Fitness Fitness Tips Good Moves

Move Through This 30-Minute Energizing Yoga Flow To Stretch Out Every Cramped Muscle in Your Body

Rachel Lapidos

May 8, 2020

Hustle culture has us working harder and longer—and it’s taking a toll on our health. But research shows that even short breaks during the day can spell big health benefits. So go ahead and give yourself a break (literally); Wellness Recess will provide you with the inspo you need to add more balance— and fun—to your day. See More

Days spent cramped inside due to the COVID-19 quarantine can leave one's body feeling cramped, crunched, and creaky. One of the most lovely antidotes to combat this? Waking up with an energizing yoga flow that stretches those contracted muscles out long and wide.

To tackle the job, the co-founders of New York City's Sky Ting yoga studio put together a 30-minute yoga workout for Well+Good's Good Moves video series that's gentle, but gets your blood flowing when you roll out of bed and onto your mat. "This is a short, 30-minute energizing yoga sequence that you can do every morning to start your day," says Krissy Jones, one of the studio's co-founders. "Hopefully it'll leave you feeling a bit more charged up and energized."

If you've always considered yoga to be a snoozy-type of workout, know that some types of flow can be more upbeat rather than restorative (like this one). Sun salutations, for example, are literally meant for you to greet the sun, and they count as cardio if you flow through them swiftly enough. Inversions, like downward-facing dog, also send a rush of blood to your brain as an instant pep-up, while backbends quash that stiffness that you may feel when you get up in the morning.

Besides the energizing components of the yoga flow, you'll also be working through yoga poses that double as strength training. Moves like chair pose, frog squat, and warrior one burn out your leg and glute muscles, and a plank—which you'll get into several times throughout the practice—is, of course, a staple core strengthener. Put it all together in one yoga flow, as is the case with this Sky Ting workout, and you've got a combination for a more easiness in your body that helps you feel ready to tackle your day. Grab your mat (that's all you'll need!), and prepare to feel much more limber and way less crunched by starting your morning with this yoga flow. Hit the video above to get moving, and don't be surprised if you feel so energized that you skip your a.m. cup of Joe afterwards.