Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10-Minute Yoga Recovery for Sore Legs and Tight Hips
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: You were so good. You did the cardio, you got in the steps, you lifted the weights, you did all of the things you're supposed to do. And now your body has some feelings about that. You've come to the right place. Give me ten minutes. We'll make it all better. Or at least mostly. Hello, friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James. and of course, practice till the end. We'll pull a card, we'll set some intention for the day. And be sure to hit like and subscribe ⁓ on your way out if you have to leave it all. I hope you don't. Let's start on our backs. So coming on down, plant your feet firmly, and then Feel like your heels are right under your knees. So you're not way out, you're not way in. It's just a nice perpendicular line with those shins, or at least the feeling of one. You can see mine, I can't. And then press your palms into your hip creases. If you've come here often, you know this is one of my favorite things. It feels so good. Nice inhale. And exhale. Cocoon in your knees to your forehead, your forehead to your knees. Really press down. Yeah, so I did some cardio yesterday, and my legs are really feeling it. It was good. Felt great. It's healthy for me, but my legs are tight. So maybe yours are too. Press down in your feet. This time let's take a bridge pose. I'm gonna try to keep the glutes soft and lift the back up as a unit. Sometimes we talk about. Really articulating the vertebrae. Instead, see if your butt can be relaxed so that you're really using your legs. And then that'll give you more stretch through the heart. Inhale here. Exhale. Now as you lower down, you can give those glutes a little squeeze and see if you can articulate every vertebra one at a time and press it down into the mat. And then again, cocoon everything in, knees to forehead, forehead to knees. Keep your right knee with you. Extend your left foot forward like bicycle. Inhale. Exhale, slowly switch. Inhale here. Exhale, switch. Keep that right knee with you. Rock yourself up to sit and just step your right foot a little wider than your hip. Flex your left foot and then try to thread that right arm inside. It's just like Mari Chasana A, but I'm not gonna try to bind it. Maybe you can if you want to wrap around, but I'm just finding a forward fold and some firm rooting in that right foot. And the reason for that is that it's getting a little into my right hip without having to be in a big lizard pose. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale. And now come back in and make a figure four with that right leg. So I'm gonna keep my left leg straight, put a little micro bend in it, and then fall forward again. Maybe walk my hands forward. Tuck of the tailbone. So this is getting in that left hamstring pretty deeply. Inhale. Exhale and now step the left foot in, ground the palms, press the heart. So now this is the right outer thigh. That's what we're looking for. So we've just done a little bit of right hip, left hamstring, right abductors. Take a breath. Release all of that. Plant your feet, roll yourself down onto your back. We'll take another back bend, do that on the other side. So find a little arcing of your low back, press down in the heels, lift up. Try not to squeeze the glutes. This time interlace fingers underneath. Really walk your shoulder blades together. And if you use your feet and your legs without squeezing your butt, you'll find more stretch in the heart. 'Cause you have a little more space to move around. This is new to me and it's really made a difference in my practice. Go ahead and release those interlaced fingers, but now as you come down, one vertebrae at a time. And if that means a little glute engagement, that's just fine. ⁓ nice. Kakuna, knees to forehead, forehead to knees. Keep the left knee, extend the right foot forward. Inhale. Exhale, slowly switch. Inhale. Exhale, switch. Keep the left leg with you. Rock yourself all the way up to sit. Step the left foot a little wider than your hip. Flex the right foot. And I'm gonna thread myself inside. Firm the left foot. So I am getting some right hamstring here, but I'm really thinking about firming down that left foot, pulling my heart forward so I feel something happening in that hip space. So it's like a lizard kind of inhale. And if your experience a bit's different, that's also okay. So come on up to sit, make your figure four. Again, flex everything and then walk yourself forward. I have a little bit of a, you can't see it, a tiny bend in that right knee, so I'm not locking it out. And then keep tucking that tailbone down so you don't hyperextend the hamstring. It's a nice pleasant stretch. Make the right foot active. Inhale. Exhale. And then coming back up, plant your hands, plant that right foot. Press your heart towards your thighs. So now it's the IT band. In here. Exhale. Go ahead and lean back. This time just cross your shins and rock yourself all the way up to sit. Come to all fours. If you want to cushion up your knees, feel free. Inhale. Pull the heart forward. Exhale, tuck the toes. Around the spine. Step the right foot outside the right hand and then walk the left leg back a little bit. So now coming up into a higher expression of lizard. I'm keeping the back knee down so it's a little less intense. And the thing about pulling your heart forward. Some of these people get to the floor and they really round, and that takes some of the stretch out. So you can go lower if you want to, but keep pulling forward, keep the spine long. Now let's take a twist. Bring the right hand to the right thigh. Look up. Bend the left knee and reach back. See if you can find the left foot in your right hand. If it's really far away, if you're really feeling tight, you can loop a towel or a yoga strap around the top of the foot, and then use that to help pull it closer. And once you've got it, see if you can get a good quad stretch on that left leg. Inhale. Exhale, go ahead release all of that. Let's tuck the left toes and find our wide-legged forward fold. Inhale, lengthen, exhale, bow. Feel the outer edges of your feet. Feel the tucking of the tailbone. Lift your face, find a long spine, pause for your exhale, and then walk yourself all the way, release the left knee down. Now we're in a crescent lunge because our feet are aligned. So interlace those fingers. Find your back bend, lengthen up through the spine, lift the heart. Inhale. Exhale, straighten that right leg, flex that right foot. back. Step back to a plank. Inhale. Exhale. Lower your knees, your chest and your chin. Cobra pose. facing dog breathe here just for a second should feel good nice stretch feel the finger pads the fingertips the knuckles pushing the floor forward in a way feel the heels yearning down a little tilting of that pelvis again and a soft bend in the knees roll yourself forward to plank lower both knees onto the mat. Let's find the cow pose inhale and the cat pose exhale Step the left foot outside the left hand. And then noodle that right knee back just a little bit. Keep the left thigh hugging in. Pull your heart forward. So this will get you a little deeper into that left hip space. And as you deepen your breath, you'll feel your breath moving in the hip. Feels really nice. Inhale. Exhale, left hand to the left thigh. Find your twist first. And then bend the right knee. Bring the left hand back. See if it finds the right foot. And again, if it doesn't, feel free to loop a towel or something around it. It's just a nice quad stretch if you get the foot. If you don't, not a big deal. And then let the hip sink a little more, maybe pull the leg a little closer. Exhaling. And go ahead release all of that. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, walk along the right edge of your mat, wide-legged forward, fold, inhale. I'm gonna loop my piece fingers around my big toe in the D variation. I really like this one. Pulling those toes forward. Again, keep that tailbone tucked. If you're sticking your butt up, it is likely that you'll hyperextend in the hamstring space. And we don't want to do that ever. So just breathe. And then Lengthen your arms. Release the toes. Walk yourself forward. Hands frame that left foot. Release the right knee down. Untuck the right toes. And let's take our crescent lunge. Sink down. Energize that left heel forward. Top of the right foot active. I'm keeping my hands on top of the thigh. Float your arms if you want. Look up. Inhale. Exhale, bring your hands down. Step back to your plank. Inhale. Exhale, knees just chin. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Walk your hands back to your feet. Separate your feet. Let's come down to a malasana squat. So stay try stay grounded in those heels, even if you don't go as low, and feel free to sit up on something if you have a yoga block or a cushion or something. But you can also put something under your heels, like a cushion, if they're coming up. Lift up through that pelvic floor. Sway from side to side. I'm gonna take a really deep twist here. So send your right hand down and your left arm up, and then you use that leverage to open up the spine. Inhale. Exhale, release the twist, plant your hands and just lift your hips, give a little stretch, a little release, and then rebend the knees. Left hand down, right arm up. Draw those shoulder blades together. Look up at your right thumb. Try to keep up lifting up through your base. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, release that. Walk yourself forward. One last vinyasa. Maybe chattaranga. Yogi's choice. You need and downward facing dog. Roll yourself forward. Have a seat. Pull a card. Not every flow needs to be athletic. That was sort of an athletic stretch, that one. But hopefully got into inner thighs, outer thighs, hamstrings, quads, and of course, core. So got a little bit of release through all that, I hope. If not, wash, rinse, and repeat. The shape is Ukatasana, chair, fuel. Your body and mind are a product of how you care for them. Your body and mind are a product of how you care for them. You are what you eat, but you also are what you think. You are how you see. You are what you believe. I'd like that they included mind in this. When we're talking about fuel, we're fueling our mind with everything that we consume. And I like trash TV and I like ⁓ you know, pop culture as much as a lot of people. I won't say anyone, but as much as a lot of folks. There's nothing wrong with that. But know that you also then need to fuel your mind with meaningful things, whether that's taking classes, whether that's a faith practice, whether that's a mindfulness practice, whether it's just reading books that inspire you, or reading books at all. So, what will you do to fuel your mind and your body today? Everything that we take in becomes a part of us, whether that's a bite of food or a bite of media consumption, whether it's a headline that's inflammatory that gets us upset, which sometimes we need to be, or if it's I don't wanna name names. Junk food. What will you fuel yourself with today? And then how will that fuel be of service, not just to yourself, but to others? Please let me know how it goes. The light that is in me bows to honors and is very, very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for spending this time. Please take a moment to like and subscribe and share and leave comments. Let me hear from you. ⁓ check out my website. All of these videos live on my website at dailyflow.yoga. And if you create a free account, you can ⁓ build your own library of favorites so you can go back and check on anytime and sign up for my email list there and you'll get some updates as I start to add some new stuff, which I think is in the works. So stay tuned. Have a wonderful day. Thanks for spending this part of it with me. Namaste.