10-Minute Morning Yoga to Wake Up Your Entire Body

The best days tend to begin with intention. But rather than rolling out of bed and hoping for the best, you can wake your body and mind with some simple morning yoga that helps presence happen on purpose.

The following 10-minute morning yoga routine features a variety of stretches and dynamic movements that you sync with your breath, slowly enlivening your joints and muscles while reminding your sleepy head that you’re a human with a (sometimes slow-moving) body. Take things at your own pace, allowing your inhalations and exhalations to lead the way—and remember to take that same approach through the rest of your day.

10-Minute Morning Yoga to Help You Wake Up

No props are required for this practice, although having a block (or block-like prop at home) nearby can help you access some poses with more ease—particularly if your mat time comes before caffeine.

Puppy Pose

Begin in Puppy Pose. Keeping your hips stacked over your knees, walk your hands forward, melting your heart toward the mat. Plant your forehead on the mat or, if it feels comfortable for you, plant your chin on the ground and turn your gaze straight ahead.

Dynamic Puppy Pose

Now, begin to connect your breath to your movement. Inhale as you let your upper body soften and release in Puppy Pose, your heart   melting farther toward the mat.

Exhale and press into your hands, lift your chest, and round your spine, keeping your chin tucked, your arms straight, and your hips stacked over your knees.

Repeat this patten of movement 5 times, moving with the pace of your breath.

Downward-Facing Dog

Bring your hands beneath your shoulders, and with an exhalation, tuck your toes and send your hips up and back into Downward-Facing Dog. Stay here for 1 full breath.

Lizard Lunge

Inhale as you lift your right leg up and back into Three-Legged Dog. Exhale as you step your right foot toward the front of your mat, landing it softly to the outside of your hands in Lizard Lunge. Keep your back knee lifted and your back leg strong. Take 1 full breath here.

Pyramid Pose Variation

With your next exhalation, straighten your front leg, keeping your hands where they are or coming onto your fingertips, in a variation of Pyramid Pose.

Move between Lizard Lunge and Pyramid Pose 5 times, aligning them with the pace of your breath.

Dynamic Lizard Pose

Return to Lizard and begin to move through dynamic, Cat-Cow-inspired variations of the shape. Start by inhaling to sink your hips a little deeper as you lift your chin and arch  your back.

With your next exhalation, shift your weight slightly back, rounding your back and tucking your chin.

Repeat this pattern of movement 5 times with the pace of your breath.  

Bound Low Lunge

Finish your Lizard variations, releasing your back knee to the mat in Low Lunge. Stay here, facing forward, or bend more into your back knee to lift your foot, reach your right hand behind you as you turn your chest toward the right, and catch your foot in Bound Low Lunge. Stay here for 1 breath.

Yogi Squat

Release your bind, planting your right hand on the mat and stepping your left leg toward the top of your mat, hip-distance or more from your right foot, and sink into Yogi Squat or Malasana. Take 1 full breath here, drawing your shoulders back and broadening across your chest.

Dynamic Halfway Lift

Now, connect breath to movement again. Inhale as you straighten your legs and keep the length in your spine as if you were in Halfway Lift. Exhale as you sit back into Yogi Squat.

Repeat this pattern of movement 5 times with the pace of your breath.

Standing Forward Bend

The next time you lift yourself, allow yourself to then fold fully into a Standing Forward Bend by keeping your legs straight or taking just a slight bend in your knees if you feel any tightness along your hamstrings or low back. Feel free to catch opposite elbows with your hands, hanging here in stillness in rag doll. Take 1 full breath here.

Standing Heart Opener

With your next inhalation, start to roll yourself upright, one vertebra at a time, all the way until you’re standing tall. Inhale to open your chest and lift your gaze. Maybe you bend your elbows and take cactus arms here.

Exhale as you bend your knees, round your spine, and try to tap your elbows to your thighs.

Repeat this pattern of movement 5 times with the pace of your breath.

Downward-Facing Dog

With your next inhalation, reach your arms up and overhead. Exhale as you dive forward into a Standing Forward Bend. Inhale as you take a Halfway Lift with a flat back. Exhale as you step back into Downward-Facing Dog.

When you’re ready, inhale your left leg toward the sky and repeat the following poses on the opposite side:

• Lizard Lunge
• Pyramid Pose Variation
• Dynamic Lizard Lunge
• Bound Low Lunge

[[simply confirming we are only repeating the poses she did on the one side, and not the other poses…]] Finish Back in Downward-Facing Dog.

Plank Pose

Inhale to shift your weight forward, shoulders over wrists, in Plank Pose.

Cobra Pose

Exhale to lower yourself all the way to your mat. Press the tops of your feet into the mat and inhale as you lift your chest any amount in  Cobra Pose.

Child’s Pose

With your next inhalation, widen your knees, touch your big toes together, and shift your sit bones back to Child’s Pose. Stay here for 1-3 minutes or as long as you’d like, or feel free to linger instead in Savasana.

When you’re ready, press up to a comfortable seat. Bow your head and thank yourself for showing up for your practice today.