Good Morning Stretch with Brian Good Stretch Well+Good

Hello everyone. Welcome on in. My name is Brian. I'm from East River Pilates and this is Good Stretch with Well and Good. Today we're going to be doing a nice good morning stretch. Guaranteed to give yourself a little time in the morning to wake your body up and get yourself ready for your day. If you're like me you might not be a morning person so this is a nice way to ease in. We're shoulders right over wrists knees underneath those hips. Take some big cat and cows really start to open the chest and round the spine. Good. Nice. At any point during the video as I go on you're more than welcome to stay in a stretch if it feels good. All we're doing now is just finding time to really start to wake up muscles in the mid back our bodies our breath maybe our brain a little bit. Finding juicy exhales as you round juicy inhales as you open. Good. Finding the head and the tailbone wrapping towards each other and then finding the head and the tailbone reaching away. Beautiful. If it feels good start to fit the fingertips out to the sides or in towards you. Good. As we take some circles of the spine still working on getting a nice gentle movement really trying to get all four corners nice and smooth out. Good. Opening up the wrists trying to press the knuckles evenly down into the mat. We reverse those circles. Good. Finding that the other way letting that neck really get a good stretch as well. So see if you can really drop the head away from the shoulders. Nice. Whenever we're ready we're going to go ahead find all fours again flip those fingertips back towards the front of your mat. You take a big inhale reach the right arm high big overhead reach. Nice. Good. Waking up a little opening of the collarbones finding some nice rotation in the spine and opening up that chest. Good. This should feel really nice. Imagine you're waking up and taking a nice ocean swim. Good. Nice salt water breeze. It's like 78 degrees. Couldn't be beat. Nice. We take one more reach overhead find all fours. You're going to step the right leg back and turn towards that right side reaching that right arm up and overhead for a big side body stretch. This should feel really good right here to get you ready for that day. Nice. We go ahead reversing the circle this time going towards the hip up to the ceiling and down. Good. If it feels better to just hang in that side bend here go for it. If it feels good though to really start moving and stretching those fingertips away. Do it. Good. This always feels good for me when I'm trying to wake up. Nice. Big lift overhead find one good stretch. Nice. And then go ahead funnel it forward towards that front of your mat. Right leg steps in if you need a little child's pose here to give those hands and wrists a break. Go for it. Otherwise inhale on a big exhale come all the way forward and we do this on the other side. You're going to go ahead big juicy backstroke overhead reach of that arm here. Good. Widening through the chest. Feeling how we can really start to alleviate some tension in the shoulders in the mid back here. Especially if you're like sitting for most of your day. This is great to just give those shoulders a little chance at easing away from the ears and the chest a chance to open up a little bit more. Good. Again we're in the beach in the ocean of your choice. Really just taking your first morning swim of the day. Good. Maybe you see a little dolphin wave to it. Good. Jacking onto all fours. You go ahead left leg steps back this time. Open this up big juicy side bend here. Good. Finding those hips going forward right bottom hip wrapping towards the front. Good. We're going to go ahead and take a big circle here as well. Feeling free to really watch that hand. Yeah. Good. We're just helping our low backs get a good stretch our side bodies get a good stretch and even more warm up for those shoulders. Again if it feels good to just hang over do it. I love this stretch. Nice. One more reach overhead. We go ahead funnel this all the back to the front of your mat. Again if you need a quick child's pose take it. It's the morning. All the child poses you need. Good. Inhaling forward. We're going to go ahead lift through the top of the head. You'll step the left foot to the left hand. Maybe you'll inch the knee a little farther away. And we're just going to find a nice good runner's lunge stretch. So find a little shift of the hips here. Good. It's the morning so we just want to get a little bit of exploration going. Where are our hips today? Are they feeling good? Are they feeling like maybe not so good? No wrong answers. It just tells you how long you need to stretch today. Good. Whenever you're ready you're going to reach the left arm high to the ceiling. Find a good twist in that mid back as we really work to open that right hip. Lower the left hand down. We switch it. I like to glue my knee and my shoulder together here just for a little bit more support. Good. Nice. We're really trying to alleviate tension in the mid back and the pelvis at the same time. Nice. Feeling free to add a variation if it's really calling your name. There's something here that you're like no I really want that. Great. Go for it. Nice. Big reach of that right arm up. Find a big inhale and a big exhale. Lower this down. Left hand will frame that left foot. Step to the outside. Bring the back knee in just a little bit. You're gonna go ahead and keep the chest attached to the left thigh. Pick the left toes up. Sit back with a bent leg. So really give that hamstring a little bit of a chance to wake up. A lot of times we just go for this deep hamstring stretch but it might be a little bit more beneficial if it's early in the morning to let it kind of like hit the snooze button a bit. Good. Nice. See if you can really fold over. Allow that part of the hamstring where it attaches to the knee especially to get a little bit more release. Nice. We go ahead flex that foot. Sit this back and take some rolls of that ankle. Now I can feel my back is rounding so I'm gonna really fight to keep that back straight but it might mean that you need to take a little bit more bend in that knee if your hamstrings are tight. Good. Reverse that circle. Nice. Using movement to help us release tension through the back of the leg and the calf. Getting you again ready to sit on those hammies all day. Nice. We go ahead flex that foot. Maybe you sit back on that right heel. Find a little bit deeper stretch. Good. Inhale whenever you're ready. Bend into that left leg. You're gonna go ahead shoot that left leg back to all fours. We switch sides. Right leg goes to the right hand. Find a little zhuzh of that left knee back behind you. You're gonna go ahead sink into this hip and then yeah take a little bit of an exploration here. I can feel the difference so I'm hoping that you can as well. Nice. Moving through those hips. Good. Whenever you found that good spot right arm reaches high to the ceiling. Big twist. Open. Lowers down and goes to the other side. Glue the knee and the elbow together. Give yourself some support. Nice. Good. It should feel really great. It's getting a nice stretch in that front of that left hip. Outer glute of that right thigh maybe. A little bit of a mid-back twist. Nice. We reach that right arm all the way up. Open the chest and take the right hand to the outside of that right foot. Flex that foot. Keep that leg bent. Sit back. Feel that spine get long and heavy and then bend forward. Good. Hips draw back. Nice. Keeping that chest close to that right thigh. Beautiful. Really seeing how you can get a nice opening in that hamstring without maybe going right into the deepest stretch at the start. Good. Whenever you're ready stretch that front leg. Nice. Deep inhales and exhales. Find a little opening in that right hamstring. Length through the low back. Take some rolls of this ankle. Nice. Maybe notice if this one's a little bit easier than the other one. It always is on me. Good. If this is really hard for you, feel free to grab some books or yoga blocks. Stack them up and give yourself some space as well. It's a great way of getting a little bit more support in this stretch. Reverse those circles. Nice. Good. It feels nice, doesn't it? We go ahead and pull those toes back. Maybe if you can, you can sit back on that foot. Fold over a little bit more. My hamstrings are not going to do that today. Deep inhales and exhales. We bend all the way forward. Hands come into the inside of our foot this time. Tuck the back toes. Lift the back thigh. Right leg will step into a little baby plank. We're not here long. Think of finding a good stretch through the top of the head. Little good morning plank. If you're feeling a little betrayed, drop the knees down. Deep inhales and exhales. We go ahead, drop the knees anyway. Lower all the way down. Good. Interlace the hands behind the low back. Pull the chest open here. Inhale, right cheek goes to the mat. Big exhale, lift. Inhale, left cheek goes to the mat. Exhale, big lift. Just taking a little bit of time to get nice, good chest opening. Beautiful. Really finding that this is trying to isolate that mid back a little bit more and stretch the front of the shoulders. Nice. Pull those back. Find a deep inhale and a deep exhale. Release this. Hands come underneath your shoulders. Press up just a bit more and really try to just isolate that chest. Deep inhales, deep exhales. You tuck the toes, lift the thighs. Find a little bit more stretch. Again, this shouldn't feel like a big low back stretch. It should really feel like that mid back is reaching forward. Inhale, and then whenever you're ready, big exhale, press yourself up and back into a down dog. Good. Pedal out those feet. Nice. Walking through those legs, finding a little calf and hammy stretch. We bend the right knee, press the left heel down. Good. Allow the left calf and hamstring a moment to get a little good stretch. And then whenever you're ready, you're just going to go ahead and reach the right leg up and back. Open up that hip here. Good. You're going to take some big circles of this knee. We're really going to try and find a nice good opening and mobilizing moment for this right hip and left back of leg. Good. This is just like a nice good circle for that hip. Really getting in there. Good. Reverse those circles. Nice. If you need a little bit deeper stretch, you can hold on to the outsides of the mat and pull with both hands and pull forward. Nice. Good. Opening that right leg, keeping that right leg open. You can feel free to reach the right leg high. We go ahead, close the hips, step the right leg down into down dog. Inhale forward. Find a big back bend this time. Opening the chest. Beautiful. Hips sit back. Find a little child's pose. Nice. Deep inhales and exhales. We tuck the toes, lift the hips. Find down dog. Pedal out those feet. Good. We should be feeling a little bit of heat building here as well. Getting a little bit more awake. Bend that left knee. Find the bend of the left knee. Sit into that right hip. That's right. Good. Feel that calf and hamstring getting a really good stretch. Feel a relax of the shoulders. Nice. You go ahead, kick that left leg up. Oh, this one's a little tighter on me. Yeah, we always have one. Good. Big circles of that leg. Nice. Beautiful. Feeling free to adjust yourself on that mat whenever you need. Nice. I always notice that my circles on my left are a little stickier. That just means that I should spend a little more time there. So maybe you add on a little stretch throughout your day if that's your case. Reverse those circles. Nice. I know it's really getting a little steamy. That's great. This is helping us really actively stretch those legs. Good. Nice. Kick that left leg up. Lower that left leg down. This time walk the feet into the hands and find a standing forward fold. Good. We're gonna go ahead and find a nice moment for our spines. We've got lots of chest openers, lots of leg openers. We're gonna go ahead and find some rounding of the low back. Inhale. On an exhale, press the feet down. Roll up through the spine. Big reach of the arms. Up and then dive down. Find some nice rounding. Good. Soften those knees. Let's do that a few more times. Nice. Really finding how you can let the head lead down. And then the low back, the first thing to move on the way up. Good. Head is the first thing to move. Nice. And then low back is the first thing to move. Beautiful. It should feel really good. Nice. One more big reach up. Find a nice good interlace of the hands. Stretch the arms up in the chest forward. Deep inhale. And let that go. And we are all done and you are ready for your day. Thank you for joining again. I am Brian from East River Pilates. This has been Good Stretch with Well and Good. If you loved this, don't forget to check out Bedtime Stretch for the end of your night. And don't forget to click subscribe. Have a great rest of your day.