Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / 10-Minute Morning Yoga for Balance, Core Activation & Steady Focus
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. Hello, friends. In 10 minutes, we're going to wake up, find balance and activation to face whatever the day might hold. My name is James. Welcome to your Daily Flow 10-Minute Mornings practice. Please come to all fours. Spread your fingers wide, tuck your toes, and grip the mat with your fingertips. So feel the finger pads actively gripping, so it's gonna make a little cupping of the fingers. And pull your heart forward, wrap your elbows under. I'm thinking about lengthening here. Sometimes in Cal pose, you see people kind of just drop. So I'm really using the mat to lengthen my spine. And then I lift my heart. Inhale. Exhale. Untuck the toes and deeply around the spine. These are very active poses that I think sometimes people just kind of mindlessly move through. So see if you can really wake up that spine. Inhale the toes, tuck, the heart pulls forward. The tailbone is pulling back and up. The heart is pulling forward and up. And then tuck the chin really around the spine. Press down in the tops of the feet. Keep gripping that mat. Separate the shoulder blades. Inhale for your cow. Exhale for your cat. back to your cow, tuck the toes, listen carefully, engage, shift your weight a little more into the fingertips, pick up the knees. So already as I start to round my spine for cat, my knees are floating and I'm feeling a deeper core engagement and then down dog, lift the hips high. Exhale. Inhale, come forward, hover the knees. Exhale, push back down dog. Do that again, we're activating the core, which of course is central to balance. And then tap back to your down dog. Walk your feet to meet your hands. Hold opposite elbows. Sway your hips from side to side for a little ragdoll. Release that and roll yourself to stand. Now, balance in yoga terms really just means supporting your weight in a way that maybe isn't standing on two feet. But ask anybody who's ever had a fall or who might be a little older if balance is just standing on one foot or standing on your hands. Just standing is balance. So if you're doing this, you're already working on balance pretty well. The big toes are together if that feels comfortable in your body. The feet are activated, the legs are activated. I'm coming to a chair pose. Now let's see if I can brush the mat with my fingertips and send the hips a little further back, knees over ankles, and then float the arms. Biceps are by the ears, tailbone is tucked down. Do that fingertip brushing thing because the number of times I watch these videos back and see my own chair pose and I'm way up here and I feel like I'm low. My right knee is already in a lunge, so I'm just gonna pick up my left heel. And then with as much control as I can, squeeze the knees together, step that left foot way back, release the left knee down, untuck the left toes. Right leg stayed active that whole time. Inhale. Let's find our half split. Straighten the right leg, flex the right foot. Open into that right hamstring. We all see those videos of people doing fancy things floating up into handstands. looks so easy. And we know that it's not, but they make it look like it. So let's see if we can make it look like it. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee. My weight is in my right foot primarily. I'm squeezing together. I'm thinking about wrapping together my inner thighs and stepping that left foot forward. Chair pose. Lift the right heel. Lots of core action firing up. I'm feeling the deep grounding in the four corners of my left foot. Squeeze the knees together, squeeze the thighs together, then step the right foot back, lower the right knee down. Now if it doesn't make it very far, you can always just noodle the left foot further forward. Feel the sinking of the hips, nice little stretch in those hip flexors, or on the right hip flexor at least. Inhale. And then lengthen that left leg. Take the half split, flex the left foot. Ah. And then re-bend the left knee. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee. And it's not coming way up. I'm just lifting the right knee. My left knee is just as bent as it was a moment ago. Shift the weight more to the left foot. Think about pulling my heart forward. Float the right foot to meet the left. Stand up, mountain pose. Let's ⁓ add on to that. Feel your feet. Sit into your chair, fingertips brush the floor if that's available, and then float the arms. Take a twist to your right. So I'm hooking the left elbow outside the right thigh. If that feels like it's a bit much, you can bring the forearm to the thigh instead. My knees are even with one another. I'm working to square my hips. And then I'm energizing my palms to bring my heart to my thumbs. Look down, squeeze the thighs together. Pick up the left foot, left heel to the glute, and then step it back. Revolved high lunge. Lots of length, steady breath. And let's come to a warrior two. Still grounding that right foot. Cartwheel the arms open. Adjust your feet if you need to. One long line from wrist to wrist. Deep bend in the right knee. Inhale. Straighten the right leg. Feel the ball mound of the right foot. Triangle. Left it back, right arm forward. Look up at the left hand. Wrap that right thigh under. Feel the stretch. And then back to your warrior two. Now we're gonna come back to chair. I feel that right foot. My arms float as I shift weight forward. Step the right, left foot forward. Now twist to the left. Take your time to set it up. Steady your breath. Knees are square, guiding my heart to my thumbs. Look down, looking down makes balance easier. Pick up the right heel. I'm squeezing my thighs together and my knees together. And then I can float that right foot way back. Revolved high lunge. If you don't make it that smoothly, it's all right. Just scoot it back. It's all just kind of building heat and intention. And then open out, warrior two. Nice long stride. Feel the outer edge of the right foot. Feel a nice little stretch in the right inner thigh as well as the left inner thigh. Straighten that left leg. Triangle pose, right hip travels back, left arm goes forward, and at some point arrives down. Slow steady breaths. and then back to your Warrior II. Shift weight to the left foot, bend that left knee deeply, engage your core, right foot forward, chair pose. Mountain pose. We are firing up those legs and those abdominals. I'm gonna back up, because I'm gonna take one more little addition. Come to your chair. This time, let's fold and bring the hands to the mat, but keep the knees bent. My hands are a little bit wider than my shoulders. Pick up the heels, bring the knees to the armpits. Feel that cat back. You're more than welcome to stay here or shift the weight forward, forward, forward, keep that cat back. So it's just cat. Maybe you float the feet for your crow or crane. and then back to your chair. Twist to your right. So maybe this time you find revolved half moon. Look down, shift weight to the right foot, pick up the left one. Maybe straighten both legs this time. I am wobbling. Remember, nothing wrong with wobbling. Warrior two, big step back. Now if you took the step back to the lunge instead, maybe that was smarter. Straighten the right leg. You might take triangle, you might take half moon pose. Breathe. Keep the attention on what is steady and grounding. Now coming to chair from half moon is actually easier. Nice and deep. Fold forward. I'm lifting my hips. I'm shifting weight into those finger pads, gripping the mat. My heels are separated and they're off the mat. I'm up on my tippy toes and energizing the fingertips, engaging my core. Sit back into your chair. Twist to the left. Did lose you? Be kind to yourself, take a breath. Pick up that right foot. Now maybe you're stepping it back. Maybe you're working on floating. It's about the big toe of the left foot, most of all. It's about the strength of the left leg. Then you step back. We often put attention on the thing that's floating or moving, the thing that looks fancy instead of on the base, on the foundation. Makes it much easier. All right, so are you coming to triangle? Are you coming to half moon? Your choice. Push down into the ball mount of the left foot. Steady your gaze, your drisdy. Step to your chair. Mountain pose. That's a lot for 10 minutes. But your core is fired up. Your legs are fired up. And if you wobbled or toppled over, hopefully you're clear to space. Sometimes we fall, but we can still put attention on that that is grounding, on that which is solid. Take a moment, see your day as it unfolds before you. Decide right now how you will arrive, how you'll treat others, how you'll treat yourself. The light that is in me bows to honors and is so, grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste.