Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Wake Up & Stretch - Savoring Life

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

This morning, wake your mind and body with mindfulness and yoga designed to help you savor every moment in life. Enjoying Wake Me Up? Get ad-free access to the entire WMU catalog + bonus content by joining the WMU Premium Feed. Sign up and start your 7-day free trial at https://wakemeup.supercast.com/. Follow the show on Spotify - Apple Podcasts - Podchaser Say hi or request an episode at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/contact. See visual guides for the yoga and stretches in WMU episodes at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/stretches. And find the podcast on Instagram and TikTok. **Only partake in the physical movements suggested in Wake Me Up episodes if you are physically able and in safe surroundings. All movements are done at the individual's own risk. Be safe, and always consult a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.** Have a wonderful day 😃 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Good morning. Welcome to Wake Me Up and to this Wake Up and Stretch episode, where we'll get out of bed and prepare the mind and body for a great day. In each episode this week, we'll be focusing on the concept of savoring. That may make it sound like we'll be enjoying some. delicious foods in these episodes, but I regret to inform you I'm not serving any food.

However, the mindfulness concept of savoring is exactly what you do when you are enjoying some delicious food. It's just applied to life more broadly. It can be used with anything and everything to make you happier, to make your relationships better, and to improve your life overall. As you'll see this week, no matter what's going on, there's always something to savor. And I think you'll be surprised at the tangible benefit it can have on life. Now let's get started. Wherever you are, just pause for a moment. Take a few deep breaths in, filling all the way into your belly and release. Once more, inhale, fill all the way up, and exhale, release.

Just appreciate this moment you've got right now. A little bit of peace and quiet before the day begins. The opportunity to take time for yourself, to care for yourself, to focus on your own growth, happiness, and well-being. That's so special, isn't it? A lot of people may not have the benefit of moments like this. In fact, I bet we can all point to a couple of days in our own lives

when we didn't have the luxury of a few moments for personal time. So let me just get out of your way for a few seconds here and let you soak this in. Enjoy it however you want. Isn't that nice? A moment just for you. What we just did is savoring. And you know what?

You deserve it. You deserve a moment of peace and quiet. and you deserve to enjoy it how you want. On that note, let's take a few more deep breaths to help the blood get flowing. So inhale, really making the most out of that breath. Hold and exhale, release. Once more, inhale, appreciating every sip of that air. Hold and exhale, release.

Now there's a great day ahead. So if you're in bed, roll over and make your way to standing up. All right, now that we're all up and out of bed, let's turn to some stretches. And as always, just a quick word of warning. Don't do any stretch if you're not able. Feel free to do something else if you prefer. My stretches are just suggestions. We're all different, and you should do what's right for your body.

If you're ever confused about a stretch or you'd like a visual guide, you can find a link to the visuals of our stretches in the show notes. Today, we'll do a handful of our common stretches, but we'll be focusing on really enjoying them, savoring them. So we're going to do them a little slower than we might usually. And the point is to really feel, enjoy loosening up, and taking care of the body. So we'll start with a good old-fashioned forward fold. And we'll do this one twice.

The second time, we'll use it as a transition to the ground for the remainder of our stretches. So if you want to be on a carpet or use a mat, make sure you're in the right spot and set up to do that. So start out, standing up straight. Take a big inhale and reach your hands up all the way to the ceiling. Add a little back bend at the top. Just feel that extra stretch. Exhale and fold forward at your waist. Nice and slow.

When you get to the bottom, just let everything relax. And as you do this stretch, notice something going on in your body that you enjoy. Let's take one full round of breath down at the bottom. Inhale, filling up as deeply as you can, and exhale. Now slowly roll all the way back up to standing. And when you get there, immediately inhale again. Reach your hands to the sky. Reach even farther this time.

Add that little back bend, and then exhale, fold forward again. Release your arms, release your neck. And again, try to find something to savor about this stretch. Maybe there's a bit of tension and release that you can enjoy. Now slowly bend your knees, release your hands to the ground, and make your way to all fours. So hands and knees on the ground. shoulders over your hands and hips directly over your knees

and we'll do a few cat cows here but first sense how your spine and back feel right now before we do that stretch just take note all right now inhale and look up arch your back down towards the ground that's cow pose and then exhale press your hands into the ground drop your head and arch your back

up. That's cat. Really exaggerate the movement of your spine. Inhale, look up. Arch your back down towards the ground. Cow. And exhale, cat. Press your hands into the ground, drop your head, and arch your back up. What can you find to savor about this stretch? Once more now, inhale, looking up to cow, arching your back down towards the ground, and exhale, cat, dropping your head and arching your back up. All right, now release, come back to a neutral spine, and just sense how your back and spine feel now. Do you notice anything different? Can you savor the feeling you have after a couple of stretches? Our final stretch will be child's pose. So from where you're at, drop your bottom back towards your feet and lower your chest towards the ground.

Maybe you want to spread your knees apart a little to make room for your chest. Rest your head down and your arms too. And just relax here. Breathe and you can even close your eyes for a moment. Appreciate this time for yourself. This time to take care of your body and your mind. Truly, try to savor this moment of peace and quiet before your day begins. Well, friends, that's all for today.

If you want to come out of that stretch now, just press yourself up. I hope your body and mind are nice and warm and ready for the day. I challenge you to try fully savoring a few things today. And notice what happens when you do. I think you'll quickly realize that when you are present with the experience by savoring it, the chatter and your mind stops, and everything just becomes a little bit lighter, a little bit more enjoyable. I'll see you back here tomorrow for our meditation. Until then, go out and have a fantastic day.