Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Morning Yoga for Backbends, Balance & Connection
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 only 10 minutes, we'll wake up, energize, and be ready to step into the day grounded and a little more open than we were before. 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 where we'll draw a card to set intention for our day together. Come to all fours. Setting up your quadruped, 10 fingers spread wide. Big external rotation through the bicep, toes are tucked, pull the heart forward. Get nice and long. Really feel like you're using those fingertips to traction the mat towards you and lengthening your spine as you gently lift your heart. And then untuck the toes and deeply round, exhale. Inhale, find length. Exhale around. I think that a big part of back bending that a lot of us, especially if you're newer to yoga, skip is this lengthening feeling. So really take this time to feel like you're decompressing your spine as you wrap those shoulder blades under. Get long and you'll feel a little stretch in the abdominals as well. And then one more. Coming back your neutral spine, float the left arm high to sky. And I'm using the right hand on the floor to help open my heart more. Inhale, let's throw the needle. Bring the left ear down to the mat. Keep your hips nice and high. And then maybe walk the right arm forward. And you'll feel this a lot in the left shoulder. So breathe into that space. Inhale and exhale. Then walk the right hand back, load the left arm up. and set it down. I'll do the other side. Flip the right arm up. And then take your twist. Right ear comes down to the floor. Right arm threads that needle. You can walk the left arm forward a bit. And I'm using that left hand also to help me drop the left shoulder a little bit so that I can feel more stretch in the right shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. And then walk the left hand back. Float the right arm. Set it down. Set up your planks, so finger spread wide, big external rotation of the biceps. Shift your weight more into the fingertips. Step back to your plank. Inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. And then again, for Cobra Pose, press down on the abdomen, lengthen, get longer, wrap those elbows back. And then the lift happens as a result of the length and tuck the toes for down dog. First down dog of the practice today. So maybe pedal out the heels, shake out the head, see how things are feeling. Just give yourself a chance to wake it all up a little bit. And then float the right leg high to sky, down dog split. And step the right foot all the way forward. Spiral that left heel down, come up to your warrior one. Wrapping the left shoulder blade under. Feel the firmness of the feet. Bend the right knee a little more and then let's find that back bend. So think about pressing down on the feet, lengthening the waist, lift up, drop the tailbone down so the low back doesn't have any pressure. And then maybe, the arms start to go further back, lifting the heart more towards the ceiling, inhaling, exhale, Warrior II. Feel the energy in the fingertips. You're not reaching forward, you're not reaching back. You're evenly energized. Right thigh rotates clockwise. Inhale and exhale. Flip that right palm, peaceful warrior. Wrap the left hand behind, see if it finds the right hip crease. If it doesn't, you don't have to worry about it. But use that to open the left shoulder more and then use the left forearm to lengthen the low back more. Feels really good. Inhale. Exhale, bring the right elbow to the right thigh. We're just, I'm gonna stop here. If you wanna go deeper, you can't. But look up over that left shoulder. Take your breath. And then as you rise up to stand, keep your half-bind with that left hand. Float the right arm and then parallel your feet. Inhale, and then reach that right arm. Forward, forward, forward, and land it right underneath your face. So my left hand is still wrapping around behind me. Start to drop the right ribs as you lift the right hip. So two opposing motions. And I'm actually using my left fingertips to help try to keep my low back level. And then maybe you float the left arm up. Legs are really energized in order to support a strong low back. Inhale. Exhale, release that left hand down and then walk yourself forward to frame the right foot. Lower the left knee and tuck the left toes. Come to your crescent lunge. Inhale. Exhale, hands come to frame the right foot. Tuck the left toes, step back. Plank position. Lower the knees, the chest and the chin. Go for pause, maybe a little higher. Downward dog. Head a lot heels, shake out head, flutter lips. Coming back to your sense of grounding into symmetry here. And then left leg lifts high. So now you're asymmetrical all of a sudden. Inhale, exhale, step the left foot all the way forward. Spiral that right heel down, rise up, Warrior I. Let's just take a little time here. Right shoulder blade is wrapping under. So the right ribs are steering forward. Feel the feet. Everything starts with the mat. So the more you firm the feet, the more you can tuck that tailbone and lift up and out. You have a strong foundation. And then the biceps can come alongside the ears. And then as they keep going back, the head can follow. But you're lengthening that upper back. So open up the heart space. Inhale. Exhale, Warrior II. Peaceful warrior. Swim that left palm up. Open up the left ribs, now wrap the right hand behind, see if it finds the left hip crease. If it doesn't, don't worry about it. But if it does, use that to help open the heart more, open the right shoulder more, and then that right forearm to lengthen the low back. So you're getting a good stretch. Inhale. Exhale, left elbow, left thigh. Look up over the right shoulder. Keep noodling everything in. It's a big open twist. Take your breath. and then rise up, float the left arm parallel to the feet. Reach the left arm forward, forward, forward. Set it down right underneath your face, long spine. Now, start to ⁓ lift the left hip and drop the left rib. So two opposing things happening. Look up over the right shoulder as the rib cage starts to spiral open, you might be able to float the arm. Breathe, inhale. Exhale, bring the right hand down. Walk both hands forward, come to your crescent lunge. Release the right knee, untuck the right toes. Float the arms. Inhale. Exhale, hands frame the left foot. Step back to your plank. Inhaling. Exhale, knees chest-in. Slightly higher cobra, perhaps. Downward dog. Down dog, split the right leg, inhale. Exhale, step forward. Rise up, Warrior I. Exhale, Warrior II. Peaceful warrior. Stay here. Straighten the right leg, rise up, fold forward. Take your twist, left arm high to sky. Inhale. Exhale, release that. This time, come back to Warrior I. Energize down on that right foot, fold forward, pyramid. And let's take standing split. Give a little more active energy here. Firm that right foot, float the left one. And then big step back with the left foot, step back with the right. Chaturanga this time maybe. Up dog maybe. Down dog definitely. Take a little pedal out. Say nice things to yourself. Down dog split the left leg. Inhale. Exhale, steps it forward. Rise up, Warrior One, we're flowing now, so it's not about perfection. It never was about perfection, Warrior Two. Peaceful Warrior. Rise up, send that left arm forward and down, and then peel the right arm up, and then come back to your Warrior I. Energize that left leg, fold forward, pyramid pose. Maybe standing split. Maybe not. Just trying to get a little extra heat up this morning. Inhale, exhale, big step back. Left leg back, Chaturanga, up dog. Downward facing dog. and then come all the way to sit. How you doing? So we end our practice by drawing a card, helping to see where we might want to be steered today. What intention will serve us best? Let's see. Dancer pose is the shape. Connection. Honor and respect all life, for we are all connected. When we end our practice with namaste, the light that is in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. This is a traditional greeting in Hindi-speaking languages, countries. We use it as a closing because that's become a Western tradition, which is valid to have traditions of our own, as long as we acknowledge where they came from. The light that is in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. When I'm in that space in me and you're in that space in you, we are one. We are connected. Any separation is an illusion. including with the folks that we find problematic, that we have a hard time with. That's when this is tough. So together, perhaps, we intend together today to look for that light, especially in spaces that seem dark. I'll do my best. Let me know how it goes. that is in me, boughs to honors, and is very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always so much for your time and your practice. Please subscribe and follow and like and comment and do all of those things, share with a friend so that we might build our community together because when it's a virtual community, it's likes and comments and subscribes that do that. So I thank you. Your fellow yogis, thank you. And I hope you thank you. day. Namaste.