Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Twists for Tight Hips, Back Stiffness & Reflection
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: If your back feels stiff, your hips feel tight, or you just need a little reset, today's twisted practice is for you. Hello, friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. And of course, be sure to practice until the end. We'll draw a card and set some intention for the day together. ⁓ and my name is James. Come to stand at the top of your mat. Step your feet together, give your shoulders a nice roll up and back. Float your arms overhead. Inhale. Exhale, bow forward. Find a long spine. And then step your left foot back and release your left knee down onto the mat. Feel free to cushion it up with a towel or a blanket. And then right away, heel toe the right foot over to the side just a little bit. Widen your stance and bring that right hand to the right knee. Wrap the left shoulder under. Look up. Hell yeah. Inhale, come back to center and step back to plank. Exhale, pause for an inhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Baby cobra. I'm just gonna tap back to a child's pose. Keep my knees together and my toes tight. Lengthen the spine. And then I'm gonna thread the needle a little bit with that right hand. Wrap the right hand under, bring the right ear to the mat, reach the left fingertips forward, and then lift the hips just a little bit, but wrap the tailbone under. Breathe into that right shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. Undo all of that. You can come back to all fours, set up your hands, and then your downward-facing dog. Bend your knees quite a bit. Pull your chest back towards your thighs. Again, really think about lengthening your spine. And part of lengthening your spine is lengthening your tailbone. So feel like from the crown of your head up through the neck, through the very tip of the tailbone. Everything's getting longer. And then walk your feet forward to your hands. One footprint at a time. Arriving here. Inhale, long spine, hands to chance. Exhale, bow deeply. And then I'm gonna roll myself to stand, one vertebrae at a time, stacking up. And float the arms overhead. Length and length and inhale. Exhale, fold. Find your long spine and step the right foot back. So we start off here in a runner's lunge, cushion up that right knee if you need, and then heel to the left foot over to the side just a little bit so it becomes a bit more of a lizard. Sink the hips and lengthen the spine and then take your twist. The left hand comes to that left knee. Right hand is connected to the mat, so it's active as well, drawing, pulling the mat a little bit to the right. Look up. Again, always lengthen then twist. Lengthen then twist. I know I'm a broken record. Exhale. And then set that left hand down. Step back to your plank. Inhale. Exhale. Lower knees, chest and chin. Oprah pose, press down in the abdomen, pull the heart forward, and tuck your toes, send your hips to your heels. Keep the knees together and the toes tucked for now, and then thread that left arm under. Think about bringing the left ear to the mat. Reach the right fingertips forward and lift the hips just a little bit. Think about dropping. The right shoulder just a little bit, and you'll feel a nice stretch across the top of the back. Inhale, exhale, and then walk everything in. Come back to all fours, reorganize a bit, and then tuck the toes for your down dog. Again, I'm gonna bend my knees quite a lot. My hamstrings are always pretty tight in the morning, so this is a nice way to get them a little bit more awake. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale and then walk the feet forward to the hands. Find your long spine. Bow deeply, still a little micro bend in those knees. And then press down, rise up, inhale. Not imposed. Exit. And offloads the arms. Exhale, fold. Long spine. Step the left foot back, release the left knee down. This time I'm coming to a crescent lunge, floating the arms, or you can interlace fingers on top of the right thigh. Make that right heel active, also the top of the left foot. Take your breath and then bring the left hand down to the floor, right arm to the ceiling, or back to the thigh. Maybe you bend that left knee, reach back, hold the left foot in your left hand. This is mostly about the twist, but you're also getting a nice little ⁓ quad stretch on that left side. Take a breath. And then release all of that. Step back to your plank. Inhale. This time knees chest chin, and we'll flow through to down dog. Take your time. Nice high cobra. And then downward facing dog. Reach the left hand back towards the right ankle and look up underneath your right arm. Focus on lengthening the spine, and if the hand doesn't make it to the ankle, it can be on the floor somewhere. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, step the right foot forward, rise up to a warrior one. Feel the deep end of the right knee. Whatever deep bend means for you right now. Wrap the left shoulder blade under. Look up. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come to frame that right foot and step the left foot forward to meet. Find a long spine. Bow deeply. Root down, rise up. Inhale. Mountain pose. Exhale. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bow. Long spine. Step the right foot back. Release the right knee down. Untuck those toes. Come to your crescent lunge. Panjanyasana. Sink the hips. Lift the heart. Feel that lifting up from your base. Inhale. Exhale. The right hand comes down, left arm high to sky. Maybe the left hand reaches back and holds the right foot. If that feels like it's too far away, then it is. So don't worry about it. Maybe sink those hips a little bit. You can also wrap a towel around the top of your foot. Give her just make that arm a little bit longer. Inhale. Exhale. Step back to your plank on an inhale. Exhale, knees just chin. Cobra pose. So reach your right hand across towards the left ankle and then see if you can peer up underneath your left arm. So you're feel a nice little stretch here through the back body. I also feel some action in the left hip. Try to keep the hips square so that only the ribs are doing any real twisting. Inhale. Exhale. And then you'll step that left foot all the way forward, rise up to your Warrior One. Spiral the right heel down. All the things. Wrap the right shoulder blade under, left knee keeps traveling forward and a little bit over to the left. Wrap the right shoulder blade, look up, inhale, exhale, hands come to frame that left foot. Step the right foot forward to meet long spine. Bow deeply. Root down, rise up. Mountain pose. One more round, a little more dialed up and a little flow here. And of course, take what you need, leave the rest. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bow. Long spine. Step the left foot back. This time I'm gonna keep the left knee lifted and float the arms for a high crescent. Inhale. Exhale, lengthen forward prayer twist. The right shoulder, take an inhale and an exhale, releasing the twist. Hands come to frame that right foot. Take a vinyasa if you'd like. Maybe chaturanga this time. Maybe up dog. Downward facing dog. Reach the left hand back for the right ankle. Take a breath. Inhaling. Exhaling. And this time. Come forward to plank, kick the right foot through for fallen triangle. Float the left arm to the ceiling. Inhale. Exhale and then back to your down dog. Let's make it a down dog split. Step your right foot forward. Warrior one. Inhale. How'd you do? Exhale, hands come to frame the right foot. Step the left foot forward. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, bow deeply. Press down, rise up, inhaling. Exhale, fold one last round. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, step the right foot back. Runners lunge. Root down, rise up, high lunge. Feel the feet. Feel the length of the spine. Reach forward as you wrap that right elbow outside the left thigh. Prayer twist. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, releases the twist. Exhale. Hands come to frame that left foot. Step back for your plank and take your vinyasa. However you choose to take it or not. Is up to you. Right hand reaches across for the left ankle or thigh or calf. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. And then as I come forward, I extend the left leg through. Float the right arm up. breath. Then a down dog split. I know that's a lot. Step the left foot forward. Warrior warrior. Hands frame the left foot. Step the right foot to meet. Long spine. Bow deeply. Press down. Rise up. Inhale. Exhale. You can stay standing or come to sit as we take a pause, as we always do, to set a little intention for the day. How shall we arrive in the spaces where we find ourselves? How about this one? We've had this one before. Reflection. It's a ⁓ plow pose. Self observation eases the journey of awakening. Don't worry about other folks. What is your experience of this moment? When, if you find yourself challenged today, take a second, go inward. Do you feel challenged? What is the challenge? Are you being reactive? Or are you taking a moment just a beat? I'm not saying a whole meditation, but just a beat to think about why this is coming up for you. And I think. Wisely, this card points out, Mr. Salerno, its author, points out, that the more we take those pauses to reflect, the shorter the distance to our deepest awakening. Light that is in me bows to honors and reflects back the light that is in you. Namaste.