Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Wake Up & Stretch - Trusting Yourself

Episode Date: July 11, 2022

This morning, wake your mind and body with mindfulness and yoga designed to encourage trust in yourself. 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, my friends. Welcome to Wake Me Up and to this wake-up and stretch episode, where we'll get out of bed and prepare your mind and body for a great day. This week, our theme is trusting yourself. We all have a unique set of abilities. No one has your same body, your same mind, and your same set of life experiences.

That means you also have your own unique life path. It's up to you to determine that path. You are fully capable of doing that. And through it, you'll find greater happiness, health, and fulfillment. This week's episodes are designed specifically to help you with that. Now let's go ahead and get into it. I recommend you start this episode while you're still in bed, but if you're already up and about, that's just fine too.

Wherever you are, just pause for a moment. Take one deep breath in, fill all the way into your lungs, hold it at the top, and release, nice and easy. And think about a few of the things you really enjoy about yourself. What qualities do you love having? And maybe even bring to mind a few memories when those qualities really shone through.

Trusting yourself begins with self-awareness and self-love. Knowing who you are, what you like, your strengths and weaknesses. And of course, appreciating those things, being grateful for them. So take a big inhale, filling up with appreciation for yourself and then exhale just release once more the deepest one yet inhaling filling up with appreciation for your strengths and who you are take an extra sip of air at the

top and then exhale now there's another great day ahead another chance to explore yourself and be the best version of you so let's not wait for you waste another minute of it. 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 take part in any of these stretches if they don't work for you. Feel free to do something else if it works better for your body. My stretches are just suggestions. We're all different and you should do what works for you. If you're ever confused about a stretch, where you'd like to see a visual guide, you can find a link to visual depictions of the

stretches on Wake Me Up in the show notes. So today, let's do some stretches that will loosen up common areas of tension, the wrists, the neck and shoulders, and the hips. And we'll start standing up, but then we'll end seated. So make sure you have space to do that. First, let's start with our wrists. Pick one hand, doesn't matter which one. Just begin to roll your wrists out in circles. Go in one direction at first, really slow,

trying to work all the way around your range of motion. And once you've done a few, just pause and roll your wrist in the opposite direction. All right. Now switch hands. Go to the other wrist and begin to roll it out. With how much time we spend at computers these days, the wrists can get really tight. I know mine do.

So starting out your day with a little love for your wrists and hands can be really helpful. If you haven't switched directions on this other hand, go ahead and do that now. Now that we've given our wrists a little love, let's turn to the neck and shoulders. So stand up straight, crown of your head to the ceiling, and just roll your shoulders up, back, and down. go in big, slow circles. Breathing while you do this. Inhaling up and exhaling. Try to exaggerate this roll.

Forward, up. And you might have a few creaks and pops in your shoulders. I know I sure do. But that's okay. Just keep going nice and slow. All right. Now pause and roll your shoulders in the opposite direction. So up.

Up, forward, down, and back. Again, nice and slow, all the way around your range of motion. All right. Pause with your shoulder rolls. Let your shoulders relax back into a neutral position. Take an inhale and squeeze your shoulders up to your ears. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze as tight as you can. And then exhale, let them drop and relax down completely.

Let's do that once more. So inhale, squeeze your shoulders up as tight as you can. And then exhale, release, and let them drop all the way down. Just let them settle. Now let's turn to the neck. So with your shoulders relaxed down and the crown of your head towards the ceiling, drop your head over your right shoulder. So you feel a stretch down the left side of your neck.

Try to keep your shoulders down. Don't let them rise up. Now bring your head back to center, back to neutral. Reset for a moment. And then let your head fall over to your left shoulder. You'll feel that stretch down the right side of your neck. Remember to keep the shoulders down. Nice and relaxed.

Okay. Bring your head back to center, back to neutral. And just give it a little wiggle side to side. shake all of that out, let it relax, let it reset. Now we're going to make our way to the ground, but we'll do that through a forward fold. So inhale, reach your hands to the sky,

reach as far as you can, and then exhale, fold forward at your waist. Let everything hang towards the ground. You can have a nice bend in your knee if you'd like. You can sway side to side, whatever feels right for you. Let's take one full round of breath here. Inhale.

Okay, now bend your knees, place your hands on the ground, and guide yourself to a seated position. We're going to do seated butterfly pose. So find a comfortable seat. If you want to find some carpet or a pillow to sit on, that's fine. You're going to have your bottom flat on the floor, your chest upright. Bring the bottoms of your feet together, and that will open your knees out wide.

The stretch will be through your inner thighs and your hips. If you want to do this laying down, you can, just by laying your back down on the ground. I recommend doing it sitting up, since it's still in the morning and you don't want to fall back asleep. Just relax here. As you rest in this pose, your hips will open up slowly, bit by bit, so there's no need to force anything early on. You can close your eyes and just breathe. Appreciate this time to yourself.

And remember those personal traits you thought of in the beginning of this episode. Those things about yourself that you appreciate. Use this moment of quiet to think about ways you. can lean into those traits today. How can you encourage the best parts of you to come out? Now repeat after me. I trust in myself. I believe in myself.

I am capable of finding my own way in life. I am capable of health and happiness. Well friends, that's all for today's episode. I hope your body and mind are nice and warm and ready for the day. I'll see you back here tomorrow for our meditation on this week's theme. Until then, go out, trust yourself, be yourself, and have a fantastic day.