Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Wake Up & Stretch for Gratitude | Morning Yoga for Self-Love

Starting point is 00:00:01 If you'd like to enjoy Wake Me Up completely ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content, check out the link in the show notes for the Wake Me Up premium feed. Hey there, and welcome to Wake Me Up. I'm your host, Tyler, as always, and I am especially happy to have you here this week. On Thursday, it's my favorite holiday of the year in the United States, Thanksgiving. And the reason I love this holiday so much is because it's not about special. spending money on people. It's not about buying gifts. It's about appreciating each other and what we have. Simply put, it's about gratitude. And so this week, we're going to have a couple of episodes

Starting point is 00:00:48 all based on gratitude. And this episode specifically, we'll get out of bed and do a light stretch. And while we do that, we'll practice some gratitude for our bodies and for a new day. So let's go ahead and get started. And I recommend that you start this episode from bed. But if you're already up and about, it really doesn't matter. You can enjoy it just the same. Wherever you find yourself right now, just pause for a moment and do a quick scan of your body. And this one I want you to do a little bit differently than you might usually. As you go through each body part, take one second to say thank you to each and every part you scan over. Our bodies do so much for us.

Starting point is 00:01:53 And undoubtedly, they all face problems. That's to be expected with all that we put them through. So we really owe them some appreciation. I'll give you about 30 seconds to do that appreciation-based body scan now. All right, so go ahead and wrap up your body scan if you haven't already. And let's take a couple of deep breaths. So inhale, filling all the way up, and sharing some appreciation for your lungs and the breath they take.

Starting point is 00:02:50 Hold at the top, and then exhale, release. Once more, inhale, filling with gratitude. Hold at the top and exhale, release. Now there's a brand new day awaiting you. It's such a special opportunity. It's one that we often take for granted. Another day is truly a gift. So show some gratitude for this day as well.

Starting point is 00:03:34 Repeat these words in your words. mind. I don't take this day for granted. I'm grateful for this opportunity at life. And I promise to myself to make the most of it. Now on that note, let's take one last breath in. And as you exhale, if you're in bed, roll over and make your way to standing up. All right, now that we're all up and we're out of bed, let's turn to a few quick stretches to help wake the body. And as always, just a quick note of warning. Don't do any of these stretches if you're not physically able. If something hurts, back out of it.

Starting point is 00:04:37 All of my stretches are just suggestions. Feel free to modify in any way that works best for you. Or do something completely different if you prefer. If you're ever confused about a stretch where you'd like to see a visual, you can find a link to do that in the show notes. So we're going to do some very simple stretches today. If you've been with the show before, you'll know all of these. But we're going to do them with the added touch of gratitude.

Starting point is 00:05:06 So let's start with our necks. We tend to hold so much tension here, and so let's show them a little bit of love. Begin by standing up straight, feet nice and firm on the floor, hands down by your sides. Take a big inhale and relax your shoulders down. Take a moment to just let your shoulders settle and get out of the way of your neck. Now on your next inhale, let your head fall over your right shoulder.

Starting point is 00:05:46 You'll feel a nice stretch down the left side of your neck while you do this. Nice and gentle. It's first that you're not. thing in the morning, so we don't want to push anything too hard. If you want to take that stretch a little bit deeper, you can turn your head and your gaze toward the ceiling. There's no need to sit perfectly still in any stretch. You're always allowed to move around and explore.

Starting point is 00:06:19 On your next inhale, come back to center, reset, and then let your head fall over your left shoulder this time. And again, just take a little moment to explore here. If you want to deepen the stretch, you can turn your gaze upwards. But you can also deepen the stretch in many other ways. So just be gentle and show your neck and your shoulders the love they deserve. On your next inhale, come back to center. Give your head a little nod side to side and then up and down.

Starting point is 00:07:10 nice and easy just to reset those muscles around your neck and next we're going to give a little more attention to our shoulders by doing some arm circles and let's begin with the right arm so hands down by your sides and then begin to draw big circles with your right arm as if your arm was a windmill go nice and slow and work all the way around your range of motion. As you do this, maybe you can think of all of the things that you do with your right arm, all of the things that your right shoulder carries, and put a little extra appreciation into this stretch for all that work your arm does.

Starting point is 00:08:05 Once you've done a few circles in one direction, pause, and do a few more in the opposite direction. Again, going nice and slow, working your way around the full range of motion. All right, you can relax your right arm back down now. And let's switch to the left side. Doing the exact same thing, drawing those big circles with your arm. Again, go nice and slow. And if you have any spots where you need to work something out a little extra, then that's just fine. Take some extra. time and show that spot a little love. We build tension and areas of our body that we overwork.

Starting point is 00:09:00 So if you find one of these spots, know that it deserves some love and give it a little extra attention. Once you've done a few circles in one direction, pause, and do a few more in the opposite direction. And as you do this, try to think of some things that you do with your left arm and your left shoulder. That might be hard work and maybe deserve some appreciation. All right, you can relax your left arm back down now. And let's finish out with my favorite stretch, a good old forward fold. This is a full body stretch. And there's no doubt that our bodies do a ton of work for us.

Starting point is 00:09:59 So take this slowly and show your body the love it deserves. So inhale, reach your hands to the sky, reach all the way out of your shoulders. You can even add a little back bend at the top, and on your exhale, fold forward at your waist, and just let everything fall and hang towards the ground. Relax your face, relax your neck, relax your arms, relax your jaw.

Starting point is 00:10:34 We'll stay here for about 30, 20 seconds. Plenty of time for you to sink into this stretch. Take any variation you might like. Maybe swaying side to side, maybe bending the knees one at a time. Let's do one full round of breath. Inhale and exhale. And on your next inhale, slowly roll all the way back up to standing, vertebrae by vertebrae. And when you get to the top, roll your shoulders up and down. Fantastic. Well, that's all of the time we have today. I hope your mind and body are feeling awake and ready for a fantastic day.

Starting point is 00:11:39 And beyond that, I hope you're really feeling appreciative of your body. It's a true gift just like this day is. So go make the most of it. I'll talk to you tomorrow for a meditation on this same theme of gratitude. I hope to see you there. Until then, go out and have an absolutely fantastic day.

Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Wake Up & Stretch for Gratitude | Morning Yoga for Self-Love

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