15-Minute Morning Slow Flow Yoga to Start Your Day

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This practice isn’t focused on building strength or taking you into challenging shapes. Instead, it’s meant to be a feel-good, slow-flow practice to help you ease you into your day. You’re not moving quickly but you’re also not staying still for long in this slow yet fluid practice.

The slow flow focuses primarily on flexibility and includes a lot of circular and undulating movements, such as making circles in Cat-Cow, flowing between Child’s Pose and Cobra, even adding some sweeping arm circles to Warrior 1. You’re moving like honey, meaning you’re almost feeling resistance against the motion as you slow everything down and feel into where you might be holding tightness or tension before you begin your day.

15-Minute Morning Slow Flow Yoga

This practice is designed for anyone who has some experience with yoga and wants permission not to go full out.

Cat-Cow-Child’s Pose

Begin on your hands and knees, hands underneath your shoulders and knees underneath your hips. Start with the traditional Cat and Cow in which you inhale as you lower your belly and lift your gaze and tailbone. Then exhale as you round your back and contract, chin to chest. Take a few rounds like this, connecting your body to your breath.

Walk your hands a couple inches past your shoulders. Exhale as you push back into Child’s Pose, then inhale into Cow Pose, and then rock it back to Cat before sinking all the way back into Child’s Pose. So arch your back and then round your back before you push your hips back toward your heels. Take a few more like this.

Cobra Pose-Child’s Pose

Come back to neutral. Sink your hips and lift your chest in Cobra Pose, taking a little backbend and opening through your chest.

Then bend your elbows as you flow back into your Child’s Pose. Inhale into Cobra and exhale, push back into Child’s Pose. Take 2 more rounds.

Downward-Facing Dog

Come back to neutral, tuck your toes, and lift your hips up and back to Downward-Facing Dog.  You’re going to undulate even through your Downward Dog.

Lift your heels and ripple forward, almost like you’re coming into Plank Pose.

Then bend your knees and send your hips up and back as you find Downward Dog. So you’re shifting forward and back, rippling like a wave, as you push into your fingertips and knuckles. Take a few more, stretching through every little part of your body, getting all of your muscles engaged in this action. Take one more inhalation and exhalation. Now find a little stillness in your Downward Dog as you stretch.

Warrior 1

Lift your right leg toward the sky, bend your right knee, and open your hip. Then step forward, plant your right foot, and spin your back heel at an angle in Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1). Have your feet at least hip-width distance apart. This will help a lot with your balance.

Lean forward as you sweep your arms forward. Inhale as you pull yourself all the way up and then exhale as you circle your arms back and down. So a big backbend to stretch through your chest and arms while staying stable through your legs. Do this a few more times. Sweep your arms forward all the way up and then all the way back. Keep pushing into your back heel.

Warrior 3

Bring your hands to your heart, shift into your right foot, and bring your left knee toward your chest. Find your balance here.

As you squeeze your knee in toward your chest, flow from here into Warrior 3 by leaning forward and reaching your arms back. You don’t need to go super far into Warrior 3. Then inhale and float back to standing with your knee toward your chest. Exhale and flow back into Warrior 3. Two more like this.

Snake pose

Step your left foot back so your toes are on the mat in High Lunge. Circle your hands to the mat and frame your front foot. Take a little flow here by stepping back into Plank Pose and then exhale as you lower yourself all the way onto your belly. Point your toes. Bring your hands to the top corners of the mat and press into your fingertips as you inhale and lift your chest off the mat in Cobra.

Then exhale as you lower back down. Let’s do this 3 times.

Half Camel Pose

Press your hips back toward your heels so you’re sitting and then come to kneeling. Bring your left hand behind you so your fingertips are on the mat and reach your right arm overhead as you lift your hips up and forward. Then do the same thing on the other side, sweeping your right hand down, left arm up and back. It’s almost like Camel Pose but with a side bend. Repeat a few times.

Release your hands to the mat and bring your hips into Downward-Facing Dog. And we’ll repeat these poses on the second side.

Pigeon Pose

Stretch and extend your right leg toward the sky once more, bend your right knee, open your hip, and bring your right knee somewhere behind your right wrist, stretching your back leg out a little. Inhale and find a little backbend, actively pushing against the floor with your fingertips.

Exhale and lean forward toward the mat and then ripple it back up and release it back down 2 more times before you hold the forward fold. Maybe you stay on your forearms or you can come all the way down, resting your forehead on the mat or the backs of your hands. Take at least 5 slow breaths here. Let gravity pull you into the pose with minimal effort on your part.

Make your way back to Downward-Facing Dog and do any little movements along the way that feel good to release your right hip. Take a moment to really stretch it out. Then do Pigeon Pose on the second side.

Downward-Facing Dog

Come back into your last Downward Dog and stretch it out. Walk your hands toward your feet, take your time to get there, and stretch however feels good to you.

Seated Twist

Sit in any way that works for your hips and lower back. As you inhale, circle your arms all the way up. As you exhale, bring them back down. Do that twice more. Inhale as you really lift and lengthen through your spine, exhale as you ground down a little more.

Then inhale as you lift up and exhale as you bring your left hand to your right knee and turn your chest toward the right, drawing the lower belly in and up.

Keep your hand on your knee as you face forward. Reach your right arm overhead and lean into a side body stretch to the left. Come all the way back up and release. Switch sides.

Seated Meditation

Come back through to center, close your eyes, and feel the effects of your practice,

maybe setting an intention for the day ahead by choosing one word that captures how you want to feel today or how you feel right now from this practice.

Thank you for doing the slow flow morning yoga practice with me. I hope you feel good in your body.