Breath of Water: A 20 Minute Morning Yoga Flow with Cheralee Jones

🌅 Sunrise Grounding & Breath Awareness

Seated Meditation

• Close eyes, relax jaw, tongue, and face.
• Deepen breath from pelvis to ribs to chest, exhaling from top to bottom.
• Visualize breathing with the ocean: inhale = wave rising, exhale = wave falling.
• Imagine the light of sunrise within, connecting to the radiance of your heart.
• Gayatri Mantra (Call & Response)

Neck & Shoulder Warm-Up

Neck Rolls

• Inhale: right ear to shoulder → exhale: chin to chest → inhale: left ear to shoulder.
• Optional: full circles, both directions.

Seated Side Stretch

• Interlace fingers, palms to sky.
• Inhale: lift ribs → exhale: lean to the side (right then left).

Wrist Circles & Twists

• Circle wrists both directions.
• Seated Twist: right hand behind, left hand on right knee → switch sides.

 Tabletop Flow

Cat-Cow + Hip Circles

• Ground hands and feet, circle torso like moving through water.
• Engage core, tune into hands and feet.

Down Dog & Flow

Downward Facing Dog

• Bend knees to lift sitting bones.
• Pedal feet, stretch calves, hamstrings.

Wave Flow (Plank to Down Dog)

• Inhale: roll to plank → exhale: bend knees, lift hips → repeat 3–4x.
• Optional: engage mula bandha (lift pelvic floor).

Standing Flow

Forward Fold to Mountain Pose (3x)

• Inhale: halfway lift → exhale: fold → inhale: rise → exhale: hands to heart.

Low Lunge to Pyramid Pose

• Step right foot forward, rise to Anjaneyasana.
• Arm circles + Cactus arms + Heart opener.
• Straighten front leg, fold into pyramid pose.
• Repeat on Left Side

Standing Balance Sequence

Eagle Pose

• Right leg over left, right arm under left → switch sides.

Eagle-Armed Warrior 3

• From Eagle, tip forward into Warrior 3.
• Pulse in and out of a tight ball and extended form.

Standing Twist & Toe Hold

• Hold knee or toe, twist open to side.
• Return to center, then opposite arm reaches back in standing twist.

Core & Floor Work

Shake & Bounce

• Shake out everything — hands, hips, shoulders, jaw.

Seated Roll Down

• Feet hip-width → arms forward → slowly roll down to floor.

Legs Up the Wall / Waterfall Pose

• Use wall, block, or support → relax legs up.

Heart Openers

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

• Heels under knees → lift hips → interlace hands or support sacrum.

Fish Pose (Matsyasana)

• Legs long, hands under hips → lift chest → crown touches floor.

Lion’s Breath x3

• Inhale through nose → exhale tongue out, eyes crossed.

Closing

Savasana

• Palms up, total surrender.
• Guided visualization: crystalline waters, light within.

Final Seat

• Come to seated → Gayatri mantra call & response.
• Hands to heart → bow to the light within.

The first light of day touches the clouds—peach, lavender, gold. A breath is taken. The body listens.

This practice began not on the mat, but in the witnessing: trees surrounding the land like silent guardians, the sky shifting in color, and the reminder that our outer world can awaken our inner one. “Invite the beauty of the sunrise inside of you,” the teacher said, and so we did.

Breath as a Wave

Breath became the foundation. Inhalations traveled from the base of the belly up through the ribs into the heart. Exhalations descended from crown to root. We matched our rhythm to the ocean, rising and falling like waves.

“Let it soften. Let it expand. Let it remember.”

Water in Motion

From seated stillness, we flowed into gentle neck rolls and spinal circles. We visualized rainbows—spectrums of color ignited by light touching water—moving through spine, throat, and heart. Each inhale lifted us. Each exhale released.

Elemental Embodiment

Asanas became water in form. Downward Dog like waves, Chaturanga the deep riverbed, Backbends cascaded open like waterfalls. We moved not with effort, but with effortless effort, guided by breath and presence.

Mula Bandha grounded us. Ujjayi breath lit the fire. We embodied mountain steadiness and oceanic fluidity.

Sacred Grounding

Balance postures like Eagle Pose and Warrior II reminded us to root and rise. Wings sprouted from the back of the heart. Balance became spiritual, not just physical.

We shook off what no longer served us—shaking, bouncing, and releasing like waterfalls clearing stone. Lymph moved. Energy cleared. Joy returned.

Surrender as Power

“Feel the power in letting go. Water is not weak. It carves mountains.”

We rested in Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-the-Wall), imagining waterfalls within. Then Bridge Pose, Fish Pose, and finally, silence.

Returning with Light

We closed with the sacred sound of the Gayatri Mantra. Our voices became vessels. Our breath—waves of remembrance.

We left changed. Not because we stretched, but because we remembered:

• Breath is sacred.
• Water remembers.
• We are light touching water.