Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Strength, Balance & Oneness | Ten-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. James: 10 minutes of morning yoga to ground, energize, strengthen, and focus for whatever the day might hold. Hello friends. Welcome to your daily flow 10 minute mornings practice. My name is James. Let's start on our backs today. I'm not gonna be here for very long. But firm down into your heels. Walk your shoulder blades together. And then come up into a bridge pose. Lifting the hips high. Energize the feet. Try to soften the glutes at least a little bit. You'll feel your quads work a bit harder. Interlace your fingers underneath you. Really walk your shoulder blades together. Inhale. Exhale lower down. This is really the main event. See if you can find every single vertebra one at a time. Take some concentration. And if you feel some sticky spots, you can kind of rewind. Once your hips arrive back on the floor, knees to forehead, forehead to knees, really round. And then set down your feet. So we're gonna do that again. You can keep both feet on the floor or extend the right foot to the ceiling. So we'll come to a one-legged bridge. Energize down in the left heel, lift it. The right heel high to sky, interlace fingers, walk shoulder blades together. So it's much more challenging. Feel the strength of both legs, both heels pressing. Inhale. Exhale lower down. I think one vertebra at a time. Once your hips are on the floor, draw your knees into your chest or forehead. Ground down. Again, you're welcome to take both feet or plant the right heel, left heel to the ceiling. Wrap your shoulder blades under, firm down in that right heel, press up, lift the left leg high. Interlace fingers underneath. Inhale. Exhale, lower down. Try to articulate. So a little more work in that standing leg, that right leg. And then knees into the forehead, forehead to the knees. Start to rock and roll along the length of your spine. Take a few rolls here. Little massage on the back and then cross your shins, come to sit and make your way to all fours. Fingers spread wide, wrap your elbows under, really press down into the knuckles, into the finger pads. This really feels good. I'm feeling a stretch across the palm of my hand, which is nice. Step back to your plank and then your downward facing dog. Paddle out heels, shake out head, breathe. On your next inhale, roll forward to plank. Exhale, release the knees, send the hips back to the heels. Keep the toes tucked. Inhale to plank. Exhale to down dog. A couple more times like this. Inhale, roll forward, release the knees. Exhale, send your hips to your heels. One more time. Inhale forward, plank. Exhale, downward facing dog. Walk your feet forward to your hand. Bend your knees enough that you can grab your opposite elbows. Sway your hips from side to side. Let your head be heavy. Breathe into your back. Inhale. Exhale, release those elbows, roll yourself to stand one vertebrae at a time. Head and shoulders come up last. And then give your shoulders a nice shrug up. Back and down. As you firm your feet down, feel like you're trying to pull the mat apart gently with your feet. Feel how that engages the legs and then feel a lifting up through the center of your body. So you're not sticking your chest out. You're thinking about lengthening. Drop. Pardon me, drop the shoulders. Inhale. Exhale. Float your arms overhead, interlace your fingers, keep the index fingers pointing to the ceiling. Take a side bend to your right. Look up underneath that left arm. Energize from the left ankle all the way through the fingertips. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, rise up, separate the hands. Exhale, fold forward. Lengthen your spine, then step the left foot back. Come up to a high lunge. So grounding down, ball of the left foot, the left heel is lifted here, and you're pressing back through the left big toe, a little bend in the left knee, and then bend the right knee a little more. Now wrap those elbows under, energize your fingertips, inhale. We'll come to a prayer twist. Left elbow to the outside of the right thigh. If prayer twist doesn't feel good in your body, you can take the forearm to the outside of the thigh instead. And then energize those palms or any connection you have to your body. Look up over that right shoulder. Inhale. Exhale. And now release the twist. Straighten the right leg. Exhale, standing split. Come forward. Plant your hands. Now lift your left leg high to sky. Feel like the left leg is stepping on the ceiling. I teach this pose a lot, and there are a lot of people. Who are much more flexible than I am, especially first thing in the morning. So don't feel like there's no yardstick here. You just feel like your left heel is lifted really high. You feel like your chin is to your shin. Inhale, exhale, step that left foot back. Let's come to warrior two. Open yourself up. Face alongside of the mat. Right heel bisects the arch of the left foot, give or take. Right thigh is turning clockwise, so that helps wrap the right hip under. Straighten the right leg as you inhale. Triangle pose. Exhale. Look up at that left thumb. Option to come to half moon pose, shift your weight, float the left foot. Find a clear point of focus on the floor. Inhale. Exhale, warrior two. Inhale, peaceful warrior. Rotate from the whole right arm, sweep up and back. And then bring the left hand to the floor, right arm to the ceiling, low revolved lunge. Take a breath. And then release that right hand down. Step the left foot forward. Find a long spine as you inhale. Exhale, fold. Press down, rise up, inhaling. Exhale. Inhale, float the arms overhead, interlace the fingers, take a side bend to your left. So feel that the fingertips reaching over, wrap the left shoulder blade under, firm your feet, especially your right one. Breathe into your right ribs. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, rise up, separate the hands. Exhale, fold. Inhale, lengthen, and then step that right foot back, runner's lunge, and then come up to your high lunge. Find the ball of the right foot, find the right heel pressing back, energize into the ball of the left foot as well. Let the hips sink. Inhale, and then lengthen into your twist. Come forward, hook over. Whether you're taking prayer twist or your forearm is outside your thigh, energize into any connection you have with the mat. Then any connection you have with your own body. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, release the twist straight in the left leg. Exhale, standing split. So if standing split doesn't feel right for you, you can also take pyramid pose, which just keeps both feet on the floor. And then I'm thinking about internally rotating my thighs. Energizing the left foot forward. Inhale. Exhale. Big step back with that right foot. Let's come to your warrior two. Take a second, find your feet. External rotation of that left thigh. Energize the fingertips. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale, straighten the left leg. Exhale, triangle right hip back, left arm as far forward as you can. And then when when it can go no further forward, bring the hand down. Maybe look up. Exhale. And maybe half moon pose. Find your point of focus somewhere specific on the floor. Soften your eyes around that point. Inhale. Exhale. Warrior one. I lied, warrior two. Peaceful warrior. And then cartwheel the right hand all the way down to the mat, left arm to the ceiling. Low revolved lunge. Look up at that left thumb. Inhale. Exhale, brings the left hand down. Inhale, step the right foot forward, look forward. Exhale, fold. Reverse, rise up, inhaling. Exhale. Close your eyes. You're welcome to have a seat. Take a brief shavasana. I'll grab our cards. While I'm doing this, it's a nice time to like and subscribe. I don't know, just if your hands are free for a second. Let's see what we come up with today. What the cards have for us. A little inspiration. All right. How about this one? Pose is bridge pose. Did a lot of that today. Oneness, universal consciousness, infinite manifestations. This is one of my favorites actually in this deck. Universal consciousness, infinite manifestations. We all are more alike than different. And by we all I mean we and all of creation. We share more in common genetically, physically, literally, with plants, with every species of animal. There's more of us that's alike than there is that is different. Any living thing, every living thing is, I believe, a manifestation of that universal consciousness. So how do you show up? How do you show up today? How do you show up right now for those pieces, those manifestations of the oneness that you don't like. Those challenging other beings. And that can include an insect that's come into your space. That can include a weed that's growing through the sidewalk. Not everything. Has to be Another human, not everything has to be sentient even. Although There's a lot out there that says that plants are fairly sentient too. But any living thing today, how will you show a little extra care for it? Or how will you at least take in its oneness, its connection to you? Start with the easy ones. Start with the things, the people, the plants, the animals, the pets that are easy for you to love. And then see if you can extend that to something, someone that's a little tougher. and watch them change. Because they will. And they'll change because you're changed. It's not easy, but you can do it. The light that is in me bows to and honors the oneness, the light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for spending this time, for taking this time. You know, they say, if you don't have five minutes to meditate, meditate for an hour. If you don't have five minutes, ten minutes for yoga, you should be doing a longer practice. But you're here. It counts. It all counts. Anyway, please be sure to like, subscribe, comment, leave all the things so that we might continue to connect and build our community together. Episode three of my podcast, Hello Friends, with James Donegan, will be out on Sunday, November 1st, so look for that as well with comedian Irene Bremis. dailyflow.yoga/hello-friends-podcast is that URL. I'll put it in the show notes too. Have a great day. Namaste. James @ Daily Flow: 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.