Yoga in Bed

There are days where the comforter wins out over the early-morning practice. And so I designed a practice to be able to be done in bed. To get your practice in before your feet even hit the floor. So you need no props for this, but you can lie back in your bed and get comfortable. And as we often do in the morning, get your full body stretch in, inhaling, reaching the arms up overhead.

Getting that stretch from the tip of your toes to the fingers, and then exhale, release, and let your body relax. Inhale, reach a little longer to the right side, opening up, lengthening and creating space. And exhale, relax. Inhale, get longer on the left side. Feeling the spaces between your ribs open up.

And exhale, relax. Take another big breath, reach your arms overhead and then exhale as you draw your knees in toward your chest. Feeling your low back supported by your mattress. Take a little rock here from side to side. Bring your hands to the tops of your knees, and circle your knees around.

Just giving a little early-morning love to your low back. And take the knees in the other direction. Make your way back to center, and take your feet to the bed, and cross over into a figure four. So, right ankle over your left knee. Big inhale here.

As you exhale, take your arms through and open up as you say good morning to your right hip. Inhale here. Exhale, maybe lift the head and the shoulders coming up just a touch more. And then slowly release. Keep the figure four, arms relaxed out at your sides, and let your knees fall over to your right.

So you find a weighted twist with the right ankle over your left knee. Breathe deeply into the left lung, filling up the side body. And then exhale, make your way back to center. Right foot down, and cross left ankle over the right knee. Flexing through your foot, pressing the knee away from you, big inhale, exhale, rethread the needle, arms coming through.

Big inhale, exhale. Sense how your hip is doing today. Breathing in, maybe coming in a little closer. And then slowly release as you keep the figure four and let the knees fall over to your left. As your arms relax out at your sides.

Breathe in deeply into the right side of the body, filling it up. And exhale, slowly make your way back to center. Set your left foot down. Big inhale here, exhale. Hug your right knee in toward your chest.

Just let your hip relax as you breathe your belly into your thigh. And interlace your fingers back behind the very top of your thigh. So right at the root of the leg. Breathe in, and then as you breathe out, straighten out your right leg as much as feels all right. Take in a big inhale, and then start to press the leg into your hands, so you get a little stretch in the shoulders and you find a sense of evenness on both sides of the torso.

Hug the knee back in, grab a hold of your big toe and once again we'll look to straighten that heel up toward the ceiling. And maybe extend straight through that left leg. Press down through the root of the left leg to keep you grounded. Top of the right leg presses away from you, and then nice and easy, start to open up that right hip as you reach your right leg out to the side. Keep reaching strongly through that left leg.

The left hand grounds you down to keep you from rolling over. Noticing the opening, going as far as feels comfortable for you. And then as you're ready, inhale your way up through center. Grab a hold of your right big toe with the left hand, and then take your time as you arc the leg over your body. And make your way into a twist.

Opening up your outer hip, maybe gazing back over your right thumb. Inhale here, make your way back to center. And then exhale, set the foot down. Breathe in, take your left knee in toward your chest. Hug it in.

Grab a hold of the root of your left thigh. Interlace your fingers back behind you. And then slowly reach as you extend up toward the ceiling. Big breath here. And then exhale, maybe reach through your right leg.

You press down into the top of your right thigh. Left thigh presses away from you, evening out both sides of the body. Shoulders opening up. Hug your knee back in toward your chest. Grab a hold of your big toe.

Big breath here, exhale. Extend as much as feels all right. Noticing how this side feels compared to the other one. Breathing in deeply, and then slowly exhale as you open your hip out. Pressing, grounding down and reaching through that right leg and the right hand.

Inhale. And exhale. With the breaths, inhale and sweep back up through center. Take a hold of that left big toe with the right hand. And nice and easy we cross over to the other side.

Inhale, make your way back through center. And exhale, set the foot down. And both knees in toward your chest. And then roll over to one side. Allowing yourself a moment or two to let the benefits of your practice settle in.

And either choosing to linger in bed for another moment or two, or when you're ready making your way up. And thanking yourself for getting your yoga in today. Namaste.