Latest / Ten-Minute Mornings / Quiet the Mind: A 10-Minute Morning Yoga Flow for 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. James: In just 10 minutes of morning yoga, we'll activate the spine, the core, stretch the body, and ground the mind for whatever the day might hold. Hello, friends, welcome to your daily flow 10-minute mornings practice. My name is James. Be sure to practice till the end, we'll pull a card, we'll set some intention for the day together. And of course, be sure to hit like and subscribe and leave comments and all of those things. Come to stand at the top of your mat, stepping your feet together. Give your shoulders a nice shrug up and back. And float your hands overhead. Nice and easy. Like you're extending through the fingertips. Look up. Inhale. Exhale, fold forward. Bring your hands down to the mat. Bend your knees as much as you need. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, bow. And then press down, rise up as you inhale. Exhale, hands to the side. Just do that again. Inhale, float the arms. This is the warm-up, the spine part. Exhale, fold. Also get a little shoulder opening going. Inhale, lengthen, look forward. Exhale, bow. Inhale, root to rise. Exhale, mountain pose. Let's start adding on. Inhale, float the arms. Exhale, bow. Let's pause here in our forward fold. See a lot of times people who feel like their backs are tight, whose hands just kind of are reaching for the floor. See if you can bend your knees until your hands come to the floor. So that made me bending them a ton, but try to get your hands flat. And then feel like you're pressing down in the heels. And notice that connection at the top of your thighs and the bottom of your belly. And see if you can keep that connection as you let your head drape. And maybe you straighten your legs a little bit. That's not really that important. I'm trying to keep my hands grounded and keep that connection, that deep hip crease. From here eventually, things might open up. Give the tailbone a little tuck under. Inhale. Exhale. Step your right foot back and release your right knee onto the mat. Untuck the toes. I'm just going to interlace my fingers on top of the thigh and let the hips sink a little bit. Firm in the heel of the left foot, like it's pushing the floor forward and away. As well as the top of the right foot, like it's pushing the floor back. And then lean back. Peel that belly up away from the thigh as you inhale. Exhale. Bring your hands down to the mat, frame that left foot, tuck the right toes, and then step straight back to a down dog. Inhale here. And exhale. And then next inhale, step your right foot forward, release your left knee down. Untuck the left toes. I open the window because it's a nice day here, but it's New York City still. Ground down. Feel that right heel kicking the floor forward, top of the left foot pushing the floor back. Wrap the shoulder blades under, look up, inhale. Exhale, bring your hands down to frame that right foot. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee, and just step the left foot forward to meet. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, bow. Press down, rise up, inhale. Exhale, mountain pose. So very slowly waking up the hips and the spine. Inhale, close to the arms. Exhale, bow. Inhale, lengthen. This time step the left foot back first, release the left knee down, untuck the left toes, and then interlace fingers on top of the right thigh. Wrap the shoulder blades under. I feel like that little sense of lifting of the pelvic floor. Like you have to go to the bathroom a little bit and you're holding it in. That's what it is. The roots lock, the mulabanda, and that draws energy up, that sense, that feeling through the crown of the head. Inhale. exhale, hands come down to the mat. Tuck the left toes, lift the left knee, step back to your down dog. Just take a little pause. Inhale. Exhale. So I want to step the left foot forward. So I have to feel the ball of the right foot on the mat. And then step forward strongly. Noodle the heel further forward if it didn't quite make it. Untuck the right toes. And then interlace fingers on top of that left thigh, gently guiding it forward. Feel the firmness in the top of the right foot as well as in the left heel. Remember, every shape starts with the mat, whether it's very advanced or fairly basic. I think every pose is kind of both. Very advanced and very basic. Because they just seem to keep deepening. Take another breath. I feel a nice stretch of my hip flex here on my right foot. Step or right leg. Step your hands down. Tuck your right toes, lift your right knee and step that right foot forward. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, bow. Press down, rise up as you inhale. Exhale, hands to your side. Let's dial it up just a little bit, get a little flowier and see where things lead. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bow forward. Inhale, lengthen. Step the right foot back, release the right knee down. Untuck the right toes and float the arms. Inhale. Exhale, bring your hands down to frame that left foot. This time we're gonna step back to a plank. Tuck the right toes, lift the right knee, step that left foot back. Now. Wrap your elbows under, make sure your shoulders are forward of your wrist and feel like your feet are perpendicular to the mat. This is the length of your tattaranga, the length of your up dog, and the length of your down dog. It starts with that forward sense of plank. Down dog split the right leg. Inhale. Exhale, step the right foot between the hands and come up to a high lunge. Take a prayer twist. Send your left arm forward, wrap it around. Hands to prayer. Or forearm to the outside of the thigh. Take a breath. From here, can you open your arms out into a T-shape? Maybe not. It's okay if you can't. And then from here, maybe you straighten that right leg a bit. Maybe step the left foot in. Revolve triangle. Inhale. Exhale, step the left foot forward, sit into a chair pose. Exhale, fold forward. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, step your left foot back. Release the left knee down and tuck the left toes. Crescent lunge. Exhale, hands come to frame the left the right foot. Tuck the left toes. Step back to your plank. Wrap the elbows under, pull your heart forward, feet are perpendicular to the mat, lower halfway. Upward facing dog, roll over your toes. Downward facing dog. Breathe here. Inhale. Exhale. Down dog split the left leg. Feel that left heel pulling you up and back. And then step the left foot all the way between the hands. Rise up to your high lunge. Inhale, exhale, start to send that right arm forward. See if you can hook the right elbow outside the left thigh. Energize the palms. So if this feels good, then open the arms out. If this feels good, start to energize that left leg straight and then hop the right foot in so that it can be flat on the floor. Look up at your left hand, drop the right ribs. It's intense, so just breathe. No overdoing. Release that, step the right foot forward, chair. Stand tall. Mountain pose. We're gonna do it one more time. Pretty quick, pretty flowy. Just breathe and move. When we start to flow, your experience with your breath is more important than perfecting any shapes. Inhale, floats the arms. Exhale, bell. Inhale, lengthen. Step the right foot back, release the right knee down. Crescent lunge. Inhale. Exhale, hands to mat. Inhale, plank position, maybe three-legged. Exhale, jatarangi. Inhale upward facing. Exhale, downward facing dog. Inhale, right leg high. Exhale, step it forward. Inhale, high lunge. Exhale, take your twist. Inhale, straighten the right leg. Maybe open the arms, maybe revolt half moon pose. Step the left foot forward, chair pose. Inhale. Exhale, fold. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, step the left foot back, release the left knee down, float the arms, crescent lunge, inhale. Exhale, hands come to the mat. Tuck the left toe, step back, plank, lower halfway, upward facing, downward facing the. Down dog, split the left leg, step it forward, rise up, high lunge, take your twist, start to energize that left leg straight, open your arms, maybe find a balance. Then sit into your chair. imposed hand on your heart one on your stomach feel your breath in your body feel your heart rate maybe your temperature has risen a bit You can come to sit or stay standing. Give the cards a little shuffle. See what inspiration is lying within today. I was on the fence about how mystical these things are or how woo woo. 'Cause every card holds something worthwhile. But sometimes it really is exactly the thing that I needed to hear that day. Maybe I need to hear it All right, here we go. How about this one? Enlightenment. When the fluctuations of the mind are stilled, we experience a moment of samadhi. And the pose is this dancer variation. Enlightenment. When the fluctuations of the mind are stilled, we experience a moment of samadhi. Samadhi is the eight of the eight limbs of yoga, and even it has deep levels. And it really means. as this card says, to have stilled the mind. What it doesn't mean is to have twisted oneself into a pretzel. What it doesn't mean is to have been able to bind your dancer doesn't even mean whether you can do a good chaturanga or a good downward facing dog. Yoga, the state of yoga, is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. A still mind, a quiet mind. It's hard. It is the highest level because we need all of these steps to get there. And we get little flashes of it sometimes. When we're able to be quiet, maybe in a shavasana at the end of a yoga practice. Maybe in the middle of a busy day when we just pause and breathe. In meditation, oftentimes we practice these different limbs. We put the attention on our breath, we use an internal object of focus, sometimes we use an external object of focus like a candlelight, or I always say, just find something on your desk. But ultimately, ultimately, it's all in service of getting our thoughts out of the way. So right now, if you find yourself ready to go on with the day, ready to get started, just take a second. Feel your feet on the floor or your seat on the floor. Take one full round of breath. Exhale. And if in that moment you successfully concentrated only on that breath, you're a step closer to samadhi. So was I. Maybe we'll find it together. The light that is in me bows to and honors that light that is in you. Namaste. Thank you as always for taking this time, for spending this bit of time with me. Be sure to like and subscribe and leave comments so that we can grow our community little by little together. This is not a flashy practice. It's a daily just show up kind of a practice. What a difference 10 minutes can make. Let me know what you think. 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.