Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Morning Yoga for Balance, Grounding & Calm Focus
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: In 10 minutes we'll enter the day more balanced, grounded, and energized. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. And of course, practice till the end because we'll draw a card together and set our intention for the day. Coming to stand in mountain pose. If it's comfortable, bring your big toes to touch, maybe your ankles too. If it's not, hip width is fine. Press down on your feet. Feel how that pressing down. connects into your quadriceps. Feel that engagement of your legs. Give your shoulders a nice shrug up, back, and down. Rotate from your bicep, open your palms to shine forward. Feel that pressing down in the feet, lifting up through the pelvic floor. Shake your head yes and no. And feel the lightness of your head. Soften the skin of your eyes. Together we take a deep inhale. Exhale. Interlace your fingers in front of your chest. Flip your palms inside out, press them forward. Actively rounding the upper back, firm down into both feet. Keep that engagement in your low body as you scoop the belly, the front of the pelvic bone forward and up so that you feel a scooping out of the belly. And then more deeply round the upper back. Keeping this connection in your fingers, float the arms overhead so the biceps come alongside your ears. Again, still rooting down in those feet. And then take a side bend over to your right so the left hand feels like it's reaching up and over. Look up underneath the left arm. Keep those legs engaged, inhale. Exhale. And now rise up through center, go the other way. Feel like the heel of the right palm is really leading you over. And then keep everything else active, not tense, just present. Inhale. Exhale. Rise up, separate the hands, and then interlace fingers low behind your back. Press down in those knuckles and then wrap those interlace fingers around to the right side of your body. Wrap the right elbow back. Again, use that left forearm to lengthen the low back. Get nice and long and then let your left ear fall over to the left shoulder. Keep pressing down in the right one. And then maybe roll your head a little forward and back. Open up to the neck. And then coming back to center, press those knuckles down towards the floor. Pull your heart forward so the knuckles are pulling back, your chest is coming forward, a long flat spine. Micro bend in the knees and then just keep going. See if you can think about gluing your belly to your thighs. So my legs are still engaged. My legs are also pushing into my belly. Feel the back release, inhale. Exhale, release those interlaced fingers. Bend your knees and roll yourself to stand one vertebrae at time. Shoulders shrug up and back and down. Interlace your fingers again, this time put the other thumb on top, one that probably feels a little less natural. Flip that inside out, press forward. Again, the heels of the palms are leading the charge, drop the shoulders, separate the shoulder blades. know, energize down through those feet, feel the kneecaps lifting up, carving out the belly. Inhale. Exhale. And now floats the palms up overhead. Side bend to the left, reach the heel of the right palm up and over, activating still in the feet, still in the legs. Look up underneath the right arm. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, rise up, go the other way. Heel of the left palm leads you up and over. Look underneath the left arm. Keep those legs engaged. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, rise up, separate your hands. Interlace fingers behind you. Press those knuckles down, get nice and open, and then wrap around to the left side. Wrap the left elbow back. Get nice and tall, and then let your right ear fall over to the right. Opening up the left side of the neck should feel nice. Maybe look down, and then up. back to center, head held high. Press those knuckles down towards the floor, firm the feet, get long. Pull your heart forward, long spine. Think about your chest being parallel to the floor first. And then as those knuckles keep reaching up. you are able to connect your belly more towards your thighs. If you're still a mile away, that's totally fine, but the intention is there. The connection mentally is there. And then release those hands. This time bringing your hands to the floor, find a flat back. Step back to a plank, top of a pushup. Wrapping those shoulder blades, wrapping those biceps externally. Feel the engagement of your legs energize into your fingertips and inhale. Exhale, release your knees, send your hips back to your heels with your toes tucked. And now come forward to plank. Downward facing dog. Separate your feet, pedal out your heels, shake out the head. Lift your right leg high to sky. Internally rotate that right thigh. So high is gonna be different on everybody, but it feels high. I really feel like my thighs are turning in towards one another. And I really feel like I'm using that right heel to pull me back in space. Inhale, exhale, step the right foot forward. Come up to a warrior one. Find the ball mound of the right foot. Again, internal rotation here of the left thigh. So you feel that wrapping under and then feel the outer edge of the left foot activate. External rotation of the right thigh. So everything's kind of going clockwise here and I feel the energy in the pinky edges of both feet. Feel that same connection straight in the right leg. We're coming to ⁓ Warrior III. So as you start to shift forward, little softening of that right knee, but try to keep that wrapping in of everything, especially the left leg. Get nice and long, look down and forward. Take a breath. And then big step back, Warrior I. Open out, Warrior II. Again, straighten the right leg. We're coming to half moon this time. So send that left hip back, shift forward, forward. float the left foot. Now if you wanna keep both feet on the floor, you can. If you have yoga blocks, you can have your right hand down on the yoga block. But really feel like you're lifting up and out from that hip. Take a breath. Then big step back, warrior one. Hands come to frame the right foot. Step back to your plank, inhaling. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. Take a baby cobra, press down on the belly, pull the heart forward. Tuck the toes, downward dog. And breathe, pedal out your heels, shake out your head, all the things. Down dog, split the left leg. Internally rotate that left thigh. Left heel pulls you up and back. Energy in the fingertips. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot. All the way forward, come up, warrior one. So all of this thinking about where your thighs are rotating and where you feel your feet on the floor, all of that gives us a sense of balance straight away. So we're evenly energized. And even though we're not symmetrical, we feel both feet, we feel both legs. So now as you shift forward, just because you're standing on one foot, you still feel both legs. So Warrior III, still rotating that right thigh internally, still engaged in that right leg, as well as the left, of course, the instep of that left foot. Inhale, exhale, Warrior I. Pause for an inhale, open out, Warrior II. Straighten the left leg, left thigh is rotating externally. Start to shift your weight forward. Maybe you come to Triangle, maybe you come to Half Moon Pose, yogi's choice. Feel the activation in both legs, in both arms, in the shoulder blades, in the belly. Everything is calm, but it's working. Inhale. Exhale, Warrior I. Inhale. Exhale, hands come to frame that left foot. Step it back on and inhale. Knees chest in. Cobra. Downward Dog. Little challenge if you want to take it. We'll go through that very quickly. One breath, one move. Inhale, floats the right foot. Exhale, step it forward. Inhale, Warrior I. Exhale, Warrior III. Open up. Half Moon Pose. Lunar Landing, Warrior I. Satoranga. Follow your breath back to downward facing dog. It's not easy, but all this setup, all this sense of balance in both legs does a lot of the work. Left leg high, does all the work. Step it forward. Warrior one, feel your feet, feel your legs, look forward. Nothing is rushed. Warrior three. And as you continue to ground down, you're able to peel that right hip open. Half moon pose. Warrior One. Chaturanga and so on. Exhale, downward facing dog. Come to sit. Any comfortable seat will do. taking a moment, a pause before we step into the day. Let's see what maybe our focus should be. I'll go with this one. Karma. Unlearned lessons and unrealized effort hold unclaimed growth. unlearned lessons and unrealized effort. called unclaimed growth. And the shape is sort of a variation on extended side angle. We talked a lot about engagement today. Where are you engaged? Where are you putting your energy? How can you be engaged and not tight? All of our actions have an impact. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So as you step into the world today, mindful that every look, every smile, every nod, every curse under your breath has an effect on you, on the people who might receive it. How will you choose your words? How will you choose and be responsible for your actions? It's a good one. The light that is in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. Namaste. Please let me know how that goes. I'll do the same. Leave a comment, like, subscribe, all of those things so that we might grow our community together. And while you're at it, maybe tell a friend. Thank you for spending this time with me. Have a wonderful day.