15-Minute Morning Yoga for the Full-Body Stretch You Need

You’ll experience a stretch from head to toe in this 15-minute morning yoga for flexibility class. The practice is somewhat challenging although it doesn’t demand too much range of motion, so you can practice it even if you woke up a little stiff or achy.

The morning yoga practice features not-too-intense movements that feel good in your body. It begins with some stretches for your spine, quads, and hips. The only standing pose is a quick Warrior 2 and then you come back to the mat for some seated twists and hip openers.

Noticing the difference between how you feel before and after this practice. It’s a reminder that your yoga practice does not need to be overly complex or strenuous in order to be effective and set you up for the day ahead.

15-Minute Morning Yoga for Flexibility

This morning yoga for flexibility practice is designed for all experience levels. No props are required although of course you’re welcome to use them if you’d like. At the close of the 15-minute morning yoga practice, you’ll set your intention by choosing one word that you’d like to be the focus of your day.

Cat-Cow

Let’s start right away on hands and knees with your knees underneath your hips, your hands underneath your shoulders, and your fingers spread wide. Practice placing a little more of your body weight in your fingertips and knuckles and less in your wrists. Then inhale, lower your belly, and lift your gaze and your tailbone as you arch your back in Cow Pose. Really stretch across your front body here.

Exhale and reverse this motion, rounding your back and contracting your abs in Cat Pose. Feel your shoulder blades broadening. Keep going in between these two poses, trying to stretch all parts of the spine. As you go through these poses, keep thinking, can I push a little more into my fingertips and my knuckles to take some of the weight out of my wrists?

Puppy Pose

Come back to neutral hands and knees and walk your hands in front of you, keeping your hips where they are. Take a stretch in Puppy Pose, also known as Melting Heart Pose, by bringing your forehead down to the mat. I like to keep my arms straight and active so my elbows are lifted off of the mat. You’re trying to imagine pressing or melting your chest and heart down toward the floor, so you’re really expanding and reaching through the arms and experiencing a slight backbend. Take one more big belly breath here.

Sphinx Pose

Slide onto your belly and brings your forearms onto the mat, bending at the elbows and stacking them underneath or somewhat in front of your shoulders. Straighten your legs with your hips at least hip distance apart in Sphinx Pose.

Think of lifting through your chest and, at the same time, almost pulling your heart forward. You’re also pushing through the tops of your feet, anchoring down through the pubic bone, and lifting the abdominals so you’re not compressing your lower back.

Quad Stretch

You can stay in Sphinx Pose or you can add a quad stretch to your yoga for flexibility practice by bending one knee and bringing your foot toward your glutes. If this feels painful in your lower back, which is quite common, lower your chest to the mat and bring your forehead onto your forearm, down onto the mat. So you can do the quad stretch with or without the backbend. You’re trying to make this a gentle morning full-body stretch, so you don’t feel like pushing yourself beyond your limits.

Release hold of your foot and switch sides.

Rabbit Pose

Press yourself back so your hips sink toward your heels, reach your hands to your heels, and bring your forehead to the mat. Slowly and carefully lift your hips off your heels and come onto the crown of your head but keeping hold of your heels in Rabbit Pose. Most of your weight is in your knees with very little pressure on your head. Use this tension created by your arms to stretch your lower back.

Downward-Facing Dog

Bring your hands to the mat, shoulder distance apart, tuck your toes under, and lift your hips up and back. Bend your knees as much as you’d like in Downward-Facing Dog. I always like to paddle the feet, especially first thing in the morning. If, like me, you find that your hamstrings are always like the tightest part of your body, straight legs will rarely work in this pose. But do try to keep your arms straight and your neck relaxed so your head can be heavy.

Scorpion Dog

Stay in Downward Dog or, if it feels good, lift your right leg toward the sky, bend your right knee, and let your heel fall behind you to open your hip.

Low Lunge

Step your right foot forward to the top of the mat between your hands so your knee is stacked on top of your ankle. Lower your back knee to the mat and point your back toes toward the wall behind you in a Low Lunge. You can be up on your fists or your fingertips. Think of melting your hips down and pulling your heart forward in a chest opener. You’re breathing in and out through your nose.

Low Lunge Twist

Let’s add a little twist, so your left hand comes flat on the mat. Bring your right hand to your right thigh and push your hand into the thigh to lift yourself a little before you rotate your chest toward the right, finding even more length along your spine. Look over your right shoulder. Breathe here.

Warrior 2

Release the twist, bring your hands back to the mat, and tuck your back toes under. Lift your back knee off the mat and spin your back foot parallel to the short edge of your mat as you come up into Warrior 2. Your arms are extending out, your palms are facing down. Really bend into your front knee and keep your shoulders stacked directly over your hips.

Reverse Warrior

Bring your left hand to your back thigh as your right arm reaches up in Reverse Warrior for a big side body stretch. Nothing changes in your legs.

Then circle your arms as you bring your palms down to the mat and step your right foot back into Downward-Facing Dog. Peddle out your feet. Then do the same poses on the other side, starting with Scorpion Dog, then Low Lunge, Low Lunge Twist, Warrior 2, Reverse Warrior, and back to Downward-Facing Dog.

Downward-Facing Dog

This will be your last Downward-Facing Dog so stretch everything out here. You can widen your feet if you’d like to find the stance that feels the best to you.

Seated Cat-Cow

Bring your knees to the mat, take your legs in front of you, and bring the soles of your feet together to touch with your knees falling apart. Before you come into a forward fold, grab hold of your big toes with your peace fingers and see if you can do Cat and Cow from here a few times. So inhale as you lift up through the chest, squeeze your shoulder blades behind you, and arch your back.

And then exhale as you round your back and bring your chin toward your chest. Take a few more like this. It’s normal not to have as much range of motion when you’re doing this seated.

Bound Angle

Return to a flat back and see if you can pull your chest forward in Bound Angle. Once you find that natural point of resistance where you just can’t go anymore, pause here.

Relax your arms and let your spine naturally round, making this a passive forward bend and breathe here. As you’re seated in this stretch, remember that these morning classes can be an opportunity to help set the tone for your day. If you’ve done my morning classes with me, you already knowI like to choose a one-word intention for the day. They can be the first word that pops into your head, or you might give it a bit more thought. Either way, it’s simply the answer to what’s important to you today? What is your priority? How do you want to feel? What do you want to focus on? Focus on that here.

Seated Twist

Push your hands into the mat and slowly lift yourself upright. Straighten both legs and then bend your right knee and step your right foot over your left thigh. Push your right big toe into the mat on the other side of your left leg. Wrap your left arm around your right thigh to help pull it closer toward you. At the same time as you’re pulling it, engage your abs and sit taller as you lift up and then twist to the right and place your right fingertips behind you on the mat. Keep pulling the lower belly in. No slouching, no rounding of the back. Relax your shoulders down and away from your ears as you breathe here.

Let’s release and face forward. Then switch sides.

Seated Forward Bend

Take one more passive forward bend. So you’re going to stretch your legs straight in front of you with your feet hip-width apart and then allow yourself to lean forward as you round your back, letting gravity pull you down. Because the hamstrings tend to be quite tight in the morning, you probably won’t be leaning that far forward in this Seated Forward Bend, and that’s totally fine. You’re just looking for a little sensation as we stretch your back body, from the crown of the head down the spine and all the way down the backs of the legs and into the soles of the feet. Keeping a little bend in the knees is perfectly fine. So just 3 deep breaths here.

Walk your hands in and bring them on the mat behind you. Take your feet flat on the mat, hip distance apart or wider, and do a little windshield-wiper motion with your knees.

Reverse Tabletop

One last pose. With your feet flat on the mat and hip-distance apart, bring your hands back behind you, fingertips pointing toward your heels, about shoulder width-distance apart, and see if you can push your feet into the mat, squeeze through your seat, and lift yourself off the mat in Reverse Tabletop. You’re going to feel a big stretch across the fronts of the shoulders. Breathe here before you release and set your hips back down.

Seated Shoulder Stretch

Come to take a seat, however it feels comfortable for you. Circle your arms up and wide and really stretch as if you were being pulled and lifted up in the last thing you do during your morning yoga for flexibility practice. Then bring your hands together at your chest. Let’s do that 3 more times.

Close your eyes and if you chose a one-word intention for your day, focus on it now. Noticing how even 15 minutes of morning yoga can change how you feel in your body and how that can change your mental and emotional state.

Thank you so much for doing this 15-minute morning yoga for flexibility practice. I hope you’re feeling more comfortable in your body and that you feel ready to take on your day!