Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 200 Mornings Later | Warrior Flow, Skandasana & Showing Up
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: 200 mornings later, and the lessons are still the same. A few mindful minutes can make an entire difference for the day. Hello, friends, welcome to your Daily Flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James, and of course, be sure to practice until the end because we'll draw a card and set some intention together for the day, the week, and the month ahead. Come to all fours. Take a second to set up your quadruped. Really feel your 10 fingers spread and actively wrap those elbows under. Feel like you're gripping the mat with your fingertips. Pull the mat towards you. And then wrap those shoulder blades under. Lengthen. Lift. Inhale. Exhale, untuck the toes deeply round the spine. Feel like you're gently pushing the mat forward in the fingertips. Really tuck the tailbone. Really round the back. Inhale, lengthen. Can you find a stretch in your abdominals here? Exhale round. Can you feel a crunch? Again, inhale. Coming back to neutral, step back to your plank position, top of a push-up. Inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Cobra pose, press down the abdomen, pull the heart forward. Tuck the toes downward facing dog. Paddle out your heels, shake out your head, find your first down dog. You might even take some pelvic tilts, like just kind of scoop the belly and then lengthen. Just like cat and cow, but see if it makes a difference in your experience of your down dog. Take a breath. Step your right foot between your hands. Really spiral the left heel down and come up to a warrior one. So first, ⁓ Warrior one of the day, early practice, early in the practice. So feel like that right heel is active. And if your right knee's not bent as much as it might be when you're warmer, that's all right. Feel the pinky edge of the left foot. I'm just gonna keep my hands on my right thigh for now. Grab the shoulder blades, under lift the heart. Inhale. Exhale, open out to a warrior two. Again, I'm not gonna involve my arms just yet. Instead, my right hand is on my right thigh, giving a little external rotation. And then I still feel the pinky edge of that left foot. The shoulders. Look forward. Straighten the right leg, lift the ball of the right foot, bend the left knee for a skandasana. Again, I'm staying very high, just listening to what's happening in my legs. Take your breath, feel the stretch, and then bring both hands to frame that right foot. Step it back. Blank position. Inhale. Exhale, lower knees, chest and chin. Slightly higher cobra. And downward. Do that on the other side, of course, but first just take a second. Notice how your body feels, be present with any sensation. Wrap those shoulder blades, wrap those elbows, all the things, feel your feet on the floor. Let's tap the left foot all the way between your hands. Spiral the right heel down. Come up to your warrior one. But again, I'm gonna interlace fingers on top of that left thigh for now. And as I firm the left foot, especially the heel of the left foot, I feel the femur, the thigh bone plugging up into the hip socket. Lift the heart, look forward, inhale. And open out to your warrior two. So we rely a lot on the arms to do this stuff. And they're important. But setting up the alignment from the base, I think, is even more important. So feel that wrapping under the left thigh. Feel the firmness of the right pinky toe. Take your breath and then straighten the left leg, lift the ball of the left foot, bend the right knee for a nice, easy shalaskandasana, maybe right elbow onto right thigh. Just looking for stretch in the inside of the left thigh, looking for the length of the spine, feel that root lock, that mulabandha lifting up. Inhale. Then exhale, bring both hands to frame the left foot. Step back, take a breath. And then either knee's chest, or if you want to take a chaturanga. Roll over the toes, lift the heart, upward facing, or cobra, and then downward facing dog. Very simple flow, very simple sequence. Take a breath. Step your feet all the way forward. Find a long spine. Bow deeply, and then sit into a chair pose. Bend the knees quite a lot, float the arms, wrap the elbows under, look up, tuck the tailbone. Feel like you're squeezing your thighs together. So if your feet aren't touching, that's okay. But try to feel the firmness of your thighs spiraling towards one another. Inhale. Exhale, bow forward. Find a long spine. Step back to plank. Exhaling. Pause for an inhale. Exhale, knees, chest or chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing or cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale steps the right foot forward. Rise up. Now wrapping that left shoulder blade under. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, flying warrior, lift the ball of the right foot. Skandasana, bend the left knee. Look forward, bring hands to frame that right foot. Step back. Take your vinyasa, maybe three-point chattaranga. Lift the heart. Downward dog. Boldly step that left foot forward, rise up, warrior one. Take a breath or two here. Just find your feet. And then on your next exhale, open out, warrior two. Flying Warrior, lift the ball of the left foot. Skandasana, keep that right heel nice and anchored. Look forward, inhaling. Exhale, shift forward, hands frame the left foot. Step back plank. Lower halfway. Upward facing. Downward facing dog. Feel your breath, feel your feet, feel your fingertips. Inhale. Exhale, bend the knees, look forward, step or float. Top of mat. Long spine. Bow deeply. Roots to rise. Inhaling. Pose. Exhaling. Inhale the chair. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Step or float. Chaturanga. Upward facing. Downward facing dog. Boldly step the right foot forward. Rise up. Warrior one. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Flying warrior. Skandasana. Runners lunge, hands frame the right. Take your flow. Left foot forward, rear one, inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale flying. Exhale, skandhasana. Inhale. Exhale, runners lunge. Float the left foot. Take your vinyasa. Make your way to your down. Inhale, exhale, bend the knees, get the hips nice and high. Look forward, step or float. Top of mat, flat back, bow deeply. Sit into your chair, and then keep bending the knees. Lift the heels. Bend the knees. Lift the heels. Look forward. Separate the knees. Bow pose. Take your breath. Lower down five. Four, three, two, one. Step the feet in. Bridge pose. Wrap the shoulder blades under. Curl the spine off the mat. One vertebrae at a time. Interlace fingers underneath you. Actively walk the shoulder blades together. Open the heart. Inhale. Exhale lower down. Knees to forehead, forehead to knees. Really engage the core, so counter that back bend. And then rock yourself up to sit. Any comfortable seat. Come back to your breath. Observe your temperature. As I give the deck a little shuffle. Asking for whatever we need today. Maybe let your eyes close. Is Warrior Three, Eternal Existence? The body is temporary, but the true self is everlasting. That part of you, that is you, that observer part, the part that is able to observe your thoughts and your breath. That's you. And that you never goes away. None of us can say with absolute authority what happens when this body, when this skin suit decides it's time to leave. But That deeper self, that truest self, we know is not destroyed. No matter can be destroyed. It rejoins the ocean, the field, the light, the divine. Which it came. Light that is in me bows to honors and is so very grateful for the eternal light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you for joining me for this 200th 10 minute mornings video. Please be sure to like and subscribe, hit bell icons, and leave comments. I really would love to hear from you. Know if there's anything special you'd like to work on, or just what your experience is. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for spending this part of it with me. Here's to 200 more.