Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10-Minute Morning Yoga for Balance, Backbends & Focus
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 just 10 minutes, we'll ground, open, assess, and be ready for whatever the day holds. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James, and of course, practice until the end because we'll draw a card and set some intention for the day. Coming to mountain pose at the top of your mat. Step your feet together if that's comfortable. Start to energize your feet, give your shoulders a nice shrug up. ⁓ down and now floats the arms overhead. Exhale, bow forward. Long spine. Fold deeply. Root down, rise up, inhaling. Exhale, mountain pose. Let's do that again. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, peel your belly down onto your thighs. Now press down, rise up, inhaling. One more time exactly like that. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bow, lead with your heart. Find your flat back. And then again, with a micro bend in your knees, think about pushing your belly into your thighs. Pause here, shake out your head. Planting your palms beside your feet, step your left foot back, release your left knee down. Untuck the left toes and give that left knee a little lift so that it's light on the mat and then float the arms. Biceps come alongside the ears. Lift the heart from the feet, inhaling. Exhale, release the left hand to the floor, foot the right arm up to the ceiling. Nice long, strong line from wrist to wrist. Reach the right hand back, maybe it finds the left foot, maybe not. If you comfortably have the left foot, hold the instep of it like I'm doing now, and then turn yourself to point forward. maybe reach the left hand back and hold the foot as well. If you have all this, kick that foot away from you to lift your heart. So you're getting a nice quad stretch here. Now, if this all seems crazy, you can just stay in the twist for a second longer. Release all of that and bring your hands down to frame that right foot. Tuck the left toes and lift the left knee. Step back to a downward facing dog. Inhale, roll forward to plank. And then just right back to down dog on your exhale, push the floor forward and away. Inhale, roll forward, articulate your spine. Exhale up and back down dog. One more time, inhale, roll forward. This time release the right knee onto the floor. Extend the right arm forward, flip the left foot back. Exhale knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen. Now set the right hand on the floor. Left foot steps back, right leg goes high to sky, down dog split. Really think about stretching your right leg, reaching up and back. Inhale, exhale, step the right foot all the way forward. Step the left foot to meet the right. Find your flat back. Bow deeply. Press down, rise up, inhale. and pause, exhale. We'll do that on the other side. And now, close the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Step the right foot back, release the right knee down. Uncuck the right toes and then press down on the top of the right foot. Just pick up the right knee for a second and set it down really lightly. Now float the arms. Biceps come alongside the ears. Energize those fingertips, energize your feet. Inhale. Exhale brings the right hand down to the floor. Again, really think about making a strong, straight line from wrist to wrist. Look up at your left hand. So you might stay right here. You might reach the left arm back. That takes you a little deeper. You might bend the right knee and see if you find the right foot in your left hand. Great place to stay if this already feels like it has a decent amount of intensity. Or walk that left hand to the instep of the right foot. Flip the right arm up. and swim it behind. Now press that foot away from you. So you're finding your back bend, using that right foot as a tool. Inhale. Exhale, release all of that. Set the hands down, tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, and then step back to a downward facing dog. Inhale to plank. Exhale, down dog. Inhale, plank, roll forward. Exhale, down dog, hips high to sky. This time, roll forward, release the left knee down onto the mat. Extend the left arm forward, float the right foot back. Exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen. Set the left hand down. Set the ball of the right foot down. Down dog, split the left leg, really stretch. Really feel like the strength of that leg is pulling you back. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot all the way forward. Step the right foot to meet. Inhale, flat back. Exhale, bow. Root down, rise up. Inhale. Exhale, Mountain Pose. We'll add on a little bit. Inhale, flex the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Set the left foot back, release the left knee down. Set up your crescent lunge, float the arms. Inhale. Exhale, the left hand comes down. Maybe the right arm reaches back. Finding the instep of that right foot. Maybe the left arm floats up. Maybe it swims behind. Open the heart, press the foot back. Inhale. Exhale, step that left foot back, hands frame the right foot, this time just right to your down dog, split with the right leg. Inhale, exhale, step the right foot all the way forward. Energize your arms forward by your ears. Press down into the ball mound of the right foot, warrior three. Inhale, exhale, Warrior II, step back. Peaceful Warrior. Extended side angle pose. Left bicep alongside the left ear. Spiral the left hand down and then step the left foot forward. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, bow. Press down, rise up, inhaling. Mountain pose, exhaling. Do the other side. Inhale, flex the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Step the right foot back. Release the right knee down. Set up your crescent line, inhaling. Exhale, bring the right hand down, left arm up. Swim the right hand back, maybe capture the instep of the left foot. Or sorry, left hand captures the instep of the right foot. And then float that right arm up. Maybe see if you can spiral it back, opening up the chest. Find your back bend. Inhale. Exhale, release that. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, and then down dog, split the left leg. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot forward. Extend your arms forward by your ears. Long line up the back of your body, so now press down into the left foot. The right foot floats, Warrior III. Inhale. Exhale, Warrior II. Deep end of that left knee. Flip the left palm, Peaceful Warrior. Cartwheel hands down to frame the left foot. I lied. Peaceful warrior. This is what happens, mistakes, it's life. Extended side angle pose. Left arm goes forward. Right arm travels forward. Right bicep right ear. Inhale. Exhale, bring that right hand down. Now step the right foot forward. Inhale, flat back. Exhale, bow deeply. Inhale, root down, rise up. Exhale, Mountain Pose. Close your eyes. Maybe put a hand on your heart and one on your stomach. Take a breath while I grab our cards. taking this moment to feel how you feel after all of that. It was short, but fairly athletic. And let's just see maybe what a good focus for our day is. I'll pick this one. The pose on the card is gate pose. Know your heart knows. The true self speaks through the heart. Pay attention and act on its guidance. Within each of us, there is a guide, a deep inner voice, the still small voice you might say. that knows, that has a deeper wisdom than our minds could possibly hold. So as we pause here before beginning the day. Perhaps a part of your intention is to let that deeper knowing lead. The light that is in me bows to honors and is so grateful for the light, for the knowing that is in you. Namaste. As always, thank you so much for spending this time with me. Have a great, heartful day and be sure to like and subscribe and leave comments. I love hearing from you. And of course, it also helps for folks to find us here on YouTube. Thank you so much. Namaste.