Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10 Minutes of Core, Balance & Crow Prep
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: 10 minutes will ground, activate, balance, energize, and arrive into whatever the day might hold. Hello friends, welcome to your Daily Flow 10-Minute Mornings practice. My name is James. Come to sit. Planting your feet flat on the floor with your palms right underneath your shoulders. Big external rotation of those biceps so you feel the shoulders open up and then press down on the feet. Lift the hips, keep the chin tucked. Lift the hips nice and high, lengthening the spine. And then if it feels good, you can let your head fall back, but be careful. It'll tell you if it's the right idea. Inhale. Exhale, lower down the hips. And just float the arms forward. Get nice and tall. Keep the arms swimming up overhead. Swim them back. Set them down. We'll add on a little bit to that. Plant down on the feet, lift the hips. Inhale. Exhale, lower the hips between the hands. So this time I'm gonna come to boat. But you can do exactly what you just did before. You can keep the feet on the floor if you'd like. Either way, you're reaching forward, you're sitting tall. No rounding that low back, float the arms up. Swim them back, set them down. Plant down, lift up, inhale. Exhale, lower. I'm gonna straighten my legs this time. Try to get them nice and high and float up. This is where keeping that curve in your low back is harder. Set them down. Plant the feet, lift up. This time stay here for a second. If you'd like to dial it up, walk your feet forward, lengthen your legs so you're in a reverse plank and then rotate those thighs together. Inhale. Exhale, lower the hips down. Inhale, float into your boat. Arm is going forward, this takes a lot more core strength. ⁓ down. Hit your couch. Blend out of the straight legs this time. Last one. Set the hips down. Float the feet. This time bend your knees a lot and pull your knees into your chest. Reach your arms forward. Cross the shins. Roll forward. Step back to plank. Inhale, exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. Go propose, press down on the abdomen, pull the heart forward, tuck the toes, downward dog. Take a breath. Keeping your arms straight, step your feet forward. Also try to keep your legs straight, but you might need to bend them. Now with your big toes together, bend your knees a lot. Lift the heels. We're coming back to that boat pose. So release the hips down and back. Float the feet. Float the arms. Swim them back. Set the legs down so you can keep your knees bent for reverse table. Or come into reverse plank. Lower down. Find your boat. Cross the shins, hug them in, reach forward. Now really cocoon your body, really compress your chest. This time as you roll forward, maybe your hands find the mat and you float back to a chaturanga. Maybe not. So we're dialing this up one little step at a time so you can always take what you need and just leave the rest. Downward dog. This time stepping my feet together, bending my knees a lot, still keeping the arms straight. Look out beyond the hands and then think about hopping lightly, bending the knees, lifting the heels, sitting back into the boat. Take your breath. Set down the hands, sit down the feet, lift the hips. Last time, lower down, boat pose. Cross the shins, hug everything and reach forward, forward, forward. This time I'm gonna set my hands a little closer to my hips so that I can rock over, shoot back. Take my vinyasa. and just breathe. Pedal out your heels. We always start with some kind of spinal warmup and core activation. And then even yasa practice. That was a little more intense than some. So just let yourself breathe here for a second. Find your down dog. Inhale. Exhale. Walk your hands back and step your feet just a little bit forward. We're coming to a yogi squat or a melasana squat. Taking my elbows wide, my arms wide, finding my heels on the floor, lifting up the pelvic floor, lengthening the spine. So you really want the back body perpendicular to the mat. Maybe you bring your hands to prayer, but I'm not going to right now. Instead, I'm gonna send my right hand down and out. float my left arm up, make a big diagonal line. Drawing the shoulder blades together, looking up, inhaling. Exhale, release, float the arms overhead, and then rise up, press down to the feet, get nice and tall. Heel toe the feet together, then a big bow forward. Walk out to plank. You can take a vinyasa or skip it. Just breathe and move. and then you're downward facing dog. Walk the hands back. Sit into your squat, separate the feet. Take the twist the other way, left arm down, right arm up. Open up, look up, inhale. Exhale, release. Down, rise up. This time I'm gonna hop my feet together and fold forward. Walk out to your plank. Take a vinyasa or skip it. We meet in Dundalk. separate the feet, walk the hands back. Malasana. Maybe plant your hands, lift your hips, tuck your knees into your armpits. Think about pulling the mat towards you just a little bit as you lift your hips nice and high. And then shift your weight into the balls of your feet, into the tips of your fingers. Find a deep engagement of the core and then sit back into your malasana. So obviously we're setting up a crow pose. You don't have to take crow. We're just kind of getting used to that kind of core engagement. And remember when you tucked your knees into your chest in that boat. So you're doing that. So you're lifting up, drag the hands in just a little bit, tuck your knees into your chest, feel how that rounds your back. And you shift a little more weight into the knuckles. Maybe one or two feet come up. Maybe not. It's okay if they don't. Have a seat. then take your twist to the left, right arm down, left arm up. Let the arms rise up, hop the feet together, bow forward. Walk to your plank, take your vinyasa. or not, and then walk the hands back, separate the feet, come to malasana, plant the palms, lift the hips, drag the hands in, knees are high, and I'm thinking about pulling my knees up into my chest, up into my armpits, rather than just pressing down. So it's that lifting up and shifting forward. Then release. Left hand down, right arm up. Take your twist. Rise up. Step your feet together. Inhale, float the arms. Exhale, bow forward. Last vinyasa. Inhale, walk it out to plank. Exhale, take your flow. Or skip it. and then you can walk your hands back and just have a seat. Release the knees down, come to a comfortable seat. I'm gonna grab our cards. So we end our morning practice with a little intention setting, courtesy of this beautiful Yoga Oracle deck. So how should we arrive today when we leave the mat, when we step into the real practice that's awaiting us in the world? Let's see. Balance. Dedicate yourself to the spiritual and physical aspects of life. So not just balancing physically like this person in pistol squat. balancing all that we are in every moment. allowing our full selves to show up. allowing for them to be our full selves, that is, to be fairly and equally represented. that's meaningful to you or helpful to you, I invite you to carry it with you as you step into your day. The light that is in me bows to, honors, and is very grateful for that balanced shining light that is in you. Namaste. As always, thank you so much for your time and for your practice. Be sure to like and subscribe and leave a comment. What do you think about balance? How will you try to incorporate it into your day? Then check back. Let me know how it goes. Have a wonderful day. Thank you for spending this part of it with me. Namaste.