Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Morning Yoga for a Stiff Back | Gentle Twists & Mobility Flow
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: 10 minutes to fix my stiff back and maybe yours as well. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James and of course as always be sure to watch till the end. So we'll pull the card together to set intention for the day. So I woke up with a little bit of a stiff back which has been nagging me a bit all weekend. let's work on that. pretty common, maybe you have it too. So come to any comfortable seat. I'm in half lotus. You can sit cross-legged or full lotus if you'd like. And open your arms nice and wide. Really feel your wingspan and then externally rotate from the biceps. You feel the whole shoulder open up and then you feel the shoulder blades wrap under. See if you can ground down and get taller. Now my shoulders just tried to crawl up. I'm not gonna let them. I'm gonna keep wrapping them down and under. And then lift the chin. So it's a back bend, but it's not very deep. I'm focusing more on lifting up. Nice inhale here. As you exhale, big internal rotation of that bicep, so that wraps the shoulder under, my whole arm wraps under. And then do that again. Inhale, press down in the seat, lift the heart, open the palms up. Exhale round. Inhale, lift. This time as you exhale, I'm taking the left hand down to the floor beside me, reaching the right fingertips up and over. Firm the right sits bones. I'm using that left hand to help me ground more deeply. Look up underneath the right arm. Take your inhale. As you exhale, release the right hand down to the left knee. Sit up nice and tall. Find your easy twist. Again, your back is getting a little tight. Then it may not be as big as it would be if you did this. later in the day or you're feeling pretty warm. Wrap that right shoulder blade under, look back over the left shoulder and then use the traction of that right hand both to guide the left knee forward so it doesn't follow us into the twist and to help spiral the ribs a little deeper. Inhale. Exhale. Let's float the arms overhead. and then tent them back behind you. Again, lift the heart. I'm gonna actually lift my hips a little bit. Open up the front body. and then. Change the cross of your legs so the other foot is on top or the other shin is in front. trying to find some balance. And then open your arms out nice and wide. Find your wingspan, wrap those elbows under, or rotate from the bicep. Open the shoulder, inhale. Exhale, round. Inhale lift. Exhale round. inhaling. And exhaling. Float the arms overhead. Take the right hand to the floor. Reach the left fingertips over again using that right hand, both to help me firmly anchor the seat and to help spiral my chest more up to the ceiling. Opening into the left side body. Inhale. Exhale, release the left hand to the right knee. Bring the right hand behind and then you have a bit of a kickstand. Sit up nice and tall and that left hand is helping to keep my hips square. As I wrap the left shoulder blade under, look back over the right shoulder, inhaling, exhaling. Inhale, rise up, float the arms. Exhale, swim them back behind you. Maybe lift the hips, maybe not, maybe just lift the heart. And then lowering back down. Untangle your legs and come to all fours. However you want to get there is fine. Setting up for cats and cows, which is essentially what we just did, but we'll add on a little bit. So pulling the heart forward, wrapping those elbows under, so external rotation of the bicep. Exhale. Really internally rotate the arm, which we don't always do in cat pose, but. I think it feels nice today. So externally rotate, pull the heart forward, inhaling, exhale round. Come back to your neutral spine. Step the left foot back. And saw out that left Achilles a little bit. Get some space into the sole of the left foot. And then float the left foot up and reach it across behind you. Look back over your right shoulder. Inhale. Thanks, Harry. and pick up that left foot now and step it outside the left hand. I'm gonna noodle my right knee back a little bit. So I'm gonna, a nice lizard here, pulling the heart forward, sinking the hips, and then let's take our twist, bring the left hand onto the left thigh, and I'm gonna peel that open a little bit, feeling that stretch all through the inside of the thigh, spiraling the heart up, inhale. Exhale, go ahead and release all of that. Set that left hand down. Tuck the right toes in, lift the right knee, step back to plank position, top of a push-up, inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. You can find a Cobra pose. Press down on the abdomen, pull the heart forward. Tuck the toes downward dog. So don't feel like this has to look any kind of way, especially if you're a little tight like I am this morning. Just breathing into what you got. All of the breathing muscles wrap around the rib cage and then anchor down into the spine. Shouldn't say all, many of the breathing muscles wrap around the rib cage and then anchor down into the spine, into the seat. So as we deepen the breath, we're also stretching those muscles. All right, roll yourself forward to your plank and then release both knees onto the floor. Let's take a little cat and cow. See if this feels different as you start to warm up the spine. as you start to open up those muscles in your back body and you move through your cats and cows, does it feel different? It's okay if it doesn't. It's great if it does. The main thing is to notice what you notice. Then coming back to your neutral spine, step the right foot back, give it a little saw out, sole of the foot, the Achilles. And then pick up that foot, step it over the left, look over your left shoulder, opening up the right side body. Inhaling. Exhaling. Picking up the right foot, step it outside the right hand, and then noodle that left knee back a little bit. So you have a nice straight line from the knee up through the crown of the head. Letting the hip drop, firming the right foot down, firming the top of the left foot down, and then take that easy twist. Right hand to the inside of the right thigh. Peel it open so you get a little inner thigh stretch here as well. Breathe. Yoga recognizes the connection of everything to everything. So everything that releases is going to have a nice ripple effect. Of course, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, are the masters of this. But yoga knows a lot too. Tuck those left toes, step the right foot back plank. Inhale. Exhale, lower knees, chest and chin. Cobra pose. Downward dog. I'm gonna walk my feet about halfway in, in my hands to meet them, and then take a rag doll. Sway out your hips from side to side. Let the weight of your arms do a lot of the work here. Firm the feet. Now coming back and removing that sway, press down on the feet, gentle lift up of the kneecaps. So you're thinking about the front of the leg traveling up. which might help release the back of the legs. There's no tension in that space, just a little stretch. And then release those elbows and just roll yourself to stand. I'm gonna bend my knees a lot to come up. One vertebra at a time. You'll feel some sticky spots, I sure did. Step your feet out nice and wide. So, facing the long edge of my mat, toes point out and then coming to a goddess squat, knees track over toes. I'm just gonna bring my hands to prayer here. And then... Rise up, reach up, inhale. This time, cactusing the elbows as you come down. Inhale, reach up, get long. And then this time, cactus the elbows, but then that internal rotation of the bicep, hands inside the thighs or the knees, and then a little pressing out, lifting up the spine, like, lengthening the spine rather like a cow, and then rounding like a cat. Straighten the legs, rise up tall. Triangle pose, lift it back, right arm forward. Feel that wrapping under the right thigh. Take your breath, inhaling. Exhale, bend the right knee, warrior one. Exhale, Warrior II. Flying Warrior, pivot the right foot and then pivot the left. Triangle pose to the left. Right hip back, left arm forward. Keep that hip wrapping under external rotation of the left thigh. Inhale. Exhale, Warrior II. Warrior I, Now, Warrior II. Flip the arms, rotate the left foot. Rotate the right. Triangle pose. year one. Warrior two, flying pivot, right foot, pivot left, diagonals, or opening up the side bodies. Warrior one, letting the spine rotate a lot. Warrior two, not everything has to be a big twist. And then rise up, float the arms. Big bow forward, just moving the back body and connecting it to the low body will do a lot of releasing for us. So in their wide legged forward fold, I have my hands holding my feet. You don't have to do that. You can have your hands on the floor. But feeling that stretch all through the insides of my thighs, the hamstring a bit, and the low back a bit. And then planting my hands, I'm just gonna bring my knees down onto the floor together. Heroes pose. How you doing? So setting our intention for the day by pulling a card, looking for what it is that will anchor us together as a community, which is what I love about this practice. And be sure to leave a comment and let me know how this shows up in your day or how you intend for it to show up in your day. I'm gonna pick this one. Warrior two is the posture, is the illustration, desire. When directed wisely, desire is a powerful ally. We don't think of desire as being something very yoga-y all of the time. So what does it mean for you to use your desire wisely to direct it with intention rather than letting it direct you? I always say this warrior too is going into the battle from the side. She's a little sneaky. She's canoodling her way in rather than warrior one who goes in Heart-blazing. So how will you show up? How will you direct your desire? The light that is in me bows to honors and is so grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste.