Morning Movement

Welcome to Day 9 of the Morning Routine Challenge here on Insight Timer.

How you begin the day matters.

Before the noise,

Before the rush,

There's a brief window where you get to choose how you show up.

This challenge is about being intentional with that time.

Let's jump in to today's session.

Hi there.

Welcome to your morning mobilization.

Movement heals.

Without it,

We stagnate,

And with it,

We can improve just about every biomarker that we care about.

From sleep to creativity,

When we stop moving,

Things stop working.

What I love about this practice is it's standing only,

And it needs no equipment,

So you can slot it into your day anytime.

You can also stack benefits here by stepping outdoors and choosing a location with limited distractions.

When you're ready,

Come to stand.

Let's ground and breathe.

Stand with your feet hip-distance apart and begin by feeling your foundation.

Let the eyes settle closed.

Let's take three deep breaths together.

Inhale through your nose.

Releasing through the mouth.

Again,

Deeply,

Slowly,

Fully in.

Sighing it out,

Letting it all go.

One more just like that.

Breathing in.

Sighing it out.

Just arriving here and giving ourselves this time,

Knowing that every cell in our body will benefit.

Let's gently wake up our joints,

Starting from the top down.

Take your right arm and extend it down and away.

Fingertips reach towards the floor and the shoulder drops.

Then lift your right ear up and away from the shoulder.

The head leans left.

Welcome sensation with breath.

You can deepen and explore by creating more length.

And you might try rolling the head forward,

Chin toward chest,

All the while lengthening the head up and over to the left.

And rolling the head back,

Chin lifts away.

Releasing and coming to center and switching sides.

The left arm extends down and away.

Left ear lifts up and over.

Head leans to the right.

Once you've found the sensation you crave,

Then explore with breath.

Rolling the head forward,

Chin to chest.

And rolling the head back,

Chin lengthens away.

Releasing back to center.

Moving into hip circles,

Bend your knees a little,

Place your hands on your hips,

And begin to make slow circles with your hips.

Start small.

And let the circles grow as big as feels good.

Feel free to pause if there's a moment where you feel some tension releasing.

And then reversing your circles.

Massaging our low backs,

Along with waking up the core and mobilizing all the stabilizers of our hips,

Some of the biggest joints in our body.

Okay,

Coming back to center.

So we're just going to finish with a little dynamic stretching.

This comes in the form of a sort of shaking or bouncing.

So you can begin just by lifting and dropping the heels.

Lift and drop,

Lift and drop,

Creating a rhythm.

Start small and start to feel the body moving.

You can begin to flick out the hands,

Wrists,

Arms.

You can make that bounce through the legs a little more vigorous.

Big breaths,

Moving your body.

Imagine a boxer making their way towards the ring.

That plyometric movement through the body,

Mobilizing,

Switching on,

Releasing tension.

So as you shake,

Know that there are no real rules here.

You can mobilize through the neck,

You might open and close the jaw,

You might stick out the tongue.

You might allow sound or emotion to come.

If there is any stuckness,

Any energy that feels like it needs moving,

Let that be mobilized through this movement.

You can reach the arms out,

You can reach them up,

You can shake hips side to side,

You can twist.

It's this kind of bouncy movement that we're after.

And as much of the body getting involved as possible.

And let these last 10 seconds be as dynamic as the body needs.

Big breath in as the body starts to come to stillness.

Let the full breath out,

Letting it all settle.

And just standing now.

The eyes might flutter closed.

Feeling your way down into your vibrating,

Sparkling cells.

It is said that to be in this moment,

Alive as you are,

Is about 400 trillion to one.

A gift of unimaginable rarity.

Exactly as you are,

Exactly where you are.

Like winning the lottery 10 times in a row.

Drinking in the miracle of just this.

Your breath,

Your energy,

Your presence.

You've given yourself the gift of presence and gentle movement to start your day.

You're now awake,

Grounded,

And ready for whatever comes your way.

If your body is asking for a little more movement,

You can head over to my profile for a deeper full body session that's a little more focused on building strength,

Focus,

And balance.

But for now,

You've done more than enough to start your day.

Thank you so much for practicing with me.