Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Open Your Shoulders & Find Your Balance | Morning Yoga + Meaningful Intention
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. James: The day is gonna start. Wouldn't you like to be there for it? Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. Be sure to practice till the end. We'll pull a card, we'll set some intention for the day, and of course, like, subscribe, leave comments, and all those good things so we can help our community grow together. Come to your back. Plant your feet so that your ankles are roughly under your knees and then wrap your shoulder blades under heels of the palms right into the hip creases. Finding a gentle pressing forward using that traction to get some length into the low back. We'll do some bigger moving, we'll do some bigger flowing. And we start with spinal warm-up. No matter. You need that. And then go and release that. Ground down on your heels and curl your spine off the mat. So really see if you can peel up one vertebra at a time. Takes a lot of concentration. And it's not particularly easy, especially if you just woke up and like me, you have some sticky spots. Grounding down in the heels, interlace your fingers, then really walk your shoulder blades together, shift from side to side. Energize those knuckles, firm the heels, find a little bit of softness in the glutes. They'll still engage some, and that's okay. But if you relax them a little bit, it lets the legs, do a little more work, and it's a nicer stretch through the chest. Inhale. Exhale, lower down. See if you can find that one vertebrae at a time coming down. really thinking about imagining each vertebrae as like a little cog in a gear. Felt really good. And then cocoon your knees to your forehead and your forehead to your knees. Round your spine deeply. So this is essentially like a cat pose. And exhale here. And then lower the hip, lower the feet rather, lower the head, lift the hips this time, flowing a little bit more. Inhale for your bridge. Exhale, lower down. Try to articulate, but use the breath. Move with the breath. And then inhale, cocoon the knees in. Exhale, engage the abdominals round deeply. Inhale, lower. Exhale, lift up. Pause for the inhale, open the chest. Exhale, roll back down. Inhale the knees in. Exhale really round. This time stay here and just rock yourself up all the way to sit. Plant your feet flat again. Now your hands under your shoulders. Press down and lift the hips up for a reverse table. You can keep that chin tucked or let the head fall back. Your neck will tell you what to do. But it's a nice shoulder stretch and also a little bit of a back bend. Inhale. As you exhale, lower your hips back between your hands and then cross your shins and come to all fours. Step back to your plank position, wrap those elbows under, look forward, inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Cobra pose, press down the belly, pull the heart forward, and then tuck the toes for your downward-facing dog. Take your dog for a little walk, pedal out your heels, shake out your head. Feel those elbows wrapping under, lengthening the waist of one image that one of my teachers uses is that someone's holding the belt loop of your jeans and pulling up. Inhale. Exhale and then walk your feet forward to your hands. Separate your feet, I don't know, a little wider than your hips, hold opposite elbows, sway out side to side. The head is nice and heavy. Breathe. And then release the elbows. Roll yourself to stand again. Really think about stacking each vertebra one at a time. Step your feet together. Mountain pose. Shoulders get a nice shrug up and back and down. Interlace your fingers behind you. Press those knuckles down and then see if you can energize the legs, squeeze the thighs a little bit, and lift up the elbows. That little squeezing of the thighs just helps keep the pelvis in line and then wrap those interlaced fingers around to the left side and wrap that left elbow back. Drop your head to the left. So by doing this, you'll feel a stretch to the right side of your neck and through the right shoulder, and you can kind of roll around here a little bit. Maybe even go through the other side, a little less intense on this side, for me at least. And stand up, interlace the fingers the other way. So I'm switching, put the other thumb on top, press down, lift up. Wrap around to the right. Chicken wing that right arm back. Let your head fall to the right, which will be more intense on the left side. Looking up, looking down, rolling around and through center other way. Finally stand up tall as you fold forward. Keep those fingers interlaced. Bend your knees a lot, folding forward, ground of head towards the mat. Exhale. Inhale, look forward. Find a nice long spine and then come up onto the balls of your feet if you can, like divers pose. Release the hands, sit into a chair pose. Inhale. Exhale, fold forward. Plant your palms, look forward as you inhale, step back and lower halfway, chaturanga, half push-up. Upward facing dog. Roll over your toes, open your chest, and downward facing dog. Let's take a couple of breaths here. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Lift your right leg high to sky. Down dog split. Inhale. Exhale, step the right foot between the hands. Take the right arm to the thigh or to the ceiling, low revolve, lunge. Inhale here. Exhale, bring the hand down and then walk along the left edge of the mat. Wide legged forward, fold. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, bow. Press down, rise all the way up. Maybe catch the waist and then pivot the right foot forward. Let's take that triangle pose. Look up at the left thumb, inhale, exhale, warrior two. Peaceful warrior, flip the right palm. And then I'm going to come into extended side angle with my right hand at my right ankle, my left arm reaching forward. I'm pressing my right elbow into my right inner thigh and trying to look up underneath my left arm. Look at your right foot. Maybe left hand to waist is a little easier. Step the left foot all the way forward. Feet parallel. Shift down into the left foot. Carry the right foot up for tree. Now my right hand is on my right ankle, but I'm not really pulling that much with the right arm. The right leg is doing a lot of the work. And as you plant your tree pose, you can grow branches or keep your hands in prayer. Inhale. Exhale, interlace your fingers behind your back. Float the right knee. And then warrior three with those fingers interlaced. Look forward, pull the heart forward, internal rotation of the thighs. Inhale. Exhale, sit into your chair, release the hands, float the arms. Fold forward. Inhale, look forward, and then step the feet back. Come to your plank, lower halfway. Upward facing dog. Downward facing dog. Down dog, split the left leg, inhale. Exhale, steps the left foot between the hands. Float the left arm up to the ceiling, low revolve, lunge. Look up. Inhale. Exhale, release the twist. Walk along the right edge of your mat. Find a flat back in wide-legged fold. Exhale. Head to the floor. Press down through those feet. Rise up. Maybe catch the waist. Pivot the left foot forward. Triangle pose. Look up at the right thumb. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Exhale, bring that left hand down to the left ankle or the calf. Right bicep by the right ear, right fingertips, reaching up. Nice long line of energy up the right side of your body. Look down. Step the right foot forward. I'm going to bring my right hand to my waist. Shift and just use the left hand to help support as you rise up for tree. But the main work, the main energy, of course, is in the legs. And then whatever you did on the other side, float arms, hands in prayer. The main event really is the foot pressing into the leg and the leg pressing back. Now interlace your fingers behind, weird thumb on top, the one that feels a little less natural. Float the left knee, warrior three. with interlaced fingers. Let them go if you need to. Take a breath. And then chair pose. Stand tall, mountain pose. How you doing? You can stay standing, come to sit. I'm gonna grab the cards and give them a little shuffle. Just seeing what comes up, a little inspiration to ground our intention for the day. And let's just see. How about this one? Desire. When directed wisely, desire is a powerful ally, and the pose is Warrior 2. I'm not sure if we've had this one before. If we have, it's been a little while. I like this. I like this a lot. The warrior poses, warriors one, two, and three at least. There is mythology around the shapes. This is not it, but this is my mythology around the shapes, the images that I like. In Warrior One, I always say that battle, that warrior is going into battle heart first, leading with their emotion, with their heart. Warrior two is sneaking in from the side. They're a little more covert, a little slier, going in than the narrow way. And Warrior Three is leading with their head, head first, diving in. maybe not with their head in terms of thinking, with their head in terms of just going for it. And we need a balance of all three. We also need peaceful and humble warriors, of course. Because it's not always appropriate to go into battle. But when you're fighting for something, desire, that is meaningful to you. Fighting. With kindness, with compassion, not with violence. For something that is meaningful. For something that gives you purpose, for something that you truly desire. on a deep meaningful level. Maybe you're an artist, maybe you're a yogi. Or maybe you want to make the world a better place. That desire, that wanting, is a powerful ally. When it's anchored in love, when it's anchored in who you truly are and not who your ego wants you to be. So where do you find meaning? What is your desired outcome? And if it's of service not just to yourself, but to others. Then you know it's deeper than vanity. Not that there's anything wrong with a touch of vanity too. Let know what you think. The light that is in me bows to and honors and desires all that the light that is in you desires for you. Thank you as always for spending this time. Please take a moment, like and share, and subscribe. And keep an eye out. If you haven't already, there's a sign up for my newsletter on my website, dailyflow.yoga or in the show notes. And I have some things coming up that I think are going to be pretty exciting. So stay tuned. Have a great day. Namaste. James @ Daily Flow: 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.