Good morning stretch and roll down by Angie Newson

 To wake up the spine in the mornings, when you jump out of bed each day take a ‘good morning stretch’.

Stand tall with your feet hip distance apart, spread the toes and ground your heels well. Stretch your arms out in front and interlace the hands and turn the palms away and extend your arms up so the palms are facing the sky, and your feet are rooting in to the earth. Have a little wiggle so you lift out of your waist and extend the side trunk.

Draw the shoulders away from your ears and breathe steadily and evenly right up into your armpits. If you can bring on a yawn – do so – feel the breath move in to the sides of the lungs.

Release the arms by the sides of the body and roll down by nodding your chin to your chest and rolling through the spine from the upper back, to the mid back and then the lower back so you are hanging over your legs like a rag doll hanging over the washing line!

Remember to keep the space around the neck, so draw your shoulder blades away from your ears. Take a deep inhale in to the back of the lungs and as you exhale, roll up by sending the tailbone down and keeping the abdominals in and up.

Sequentially stack the spine vertebra by vertebra. The head comes up last. Repeat the roll down twice more and then standing tall, extend the arms out in front and repeat the ‘good morning’ stretch. A few shoulder rolls now will bring a welcome release in the neck and shoulders – so place the hands on top of shoulders and circle the elbows backwards eight times and reverse the direction and circle eight times.

Repeat the roll down – five or six times at a speed that you feel comfortable with maintaining your focus on the articulation of the spine, the breath and the deepening in and lifting up of the abdominals.

If you feel very tight in the back, then as you roll down, just slide the hands down along the thighs and only go as far as comfortable.