Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Morning Yoga for a Stiff Back & Better 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: Maybe today you woke up feeling refreshed, restored, and ready for whatever the day might hold. All good for you. Hello, friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James. ⁓ and of course, be sure to practice till the end. We'll pull a card, set some intention for the day, and be sure to hit like and subscribe to help us out. can you tell I'm running out of things to say at the beginning? Come to your back. Let your feet flat on the floor, wrap your shoulder blades under. One of my favorite things when my back feels a little stiff, take the heels of your palms, press them into the hip creases. And like just think of it as traction. ⁓ to create more stiffness in your back body. I don't have low back stuff myself, but my middle back in the space between my shoulder blades, that tends to get really tight. And this feels like it's just decompressing my whole spine. Nice deep breath here. Inhale. Exhale, go a little further. Releasing that, keep the feet flat on the floor. Curl your spine up off the mat, coming to a bridge pose. Give the glutes a little squeeze. Really walk the shoulder under. So really rep under so that you feel the Shoulder blade supporting the heart from behind and then firm the feet. Give the glutes a little bit of a squeeze. Inhale. Exhale lower down one vertebrae at a time. Really feel like you have to paste each and every leg onto the mat. When you get to those sticky spots, you might take a little extra time. Cocoon in your knees to your forehead and your forehead to your knees. Actively round the back. Again, think about stretching through those tight spots and then keep the right knee with you. Extend the left foot forward like bicycle. Inhale, exhale, slowly switch. Inhale. Exhale, slowly switch. Keep that right knee. Rock yourself all the way up to sit and step the right foot over the left leg. I'm gonna keep my left leg long, my left foot flexed. Feel your sits bones. Float the left arm up. And then reach it forward and wrap it around the right knee. Then bring the right hand nice and close behind. Sit up tall. Wrap the left shoulder blade under. Lengthen your spine as you inhale. Go a little further in your twist on the exhale. Then coming back to center, a little counter-twist over to the left. That right knee fall open so you're in a figure four. Step the left foot in, ground down in the left heel, lift the hips. Take a breath. Inhale. Exhale lower down. Send your hips a little bit further back than they were. Float the feet, both pose. Look out beyond your toes, maybe point them, cross your ankles. Wrap everything in, rock forward, come to a plank position, top of a push-up. Inhale. Exhale. Lower your knees. They'll land south of your hips. And then put your heart right in front of your thumbs. Knees, chest, chin. Baby cobra, press down in the belly, pull the heart forward. Tuck the toes. Downward facing dog. Pausing here. Pedal out your heels. Shake out your head. You think about finding length in your back body. ⁓ Biceps right alongside the ears. Take a breath. And then bring the right knee forward. Bring the left knee forward. Shift around. Sitting up tall, reach your arms forward, roll down one vertebrae at a time. We'll do all of that again. Firm the palms into the hip creases, hip creases deepening is that space, hip flexors also is the more anatomical term. Feel that space created. Inhale. Exhale. Go further. ⁓ I'll just stay here all day. Release that. Firm the feet. Curl your spine up off the mat, one vertebrae at time, peeling it up, lifting it high. Again, interlace fingers. And I don't know if you can see this, but this is what I see a lot in bridge. Really rep under repose knuckles. So you get a nice heart opening. Inhale. Exhale, lower down, release hands one vertebrae at a time. And then cocoon it all in. Round the back body. Keep the left knee, extend the right foot forward. Inhale. Exhale, slowly switch, activating the abdominals a little bit. Inhale. Exhale, switch. Keep hugging the left knee. Rock yourself all the way up. And then adjust what you need to adjust. Step the left foot over the right thigh. Feel your Sitz bones. Feel the firmness of the left foot. Float the right arm up. Really lengthen and then reach it forward and wrap it around. And then bring that left hand behind. Look back over your left shoulder. Get taller. Inhale. Exhale. Wrap the right shoulder blade under. Deepen your twist. Feels really nice. Inhale. Exhale. And coming back to center, allowing that left knee to open out into a figure four. Step the right foot in, hands right under the shoulders, lift up those hips. So it's a figure four reverse table or alter. You can keep the chin tucked or let the head fall back. Take a breath. Lower down again, send the hips a little further back. So now you float the feet, bow pose, you can cross the shins, rock forward and you have space to step back to plank. Inhale. Exhale, knees, chest and chin. Cobra pose. Downward facing dog. Take a breath, a little different this time. Lift your right leg high to sky. Inhale. Exhale. Step that right foot all the way forward. Spiral the left heel down. Come up to warrior two. Right thigh is rotating ⁓ clockwise. So you feel a wrapping under and you feel the pinky edges of both feet really active. Inhale. Exhale, inhale, straighten the right leg. Exhale, triangle pose, right arm forward, forward, and eventually down. Right hand lands where it wants to land. It's early, so don't feel like you have to reach for the foot or the shin even. If you're way up high, that's fine. The alignment is more important than where your hand is. Look up. Exhale, warrior two. And then cartwheel your left hand down beside your right foot. Low revolved lunge. Look up at that right hand. Stay here or side plank. Step the right foot back. Little oblique activation. Now reach that right arm forward alongside the ear. Lift your hips higher. And then bring the right hand down. Inhale. Exhale, lower knees just chin. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Notice I don't do a ton of chaturangas first thing in the morning. It's because my back is waking up so much. And it just feels nice to take knees chest, but always up to you. Down dog, split the left leg. Reach it up and back. Inhale. Exhale, step that left foot forward. Warrior to rise up. Left eye turning counterclockwise. Pinky edges of both feet active. Also fingertips. Take a breath. Straighten the left leg. Inhale. Right hip back, left arm forward, forward, and then down. Right arm to the ceiling. Look up at that right hand. So it's an open twist. Your rib cages wanting to turn to the sky. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. And then cartwheel the right hand down beside the left foot. Low revolve lunge. Feel the energy of that right palm. Keep the energy in those right fingertips. Float that left foot back. Lots of control. If you need to, you can set the right knee down on the floor. Lift your hips high. Reach the left arm forward as you lift them higher. And then sweep it down. Blank position. Inhale. Exhale. Knees just. Inhale, cobra. Exhale, downward facing dog. Take a breath. Take two. Down dog split the right leg. Big step forward. Runners lunge. Car wheel up warrior two. Straighten the right leg. Inhale. Maybe half moon pose. Exhale. Maybe triangle again. Take your breath. Now one big transition. Left hand comes down, right arm goes up, side plank. Inhale. Exhale. Take your flow. I will take Chaturanga this time. Hover facing. Downward facing dog. So just a couple of poses in there, really. But get there how you need to get there. Down dog, split the left leg. Big step forward. Cartwheel up. Warrior two. Straighten the left leg. Maybe triangle pose. Maybe half moon pose. Whichever one you chose. It's a big transition next. Bend that left knee. Set the right hand down. When the right foot reaches the mat, the left foot floats back. Then left sweep that left arm over. Take your vinyasa. Breathe. Bend your knees, send your hips back, look forward. We're coming to sit, so I'm gonna separate my hands, see if I can float to my seat. Maybe that's crazy. Taking a moment here to ground just to look for a little inspiration. Set some intention for the day together. See what it is that may be. We could all use more of today. Let's see this one. Shape is dancers, pose, self-mastery. Directed attention generates energy, potency, and fulfillment. We've had this card before, but it's hitting me different today, differently today. Directed attention generates energy, potency, and fulfillment. Directed attention. Choosing deliberately where to place your attention. We can work very hard at a million things. One of my acting teachers always said, multitasking is a lie. You cannot do, no one can do more than one thing at the same time. You can switch quickly between things. The mind is incredible. However, if you direct your attention on purpose to just one thing, even for five minutes, ten minutes, that might be meditation, it might be the sound of a bird outside, it might be something you're writing or working on. Directed attention is what leads to growth. Scattered attention. Leads to scatteredness. I hope that's helpful. I'm gonna try directing my attention a bit today. Let me know how it goes for you. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for spending this part of it with me. The light that is in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you. Thank you for spending this time. Have a great day. And please be sure to like and subscribe and leave comments and send emails. I love hearing from you. It's July. We're rolling through the summer. We're growing together. Great day.