Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Morning Yoga for a Stiff Back + Truthfulness | 10 Minute Mornings
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: Ground, energize, step into your day a little more awake, a little more open, a little more ready to arrive. Hello friends, welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James. Be sure to practice till the end because we'll pull a card and help set some intention for the day. And of course, be sure to hit like and subscribe on your way out. Come to your back. This is one of my favorite ways to start when my back feels a little tight in the morning, and it does today. So wrap your shoulder blades under and start to firm your feet down into the mat. Feel how that lengthens the low back, and then use the palms of your hands right at the base of your thighs, right at those hip creases, and apply that gentle pressure. So both pressing down in the feet and pressing forward with the hands together. Gives you a little traction, a little leverage to help open up and lengthen. And as you inhale, feel your front body expand. As you exhale, even a little more energy into those palms. Okay. Inhale. Exhale Yoga likes three, so one more time. Inhale. And stretch. Exhale. Feels really good. Press down in the feet. Release the palms. Curl up into a bridge. One vertebrae at a time. Peel your spine up off the mat. And then when it arrives, when your hips arrive high, interlace fingers. Walk shoulder blades together. Open up through the heart space. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Lift the hips a millimeter higher. Exhale, lower down the way you came, and really try to articulate your spine, every vertebra, one at a time. Give your knees a hug into your chest. Bring your forehead to your knees. Now press down in the low ribs, round your back. Inhale. Exhale. Feel your core engaged. Cross your shins. Rock yourself. And then come. Excuse me, come to all fours. Little cat and cow, lift the heart, look forward, tuck the toes. Untuck the toes around the spine. As you move your back, as you follow flow with your breath in your own time and your own pace, reconnect with your mat. Feel the fingertips, feel the palms, feel the tops of the feet in cat, feel the toes in cow. One more. Back to your neutral spine, wrap your elbows under, shift your shoulders forward of your wrists and step back to a plank. Inhale. Exhale, release your knees and send your hips to your heels. Keep your toes together, like child's pose. And then as you come forward to plank, really think about rolling your spine, really round it, and then lift the knees. Downward facing dog. Separate your feet about as wide as your hips. Lift those hips high to sky, whatever high to sky means to you at this point of your day. And your heels don't have to be on the floor, but if they are, you might give the toes a little wiggle. Remind yourself of that tailbone tilt. So the tailbones tilting down the front of the pelvis scoops up. The spine is nice and long. Inhale. Exhale. Step your right foot outside your right hand, release the left knee onto the mat, untuck the left toes, and then bring your right hand onto that right thigh. Let your right thigh open out. Come to the pinky edge of the right foot. Look up over your right shoulder. Nice opening all through the right side of the body. And then coming back to center. Plant the palms, step back, plank position, inhale. Exhale, lower your knees, your chest, and your chin. Cobra pose. Downward facing dog. Let's do our little child's pose flow. So roll yourself to plank. Lower the knees. Send the hips to the heels. Roll yourself to plank. Downward facing dog. Readjust your feet. Find your finger pads. Find your knuckles. Take a breath. And then step the left foot outside the left hand, lower the right knee down, untuck right toes, left hand to the inside of the left thigh, guide that left hip, just out, but forward and out. So I'm my energy of my palm is going ⁓ the direction of that thigh. And then I let that ⁓ foot roll over and then look up. coming back plant the palms step back to your plank inhale exhale lower knees chest and chin cobra pose and downward facing dog take a nice breath here inhaling exhale step the right foot all the way forward and if it doesn't make it just noodle it up and then come up to a high lunge so keep the back heel lifted Right knee is traveling forward. Feel the ball of the right foot, and then feel like the left thigh is lifting higher as the left heel pushes back. And that gives you a little bit of anchor, a little bit of traction to safely bend the right knee a little more. Look up, inhale. As you exhale, bring your hands down to frame the right foot. Step the left foot in just a bit and start to straighten through the right leg. Pyramid pose. Pull your heart forward, get nice and long, and then think about. Peeling your belly down onto the thigh. Now, each of us is going to be a little different, especially first thing in the morning. So you might have your hands up on blocks or even resting lightly on your shin. Take a nice breath here. Inhale. Exhale. Bend the right knee. Step the left foot forward to meet. Flat back. Inhale. Bow deeply. Exhale. Root down, rise up. Inhaling, hands meet overhead. Exhale, bow forwards. Wan dive. Inhale, long spine. Exhale, step the left foot back. This time come up to a warrior one. Left shoulder blade wraps under. Straighten the right leg. Inhale. Exhale, send the left arm forward, forward, forward, forward. And then the left hand crosses over the right leg. Allow the right or the left ribs to drop. Again, feel free to hop that left foot in just a little bit if you need. Heart is spiraling. Both legs are straight. Take your breath. Release the twist, warrior one. Hands come to frame the right foot. Step back plank position. Inhale. Exhale, chaturanga or knees chest. Upward facing or downward facing. Our cobra, I mean, and then downward facing. Pause here, a little pedal out of the heels, shake out the head, and then step the left foot boldly forward. Rise up to your high. Energizing through both feet. Every shape starts with the mat. So as you energize through the ⁓ ball mound of the right foot, give the right ⁓ quite a little squeeze, float the arms, look up, breathe, inhaling. Exhale, hands come to frame that left foot, step the right foot forward to meet. Long spine. Bow deeply. Reverse swan dive, rise up, inhale. Bow forward, exhale. Find your flat back. Step the right foot back. Runner's lunge and then come up to your warrior one. Back heel spirals down. Feel the blade edges of both feet, the pinky edges of both feet. So whereas in that ⁓ high lunge, we were really in the ball mounds, this is a little more outer edges. And it ⁓ it's a subtle difference, but you'll start to feel it. Now straighten that left leg, start to send the right arm forward, forward. Forward and then it crosses over. Ball mound of the left foot now. A little more internal rotation of those thighs. Let the right ribs drop. You notice I bring my hand to my low back and revolve triangle a lot because my upper back tends to be a little tight. So this is more comfortable for me as I'm warming up. Take your breath. Then come back to your warrior one. Inhale. Exhale, hands come to frame the left foot. Step it back, plank position, inhaling, knees chest or chaturanga. facing dog or cobra. Downward facing dog. Inhale. Exhale, step the right foot forward, step the left foot to meet flat back. Bow deeply. Roll yourself to stand one vertebrae at a time, head and shoulders nice and heavy so that they come up last. You can stay here in mountain pose or have a seat if you'd like. And we'll pull our car. This is fast becoming my favorite part of our practice together. Taking a little time. Just look for a little inspiration. Sometimes we all need it, so whatever we pull, there's something to learn from it. How mystical it is, that's up to you. Truthfulness. Be a faithful servant of truth. Being truthful doesn't mean being brutally honest. It means living in a way that is truthful. It means being in a state of what Patanjali calls non-lying. When you're in a state of non-lying, you can't even lie to yourself, let alone others. And we are told that that's such a powerful force that when you really start to find that, when you really start to connect with it and live it authentically, even the people around you are forced to live honestly when in your presence. It's lot of work. But I think the effort might just be the reward. How that goes. The light that is in me bows to honors and is extraordinarily grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Being honest. Have a great day. Thank you for spending this part of it with me. Of course, take a moment to like and subscribe and comment. I love hearing from folks. Send me an email, james at dailyflow.yoga, and we'll continue this conversation. You can let me know what you're working on, what you'd like to work on, and how your truthfulness practice is going. Have a great day. Namaste.