Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Passion Through Practice | Morning Yoga for Hips, Hamstrings & Low Back Relief
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: In 10 minutes, we'll open ground and connect with ourselves and one another. 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 draw a card to help set some intention for the day. And also, you know, hit like and subscribe on your way out. Please come to sit. Extend your legs out in front of you. Peel the fleshy part of your glutes away from your sit bones. And give your knees just a little bit of a micro bend and see if that helps you lengthen your low back. Now, if you can, first thing in the morning, really squeeze your legs straight and feel tall and strong, awesome. Otherwise, that little bend does a little bit to help. For me at least. Float your arms. Feel the length of your waist. Inhale. Exhale, pull your heart forward, forward, and as you pull your heart forward, can you still think you're dropping and grounding in your tailbone, in your sit bones? And then maybe your hands come to your feet, maybe they rest beside you. Again, I'm keeping this little micro bend in my knees. Inhale, lift your heart. Exhale, go a little deeper. Take another breath here into your back body. Inhale. Exhale. Coming up to sit. Bring your left foot in. Bring the sole of the left foot inside the right thigh. And then point your heart towards the right pinky toe. Float your arms. And again, I'm gonna keep a little micro bend in that right knee. So I'm not hyperextending my hamstring at all. I'm just feeling a little sensation. And then breathe into that feeling. Inhale. Exhale. Coming up to sit. Step that left foot over your right knee, right thigh. And then really ground down in the sole of the left foot and again in your seat. I'm gonna send my right arm forward and wrap it around my left knee. And then use that to motivate my twist. Bring your left hand actually onto your low belly and see if you can pick it up and guide it over. Feel free if you need to to ⁓ Not have your left foot in so close. Now the left hand behind, get up tall. Feel like the inhale is a chance to decompress your low back. And the exhale is a chance to wrap the right shoulder blade under and go a little further. Inhale, lift. Exhale, spiral. Then coming back to center, that knee will ⁓ organically open out to a figure four. So just scoot your hips a little forward and roll down onto your back. Supine pigeon, left hand threads the needle. As I guide the right thigh closer to the left elbows, pressing the left hip out. Inhale. Exhale, untangle those things. Set your feet on the floor, and then as you ground down in the heels, curl your spine up for bridge. Nice slow steady lift. Give those glutes a squeeze. Inhale. Exhale lower down the way you came. Feel each vertebrae one at a time, and if you notice any sticky spots, just give them a little extra time. Bringing these into tabletop, lightly bring your fingertips behind the knees and see if you can rock and roll. Find a little bridge ⁓ a little boat. Wrap the shoulder blades under, knees can stay bent, or you can straighten them. Lengthen up and out from the seat. Inhale. And exhale. Set everything down. Again, ⁓ we'll do all the on the other side. So step the right foot in, let that knee fall open, and then point your heart towards the left pinky toe. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, think forward, forward, forward, forward. A lot of times, especially first thing in the morning, but any time, when we have low back stuff, it's actually more related to hips and hamstrings, because all of that stuff is connected. So if you just take a little time and breathe into that space, allow it, give it s give it room to open rather than trying to force anything. And over time, with practice. The low back stuff starts to let go too. Go ahead and come up to sit. And then step your right foot over the left thigh. Firmly rooted in that right foot. Float the arms. Get long in the waist and then send the left arm forward. Wrap it around the right knee. So now I have a little bit of traction. I already feel a stretch in the outside of my ⁓ right hip, and I can float the right hand behind. Sit up nice and tall. And then if felt good on the other side, right hand onto the belly. Kind of lift it up and pull it over. Breathe here. Inhale. Exhale. Wrap that left shoulder blade under. Look back. And inhale. Exhale. Coming back to center. You'll organically be in that figure four. So you can step the left foot in, scoot the hips a little forward, and roll down onto your back. Thread the needle with the right hand. So the left foot, left leg is just really kind of a a bit of leverage. It's a lever. And then the right elbow into the right inner thigh really helps to create the stretch in the right outer thigh. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Entangle that, set your feet on the floor, come into your bridge pose. So firm the feet, curl the spine up one vertebra at a time. Imagine a straight line connecting the back of the knees all the way to the top of the shoulders. And see if you can get the hips a little higher, cultivate that energy. Inhale, exhale, lower down. Bring the knees into tabletop. Lightly grip the back ⁓ backs of the knees just to give a little support. Rock and roll. Boat pose. Take a couple of shots, tries if you need it. Inhale. This time cross your shins, hug your knees into your chest. Reach for the outer edges of your feet. Compress everything. Make yourself a little ball. And then roll forward for all fours. And then adjust on your mat. Ten fingers spread wide, wrap your elbows under, pull your heart forward for cow. Untuck your toes around your spine for cats. Inhale, it's more about lengthening than it is about the back bend. Actually backbends are more about lengthening than they are about bending, I think. And then untuck your toes round your spine. Feel free to disagree in the comments. Let's start a conversation about that if you'd like. Inhale. Cow. Okay. Step your left foot back and then float your right leg up down dog split. Get the right leg straight, even if it's not high. So don't worry about if it's reaching up super high. It feels high to you, but try to squeeze it straight and try to close off that right hip. So you're nice and long and level. Inhale. Exhale, step the right foot all the way forward. Lower the left knee down, untuck the left toes, crescent lunge, firm the top of the left foot. Float the arms. Wrap the shoulder blades under. Now firm your right foot more, firm the top of the left foot more, and then lift up through your pelvic floor. Feel that rising energy. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come to frame the right foot. Tuck the left toe, step back, plank position. Inhale. Exhale, lower knees, chest and chin. Cobra pose. And downward facing dog. No rush, no muss, no fuss. Come forward to plank and release your knees to the floor. Inhale. One round of cow. And cat. Exhale. Step your right foot back. Engage the right leg and then down dog split. The left leg goes up. Again, internal rotation of that left thigh. Strong straight left leg. So how high it is is less important than that you feel that engagement and that pulling you back in space. And then maybe also start to straighten the right leg a little more. Inhale. Exhale, step it all the way forward. Release the right knee down, untuck the right toes. And then coming into your crescent lunge. Feet are firm. Left heel, top of right foot. All of that pressing down helps to activate the low body. And then as you start to lift up through the pelvic floor, that activates the abdominals. Fingertips travel back. Maybe. Inhale. Exhale. Hands come to frame the left foot. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, step back to plank. Inhaling. Exhale, knees, chest, chin. Slightly higher cobra. Downward facing dog. Roll forward to plank, release the knees, have a seat. I shuffled this deck a little earlier, so I wouldn't have to take your time doing it. Let's just see what comes up. Passion. The illustration is a forward fold. Regular committed practice creates inspiration and energy. Well, that certainly is true. Passion isn't always the result of Fervor. Passion is the result of committed, consistent, dedicated practice. You can have an interest in something, you can be curious about something, but the fire only builds if you give it fuel. If that's meaningful to you, carry it into your day and let me know how it goes. Either way, you get to decide what you practice, how you arrive, how you treat others, and how you treat yourself and your passion. The light that is in me bows to honors and is very, very grateful for the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you for your time and for your practice this Monday morning. Let me know how it's going. Be in touch, like, comment, subscribe, ⁓ ask questions. Let me know if there's special stuff you want to work on. I'd love love hearing from you. You can also send me an email, James at dailyflow dot yoga.