Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10-Minute Morning Yoga for Tight Shoulders, Hips & Neck
Transcript
- James @ Daily Flow: Thanks for practicing with Daily Flow 10 Minute Mornings. If this was helpful, 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. 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. James: Back, hips, neck, shoulders, hamstrings, glutes, whatever's ailing ya, take ten minutes and I bet we can give it a little relief. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. And of course, be sure to practice till the end. We'll pull a card, set some intention for the day, and be sure to hit like and subscribe on your way out. That's the admin part of this practice. Come to stand at the top of your mat. Step your feet firmly together. Feel the floor. And as you gently pull the mat apart with your feet, feel that engage through your quadriceps just a little bit and a little lift up through the pelvic floor. That tilt of the pelvis of the tailbone tilts down the front of the pelvis tilts up just a little bit. Wrap those shoulder blades together. Open up your arms. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, float the arms overhead. Exhale, bring your hands to heart center. Reverse that. Take your prayer hands overhead. Follow with your eyes. Look up. Inhale. Exhale, sweep your arms wide. Now, if you're feeling really tight, you may not be able to take your hands in prayer overhead, and that's okay. They can separate if they need to. Inhale, float the arms. Look up, reach up. Exhale, prayer to heart. Inhale, float the arms. This time as you exhale, swim them behind your back. Interlace your fingers, press those knuckles down and away. Again, engage through your feet so it's easy to sort of forget about that grounding. Wrap the shoulder blades under, lift your heart, and then wrap your interlaced fingers around to your right. Wrap that right elbow back and then tilt your head to the left. Swim those knuckles down, take them to the other side. Wrap the left elbow down, head falls to the right. Look up, breathe, kind of find where the stretch is. Then take those interlaced fingers straight down again. Start to pull your heart forward, bend your knees, and then feel like the heart is pulling forward and the knuckles are pulling back. And then slowly with knees bed, start to let those knuckles scrape the ceiling. Depending on how your shoulders feel, they'll s they may stop somewhere different than mine, maybe further. But the goal, the mental image I should say, is that they're reaching for the front wall or whatever is in front of you. The couch, I guess. Inhale. Exhale. And then release those hands. Just let them flop down. Little ragdoll. Shake out. Then roll yourself up to stand, stack one vertebrae at a time. Let's move on. Inhale, flip the arms. Exhale, interlace behind your back. Maybe put the other thumb on top. Press the knuckles away. Lift your chest. Inhale. Exhale, bow forward with soft knees. Keep that little tailbone tuck if you can. Now let's sit into chair with those interlaced fingers. Peel the belly up and away. Heart still pulling forward, tucking that tailbone under. Inhale. Exhale, release the interlace fingers and fold forward. Find a long spine. Step the left foot back. Lower the left knee down and untuck the left toes. Press down to the top of the left foot. Just pick up the left knee for a moment and set it down softly. Maybe on a towel if it still bothers you. Interlace fingers on top of the right thigh. Wrap the shoulder blades under. Right heel kicks the floor forward and away. Look up. Exhale. Take another inhale. And as you exhale, bring your hands down to frame that right foot. Tuck the left toes and lift the left knee. Step back to plank. Inhaling. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Cobra pose. Inhale. Down dog. Exhale. Pausing here, wrapping those elbows under, energizing the finger pads. Forward on an inhale. Step the right foot forward. Step the left foot to meet. Exhale, bow. Inhale, press down, rise all the way up. Exhale, interlace fingers low behind you. Inhale, press those knuckles away. Lift your heart. Exhale, bow forward with soft knees. Keep the fingers interlaced. Sit into your chair. Huck that tailbone. Inhale. Exhale. Release the hands and bow. Find your flat back. Step the right foot back. Lower the right knee down. Again, press into the top of the right foot. Pick it up and lower it softly. That energy in the right foot. Actually feel that work. So if you just feel like it's kind of hanging out, see if you can bring some intention there. Left heel pushing the floor forward and away. Peel the belly up. Lean back. Exhale. One more inhale. And then bring those hands to frame the left foot. Tuck the right toe, step back to your plank. Inhale here. Exhale, lower knees, chest and chin. Cobra pose. Facing dog. Paddle out your heels, shake out your head, see how things feel. Keep just checking in with yourself. That's really what this practice is for. That's what all of these practices are for. That is what the practice is for. Step your left foot forward. Step your right foot to meet. And bow. Press down through the feet. Rise up. Inhale. Exhale. Mountain pose. Let's start flowing a little bit more. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, interlace fingers low behind you. Inhale, lift the chest. Exhale, take that bow, soft knees. Inhale, sit into your chair. Tuck the tailbone, firm the feet. Exhale, release the hands, fold forward. Inhale, long spine. Step the left foot back, lower the left knee down. Float the arms, maybe this time, or back to the thigh. Inhaling. Exhale, hands come down. This time tuck the left toes, down dog, split the right leg. It's early days, so don't feel like it has to be super high, whatever that means. Just so you feel some sense of stretch and energy of that right heel pressing back. Inhale, exhale, step the right foot outside the right hand. Pull your heart forward, lengthen, and then walk yourself to that wide-legged forward fold. Long spine inhale. Exhale, bow. Hands to your waist. Wrap your elbows back, rise with a flat back. Pivot the right foot. Warrior two. The shoulders. Make sure your shoulders and hips are stacked. You're not reaching forward or back. It's an even energy. And everything wants to find the pinky edges of the feet. Inhale, straighten the right leg. Triangle pose on an exhale. Feeling a nice little stretch in the right inner thigh. Maybe look up. Inhaling. Exhale, warrior two. Pause for your inhale. Exhale, hands cartwheel to frame the right foot. Step it back on an inhale. Take a vinyasa if you'd like. Mm. Step the right foot forward, step the left foot to meet. Bow. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, fold. Press down, rise all the way up. Inhale. And then straight away interlace your fingers low behind your back as you exhale. Open the heart. Fold forward with soft knees. Sit into your chair, tuck the tailbone, lift the chest. Release and bow. Long spine. Right foot steps back. Right knee lowers down. Untuck those toes. Float the arms. Or not. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come to frame the left foot. Tuck the right toes. Lift that up. Then down dog split the left leg. Internal rotation of the left thigh. Left heel feels engaged. So does the right leg for that matter. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot outside the left hand, pause here in your lizard, pull the heart forward, and then walk yourself to your wide-legged forward fold. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, bow. Hands to the waist, elbows back, rise up. Pivot that left foot, warrior two. Fingertips, pinky edges of feet. Opposite order, actually. Start with the feet. Then worry about the hands. Take a breath. And straighten the left leg. Find your triangle. Keep that left thigh spiraling out. Look up at your right hand. Exhale, warrior two. Take a breath and then cartwheel hands down. Follow your breath back to down, dog. Maybe it's a duranga. Maybe not. Your choice. Take a breath here. And then step the left foot. Step the right foot. Bow deeply. Root down, rise up. Mountain pose. You might stay here and close your eyes, or you might come to sit for a closing moment. What is a little bit of inspiration we can find? I think there's something a little mystical about Oracle cards like these, but mostly I think it's a way to find inspiration that is in some ways guided and in some ways. We can find inspiration anyway. So when you find something unexpected, a little surprise, and you have to think about it, I think that can be meaningful. ⁓ Well, the seed is lotus, or the pose is lotus. And the car says, now. This moment is an opportunity to experience yoga. Now. This moment is an opportunity. To experience yoga. I'm coming closer. Nothing else exists. Nothing else exists except for right now, except for this breath. And as much as we like to plan, as much as we like to worry, we don't think we like to, but we must like to, because we do it a lot. All of those things take us out of this moment. Because somehow we've decided that those future moments are real, that our past mistakes, past triumphs, past traumas are real. There's way to prove that they happened. They have made you now. They have led you to this moment. And they are leading you to the next. So maybe take a moment today, a pause, take a breath, and feel yourself here now. Let me know how it goes. The light that is in me bows to honors and is extremely grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for spending this bit of time with me. I hope you've enjoyed it. Please take a moment to like and share and subscribe and leave comments and hit alarm bells and do all of those things. I really do love hearing from you. Have a great day. Namaste.