Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Find Your Footing: Morning Yoga for Balance and Care
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: All you need is 10 minutes of nice, steady, grounded yoga to make all the difference in your day. Hello friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. This is Max. Why don't we start on all fours? The little cat and cow, pull your heart forward. So it's been a little while since I've actually talked about cat and cow. So find lift up the heel of your palm, find the spread of your fingers, and really think about pressing down into your knuckles, pull your heart forward, lengthen your spine, wrap your elbows under. Inhale. And then untuck the toes and deeply round the spine. I feel like I'm pushing the floor away and That sense of keep going, move with your own breath. That sense of the fingers being really flat creates a little suction cup in the palm. I feel the index knuckle, the base of each finger, especially firmly rooted, as well as the fingertips. But the space in between counts too. So when you find those flat fingers, it gives you a much better anchor. And it's already, I feel that that work happening. Good kind of work. Step back to your plank position and then bike your hips downward facing dog. Pedal out your heels, shake out your head. You're under no obligation for today's practice to feel like yesterday's, or vice versa. You're only obligated to breathe. Lift your right leg to the ceiling, bend the knee, peel that right hip open, make circles through your ankle, through your knee, through the hip. But try to keep your heart square to the floor and keep energizing into those finger pads and knuckles. And then step the right foot outside the right hand for your lizard lunge. We're going to stay in a high lizard. Pull your heart forward. Press through the ball of the left foot. Wrap those elbows under. And then walk your hands along the left side of your mat, coming to a nice wide straddle. Lift in the arches of the feet, lengthen your spine, a little tuck of the tailbone, and then fold over. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Walking your hands into your face again. Engage your quads. Hands to the waist, rise up with a long spine. Pivot the right foot to point forward. Warrior two. Bending that right knee. Right knee traveling towards the right. Pinky toe, grounded in the blade edge of the left one. Relax your shoulders, energize your fingertips. Flip the right arm, but the right arm, not just the palm, the whole arm opens up and swim that back. Peaceful warrior. Inhale. Exhale, bring the right elbow to the right thigh, left fingertips by the left ear. A nice modified supported side angle and a full expression. The hand is on the floor. Look up underneath that left arm. Take a breath. And then come all the way up, lift the ball of the right foot, float the arms, skandasana bend the left knee. Inhale, exhale, set your left hand beside your right foot. I'm gonna release the left knee down and then step the right foot back for a supported side plank and then supported half moon. Float the right foot. Look up with the right hand, inhale, exhale, sets the right hand down, step back to your plank position. Inhale, exhale, take your vinyasas of choice, chaturanga or knees, chest chin, up dog or cobra, and then downward facing dog. And breathe. Find those fingers. Find the length of your waist. Elbows wrapping under. It's okay that the shoulders come up a little bit. You just don't want tension in the neck. You don't want to push up. This the they come up because the waist is long and the armpits are lengthening. Now down dog split the left leg, bend the knees, stack the hips, make circles if you like, get a little extra stretch and lubrication into the hip space. And then step the left foot outside the left hand, come to your high lizard. Pull the heart forward. Energy in the ball of the right foot. Remember, anytime your body's in contact with the mat, that gets extra love. That gets extra attention. Every pose starts with the mat. Whether it's a fancy handstand or if it's lizard, walk your hands along the right side of your mat. You have to adjust your feet a little bit so that they're parallel. Long spine, inhale. Exhale this time and walk my hands a little further back and then see if I can't keep my tailbone lifted up and a little tucked and find maybe my head come to the floor. Inhale. Exhale, it's okay if yours doesn't come to the floor, but that's the direction it's moving. That's just a nice mental image, if nothing else. Feel the outer edges of your feet, hands catch the waist, rise up, long spine. Pivot your left foot to point forward. Warrior two. Now I don't know if you can tell by looking. My warrior two is a little long right now. my straddle is a little wider, so I'm just gonna heel toe my right foot in a little bit. So that when my knee is bent and I feel those outer external rotations, my knee stays more or less over my ankle. But traveling out, flip that left palm, flip that left arm, swim the left arm back. Peaceful warrior, stretch into the left side of your body, inhaling, exhale, warrior two. I mean, not warrior two, extended side angle. With the supported version, look up underneath your right arm, energize the right fingertips as well as the blade edge of the right foot, stretch in the right side of the body, inhale, exhale, as you inhale, rise up, float the arms overhead, lift the ball of the left foot, and then skandasana bend the right knee. Keep that heel on the floor. It doesn't wanna be. Look at your left foot, inhale. Set your right hand beside your left foot as you exhale. Again, I'm going to take the supported version. So lower my right knee down, step the left foot back. So supported side plank, supported half moon. Inhale. Exhale. Bring the left hand down. Step back to your plank. Inhaling. Exhale takes you through your vinyasa of your choice. Energizing in the fingertips and knuckles. Bend your knees, look forward, inhaling, exhale, inhale, step or float. Top of mat. Exhale, fold. Inhale, root to rise. Hands meet overhead. Mountain pose. Let's flow all of that through once on each side. Inhale, flip the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, chaturanga. Inhale, upward facing dog. Exhale, downward facing dog. Down dog, split the right leg. Inhale. Exhale, step the foot between the hands. Inhale, come up, warrior one. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Exhale, extended side angle pose. Inhale, rise up, lift the ball of the right foot. Exhale, skandasana, bend the left knee. We're gonna come right to Half moon pose. So look out beyond the edge of your foot. Stay low. Shift your weight. Lift the right. Flip the left leg. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale. Exhale takes you through a vinyasa. It's not identical to what we did before, but same poses, just a little different expressions. Breathe here. Down dog with the left leg. Step the foot between the hands. Warrior one. Rise up. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Exhale, extended side angle pose. Inhale, rise with the ball of the left foot. Exhale, skandasana, bend the right knee. So if I stay low, as I shift my weight forward, I'm feeling the ball of my left foot. And I just sort of drag that right foot. Peel the hips open. Half moon pose. Inhale. Exhale, soft landing warrior two. Inhale, exhale. Chaturanga. Move and breathe. Inhale, exhale, bend the knees, look forward. Inhale, step or float to the top of your mat. Exhale, fold. Inhale, root to rise. Exhale, mountain pose. You can come to a seat. You can lay down and take a little rest. And I'm gonna grab a card. Have you hit like and subscribe yet? Are you following? Are you commenting? Do all the things. What do you think, Max? How about this card? Balance. It's a pistol squat. Is the shape and I'm not sure what the yoga post name for it is, so I'm gonna look it up, but it's a pistol squat. Balance. Dedicate yourself to the spiritual and physical aspects of life. Said it before. There's no inhale that is more important than an exhale. There's no exhale that is more important than an inhale. Whether that breath is carrying you in a float forward, whether that breath is keeping you steady in a challenging balance. Similarly, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience. But we need to take care of this physical shell. We need it to work for us the best that we can. Doesn't mean everything's always perfect. I have some shoulder stuff that comes and goes. It's part of being in an imperfect incarnation. But We care for those things. When my shoulder flares up, I modify more. I skip over things. I don't lift as heavy when I'm lifting weights. But I still do something. I take care, but I'm also taking care. Similarly, you have to care for the spiritual practices as well. These little pauses that you and I take are an important part of mine. So is meditation. You might journal. You might go for a walk without any headphones in, just hearing nature or hearing city sounds. That can be very meditative. So today, assuming you just did yoga with me, maybe you've checked a be bit of physical care off the list. What are you doing for your mental care, your spiritual care? Together we inhale. And exhale. That counts. The light that is in me bows to honors and is very, very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for spending this time with us. Please take a moment, like, share, subscribe. leave comments, ask questions. Let me know if there's special stuff you'd like to work on, maybe something that you feel like you struggle with in your own yoga practice. Leave that in the comments and we'll be sure to catch it in an upcoming video. Have a great day. Thanks for spending this part of it with me. 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.