The Ultimate 10 Minute Morning Yoga Routine

When I first started out on my yoga journey, I would only ever roll out my mat to practice if I knew I had an uninterrupted hour or so on my hands. This often meant that it wouldn’t happen every day; and it was even less likely to happen in the morning when time was limited. I always had the best intentions though. I would plan for an afternoon or evening practice later on, but sometimes even your best intentions aren’t nearly enough! Even though yoga is one of the most productive ways to wind down.  By the time I got home my thoughts would very likely be more focused on food and watching my stories.  My yoga mat would be abandoned once again for the day.

Once I let go of my attachment to needing at least an hour to practice and started making morning yoga a priority, I really started to reap some pretty phenomenal benefits. Once the rewards started coming in, it became easier and easier to commit. 10 minute morning yoga is more than enough time to stretch the body, mind and cultivate a calm stillness that will linger on throughout your day.

Yoga has an accumulative effect over time, so those ten minutes add up. With consistency yoga and breath awareness can have profound effects on mental health. A 2016 study on cortisol levels in people with chronic stress related anxiety and depression, found that over time yoga can decrease levels of cortisol, the number one stress hormone in the body. This means less anxiety, fatigue, depression and overwhelm.

Making sure the legs and feet are hip width apart. Rooting down into all four corners of the feet, feel the stability in the legs. Tailbone is slightly tucked. Spine is long, right through to the neck and the crown of the head. Chin is slightly back and parallel to the earth. Bring the palms together, centre of the chest.

Mountain Pose is the most basic of all the standing poses and the foundation of all others. When the alignment is correct you are working to improve your posture, strengthen your legs and increase awareness in the body.

Inhale and raise the arms up overhead. Taking the arms as apart, palms facing one another. Drop the shoulders down away from the ears and draw the shoulder blades back together.

This is the perfect pose to start to create space in the body. In the spine, the shoulders and the chest. It is typically not very physically challenging, so there is the chance to really work on focusing on breath and body awareness and come out of the mind.  

Hinging at the hips, slowly start to bring the torso down. Keeping the spine straight with the neck and head in line. As you come down, notice the stretch in the back of the legs and bring a slight bend to the knees if needed. Allow the upper body to hang down, letting go of any tension in the head. Arms will hang down and hands can come onto the shins, the floor or onto a block.

The Standing Forward Bend encourages the back of the legs to open and at the same time creates space in the back as it elongates the the whole spine from the tailbone right through to the crown of the nead.

Step the right leg back, dropping the back knee down for support. Bringing the fingertips down either side of the front foot for support. Spine is straight, head and neck are in line.

A common misalignment in Low Lunge is to have the front knee too far forward. The key is to keep it in line with the ankle. We all carry tension in our hips, and this is a great beginner friendly way to start to open up into this space.

Press down into the palms, lifting the back knee up off the earth and then pushing back into Downward Facing dog.

Downward Facing Dog is often used as a transitionary pose when moving a sequence to the other side of the body. It’s an opportunity to find your center and balance and come back in to the present moment.

Exhaling all the air out of the lungs, take the knees down to the earth, drop the chest between the palms, keeping the hips and tailbone up. Hug the elbows in towards the body and have the weight in the hands. Chin is lightly resting on the floor.

The Eight Limbed Salutation is another transitory pose that is used to take you from standing to lying on the belly or up into Cobra Pose. It improves the mobility of the back and increases the strength of the arms.

With an inhale, slide forward onto the belly and press through the palms to straighten the arms and come up into Cobra Pose. Open the chest and drop the shoulders away from the ears. Draw the shoulder blades back and together.

Cobra Pose is an asana you can play around with to see how deep you want to take the back. It can be as subtle or dramatic as you like, but at all levels it offers a healthy compression to the spine and opening for the chest.

Exhale and push back into a Downward Facing Dog. Take a moment here to notice the difference in the left and right side of the body, to find the breath and to prepare yourself for the other side. Repeat the left side and then finish at the top of the mat, hands in Prayer at the centre of the chest. Take a moment to feel into the body and notice the heat and energy that’s been created. Allow this body sensation to be your anchor into the present moment.

You can spend a few breaths pedaling out the legs, bending into the right knee and then the left. This will encourage the back of the legs to open and prepare you to move into the next side of the body.

Step the right leg back, dropping the back knee down for support. Bringing the fingertips down either side of the front foot for support. Spine is straight, head and neck are in line.

Hinging at the hips, slowly start to bring the torso down. Keeping the spine straight with the neck and head in line. As you come down, notice the stretch in the back of the legs and bring a slight bend to the knees if needed. Allow the upper body to hang down, letting go of any tension in the head. Arms will hang down and hands can come onto the shins, the floor or onto a block.

Finish at the top of the mat, hands in Prayer at the centre of the chest. Take a moment to feel into the body and notice the heat and energy that’s been created. Allow this body sensation to be your anchor into the present moment.

The Sun Salutation as broken down earlier in this article is one of the best way to start both your practice and your morning, but if you have a little more time on your hands, here are seven more poses to add into your routine.

Chair Pose-Is going to get the body fired up, which makes it a great addition to your morning practice. It requires that you tap into the strength of the legs, the core and the upper body and it also stimulates the diaphragm and the heart. It’s a fierce posture that promotes inner power and is a great opportunity to check in with the quality of the mind. Is it quick to jump into stories of effort? Remember the body is often willing to do the hard yards even after the mind has called it quits, so get your head in check by focusing on breath.  

Eagle Pose –There is a lot going on in this pose and it simultaneously requires strength, balance and coordination. As you bind and twist the body together you are compressing and constricting circulation, so when you release there is a fresh rush of blood to those areas. The binding of the arms encourages the shoulders and wrists to stretch which are typical areas of tension in the body. Bring the elbows higher for a deeper stretch to the back of the shoulders.

Garland Pose –If you watch young children, you’ll notice that they can hang out in a deep squat for lengthy periods of time without any issue, yet this pose can be exceedingly difficult for many adults. When did we lose this ability? We are so reliant on chairs in Western culture that we have become unfamiliar with what was once the familiar, but this is a great pose to spend some time in the morning as you are challenging the structure of the entire body as it works into the ankles, knees, hips, pelvis and the spine.

Bound Angle Pose –This pose finds itself in almost all of my practices. It actually follows me off of the mat and into any opportunity I have to sit on the floor AND it also makes for a great meditative seat. It is a great way to open the hips, strengthen the back and it works to instill a sense of stability and groundedness first thing in the morning.  

Seated Forward Bend –This is another pose I love to hang out in and just allow gravity to do all the work. At first the hamstrings might give you hell, but in this case it’s perfectly fine to take a bend to the knees or prop your hips onto the edge of a blanket or cushion. Allow the breath to take you deeper and over time work towards having the legs straight. Even with bent knees, you are still opening into the back of the legs, stretching the spine and compressing the digestive organs which helps to get them firing.

Bridge Pose –Is going to wake up the body and the mind, so it is a perfect addition to your morning practice. It rejuvenates the back after lying down all night and encourages more flexibility. It stretches into the chest, back of the neck and the hips, while simultaneously strengthening the back, bum and hamstrings.

Wind Relieving Pose –Here you have a pose that is renowned for its benefits to digestive functioning. The compression of the belly is an effective means of encouraging stagnant energies to move downwards and out. Practicing first thing in the morning is a great way to release any trapped gases in your digestive tract before you go about your day – BUT, it’s also an opportunity to give yourself a squeeze and show some love first thing in the morning. Why should we rely and wait on other people to give us a hug later in the day!

Whether it is because there is no space to roll out the mat, or you are just too lazy to get out of bed, the good news is that you can even enjoy your yoga practice in the comfort of our own bed!

How you spend the first hours of your morning is so important. It sets the tone of your quality of mind. What is the first thing you do once your eyes have popped open?Reach for your phone to connect back immediately to a world of impressions and distraction? Or do you continue to press snooze until the bitter end for only a few minutes extra sleep? Instead, why not try some simple yoga poses in bed? and the beauty is, you don’t even have to open your eyes!

Reclined Bound Angle Pose – Supta Baddha Konasana This pose is great way to settle the mind before you jump into your day. It can ease any residual thoughts from the day before or any unsettling dreams you might have had. You can take one hand to your belly and one to your heart and just become aware of the sensation of breathing inside of the body.

Supine Spinal Twist – Supta Matsyendrasana You rely heavily on your spine to support you throughout the day, so this is a perfect opportunity to send it some love. When you sleep deeply, sometimes the body becomes heavy and immobile, so twisting the spine opens up the back and brings back some mobility before you get moving.

Happy Baby Pose – Ananda Balasana Another great pose that still hasn’t required you to get off of your back, so why not? I can say quite confidently that you probably won’t get many opportunities to open the hips and the groins during the day and roll around like a happy baby – so the privacy of your own bed really seems like the perfect place.

Legs Up the Wall Pose  Here you are simply taking advantage of the fact that you are already lying down and very likely have a wall at your disposal. This pose is extremely soothing, especially for those who are going to be on their feet all day. If there is tightness in the hips, luckily you have a pillow handy to slide underneath the hips.

These poses are great to perform in isolation, so spending a few minutes in each finding stillness and allowing the breath to take you deeper. Take your time! The aim of yoga is to not only open the body, but to come into the beauty of the present moment and enjoy where you are at. Allowing everything to be, just as it is. This is the key to enjoying life both on and off the yoga mat!

Ensure that you get the alignment correct from the start as the repetitive nature of this sequence, if done incorrectly, can lead to strain and injury over time. Once you have built up some confidence with the poses, try to find some meditation in the movement by allowing the breath to be your guide.