Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Wake Up Slowly: Grounding 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. James: If like me, you had a hard time waking up this morning, a hard time moving those limbs, you've come to the right place. Hello, friends, welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James. Practice till the end because we'll draw a card from our Oracle deck, set it some intention for the day, and ⁓ of course be sure to hit like and subscribe on your way out. Come to all fours. Setting up your quadruped, ten fingers spread wide, slight external rotation, so the index fingers point just a little outside of 12 o'clock. And then big external rotation of those biceps. Pull your heart forward, tuck your toes for your cow. Exhale, press down into the tops of the feet, push the floor away round the spine. So as you start to move and breathe, continue on your own. As you start to move and breathe, really see if you can direct your attention to your points of contact with the mat. Every shape, no matter how simple, no matter how advanced, starts with that connection. So today, this morning, I thought we'd put a little extra attention. on the finger pads, on the toe pads, on the balls of the feet, all of that stuff. Come back to your neutral spine. Step your left foot straight back and saw out the back of that left ⁓ calf a little bit. Feel the pressing forward and back. And then extend the right arm forward, foot the left foot back. Now where are you in contact with the mat? The left palm, the right shin. Look forward, inhale. Even though Some parts are moving. Pay attention to the parts that aren't. Energize down into the mat. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, knee to elbow. Again, inhale, lengthen. Excel need to elbow. Lengthen again, set the right hand down, and then step the left foot outside the left hand. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee so you're in a lizard lunge. Again, start with the mat. Left foot, ball of right foot, balls of both feet really. And those finger pads. Pull your heart forward, lengthen, take a breath, and then walk to a wide-legged forward fold along the right side of your mat. You may have to adjust your feet a little bit, find a long spine, and then bow deeply. Whatever deeply means to you at this point of the morning. Lengthen again. And this time stay long. Bring your hands to your waist. Rise up with a long flat back. Pivot the left foot. Keep that left leg straight. Big external rotation. We're coming to triangle pose in the right hip back and the left hand forward. And then bring your attention back to the mat. Where do you feel the energy of your right foot? Where do you feel the energy of your left foot? That wrapping under the left thigh, but energizing down into the ball mound of that left foot. Look up, maybe float the right arm. Take a Coming to crescent lunge Anjinaasana. So pivot yourself forward. You can bring your hands down to the mat, release the right knee, untuck the right toes. A little pressing down in the top of the right foot takes pressure off the left knee. And then maybe you float your arms, or maybe you bring them on top of the left thigh. Left heel, kicking the floor forward and away. Let the hips sink by energizing into the mat. Everything pressing down firmly. And then as you press down firmly, feel that energy rise up. Inhale. Exhale, hands come to frame the left foot, tuck the right toes and step back to downward facing dog. Inhale, roll forward to plank. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Go propose, press down in the abdomen, pull the heart forward. Downward facing dog. Automugasan, let's talk about our down dog. Still those ten fingers spread wide. Still that external rotation of the bicep. Feel what that does in the shoulder space. Attention now to the mat. Finger pads. Knuckles. Lift the wrist. So you're actually feeling a sense of lifting up by shifting the weight into the knuckles. Feel your weight pulling back towards your heels. If your heels aren't on the floor, you can bend your knees. That's just fine. Or give a little extra stretch to the backs of the legs. Roll yourself forward to plank. This time lower the left knee onto the floor. So the right leg is long. Give it a little saw out. Feel the ball of the right foot. Notice where you feel that stretch. It's really pleasant. And then ⁓ float the right foot and extend the left arm forward. Now what is your right hand doing? What is the left leg doing? Feel those deep connections. As I press down, I feel my core engage. Inhale. Exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale. The moving parts move. Your attention is on the non-moving parts, on the stable parts. One more time, lengthen. Knee to elbow. Lengthen, set that left hand down, step the right foot outside the right hand, noodle the left knee back. I'm untucking the left toes. I think that's a little optional actually. You can decide what feels better in your left foot. Now pull the heart forward, let the hips sink, firm the right foot down. Ball mound of the right foot, firmly rooted, and hugging that right shin in. Breathe. Now tuck the left toes, lift the left knee, walk yourself to your wide-legged forward fold, realign the feet, because they're out of whack from lizard. Get a long spine and then fold deeply. Outer edges of the feet, what are they doing? I'm gonna loop my piece fingers around my big toes and see if I can't make a 90-degree angle. That seems like too much, it absolutely is. So, especially first thing in the morning. Hello. So you can walk your hands back. Breathe. Feel that tailbone dropping down as you lift up through the hips. Release the hands. Find your flat back. Hands underneath the face. Engage your legs. Press down the outer edges of the feet. That will engage the legs. Hands to the waist. That will engage the core. Rise with a flat back. Pivot that right foot. So setting up here my nice long stride for triangle. Left hip goes back, right arm goes forward and forward and forward. And it's the forward that makes the shape happen. Now, feet, right foot, ball mount, which travels up to the energy of the right thigh, wrapping under. Left foot. Pinky edge. Take your breath. And now we come down for our crescent lunge. Rebend the right knee. Hands come to frame the left, the right foot. Untuck the left toes, give a little lift to that left knee to take pressure off. Come to your crescent lunge, Anjinaasana. Energy in the feet, right heel, pushing the floor forward and away. Top of the left foot, firmly rooted. Everything rises from that. You can feel that little mulabandha root lock. Inhale. Exhale, hands come to frame the right foot. Tuck the left toe. Step back to down dog. Find your down dog. Inhaling. And exhaling. Roll forward to plank, attention under the finger pads, the balls of the feet, lower knees, chest and chin. Cobra pose. Again, the abdomen is pushing down. It's a connection to the mat. Cultivate that downward facing dog. ⁓ a couple of breaths here. Inhale. And exhale. Inhale, roll forward to plank, lower the right knee onto the mat. Exhale. Inhale, lengthen, reach the right arm forward, exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen, set the right hand down, step the left foot forward, tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, pull the heart forward on inhale. Exhale, walk yourself to wide-legged forward, fold, long spine inhale, bow deeply, exhale, press down, rise all the way up, inhale, exhale, warrior two this time. Inhale, lengthen the left leg. Exhale, triangle pose. Look up. We're coming to high lunge. So keep that ⁓ back knee lifted. There's a sense of pressing back into the ball mound of the right foot and an engagement of the right quad doesn't mean locking the right knee. It can stay soft, but feel that stretch through the right thigh. Feel the four corners of the left foot, especially the left heel. Inhale. Exhale, hands come down to frame the left foot. Step back to your plank, inhaling. Exhale, knees, chest and chin. Slightly higher cobra. Or facing dog. Feel the floor. Roll yourself forward to plank. Lower the left knee down. Extend the left arm forward. Float the right foot back. Inhale. Exhale, knee to elbow. Inhale, lengthen. Set the left hand down. Step the right foot outside the right hand. Find your lizard. Lift the back knee. Pull the heart forward. And then walk yourself to your wide-legged forward fold. Long spine. Bow deeply. Rise up. Warrior two. Pivot that left foot. Straighten the left leg. Inhale. Triangle pose. Exhale. Look up, maybe. Now by anchoring into your feet, the balance is much easier in this transition. You're just peeling the back heel up and floating the arms. But everything stays firmly rooted. Inhale. Exhale, hands come down. Sit back to your plank. Take your vinyasa knee suggestion. Co repose. Downward dog. Release both knees onto the mat. Child's pose or just have a seat. And we'll draw our card. As you come into some form of stillness, whether it's child's pose or a comfortable seat, take a nice deep inhale and exhale. And let's see what comes up. You know what's funny? It's a fairly large deck. We've drawn a lot of cards over again. So let's see if this is a new one. ⁓ it is. Warrior one is the shape on the posture. Unplug, break free and think for yourself. Break free and think for yourself. So we hear unplug, we often think literally electronics, disconnecting, putting down the phones, stopping the scroll. But I'm very intrigued by break free and think for yourself. Manners are important. Being socially responsible matters. How you treat others matters. But Are you doing all of these things because it's what you're supposed to do? Or are you doing them because they come from a place of authentic, open, loving, grounded, rooted intention? The why matters. Don't get me wrong. Be nice to people, even when you're feeling. Yeah. Really, what happens today when you don't do the thing necessarily that's expected, but rather the thing that resonates? Let me know how it goes. The light that is in me bows to honors and is so very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you so much for spending this time. Please take a moment to like and subscribe, hit bell icons, leave comments. I really would love to know if there's something special you want to work on, whether it's something that challenges you in your yoga practice, in your daily life. ⁓ we might build our community together. I don't know. I love hearing from folks. Have a wonderful day. Namaste.