START YOUR DAY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED: 3 MORNING STRETCHES I DO AS MY FEET HIT THE FLOOR

28 September by Alessa Caridi

My college roommate would make fun of the way I took my first few steps out of our dorm room each morning. Being a dance major, I began to realize the wear and tear my craft was having on my body. (And I was only 19 at the time!) I knew I needed to bring more focus to what my body needed in my everyday functions, not just when I was in dance classes. Stretching was the natural beginning to every class I took, so why didn’t I think of morning stretches as the natural way to start my day?!

My 3 morning stretches:

Once I began adding these three, one minute-long stretches I felt more aware, physically even and long, and my roommate stopped with the silly remarks because my weird 1st steps were gone!

Give these morning stretches a try. Your Body with thank you.

The 1st Stretch: The Roll Down 

My feet hit the floor and I do a sitting roll down: this is great to elongate the spine without putting immediate stress on the hamstrings (hamstring stretch comes later). While resting my torso on my quads i shake my head, “yes ” and “no”.

The 2nd Stretch: The Hamstring Stretch 

Sitting hamstring stretch: both feet on the floor, extend one leg long and hinge forward from the waist. Make sure to do both legs and play around with pointing and flexing feet. I love this because you can warm up your legs without needing to worry about early morning balancing.

The 3rd Stretch: The Full Arm Roll 

Full arm rolls: as a side-sleeper I tend to use my arm for support and most morning my shoulders need a good wake up call and this does the trick.

Now I will leave you with this: