Whether a yoga class produces students dripping with sweat, hazy with bliss, or both, feeling peppy is not generally what’s associated with the end of a flow. But Y7 Studio founder Sarah Larson Levey, RYT, often loves to greet the day by specifically doing some yoga for energy.

“Sometimes when people think of energy, they get that visual of the Energizer Bunny and it’s like a jolt,” Levey says. “For me, that’s not really it. It’s this idea of I have the mental and physical capacity to do everything I want to accomplish that day. It’s a mindset, not necessarily a physical feeling.”

One way she gets into that mindset is a yoga flow that prioritizes energizing poses. Sometimes Levey does this with the 5 or 10 minutes of yoga she sneaks into the morning (in between taking care of her kids and being a CEO), or sometimes it’s the beginning of a longer class where she uses energizing poses to get into a groove.

“That first 10 minutes of movement in a yoga class is really waking up my body and setting the stage for what I want out of it, and there’s different poses for that,” Levey says. “Your inhales and your exhales fuel your body with oxygen, moving the CO2 out of your body, aiding in blood flow, which is going to help you feel energized.”

Doing yoga is a solid strategy for getting the day off to a good start, or giving you a boost when the mid-day sleepies hit. Research has shown that yoga (and meditation) can improve energy levels and brain function¹ following a session.

Levey says yoga for energy specifically should include poses where you open your chest, reach your arms up, and fire up your core. You’re creating length and embodying the act of growing as you send blood pumping throughout your body.

“Things where you’re a little bit more closed down—like a child’s pose [where] you’re facing the earth, a figure four on your back, things like that—more grounding poses, those are going to be a little bit more relaxing,” Levey says. “But anything where you’re really open and looking up and expanding your chest, that’s going to be where you’re getting your energizing poses from.”

“Anything where you’re really open and looking up and expanding your chest, that’s going to be where you’re getting your energizing poses from.”—Sarah Larson Levey

Creating balance in these opening standing poses is also key to getting energizing effects without feeling heady. To do that, you want to ground down with your feet at the same time that you’re reaching and looking skyward. Open-chest yoga poses specifically have been shown to increase energy² and even self-esteem.

“Any pose where you’re really growing and going up is going to be super energizing, and at the same time is going to ground you because your two feet are on the ground at all times,” Levey says. “You’re connected to the earth, you’re grounded, yet you’re going up. So it’s this really beautiful way of settling into the movement, but gaining energy from it.”

Setting an energizing tone

Don’t forget to set the mood and your intention, and give yourself what you need to get into the zone. Y7 is known for its dark, mirror-free candlelit classes to help students turn inward and connect with their bodies. For an energizing flow, Levey suggests thinking about what light will give you energy, whether that’s bright, dim, or dark, and even what scents you associate with energy—perhaps, citrus?!

Levey is also a fan of giving your body what it needs to get moving, whether that’s time, patience, a pep talk, or even a little help from coffee (Levey’s drink of choice is a Costa Coffee iced latte; she likes something lightly caffeinated to prevent the jitters).

“It’s about finding balance, and we all need a little bit of assistance sometimes,” Levey says.

Levey draws on the classic Sun Salutation A series for her favorite energizing poses—even though she has a “love/hate relationship” with chair pose.

“You’re going from a standing mountain to a forward fold, so you’re getting a lot of blood flowing,” Levey says. “I love a chair pose kind of early on in the morning to get that energy or whenever you need that little boost, because I think it forces you to really engage a ton of different muscles and you’re firing on your brain, your body.”

Getting your breath, blood, and brain firing is what it’s all about. So don’t let yoga’s zen rep fool you. Here’s an energizing yoga flow to give you a pick me up whenever you need it.

Yoga for energy from Y7

Pair each move in this modified Sun Salutation A, demonstrated by Casey Layne Anderson, Y7 Studio instructor, with your breath, executing one move per inhale and one move per exhale. Your breath sets the pace!

Mountain pose

1. 1.
   Begin in mountain pose, standing upright with your feet grounded down into the floor.
2. 2.
   Move into extended mountain pose, reaching up to the sky with your hands.
3. 3.
   Open your chest, tilt up your chin, and even lean back into a slight back bend.

Rag doll

1. 1.
   Swan dive forward so you’re hanging with your arms reaching toward the ground in a rag doll pose.
2. 2.
   Twist, shake, bend, get the lead out in that forward fold however you want to.
3. 3.
   In the forward fold, place one arm on the ground and reach the opposite arm up toward the sky as you look up in that direction. Repeat on the other side.

Chair pose

1. 1.
   Come into a halfway lift, with your hands on your legs and a flat back that should be just about parallel to the ground.
2. 2.
   From halfway lift, move into a chair pose, with your knees bent, bum sitting back, and chest and arms open and reaching up. “Your heart is open,” says Levey.
3. 3.
   Stand up into extended mountain pose.

Standing cat-cow

1. 1.
   Slide your hands open into cactus arms, opening your chest and letting your shoulder blades melt down your back. Move through standing cat-cows, arching and rounding your back and hugging and opening your arms. Do as many as feels good for your spine.
2. 2.
   Return to a forward fold.

Downward dog to vinyasa

1. 1.
   Move into a vinyasa: From a forward fold, plant your hands down, jump or step back into a plank, slowly lower down through chaturanga, open your chest up through upward facing dog, and shift back into a downward facing dog.
2. 2.
   Bring your hands to meet your feet or vice versa, roll up into standing, and repeat as necessary to feel that energy flow.