Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Balance, Flow, and Staying Steady
Transcript
- James @ Daily Flow: If this was helpful, 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. 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: 10 minutes to ground, energize, and flow into whatever the day and the weekend might hold. Hello, friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James, and on Fridays, we flow. Come to stand at the top of your mat, grounding your feet firmly. As you energize down to the feet, feel that energy rising up into the legs, floating up through the spine. Gathering hands to heart center, take a deep inhale. And exhale. And now float the arms overhead. Exhale, take a big fold forward. Keep your knees soft. And then bring your hands to your shins for an inhale. Fold a little more deeply on an exhale. Root to rise on an inhale. Hands to heart center. Continuing on, inhale floats the arm. Exhale, bow. Inhale for your long spine. Exhale, fall more deeply. Inhale, root to right. Mountain pose. Shift your weight to your right foot. Come to the ball of your left. Now you might stay right here, especially if balance is new to you, or float that left knee nice and high. Actively flex both feet so the right foot is pressing down, the left foot is also flexed. Float the arms, inhale, see if you can hold that balance. And we're sitting into a figure four chair across the left ankle of the right knee. Now you can stay up nice and upright or bend down. It's a nice stretch in the left outer thigh as well like ⁓ Pigeon pose inhale here As you exhale rise up and bring your right hand to the outside of the left thigh Keep that right foot nice and firm And then release the twist take a warrior three send your Left leg back your right your both arms forward still pressing down on that right foot now a big step back warrior one That's strong way to start the day. Inhale, exhale Warrior II. Reverse Triangle, straighten the right leg, sweep it back. Triangle Pose. Let's come to a high crescent. So once you feel grounded in that triangle, this time you'll lift that left heel. Send the left arm as far forward as you can as you come to your revolved high lunge. Look up over the right shoulder. Inhaling. Exhaling. Release the twist. Shift your weight again more into that right foot, rise all the way up. See if you can hold the left foot in your right hand like a runner's quad stretch. Take your breath. And then set the foot down. Mountain pose. I feel my right leg. Let's activate the left one. First is coming to the ball of the right foot, energizing down into the left. This might be a great place to stay. Float the foot. Use the strength of that right leg to get it as high as you can while activating in the left as well. Option for figure four chair, which means option not to take it at all. Nice and grounded. Tuck the tailbone under. that stretch in the right outer thigh. Breathe. Press down the left foot. Left hand crosses over to capture the outside of the right leg. Right arm travels behind. How you doing? Take a breath. Release the twist, Warrior III. Lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, lengthen. The right thigh rotates internally. Big step back, Warrior I. Open out, Warrior II. Straighten the left leg. Right hip back, triangle pose. As you wrap that left hip under, a nice little stretch in the left inner thigh. Breathe into that. And then come to your high lunge. The back heel lifts. Shift your weight as far forward as you can as you take the right hand forward and hook the elbow over the thigh. If that seems like too much, it is. So you don't have to go quite as deep if prayer twist isn't happening today, or ever. That's just fine. Just breathe. And then release the twist. As you start to energize more into the big toe side of the left foot, you can rise up, capture the right ankle in your left hand for your runner's quad stretch. Feel the knee pressing down, the heart lifting up. And step your feet together, mountain pose. Together we inhale and exhale. Shift your weight to the right foot, float the left. Maybe you come directly to that figure four chair. Or maybe you hang out, take tree pose. That's a nice option here. Just breathe. Now right away, I'm gonna take my right hand to the outside of my left foot. You can choose to hold your thigh instead. And as I press down into the right foot, I rise up and carry the left leg with me. Maybe I straighten that left leg. I'm gonna keep a little bend in the knee, because I'm not totally warm yet. So listen to your body. Take your breath. Then move through your Warrior III, then step back, Warrior I. Warrior II. Straighten the right leg. Triangle pose. Bye lunch. prayer twist. Breathe here. Now release the twist, still send the left arm forward, reach the right arm back as you press down. See if you can capture that left foot for dancers pose. Left thigh still rotates internally, right leg still presses down, heart lifts. Everything else goes back. Mountain post, come to stand. It's perfectly normal to feel a lot of ⁓ fatigue even in that right leg. So as long as there's no pain, just be present with whatever sensation you have. We're not trying to exhaust the muscles, we're trying to activate them. But sometimes those two things go together. It is a physical practice. Shift your weight to the left foot, float the right one. Maybe straight to that figure four chair. Breathe. cross the left hand across, see if you can find maybe the outside of the foot, maybe the outside of the thighs, you press down the left leg, you float up into your revolved and to big toe. I keep a little micro bend in the right knee while I'm warming up. Release all that, nice controlled warrior three. Big step back warrior one. without worry or two. Energize the left leg. Triangle pose. Feel the grounding of that left foot as you pivot to your high lunge. And then sending the right arm forward as you take your prayer twist. Maybe look up over the left shoulder. Remember when the feet are engaged, the legs are engaged. So feel those feet pressing down. Rise up. Send the right arm forward, the left arm back. Press down into the big toe side of the left foot. See if you capture the right foot in your left hand for a dance there. Find your big back bend, whatever big back bend means for you right now. Step together, mountain pose. Breathe. One more little dial up. which will mean we never get to step back to be on both feet. It seems crazy, it probably is. So do what you need. Shift your weight into the right foot. Take a deep inhale and exhale. Float the left leg as you float the arm and sit into your figure four chair. Right hand travels across and captures some part of the left leg. Warrior III, Half Moon Pose. Right hand down, left arm up, wrap that right hip under. Now can you move through Warrior III to Revolved Half Moon Pose? If the answer is no, sit down the left foot and then make your way. And then come to sit, Chair Pose. Come to stand, Mountain Pose. In step with the left foot gets your attention. Float the right knee, float the arms, sit into your figure, four chair. Calm, steady breath, wobble all you need to. Left hand crosses over, root down in the left foot, float up. Slow back, Warrior III. Open up. Half moon. And this too, revolved half moon. to your pose. out. Take a breath. As you see on your day, your weekend unfolding before you, how can you be in the flow? I'm looking for opportunities myself. Let me know what you come up with. Leave a comment. And of course, like and subscribe and all of those things so that we can grow our community together. The light that is in me bows to honors and is so grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste.