Morning Stretch // Exercises to Gently Wake up Your Body in Bed

Good morning and welcome to this quick morning stretch workout. This workout can be done in your bed or on your mat. We're going to be starting in a lying position. Perfect way to gently wake up our body and stimulate circulation for the day. Great if you have arthritis and it's osteoporosis friendly too, so there's no rounding or twisting of the spine. It's also a great opportunity to introduce you to the physio board, which is the board that I am sitting on, created by a physical therapist for those that weren't able to get down on the floor to do their exercises. Brilliant product that I'm just really excited to bring you guys and I will tell you more about it at the end of this workout. We're going to get started either on your mat or in your bed lying down. Feel free to have a small pillow underneath your neck if that's comfortable for you. We're going to start at the bottom of our body and work our way up. So we're simply going to relax our neck and shoulders. Take a deep breath in. Exhale out. And starting with our toes, we're going to flex our feet, drawing the toes back and then point the toes. Flex and point several times here. Waking up the body, shooting the blood up the legs. Again to continue to take nice cleansing inhales and outhales here. A few more times. Let's point and flex and point and flex. Draw one knee up. Foot is on the floor. Knee towards the ceiling and simply let it fall out to the side, keeping both sit bones and your hips to the ceiling. Slide the leg all the way back down. Other side. We lift up sliding the foot up to about the knee. We let it fall out to the side. Whatever is comfortable and natural for you. Keeping it externally rotated and at the very end it rotates back in and that hip socket. Alternating legs. We draw up, let fall to the side and stretch back down. Really opening up our hips here. Pairing them for the day. Let's do one more each side. And last one. We draw in, let it fall out to the side and straighten down. Now we drop both knees up. Feet come together and then we let the legs again fall out to the side, opening up from those hips, feeling the great inner thigh stretch. And then we squeeze the thighs back together like a little butterfly. We open and close. Again, you're only opening your hips to a spot that's comfortable for you. Three more times. We open and close, open and close. Last time. Knees are back up top this time. Take your feet a little bit wider and then we're going to drop the knees to the side. Again, keeping both sit bones on your mat or bed. Windshield wiper motion here, side to side. Beautiful stretch this time in the outside of the hip. And last time, we're going to find our way back to center. Tuck the feet in a little bit closer to your bottom. And then with our neck, we're simply going to look to the side through center and look to the other side. Gentle stretch on the neck through center, other side. And one more time. We come back to center, hands are at our sides, palms facing down. We're going to lift our hips into a glute bridge. So press your feet into the floor or mattress and lift your hips, relax your head, neck and shoulders. And then we come back down. Let's do that again. Push through the soles of your feet. Lift the hips. We'll squeeze on those glutes and back down. It's one of my favorite stretches here. Really opens up the hips and wakes up the back of the body. Lift and squeeze. Relax. Let's do one more. And then from here, we hug the knees in. Feel the stretch in the glutes. And again, relaxing that lower back. Maybe it feels good, a little rock and roll or side to side here. We're going to come to a seated position. So we're just going to let our knees fall to the side, whichever side you're most comfortable with. Roll onto your side and then gently push your way up. Now, if you are on a bed, you can have your legs hanging off, either dangling or feet on the floor. If you're on a mat, you can sit with your legs extended or crisscross. I'm kind of in between here. I'm going to go with crisscross for now. Again, do what's comfortable for you. And we sit nice and tall. Take the shoulders up and back. And the shoulder circles here. Two more. Right arm reaches up. Reach nice and high first. And then a slight side stretch. Just feeling it in the side of the body. And then while we're here, circle that wrist. And reverse. Keep reaching tall. Release the hand back down. Other side. We reach high first. And then a slight side lean. And circle that wrist four times to the outside. And reverse. Arms come down to the side. And extend it like a low V. Fingertips just stretching long. So we're kind of really reaching out with those fingertips touching. Just grazing the side of your bed or mat. And then from here, take the right ear towards the right shoulder. You should feel that stretch all the way down your neck, into your shoulder, and down your arm. Inhale here. Exhale. Return the head to center. Then other side. Left ear towards the left shoulder. Again, keep reaching away with those fingertips. Inhale. And exhale. And lift your neck again. Or head again. Drop the chin towards your chest. And then relax your arms down. From here, we'll do a small little half roll to one side. Just coming through center to the other side. Take a few half circles here. Making your head heavy. We'll get all those cricks and cracks out. Make your way back to center. And we lift the head again. Finally, give me a big inhale. Arms come up. Palms towards me. We bend the elbows and cactus the elbows down. Pressing down and back. Again, inhale up. Exhale. Squeeze the shoulder blades together. Nice wide arms here. Great exercise to set our posture for the day. Lengthen your spine. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale. And exhale. Release the arms down. And you are ready to get on with your day. As always, thanks for working out with me. Allow me to tell you a little bit about this brilliant piece of equipment, the Physioboard. Many exercises are just better lying down. I know I have many viewers who are not comfortable doing mat workouts. Physioboard is a perfect solution for when you can't get down on the floor to exercise. It can be used on top of any mattress. The board is easy to handle and has a firm bottom layer and a soft top layer, providing the perfect cushion for your joints. I personally love the removable and washable top layer and the fact that it's made in the USA. With Physioboard, you can be comfortable and confident doing your exercises with proper support and alignment. It's both light and sturdy. Senior Sheep viewers receive $50 off. You can find the link to order in the pinned comment below or in the description box. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Your body will thank you.