Exercise - Beat the skies back to blue with this 7 min routine
Come on… jump out of bed and kick start your day with this quick routine:
1. Breath cleansing: sit on the floor on your shins or legs crossed. Focus between the brows with eyes closed…
- Close the right nostril with right thumb, inhale left
- Close left nostril with ring finger, exhale right
- Inhale right close left
- Exhale left, close right
- Repeat x 5
2. Crossed legs: sit on shins or legs crossed. Keep the eyes closed to bring focus, attention and awareness to the mind…
- Sit tall, lengthen the spine, interlace the fingers (arms outstretched) in front of you with palms facing the heart
- Inhale, take the arms above the head and relax the shoulder blades down the spine
- Exhale and hold for x 5 slow breaths, releasing tension in the spine, shoulders, neck and release
- Repeat x 3
3. Seated forward fold: extend legs straight in front
- Inhale, raising the arms overhead
- Exhale, hinge forward from the waist not the lower back (drawing the belly in and you fold forward)
- Hold for x 5 slow breaths
4. Cat/Cow: get on your hands and knees (fingers facing forward, wrists and shoulders aligned, hips and knees aligned)…
- Inhale, arch the spine in and taking your chin to the sky
- Exhale, curve your spine out taking your chin towards your chest
- Repeat x 7
5. Cat/Cow wrists: get on your hands and knees (hands turned 90 degrees outward, wrists and shoulders aligned, hips and knees aligned)…
- Hold for 5-7 slow breaths and breathe into the forearms and wrists
6. Child’s pose: take the buttocks back towards the heels and lower the body down to the ground, arms outstretched in front…
- Hold for 10 slow breaths and breathe into the shoulders, backs, hips, buttocks
7. Mountain pose: stand tall, ground feet down, activate full length of the body, palms back or inwards, shoulders back and down, draw the belly in, open rib cage