Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Wake Up, Open Up, and Find Balance
Transcript
- James @ Daily Flow: Hello friends. Thanks for downloading the audio version of today's 10 minute mornings practice. The YouTube video is linked in the show notes. And if you're staying with just the audio, don't worry about doing it right. Just move and breathe in a way that feels honest. That's enough. a follow or review goes a long way. And of course, you're always welcome to practice live with me on YouTube, 8 a.m. weekdays. James: Before the coffee, the commute, the chaos, before you answer a single email, take ten minutes to arrive in your day on purpose. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow ten minute mornings practice. My name is James. And of course, practice all the way till the end because we'll draw a card together and set intention for our day. Come to sit on your mat. Cross-legged is fine. And as you sit up, peel the fleshy part of your glutes away from your sits bones and find your grounding. Placing your palms face down on your knees or thighs. Give your shoulders a nice shrug up and back and down. And as you gently press down into your palms, feel the lengthening of your waist. Trying to open up the low back a little bit here and a little tuck of the tailbone. Let the shoulders drop down so the neck becomes long and shake your head out a little bit. Deep inhale, feel the breath rising from your seat. Exhale, feel it travel the reverse direction. Inhale, continue that breathing, float the arms overhead. Exhale, ground the fingertips beside you. Again, inhale. Exhale like you're pushing the air down. Let that pushing down get you longer. One more time. Inhale. This time we'll add a twist. Twist to your left first so that the ⁓ right hand crosses over and look up back over your left shoulder. Wrap the right shoulder blade under. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, rise. This time take a little forward fold. Send your hands forward. Reach them forward, untenting the fingertips, and then also actively wrapping my tailbone down. Draw the shoulder blades together and use those fingertips to pull the floor towards you. Inhale. Exhale, fold a little more deeply. Inhale, rise up, float the arms. This time twist to your right. Left hand crosses over, right fingertips come behind. Inhale, get taller. Exhale, wrap that left shoulder blade under, look back over your right shoulder. Again, inhale. Exhale. Inhale, flip the arms. Exhale, send them forward. Get as long as you reach forward. And then drag the floor towards you. Lift your heart. Fold a little more deeply. Exhale. Inhale, rise up. Extend the left leg forward. And then fold forward over that left leg. Janyasharasana. Inhale. Exactly. Inhale, rise up. Take the right fingertips behind you, press down, lift the hips for stargazers pose. Open up the front body. And then lowering down, bring that ⁓ left foot in. Float the right arm up. Twist to your left. Inhale, get longer. Exhale, wrap that right shoulder blade under. Inhale, release the twist. Lean back for a little bit of a bow pose. And then come back to your cross leg. Tend the fingertips to the side you get nice and long. And exhale, extend the right leg forward. Inhale, float the arms. Exhale, fold forward over that right leg. Now, this side's feeling a little tighter on me this morning, so I'm not gonna worry about holding the foot or anything like that. Just gonna feel the sensation of the stretch without any strain. Inhaling. Exhaling and then coming up for star gazer. One of my favorites, left hand travels behind, root down in that left shin. Float the hips. Inhaling. Exhale, calm down. Step that right foot in and then send the left arm up. And wrap that left elbow around the left, the right knee. Inhale, get taller. Exhale, twist more deeply. Inhale, release. Exhale, lean back into your boat. nice and long, and then cross your shins, come all the way to all fours. Now if you have any back stuff going on, that on its own might be something good just to sort of rewind and repeat. Otherwise move into some cats and cows, kind of waking up the spine. Recognizing the difference between a little bit of tightness and real pain. A little bit of tightness we work out with movement. Any pain, to give it some space and some time. And then once you've done a couple of rounds of cat and cow, no particular quantity. Just feeling your body move. Step back to a downward-facing dog. So plank and then hips nice and high to sky. I'm going to keep a nice bend in my knees here and focus on lengthening through my waist. Lengthening is a big part of the practice this morning. Inhale. Exhale. Step the right foot all the way forward. If it didn't make it, then noodle it up. Lower the left knee down, untuck the left toes, come to your crescent lunge. Interlacing fingers on top of the right thigh, wrap the shoulder blades under, lift the heart. Peel the belly up and away from the thigh. Sink the hips. Maybe float the arms. Inhaling. Exhale, bring the hands to frame that right foot. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee, and then walk yourself to a wide-legged forward fold. Again, a little lifting of the arches of the feet, get the spine nice and long. Inhale. Exhale, bow. When you practice first thing in the morning, like this, inhale, lengthen. Exhale to bow. Root down, rise all the way up. When you practice first thing in the morning, You're really discovering how your body feels. Warrior two. Peaceful warrior. And then bring your hands down to frame that right foot. So let yourself discover it. And don't feel like you're obligated to make s any specific shape. Downward facing dog straight away. I'm not even gonna take a vinyasa, pedal out the heels, but bend the knees quite a lot. So you're opening into how everything feels, and allowing your body to tell you when it's a good time to stop, when it's ⁓ feels like a stretch and when it feels like a strain. And then step the left foot forward. Lower the right knee down, untuck the right toes, and then interlace fingers on top of that left thigh. Peel the belly away. Wrap the shoulder blades under, maybe float the arms. Inhaling. Exhale, hands come down to frame that right or left foot. Tuck the right toes and walk yourself to your wide-legged forward fold. Little lift in the arches of the feet. Inhale. I did not expect my right hamstring to feel as tight as it does, but it does. So I'm working with that, keeping my knees a little more bent, keeping my tailbone tucked. Inhale, lengthen the back. Exhale, bow deeply. Then root down, rise all the way up. And take your warrior two. Pivot that left foot. Bend the left knee. Inhale, flip the left palm, reach it up and back. Peaceful warrior. Exhale, cartwheel, hands down to frame the left foot. Step back downward dog. And then come to all fours. Release both knees onto the mat. Float the right arm to the ceiling. Thread the needle, take a twist. Rise back up, float that right arm. And then set the right hand down. Left arm high to sky. Thread the needle. So working our way up into the spine a little bit. Rit down in the right hand, float the left arm. Set the left hand down. Come back to your seat. Bring the soles of the feet together. Bakasana. Open up the feet like a book. Lift and lengthen your heart. And then pull forward. So we're getting into the outer thighs. I'm reaching my heart forward, wrapping my elbows back, and stopping where I stop. Some folks get their bodies pretty flat. Again, first thing in the morning, early days. Listen to your body, let it tell you where to stop. And then breathe into that sensation. Inhale. Exhale and then r ⁓ lean back, find your boat. Look up beyond your toes. Lengthen the spine. Cross your shins. Rock all the way forward. One more down dog. Up your feet nice and wide, come to a bit a bit of a malasana squat. Press down in the feet. This yogi squat is a really good sign of your internal strength. It's like a a bit of a test we can use to see how How our ankles are doing, how our spines are doing, how our hips are doing. If this feels very uncomfortable for being here for a little bit, just see if you can lengthen it every day. It's a nice thing to do. Sitting, watching television at night. Do a couple of malasadas, a couple yogi squats, and then go ahead and have a seat. As you come to your seat, let your eyes close. I already shuffled these cards with the intention that it offers some guidance to whoever might be watching. Interesting. in our card pull yesterday we got as our long-term goal, balance. Dedicate yourself to the spiritual and physical aspects of life. A lot of times we think of our yoga practice as being a physical ⁓ one. This certainly is these ten minutes that we spend every day. But ultimately, We are spiritual beings having a physical experience. And so, where can we find balance? I don't have an answer for that. But I bet you do. And as always, the light that is in me bows to honors and is so very grateful for the light, the balance that is in you. Namaste. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today, whenever you happen to stumble across. It means really more than you know. Please take a moment to like and share and subscribe, and of course, ⁓ leave comments and let me hear from you. I really do love it. Have a wonderful day. Namaste.