One of the myths which are believed by a lot of people in the world of fitness is that you must have an hour long yoga practice, otherwise it won't be effective. When you are trying to create a habit and also trying to get the best out of that habit, consistency matters way more than the duration.
Spending 10-15 minutes on your mat every day with total regularity is extremely more effective than doing a grueling, tiring session of 90 minutes two times a week. When you practice short yoga sessions on a daily basis, it will help you in achieving muscle memory, gently help in gaining back the lubrication in your joints, and break up the rigid stiffness of your hours long sitting.
This 15 minute morning routine is designed to make you energetic and feel the aliveness in your whole body, improve your blood circulation and bring the centeredness, calmness to the mind without causing any joint strain or reaching the extreme level of physical exhaustion.
1. Child’s Pose (also called Balasana) — 2 Minutes
This pose will help you gently transition from sleep to an activated state. Because it will help you in giving you a good stretch in the hips, thighs and ankles while keeping your nervous system calm.
How to do it: Start with kneeling on the floor, then touches your big toes together, and sit on your heels. After being comfortably sitting on your heels, separate your knees about hip width apart. Once you have done the previously mentioned things, you lay your torso between both of your thighs and let your forehead rest on the mat, keeping your arms extended forward.
The Potential Mistake: When you force your head to the floor by lifting your hips off from your heels or straining your neck.
The Damage: By forcing your head down, your neck muscles begin to strain, that also compresses your upper back and restricts the flow of deep diaphragmatic breathing.
How to Fix It: If your hips are moving upwards when you are trying to touch your forehead on the floor while performing child pose, consciously try to keep your hips resting on your heels and don't try to touch the forehead on the ground, instead use a yoga block or a folded blanket underneath and keep your forehead on rest on that.
2. Cat-Cow Stretch (also called Marjaryasana-Bitilasana) 3 Minutes
When you wake up in the morning and experience the morning stiffness, this wonderful movement will help you in releasing that stiffness and give your spine a great warm up.
How to do it: Begin with putting your hands and knees in a tabletop position. After taking that position, inhale and drop your belly towards the mat and lift your chest and gaze, that's called Cow. And the next part of the movement called Cat exhales as you draw your belly up while rounding your back and tucking your chin.
The Potential Mistake: Moving too fast and unsynchronized with breath or aggressively cranking your head up while doing the Cow pose.
The Damage: When you arch your back in too much, it will cause pinching in your cervical spine and cause sudden, painful spasms in your lower back as well.
How to Fix It: Start the movement gently and slowly, feel the breathing as well, let this movement happen like a wave through your spine bone by bone. And keep your neck soft during the Cow by looking slightly down and forward rather than looking straight upwards.
3. Downward Dog Pose (also known as Adho Mukha Svanasana) — 3 Minutes
This is an ultimate pose for full body stretching. It helps you in strengthening your arms and shoulders while also making your hamstrings and spine elongated.
How to do it: First get into the tabletop position and then tuck your toes, after that lift your knees off the floor, and push your hips upwards and backwards, to make a shape of inverted “V”.
The Potential Mistake: You may straighten your legs and touch the heels of the floor by making your back rounded.
The Damage: When you make that mistake of rounding your spine it overstretches your hamstrings and makes you have strains in the lower back, and also puts too much unbalanced weight on your wrists.
How to Fix It: Keep your knees a little bent and then consciously lift your sit bones high. Your focus must be on creating a perfect straight and long line from your wrists to your hips. Remember this, you should only straighten your legs if you can maintain a neutral straight spine, otherwise don't do it.
4. Low Lunge (also called Anjaneyasana) — 4 Minutes (2 mins per side)
This is the absolute best yoga pose for those who do sitting jobs, it will help in giving a great stretch to the hip flexors, groin and quads while helping you build great leg stability.
How to do it: From the position of downward dog, step your right foot in front of you and place it between your hands. After that, bring your left knee close to the floor by lowering it. Then sweep your arms over your head, while keeping your hips sinking in the forward direction and also down.
The Potential Mistake: Allowing your front knee to go past your ankle.
The Damage: When you let your front knee shoot way past the ankle, it will put you in a position where you will feel a lot of pressure on the knee joint and also provides a lot of strain on the patellar tendon.
How to Fix It: Make sure to keep a perfect 90 degrees angle in between your front knee and ankle, all the joints must be stacked together in that position.
If you are feeling uncomfortable in keeping your back knee on the hard floor, we recommend that you keep a folded blanket so that you feel comfortable in placing your knee on the softness of your blanket.
5. Seated Spinal Twist (also called Ardha Matsyendrasana) 3 Minutes (1.5 mins per side)
This is a pose which can help you in reviving your decompressed spinal discs, helps you digestion and also releases the tension in the hips and shoulders.
How to do it: Sit by keeping your legs fully extended, then you bend your right knee and gently put your right foot on the outside of your left thigh.
After that, hug your right knee with your left arm, and then put your right hand on the floor behind you, and then consciously and carefully twist towards the right side.
The Potential Mistake: It may happen that you slouch and round your spine while doing the twisting motion.
The Damage: This can lead to many issues like compression of discs in the spine, limit lung capacity and cause pinching in the delicate nerves of the spine.
How to Fix It: Inhale and make yourself sit up as tall as you can, making your spine elongated towards the ceiling. And remember to twist only when you are exhaling, while keeping your collar bones wide and both of your sit bones firmly placed on the mat.
The 15-Minute Flow Checklist
To keep your morning yoga flow both safe and beneficial, remember this checklist:
? Pacing: Am I letting the movements happen in a coordinated way with the breath or am I rushing and forcing through it?
? Modifications: Am i keeping my knees rightly bent so that my lower back is fully protected?
? Props: Do I have a block or blanket near me so that I can take the support of these, when I need it?
? Breath: Am I breathing in a smooth and steady manner?
A Note on Structural Safety & Medical Caution
A morning flow is supposed to make your body wake you gently and not push you to the very physical limits. Because when you wake up, your muscles, joints etc are naturally stiff, so you must never push too hard and always be extra gentle with the movements.
Always remember that you must immediately stop, no matter what movement you are performing, when you experience some sort of pain, numbness, dizziness or any other kind of discomfort and never start any new exercise routine without consulting with your doctor or physiotherapist. Keep your safety and joint health as number one priority!