Yoga You Can Do From Bed
(Estimated reading time: 3 minutes)
Lets face it, waking up can be hard.
whether you slept through the night or took a quick nap. Sometimes your body says “No! Just 5 more minutes!”
Well instead of hitting that snooze button, take those 5 minutes to kickstart your mind, body, and day with yoga you can do from bed!
Like Massage, Yoga activates areas along the spine directing blood and nerve impulses to the body’s organs to help “wake up” joints and connective tissue to improve circulation. Massage does this through direct manipulation, and Yoga can achieve the same results by targeting specific organs, joints, and areas of the body with specific postures. The gentle stretching movements of yoga stimulates difficult to reach areas and energizes you for whatever may lie ahead.
Step one is to pull off that warm blanket, but don’t worry! You can keep your eyes closed.
Corpse Pose ( Savasana)-
Lie flat on your back and relax your arms comfortably at your sides, with open palms.
Take 3 deep clearing breathes, feel free to yawn, groan, cough, mutter nonsense. Whatever your body needs to release, let it go.
Tip: Place a pillow underneath your knees to help relieve pressure on the lower back, or underneath your torso to help open the chest and shoulders for deeper breaths.
Fish Pose (Matsyasana)-
Transitioning from Corpse pose, drop your weight onto your elbows and arch your back, letting your head drop back so your weight is resting partially on your elbows and the top of your head.
Your back should form an arch from your head to your buttocks, hands resting at the hips. Feel the deep stretch in your back, neck, and jaw.
Happy Baby (Ananda Balasana)-
One of my personal favorites, This pose may make you feel a bit silly, but your back will be cracking with joy.
Lying flat on your back, bring your knees towards your chest keeping them at a 90° angle.
Bottoms of your feet facing the ceiling.
Grab the edge of your feet, or your ankles, whatever feels the most comfortable. (Knees should be spread wider than your armpits.)
Flex your ankles and gently rock side to side. Inhale and exhale as you continue to rock.
Legs up the wall (Viparita Karani)-
For this next pose, if your bed is positioned against the wall, scoot on over to the ledge of the bed where it meets the wall.
Slowly walk your legs up, moving your rear down until your legs are comfortably extended and your rear is against the wall.
I personally like to stretch my hands out over my head to get a full body stretch.
Easy Pose (Sukhasana)-
Like the name says, this is easy.
Time to sit up and criss cross your legs.
Take a moment to come to center and take a few deep breaths stretch your fingers and roll your neck.
Revolved head-to-knee touch (Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana)-
Open the right leg out to the side, bend the left knee bringing the heel in towards the the groin.
Extend through the crown of your head as you inhale, engage your outstretched(right) leg as you exhale, twist your upper body to the left and take a side bend towards the right leg.
If you can comfortably, bring your right elbow to the floor and raise your left arm bringing it over your head.
If you cannot rest your elbow, simply use this arm for support through your stretch. Take a few deep breaths then repeat on the other side.
Child’s Pose (Balasana)-
Child’s pose is a gentle stretch for the back, hips, thighs, and ankles. It is yoga’s most important resting posture. Come to your hands and knees, spread your knees wide as your hips and bring your belly to rest between your thighs. Root your forehead to the floor, relax your shoulders, jaw, and eyes. You can stretch your arms out in front of you with your palms on the floor, or bring your arms back alongside your thighs with palms facing upwards.
After meditating in Child’s pose for as long as you need, return back to center, open your eyes and welcome in the day!
I hope this routine energizes you all, the way it does me every morning.
Namaste :)
Article by: Kimani Curtis