5 Minute “Good Morning” Stretch

Stretching first thing in the morning can help your muscles loosen and relax from your nights sleep. This will help you better prepare for the day ahead. Here are 5 stretches you can do every morning for one minute each to get you started:

The downward dog is a full body stretch. First, it stretches the lower body, specifically the calves, hamstrings, and ankles. This stretch also helps strengthen the upper body while stimulating blood flow and improving posture.

The cobra is one of my favorite poses! It helps to stretch and elongate the spine, while also opening up the heart and lungs to breathe and activating the muscles in our glutes.

The child’s pose is a classic, feel good yoga pose, great for stretching your lower back and hips, relieves stress, and calms the mind.

The cat and cow pose help to stretch the back and neck muscles, while increasing flexibility in our spines. It also helps with our internal organs, alleviating bloat and cramping.

Lastly, my favorite pose to end with, the forward fold. This stretch helps elongate your spine while stretching your hips, hamstrings, and calves. It is also a very common pose to do in yoga because it relaxes your mind and body and alleviates stress, anxiety, and depression.

As soon as I wake up I say my affirmations, do my 5 minute stretch routine, and start my day and it has made a huge impact in the way I feel and perform. The difference just 5 minutes can make. A routine becomes involuntary after 12 days of consistency. If we do the math, that is just 60 minutes, one hour, and we can see amazing changes in the way we feel and how we excel in our everyday lives.