Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Stiff Hips & Low Back? Morning Yoga + a Reflection on Temperance
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: You don't have to feel ready for the whole day. Let's just take 10 minutes to ground and prepare for whatever might come up. 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 to set some intention together. And be sure to like, subscribe, and do all those YouTube things so we can grow our community a little more together. Come to your back. You can tell the mornings that I wake up with a little tightness on my back, this is how we start. Heels on the floor. so the heels are more or less under the knees, hands into the hip creases. Nice gentle tractioning open. Feel that pressing forward. I'm using my whole arm so that from the shoulder. And then that gives me a nice bit of traction to open up the low back. Inhale. Exhale, release that, plant the heels, curl your spine up, come into a bridge pose. As always, firm the feet, a little bit of softness in the glutes. They will engage some, but you're trying to take over in the legs as much as possible. So you have a nice stretch in the chest. Inhale. Exhale, lower down, one vertebra at a time. And then cross the right ankle at the left knee. Make a figure four. And it's start same way. Heel of my left palm, left hip crease, heel of the right palm inside the right thigh. And see if I feel a little stretch here. And if this feels like it's enough, you might stay exactly like this. It feels pretty good. But I'm gonna go ahead and thread the needle interlacing fingers around the left hamstring, right elbow into the right inner thigh. Make your feet active. They don't have to be flexed necessarily, they could be pointed, but engage so that they're not just flopping there. And then feel that nice stretch in the outside of the right thigh. Inhale. Exhale, go ahead and set the left foot down and then just still in my figure four. I'm gonna step the right foot on the mat and turn my head to the It's a regular spinal twist, but I feel more stretched right in the hip space and at the in the obliques. That's it. Look over to the right, inhale, exhale, come back to center. Set both feet on the floor, lift the hips, interlace the fingers, bridge pose. Energize the feet, a little softness in the glutes. Inhale. Exhale lower down. Try to articulate the spine as you come down. And then make your figure four with the left knee, starting heels of the palms pressing in to the base of the thighs. That feels pretty good. And if you'd like, left hand thread the needle. Remember, use that left elbow. The right leg and the left elbow are sort of conspiring to open out that left. Outer thigh. So put your attention there. Inhale. Exhale, set the right foot down, and then keeping the figure four, just let both, let the let yourself twist to the right. Feel the left foot grounded. Look to your left. Inhale. Exhale. I'm using my right hand here too, pushing on the left thigh. Which seems to deepen that stretch. It feels really good. Income ahead, come back to center. Untangle. Bring your knees into a tabletop position. And then curl your spine up off the mat. Low back is still anchored. Wrap the shoulder blades under. Stay here or extend the legs if you want to dial it up a little bit. Take three breaths. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Another solution for low back stuff is core engagement. The more your core works, the less your low back has to. So we deepen that connection. Now cocoon your knees in. Rock and roll along the length of your spine. Now I'm gonna cross my shins and roll all the way over to all fours. Plainting the fingers. Wrapping the elbows under, step back to your plank. Inhale. And then right to downward facing dog. Exhale. Walk your dog a little. Pedal out those heels. Shake out your head. Maybe notice if this feels different because we did all that. Extra little bit of warming up. Step your right foot outside your right hand. Pull your heart forward. Lizard lunge. Energize. Press into the ball of the left foot. And then use your finger pads to pull your chest forward. Now we're going to take the right leg up and back for a down dog split. Inhale. Exhale, sweep that right foot, that right knee across and kick the right foot through. Float the left arm up, fall in triangle pose. We don't do this a lot because sometimes because it's usually something I would do in a second round in a class. But it's just a nice side plank. Inhale here and then release the left hand down. Down dog, split the right leg again. Now step the right foot in between the hands and then noodle that heel further forward. Stay grounded. Come up to a warrior one. Let the back heel spiral down. Wrap the left shoulder blade under. Inhale. Exhale. Bring your hands down to frame the right foot. Step back to your plank. Inhaling. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. Cobra pose. Belly down, heart forward. And then tuck the toes. Downward facing doll. Again, pedal out your heels, shake out your head. Check in that your down dog feels good. Step the left foot outside the left hand. For your lizard, about three breaths here. Pull the heart forward. Allow that left hip to drop a little bit, but keep the left foot firm and then press into the ball of the right foot. Inhale. Exhale, then your down dog, split the left leg. For your fallen triangle, sweep that left knee across. Kick the foot through, try to stack the hips. And I'm letting my left foot be supported by the mat, which is also actually a modification of this pose. Take a breath. But it feels a little better, especially first thing in the morning. And then down dog split the left leg. I had to adjust a little bit. No big deal. Step the left foot between your hands. Spiral the right heel down for your one. Wrap the right shoulder right under. Look up. Inhale. Exhale. Let's take a vinyasa. I'm gonna take chaturanga this time. Facing dog. Down and facing the Walk your feet forward to meet your hands. Find a long spine. Fold deeply. Then press down, rise all the way up. Inhale. Melt and pose. It's very short. So we're gonna flow it through once per side. Plant your feet. Float your arms. Inhale. Exhale, bow. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, step or float back. Chaturanga. Inhale upward facing dog. Exhale downward facing dog. Step the right foot outside the right hand. Pull the heart forward. Inhale. And exhale. Down dog split the right leg. Fallen triangle. This time I'm going to catch the right foot as it comes through. And then down dog split. Right foot between the hands. Warrior one. Inhale. Exhale, Chaturanga. You know what to do. Take what you need, leave the rest. Go slow if you need to go slow. Lizard lunge. Inhale, left foot forward, look forward. Stay for the exhale. Down dog split, left leg. Fallen triangle. Maybe you catch the right foot as it comes through. Take your breath. And back to your down dog split. Step the left foot between the hands, Warrior One, inhale. Exhale, chataranga. Inhale upward facing. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Bend your knees as you inhale. Stepward float. Top of mat. Exhale, bow. Inhale, press down, rise up. Exhale. Bell and pose. You can stay standing. You can join me seated. Or you can lie down, take a little shavasana as we reflect together on whatever the card pull might be. That was actually a viewer recommended option. Ivan, is that right? Anyway, thank you for spacing it. I think it's really nice. If you're coming to Shavasana, just allow yourself to feel heavy on the mat, allow your skeleton to release and just find some stillness. The pose, I don't know if I've ever pulled this one. The pose is seated spinal twist. Temperance. Answer the call of your soul. answering the call of my soul. Or I don't think of those things together. But for the sake of our meditation, our reflection, let's put them together. Mr Salerno did. Well, the call of your soul. If you're listening to your soul, to your deepest capital S self, that part of you that is you, then you will probably not be drawn to extremes. Soul's needs are fairly basic. Soul certainly does not need Lavish meals, drugs and alcohol, any other substances. Soul doesn't need any of that stuff. The soul wants purity. The soul wants I think. My soul seems to want care, quiet stillness, and connection. And those things are not made better. I being I guess intemperate would be a word. So When you temper chocolate, when you temper glass, you gradually bring it into out of its fiery state, out of its heated state, into its cooler state so that it doesn't crack or break. So maybe if we temper ourselves today, if we keep our temper, we won't crack either. Because that fire, that passion, that lack of temperance, that wild fluctuation between extremes is not the soul's calling. It's the world's calling, maybe, it's the ego's calling, maybe, it's our fear calling, maybe. Take your time. Take a breath. If you stop it all at once, you might crack. But ask yourself before you make a big move, or a small one, I suppose. Is this of service to my highest calling, to my deepest soul needs? Or does it just kind of feel good in the moment? There's nothing wrong with feeling good in the moment. I'm not a purist. It's only when you let the ego worldly centered mind take over that it can become a problem. So Temperate. Let me know how it goes. I'd love to hear. The light that is in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for spending this time. Be sure to take a moment, leave comments and like and subscribe, and check out the playlist is up for my new podcast, Hello Friends, which probably will have its first episode at the beginning of October. In fact, it definitely will. And then I'll try to make a couple a month. We'll see how it goes. If you have guest recommendations too, send those my way. If there's anybody you think would be fun to hear from. Great day. Thanks for spending this part of it with me. 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.