Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Stay Calm Under Pressure | 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, sit with what's uncomfortable and make it look easy. Hello friends. Good morning. Welcome to this daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. Come to stand at the top of your mat or near the top of your mat. You might give yourself a little space. Step your feet together if that feels comfortable in your body. Otherwise hip width is just fine. Firm your feet down. all your shoulders back, rotate from the bicep, open the arms out. And when you do that, feel how it opens the shoulders, it opens the chest, it helps the back body sort of integrate. Take a deep inhale. And exhale. Inhale, float your hands overhead. Exhale, sweep the arms wide, take them to your side. Just do that again. Inhale, float the arms up. Get longer. Exhale, take them wide. Once more, we'll move on. Exhale, take the arms behind you, interlace the fingers. Press the knuckles down, lift the chest. Pardon me, soften the knees just a little bit. Send your hips back and your heart forward. Really feel like you're reaching the arms back, pulling the. Hold over your legs as you lengthen them. Knuckles scrape the ceiling. Bend the knees, look forward, inhale. Exhale, lengthen, let the knuckles reach up, opening up the shoulders. Inhale. Long spine. This time, exhale, we're gonna stay here just for a breath or two. Feel like those knuckles are reaching and see if you can get the heels of the palms together. If they're really wide, see if you can draw them at least closer together. Now go ahead and release those hands. Maybe hold opposite elbows. Give yourself a little pause here. And then go ahead, take your hands, set your fingertips on the floor, pull your heart forward. Bend your knees a lot. Float the arms for a chair pose. Everybody's favorite part of yoga class is when the instructor has you sit in chair for five or 10 breaths. Today's no exception, so feel the feet rooting down, feel the tailbone dropping, front of the pelvis lifting. Maybe look up between your hands. Can you relax your shoulders, but engage and lengthen your waist so you feel your abdominals engage. Relax your gaze, your eyes, your drisdy. Lift your heart. And then sweep the arms back, lengthen the legs. Divers pose. Find a flat back. You might start to shift into the balls of the feet and lift the heels. If that's too much, just keep the heels on the floor. Now sit into your chair. Can you go a little deeper this time? Exhale, swim the arms back. Divers pose. chair. Go deeper if you can. Exhale, this time fold your hands, fold down, bring your hands to the mat. Step back to a plank position, top of a push-up, wrap your elbows under still, slight external rotation of the hands. Inhale, exhale, lower your knees and then send your hips back to your heels. Keep the toes tucked but like child's pose. Inhale, come to plank. Exhale to down dog. Inhale, roll forward to plank. Lower the knees, hips to heels. Just warming up the spine. Inhale, forward, plank. Exhale, down dog. This time separate your feet in down dog about as wide as your hips pedal out your heels. We're asked to hold down dog a lot because this is meant to feel restful. If it doesn't, can always opt for child's pose if you're in a yoga class. if you can for right now, see if you can feel a lifting up of the kneecaps, a drawing back of the legs. Inhale, roll yourself forward to plank lower, just the right knee onto the floor. Extend the right arm forward, flip the left foot back, inhale. Exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen, but set that right hand down, and step the left foot outside the left hand. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee for a high lizard lunge. Pull the heart forward. And then float the left arm forward and up. And back, make a big circle. And then again, sweep that left arm forward and up. And back, now reverse direction, bring it up and forward and down. Step the right foot outside the right hand, malasana squat. Feel the heels grounded. If your heels aren't grounded, sit up on something or don't go as low. So if you're up on the balls of your feet, see if you can ground down and then really lift up through that pelvic floor. Your elbows are not supporting you here. Your legs are supporting you, but the elbows help guide the thighs out. Hands can come to prayer. Lift the heart. And then set the hands down. Lift the hips. Heel toe your feet together. Bend the knees, chair pose. Wrap those elbows under, tuck the tailbone, lift the heart. There's a back bend here. It's a lot like down dog. Actually, just the knees are more bent than they are in down dog. Inhale, exhale, diver's pose just one time. Inhale the chair. Exhale, bow. Step back to plank, inhale. Exhale, lower the knees, send the hips to the heels. Inhale, roll forward to plank, and then to downward facing dog. Separate the feet about as wide as the hips. See if you can find energy in the fingertips. You can wrap those elbows under still. You can feel the legs starting to fire up a little bit. Breathe. Come forward to plank, release the left knee down onto the mat. Extend the left arm forward, float the right foot back, inhale. Exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, set that left hand down, step the right foot outside the right hand, tuck the left toes and lift the left knee. High lizard lunge. Now sweep that right arm forward and up, so you're in a twist. And then back. And down. I'm following my hand with my eyes. And then we reverse, send it back and up and forward, both hands on the floor. Step the left foot outside the left hand, sink the hips for your malasana squat. Lift up through that pelvic floor. Lift the heart. Firm the feet. Again, the legs are doing the work. My elbows are just sort of supporting it. Take a breath. Boat pose, release your hips down, reach your arms forward, float the feet. Legs can be straight or bent, but if you notice your low back rounding, then just bring your fingertips either to the mat or to the backs of the thighs so you can lengthen out of the low back. Inhale. Cross the shins, shift your weight forward, step back to a plank. Inhale. This time lower your knees, your chest and your chin. Cobra pose. Downward dog. We'll do a very quick little flow here. It'll borrow from that, but it'll also be different. So just follow along. Inhale to plank, lower the right knee. Exhale. Reach the right arm forward, left leg back, inhale. Exhale, knee to elbow. This time lengthen. Set the right hand down, set the ball of the left foot down, down dog split the right leg. Get nice and long, step the right foot outside the right hand, float the right arm up. Set the hand down, step the left foot forward. Malasana, directly into boat. Calm, make it look easy. Cross the ankles, shift forward, hands to the floor maybe. Float back to a Chaturanga or step back to a plank. Do what you need to do. Nice and long. Inhale, roll forward to plank, lower the left knee down, extend the left arm forward, float the right foot. Knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, sets the left hand down and the ball of the right foot, down dog, split the left leg up. Left foot outside the left hand. Load that left arm up, take your twist. Set the hand down, step the right foot forward, malasana to boat. Lower all the way down, five, four, three, hover, hover, hover, Release. Sit. pausing as we usually do, just for a moment to take this opportunity to see your den fall before you. Can you make it look easy? Even if a transition is difficult, even if you're stuck in something that's a little sticky, I bet you can. The light that is in me bows to honors and is so grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste.