Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Build Strength & Balance Through Movement | 10-Minute Morning Yoga
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. 10 minutes to wake up, energize, flow into whatever the day or the week hold. Hello friends, good morning. Welcome to this 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. Come to stand at the top of your mat, firmly rooted in your feet. Give the shoulders a nice roll up and back. Take your arms out wide and sort of give them a little bit of a bend and just do a little bit of rounding of the shoulders. So kind of like a cat pose. And then we'll rotate from the shoulder, the whole arm opens up. So does the chest. Again, do that round. Flut your hands overhead. Feel those low ribs knitting together. Feel the core just a bit engaged. Energize the fingertips. Maybe reach the right arm up and then the left arm up, lengthening the waist. Inhale. Exhale, big fold forward. Find a flat back. Feel that opening in the hamstrings, little tuck of the tailbone. Maybe shake your head yes and no. And then step the left foot back and release the left knee down onto the mat. Untuck the left toes. Interlace fingers on top of the right thigh. Really feel like you're pressing the thigh forward and peeling the belly up. Relax the shoulders. But feel the shoulder blades wrap under. Now can you lift your chest from behind? Inhale. Exhale, bring the left hand to the floor and take the right arm up to the ceiling so you're in a low revolved lunge. Maybe roll out that right wrist. Inhale here. Exhale, set the right hand down to frame the right foot. Tuck the left toes, engage the left knee. Let's just send the right leg up and back for a down dog split. Maybe bend the right knee, stack the hips, open up that hip flexor. Make little circles here. Try to keep the heart square to the floor. And then step the right foot in between the hands all the way up. Noodle it up if it doesn't make it. Come up to your high lunge. We're gonna find pyramid pose. Lengthen the right leg. Send your heart forward, forward, forward. Fold when you can go no further forward and then hop your left foot in so that you can ground the left foot. Feel the energy of the right foot pushing forward, the pinky side of the left foot pushing back. Inhale, lift the chest. Exhale, bow over that right leg. step the left foot forward to meet the right. Come into a chair pose, bend the knees and float the arms. Wrap the elbows under, look up between your hands. Inhale, exhale, stand tall. Float the arms overhead. Fold forward, big exhale. Flat back. And then step the right foot back, release the right knee down, coming to our crescent lunge on this side. Interlace fingers on top of the right left thigh and then as you feel everything drop You might feel the front of the right leg open The top of the right foot is pressing down four corners of the left foot pressing down shoulder blades wrapping under so many things to think about Just pick the one that works for you right now Take your breath and set the right hand down on the floor. Take the left arm up to the ceiling. Maybe roll out that left wrist Inhale Exhale, bring the left hand down. Tuck the right toes and lift the right knee, so runner's lunge. And then down dog split with the left leg. You can bend that left knee and stack the hips. Find some opening up in that hip flexor. Try to keep the heart square to the floor. Try to open up that left side more. I'm feeling a nice stretch in the obliques here in my left side. And then when you're ready, step the right foot all the way forward, ground down, come up for your high lunge. So the difference between a high lunge and a warrior or a high crescent in a warrior is that the back heel is lifted. So you have the ball of the right foot back there. And let the hips drop a little bit. Again, that same little stretch in the front of the right leg. Now straighten the left leg. Feel the energy of the left big toe mount. Pull your heart forward, reach forward with the long spine, and then come to fold over that left leg. Hop the right foot in until you're able to have both feet flat on the floor. All mount of the left foot actively pushing forward. Pinky edge of the right foot actively grounding back. Flat back, inhale. Fold a little more deeply. Exhale, let's just hang out here for a breath or so. Present with sensation, there's no pain. If you need to soften that left knee a little bit, you can. But in my opinion, it's better to hop the right foot in or bring your hands up on something like a yoga block or book or something that gets the floor up higher. and then step that right foot forward. Sit into your chair. Tailbone drops, front of the pelvic bone lifts. Look up between your hands and stand tall, Mountain Pose. A little flowier, one little addition, and that'll be it. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, big fold forward. Fight along spine. Step the left foot back, release the left knee down. This time maybe you float your arms for crescent lunge. I'm gonna send my left arm forward and the right arm back and see if I can bring the ⁓ left forearm or bicep to the outside of the right thigh. My right hand I'm gonna bring to the sacrum and use that traction to twist. Maybe hands come to prayer. If this feels like too much, you can put the left hand on the floor. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee, coming to a high revolved crescent. Breathe. Release the twist. Hands frame the right foot. Down dog split, the right leg goes up and back. Maybe bend the knee and stack the hips. Maybe flip your dog. We don't do this a lot. Step the right foot all the way over. Wild thing, ball mound of the right foot is more less in line with the waist. Left leg is straight. You're trying to get the ball of the left foot down. Open up the heart. And then we step that right foot all the way to the top of the mat. Feel your core engaged. Let that do a lot of the work. High lunge. Straighten the right leg. Fold forward. Standing split. Left leg high to sky. Step the left foot to meet the right. Chair pose. Inhale, exhale, bow forward. Inhale, long spine. Step the right foot back, release the right knee down. Come to your crescent lunge. So we'll build this twist very slowly. It's a fairly athletic transition, so if you need to slow it down, you'll slow it down. I trust you. I'm gonna start by bringing the right arm forward, and then hooking the, ⁓ tricep outside the thigh. You can bring the forearm outside the thigh as well. And then starting with my left hand on my low back, tuck the right toes, lift the right knee. I'm trying to broaden my chest, draw my shoulder blades together. Hands can come to prayer, maybe. Or you have the right hand on the floor and you're using the floor. Take your breath, release your twists, hands come down to the floor. Down Dog Split the left leg, bend the knees, stack the hips. If you want to flip your dog, try to get that left foot as close to the waist as you can. Open up the heart. Nice big stretch. Now think ahead, engage your core, step the left foot all the way up and then come up to your high lunge Nice and grounded. Feel that left foot. Now as I shift forward, I can float the right one. Take your breath. Sit into your chair. Mountain Pose. We have time to flow it all one more time. Pretty well straight through. Inhale floats the arms. Exhale bow. Flat back. Left foot back. Left knee down. Crescent lunge. Prayer twist. Tuck those left toes, lift the left knee. Release the twist. Down Dog Split. The right leg. Maybe flip your dog. High lunge Standing split. Chair pose Fold forward, find a flat back, right foot back, right knee down. Crescent lunge, inhale. Take that prayer twist. Here comes Max, tuck the right toe, lift the right knee. Release the twist. Hands come to frame the left foot. Down dog split the left leg. Flip your dog if you're going to. Open up the heart. If you need to go slower, go slower. Come to that high lunge, step the left foot forward, rise all the way up. Look forward, shift forward, standing split. Chair pose, have a seat. Mountain pose. As always, pausing just for a moment as you see your day, your week unfolding before you, set your intention for how you will arrive, how you'll treat others. and how you'll treat yourself. The light that is in me bows to honors and is very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste.