Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Wake Up and Get Moving | Morning Yoga & Stepping Forward with Conviction
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: If you're feeling up, but not quite “at 'em,” ten minutes of yoga might be just the thing. Hello friends. Welcome to your daily flow ten minute mornings practice. My name is James. Be sure to practice 'til the end. We'll pull a card. We'll set some intention together for the day. And of course, like and subscribe and do all the YouTube things. Come to any comfortable seat to start. I'm gonna sit in hero's pose. remember, hero's pose, you're sitting between your heels. You can sit cross-legged. That's just fine. We're not gonna be here for all that long. Press your palms into your thighs or your knees. Feel that sense of lengthening up from your spine. Inhale. Exhale. Float your arms overhead. Inhaling. Really feel like you're lengthening through your waist. So my shoulders are coming up, but I'm not pushing them up. I'm thinking about lifting through my ribs, and the shoulders just kind of rise with that. Now look up between your hands, energize your fingertips. Inhale. Take a twist to your right. Left elbow, left hand comes to the outside of the right thigh or knee. Right hand nice and close behind you. Sit up tall. Inhale. Exhale, twist a little more deeply. Now keep your left hand as it is, float the right arm up, and then cross the right arm over the left. And tuck your chin round your shoulders. So I'm holding on to my shins in this case and pulling back, opening up my back body. It's a really nice stretch. Inhale. Exhale. And then keeping your elbows crossed as you sit up. Eagle wrap your arms. If that's uncomfortable for you, you can have half eagle wrap— the backs of your hands together— you can hold opposite elbows instead. Now suction together in those elbow creases, lift your elbows high. Inhale. Exhale, fold forward. Untangle your arms, float the hands overhead, and then swim your fingertips back behind you. Tent your fingertips, lift your heart. If you are sitting like I am, then you can also lift your hips. Press down on the shins, the tops of the feet. Maybe the head falls back. If you're seated cross-legged, just lift your heart. It's enough. Inhale. Exhale, lower down. Float your arms overhead. Inhaling. Twist to your left. Right hand crosses over, left hand behind. Really feel that length of your spine. Like in your mind's eye, you can imagine separation between each vertebra. And then as you wrap that right shoulder blade under, deepen your twist. Like you're wringing out your spine. Inhale. Exhale. Keeping the right hand as it is, float the left arm up. And then cross the left over the right, round your back like cat. And then I'm pushing forward with my legs and pulling back with my back. So like there's a lot of resistance happening. I don't know if you can tell that by looking, but breathe into your back body. Inhale. Exhale. Keeping elbows crossed, sitting up, eagle wrapping, or hands to opposite shoulders or any other variation. Lift those, suction those elbow creases together, lift them high. Look up, inhale. Exhale a little bow forward. Untangle the arms, flip them overhead. Then tent your fingertips behind your back. Press down on the shins, lift your hips. Open up the front body. Inhale. Exhale lower. And then come to all fours. Just shift your weight forward. Untangle your legs if they're tangled. And just to get a little circulation back into the knees, step the left foot back, give it a little saw out. Feel stretch in the back of the knee. I'm looking for that. And then step the right foot back, do the same thing. We feel like you're opening up the back of the leg, which you are. And then coming back, bringing your shoulders a little forward of your wrist, wrap your elbows under, step back to a plank position, and then a downward-facing dog. Adjust your feet if they need it. Bending your knees, pulling your heart back, energize your fingertips, your knuckles. Take your dog for a little walk if you want. And then walk yourself forward one footprint at a time. Separate your feet quite a lot. And then come down to a malasana squat. Grounding down in your heels. If your heels are not on the floor, sit up on something or don't come as low. But in this one, it really you need that anchor. And then elbows support the thighs, but you're not forcing anything out. Lift up through that pelvic floor. Inhale. Exhale, reach forward on an inhale and then release your butt down onto the floor. Boat pose. Y'all know I love that one. If you were on a block, you just had to set the block aside. And then lower all the way down. Five, four, three, two, one. Release. Plant your feet under your knees. So heels are under the knees. Ground down, lift up. We're not gonna be here for long. Interlace your fingers, walk your shoulder blades together. Soften the glutes just enough that you feel the thigh start to activate more. Inhale. Exhale lower down. And cocoon in knees to forehead, forehead to knees. Cross your shins, grab the outsides of your feet, rock and roll, forward and back. So see if you can get enough momentum that you can roll all the way back to your quadruped. And then downward facing dog. Walk your feet forward one more time. And this time roll yourself up to stand one vertebra at a time. Head and shoulders come up last. And as you come to stand, let's talk a little bit about chaturanga. Bring your elbows into your ribcage and flex your palms. So you're looking for 90 degrees, your shoulders or sorry, your elbows right under your shoulders, and then Your forearm is running perpendic or parallel to the floor, and then you're flexing your palms really actively. So this is chaturanga. Usually we don't do this. So today we're gonna break it down just a little bit because I want to make sure we're taking care of those elbows. Feel your feet firmly rooted. Inhale, float the arms. Exhale, step, float, fold forward, apologies. Inhale, look forward. Now step back to your plank. Your shoulders are forward of your wrists in this first round, lower just your knees. And then start to pull your heart forward. Bend your elbows in half. Try to get your bicep parallel to the floor and your forearm perpendicular to it. Now release the rest of the way down. Take a cobra pose. Notice my hands are by my low ribs. Look up. Now if you tuck your toes and push away, that should be really your perfect down dog length. Inhale Exhale. Lift your right leg high to sky down dog split. And then bring the right foot between the hands. Big step. Come all the way up. High lunge. Inhale. Exhale. Open out to a warrior two. Inhale. Let's take a goddess squat. Set up. Heels track in, toes track out, cactus the elbows, bend the knees, press the thighs out, pull the shoulder blades together. Inhale and exhale. Inhale, rise, exhale, triangle pose, pivot that right foot. Look up at your left thumb. Inhale. Exhale, warrior one. Inhale, stay. Exhale, bring your hands to frame the right foot. Step the left foot forward. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, bow. Inhale, reverse, rise up. Inhale. Exhale, mountain pose. We'll do that again. This time I'm gonna keep my knees off the floor as we lower. You don't have to. You can lower them down if you want. Float the arms. Inhale. Exhale, bow. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, step back to your plank position, top of a push-up. Wrap those elbows under. Now pull your heart forward. My legs are really engaged. Lower. Pause. Roll over your toes. Either cobra or up dog. How do you do? Inhale. Exhale. Downward facing dog. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale. Down dog. Split the left leg. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot all the way between the hands. Come up to that high lunge. Wrap the shoulder blades under, look up, inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Set up that goddess stance. So float up, toes track out, heels track in, cactus the elbows, bend the knees deeply. Take a full round of breath. Inhale. Exhale, go deeper. Inhale, rise up. Send those left toes forward. Triangle pose. The right thumb, lean back, inhale, exhale, warrior two. one. Forgot that's what we did, right? Warrior one. Look up. Inhale. Exhale. Bring your hands down. Step the right foot forward. Fold deeply. And then heel toe your feet apart. Come back to your malasana. Ground down in the heels. Lift up through the base. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale, have a seat. You can send your hands back if you want. You can come to lie down, you can take any comfortable seat. Let's see if we can find a little inspiration, a little reflection to help start the day. So the pose is Warrior One. Unplug. Break free and think for yourself. I actually love that this is Warrior One. There is a whole mythology around these postures and why they have the names that they have and Virajasana, like I've I've read that legend, but I also have my own. And my story with Warrior One is that this is a warrior. This is somebody who goes into battle heart first, leading with the strength of their convictions, knowing who they are, what they're here for, and stepping boldly forward heart first. I love that image personally. Whereas Warrior Three is leading with her head. Warrior Two Is sneaking in from the side. That's my own mythology. But certainly Warrior One is breaking free, is thinking for themselves. They're not here because someone prescribed it, because someone said it would be a nice idea if you did yoga. would be a good idea if you came to this meeting today. I am requiring you to show up for I don't know, something you don't like showing up for. No. This is you. This is you stepping into a situation, even one that may be uncomfortable, even one that you may not love, knowing exactly who you are, knowing exactly what you bring to the table, and offering it wholly and freely and with conviction. It doesn't mean you'll always win. But if you've been honest with yourself and with others, you can't lose. The light that is in me bows to honors and is very grateful for the light, for the warrior that is in you. Namaste. Thank you so much for spending this time with me on yourself. Please be sure to like and subscribe and share with friends and leave comments and all those things. It really makes my day. a couple of you comment frequently and I love it. I love it. makes it start to feel like a conversation and not just me talking at my iPhone at eight o'clock in the morning. So keep them coming and have a great day. 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.