning yoga is a great way to get your day off to a good start. It will allow you to be less irritable, less stressed and more motivated in your projects. You will be able to manage the stressful situations of your daily life in a completely different way.
Finally, as you've probably already noticed, when you get up with your left foot, the day often goes badly and a series of negative events tend to follow. So imagine the miracles that can happen if you adopt a positive ritual every morning!
Decrease your pain : Practice of yoga in the morning is ideal to relieve the aches and pains of your daily life. In particular, it will help you reduce the sensation of heavy legs or back pain related to working in a standing position for example. You will quickly realize that a little daily yoga practice will bring you many positive effects on your body.
Feel satisfaction : It often happens that we have the feeling that our days are fast paced and that we don't have enough time to do this or that. So taking a few minutes for yourself each day will help take away the frustration of "doing nothing" from your day. This feeling of emptiness in your day where you do a lot.
Morning yoga: which exercises to practice in the morning?
To start your day on the right foot, the goal of your practice will be to wake up your body gently. A morning practice should also energize you and why not help you to be in a good mood. To meet all these objectives, here are some postures that I recommend for your morning yoga.
Begin your yoga session sitting on your mat, with your back straight, legs in a suit or in a comfortable posture. Take a moment to observe your breathing. Then, draw a few circles or half circles with your nose to gently awaken your cervical vertebrae. Gently rotate gently in one direction and then the other as you breathe. Then, as you breathe in, with your back straight, raise your right arm to the sky, from the side. As you exhale, lean to your left side with your left hand flat on the floor. Stay a few breaths here, feel the stretch on the right side in the chest, back, rib cage... Then come back the same way and do the same on the other side.
After this exercise, you will be able to move to the table position (on all fours) on your mat. There, wake up the spine gently with the posture of the cat and the cow. On inhalation, dig the back, look up to the sky, open the heart forward and on exhalation, stick the chin towards the chest, round the back and push into the ground with your hands. Repeat these movements several times.
Then, still in table posture, you can make circular movements with your hips on one side and then on the other to slowly mobilize this area. Make small or large circles according to your desire, also loosen the jaw, facial features and the nape of the neck during these movements.
Then move your right leg backwards, hook the toes into the ground and push the right heel backwards gently, in jerks and turns, to wake up the back of the leg. Do the same with the left leg. Then, lift the buttocks up to the sky, and come as a dog upside down. Move your legs slightly by bending one knee and then the other. Take a few deep breaths here.
As you exhale, put your knees down, return to the floor to come into the child's posture, arms outstretched in front of the mat. Move your arms gently on the floor, right and left to stretch the back.
Then return to the table position (four legs), bring the right foot between the hands, move the left knee back, lower the left hip to the floor in a low slit. Straighten your shoulders, lengthen your back, open your heart forward. Breathe deeply here. Then do the same on the left side.
After these exercises, you can lie down in Shavasana, on your back for a few minutes to relax.
Other morning yoga exercises
If you need a more complete session, you can also find it on Youtube. Indeed, most video yoga teachers offer a morning yoga session.
And if you're not afraid of the routine, you can also practice sun salutations. Indeed, these are excellent exercises to mobilize the whole body. You will be able to notice the difference in your body's sensations between the first and last greeting practiced.
Before a morning yoga session, you can also practice kriyas. These are exercises to be done in the morning to purify the body. For example: scratch your tongue with a tongue scraper, drink a glass of hot water or wash your nose with saline.
On the other hand, practicing morning yoga can also be a time to take time to connect with oneself. For example, we can take advantage of this time to visualize projects that are taking shape and to reflect on our needs of the moment. We can also make a list of gratitudes for all that life offers us. This will allow us to start the day in a completely different way.
You now know all the benefits of a morning yoga practice but also the exercises to practice. Don't hesitate to start this ritual for only a few minutes each day so that you don't quickly abandon it. Moreover, the ideal would be to focus on the positive effects it brings you from the start in order to motivate you to continue, day after day. So, ready to do yoga in the morning?
