Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10-Minute Morning Yoga for Twists, Grounding, and Energy
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: Just 10 minutes to wake up, ground, and twist into whatever the day holds. Hello, friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. Come to any comfortable seat. I'm sitting cross legged. If you sit like this and your knees come way, way up because your hips feel a little tight, sit up on something like a cushion from the sofa or yoga block if you have one. Just plant your hands on your knees. Feel your seat, so sort of shift back and forth and feel those sits bones, those flat bones right at the base of the pelvic space, and then feel a lifting up from that root. Give your shoulders a nice roll up and back and down. Together we take a deep inhale and exhale. Float your hands overhead. and then gather them to heart center. Now, if you're like me and you're just waking up, this already might feel like a lot going on in your back body. So float the hands over head and feel that little bit of a stretch up as you push down into your seat. Then hands to heart center. One more time, inhale. This time as you exhale, let's twist to the left. So take your right hand to the left thigh, take your left hand behind you. Wrap the right shoulder blade under so you're guiding from the back body and then using this left hand for, or sorry, this left knee for a little bit of traction. Look back over the left shoulder, inhaling, exhaling. And sit up nice and tall. And we'll just twist the other way. Crossing the left hand over, right hand comes behind. Again, I don't know if you can see this clearly, but if I drop that left shoulder and then wrap the shoulder blade under, it's like, almost like somebody has their hand on my back and is leading that left side. And then you can look back over the right shoulder. Inhale here. Exhale. Come back to center, and then just swim your hands back behind you. Take your fingertips, lift your chest. Little easy back bend. And then float the hands overhead, reach them forward around your spine. Do that again, inhale, lift, swim back. Exhale, crawl them up and over. How big your circle is, is just gonna be about how your shoulders are feeling right now. And then as you come up to sit, shift your weight forward, come to all fours. Step your right foot back, give it little bit of a saw out. Feel some stretch in that right calf and in the Achilles space. And then pick up the right foot and step it just outside the right hand. I'm gonna noodle my left knee back a little bit. So you're just looking for a place where you feel a pleasant stretch. Pull your heart forward, drop your hips. Open up that space. Bring your right hand to your right thigh. Now my left hand is on the floor, so it's pressing down and pulling the mat away from me. The right foot is also pressing down. So remember, any time you're in contact with the mat, that deserves your attention. Any time you're in contact with your own body, that deserves your attention. So I'm pressing gently into that right thigh as well. And then look up over your right shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. Go ahead and flip that right arm up. and then swim it forward, make a big circle and set it down beside the foot. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee. Give a little bit of a saw out here as well. So high lizard and then walk to that wide legged forward fold. You know, I love this, especially warmups. Just feels really nice. Open up those inner thighs, but nice and easy. Feel the outer edges of the feet pressing down. Inhaling. Exhale, see if you can bow. guiding the head towards the floor. Inhale, lift the heart. Exhale, pull the heart forward as you bow more deeply. Inhale, lift the chest, look forward. Exhale, bow. And then just walk yourself back along the mat, coming down to Crescent Lunge. So I'm gonna bring that right foot into the center of the mat, more or less, untuck the left toes. and then interlace fingers on top of the right thigh. Wrap the shoulder blades under, lift the heart. Maybe float the arms. Inhaling. Inhaling. Exhale, bring hands down to frame the right foot. Tuck those left toes and step back to your flank. Inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest and your chin. And then take your cobra pose. and send your hips back to your heels, brief child's pose. Nice stretch here, tuck the tailbone actively, wrap those hips under, and then feel the fingertips reaching forwards here. Nice little shoulder stretch. And then roll yourself up, come to all fours, and right away step the left foot outside the left hand, and then do any adjusting you need to with that right leg. Feel the firmness of the left foot down, let the hips sink a bit as you pull your heart forward. Lengthening the spine, energizing your connections to the mat. And then we'll take our twist left hand to left thigh. Look up over that left shoulder. Again, every time you're in contact with the floor, so I'm pushing down into the left foot and into the right foot. The right hand is dragging the mat so I can spiral my chest a little deeper. Float that left arm up. and then swim it forward and set it down. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knees here in high lizard. You can take a little saw out here if you'd like and then walk yourself to your wide legged forward fold. Adjust your feet so they're more or less even with one another and then lift your heart, inhale. Exhale, bow deeply. Inhale, roll yourself to a flat back. Exhale, lead with the heart as you fall. I'm feeling the outer edges of my feet. Little lift in the arches. One more time, inhale. Exhale. And then coming back to your long spine, walk your hands to frame that left foot as you reorganize into low crescent. Untuck the right toes, interlace fingers on top of that left thigh. Feel the sinking of the hips, energy in the feet. You can keep your hands here or float the arms. Inhale. And exhale, set those hands down. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, step back to your plank. And this time, let's go to Downward Facing Dog. Pedal out your heels, shake out your head. And then just walk yourself forward. Coming to a forward fold at the top of your mat. Hold opposite elbows. Sway your hips from side to side. And then release that and roll yourself up to stand, one vertebra at a time. Head and shoulders come up last. Mountain pose, step your feet together. I got a shrug up of the shoulders and down and back. Feel the energy of your feet. Feel the lifting up through the spine. Inhale. Exhale, inhale floats the arms overhead and look up. Exhale, big bow forward, lead with your heart. long spine, step the left foot back, runner's lunge, and come up to a high lunge. Feel the firmness of the feet, and then start to reach that left arm forward as you come to a prayer twist. Left hand might hook outside the right thigh, or left elbow might hook outside the right thigh. Firm down in the feet. Look up, inhale. Exhale, Warrior II. Inhale, Warrior I. Straighten the right leg. Right hand to the right waist, left arm forward for a revolved triangle. Revolved triangle can be fairly intense. So do what you need to do. You can hop the back foot in. You can put something underneath your left hand or just use your left hand against the outside of the right leg as a bit of traction. So I'm firming the feet and letting those ribs drop and now I'm floating the right arm up. Takes concentration, takes breath. And then release all that, Warrior I. Warrior II. Flip the right palm, reach it up and back. And then cartwheel the left hand down beside the right foot. Peel that left heel up. Swim the right hand all the way down. So now both hands frame the right foot. Step the left foot forward. Long spine. Bow deeply. to rise, inhale. Mountain pose, exhale. We'll do the other side. Inhale, close the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, long spine. Step the right foot back, runner's lunge. Rise up, high lunge. Feel your grounding, feel your firming, and then send the right arm forward and let it cross over the left thigh, the elbow. Prayer twist. Energize the legs, energize the palms. Inhaling. Exhaling, open out, Warrior Two. Warrior One. Left hand, left waist, straighten the left leg. Right arm forward, forward, forward. And then it crosses over. If you need to hop that back foot in a little bit, an inch or two, go for it. And then the more you firm down into the feet, relax the toes, but firm the feet. Let those right ribs drop. Let the right hip drop. Maybe float the left arm up. Inhale. Exhale back to that warrior too. Peaceful warrior. Cartwheel the right hand down beside the left foot, low revolve lunge. And then swim the left arm forward, step the right foot to meet the left. Flat back. Bow deeply. Root to rise. Mountain pose. pausing as we always do before we step into the day. Setting intention for how you will arrive in the spaces where you find yourself. All these twists are very good for digestion, for activating a lot of those internal organs that wrap around. So maybe you come in to the day feeling a little more fiery. What are you going to do with it? Well, for sure. Fire makes light and the light in me bows to and honors the light that is in you. Namaste.