Ten minutes for the body to wake first

For mornings when the body hasn't started yet — right where you got up.

Some mornings the eyes open while the body stays turned toward the blanket. The alarm has done its part. Outside, it is already light. And still the shoulders are stiff and the back feels heavy.

On mornings like that, the day sets off before the body does. The mind is already counting the hours ahead while the body is still somewhere slower. Step out with that gap open and a faint sense of being out of step lingers all morning.

This routine exists only to narrow that gap. No workout clothes, no mat, nowhere to travel to. Ten minutes, right where you got up.

That is why it opens with a stretch and a glass of water. A long reach after a night spent curled up, and a glass of water handed to a body that has had none. Less a preparation than a greeting to the morning.

The two stretches that follow begin at the back and spread through the whole body. The stiffest place loosens first, and the rest is allowed to come along after.

The minute of running in place, set in the middle, is the only stretch of the ten that leaves you breathing hard. On days when a minute feels long, thirty seconds is plenty. A body reads differently each morning, and going along with that is easier.

The last part is breath. In for four, held for seven, out for eight, for three minutes. A place where a quickened heart settles, and a quiet moment before the day begins.

Ten minutes will not change a day. But this morning, at least, you can step out with the body already gently awake.

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