Full disclosure: when I started Ten-Minute Mornings, it was because I wanted something I could do without spending my life hauling video equipment all over Manhattan and editing my modest two-camera shoots and trying to make my two dollar budget look like more than it was. (Often only for a handful of people to ever see … but I won’t repeat myself.)
But as I was reflecting on it, I also realized that we all just want “Something We Can Do.” I named my business Daily Flow because I think showing up every day is more important than the length or intensity of the practice. In fact, there’s a lot of medical science that backs that up. Here’s the first thing that came up when I googled. And there are lots more studies out there that to support it.
A Good Time, Not a Long Time
Of course, when you’re spending only a few minutes, they’d better be quality! That’s why I set an intention for every practice to still my own busy mind and be present with what’s happening in my own body. I have a general outline for the week when I start off (this week was “strength in stillness” … next week is “easy power”), which are fairly broad, gives us a shared sense of intentionality and gives me an anchor.
That said, I don’t arrive with a specific plan. It’s all well-and-good to try to plan a yoga class, but until you’re actually doing it (or you’re watching a room of other yogis do it), you can’t really know how long something will take, how it will feel or whether it even works on real bodies. In fact, when I’m teaching a full in-person class, things only ever really “go wrong” when I’m trying to replicate something I liked from an earlier class.
So I flow.
I keep the theme or general shape of the practice in mind and just let it unfold as my body, breath and time allow. Only then is the practice really grounded and authentic, rather than feeling like something I just memorized from a script.
If it Walks Like a Duck…
If that sounds like a metaphor, that’s because all of our physical practice of yoga is always a metaphor. We might literally be working on physical balance, but one of the things that makes it yoga is that the lessons are organically translated to our lives we step into the world. Otherwise, it’s just exercise. (Don’t get me wrong, I also love straight-up exercise, but that’s a different “assignment.”)
By ritualizing these few minutes every morning (check out this post about The Power of the Mundane) without a specific outcome in mind — knowing only that I’m intending to focus on balance — I am preparing myself to arrive in the world in the same way: deliberately knowing what I want to happen while ceding control of the outcome.
And the result is thrilling!
Truly. Things happen I would never have considered. For example, I found myself saying that balance in real life is about focusing on the things that are stable, rather than the things that are “wobbly.” I hadn’t planned that. It wasn’t even in my conscious thoughts as I picked balance as the theme for the week. I was literally just thinking about standing on one foot!
Another “result” is that every day is different. Each practice, each class is fairly spontaneous, which means that — like the entire physical Universe — the only “real” thing is the present moment / breath / sensation.
When we show up in our lives with the same attitude, I think it allows things to unfold in a way that is at once surprising and satisfying. But if it’s all a rigid script or plan, then we haven’t left room for God / the Universe / the Prana / the Spirit to show up.
Be a Part!
Whether you join me live at 8 a.m. Eastern or you drop in at your convenience, I hope you’ll give our Ten-Minute Mornings a try. I do think they’re a perfect way to start the day, but because most of them are pretty slow-and-gentle, they’re appropriate to do any time you just need a little reset.
And you can also find them on my Video Library page here! So no need to navigate YouTube and figure that all out. I post them on the site within a week (usually). You can easily filter through all of my YouTube videos in one place to pick the one that’s right for your practice at that moment.
I hope you’ll join me.
Nothing that appears in this blog or on this website is intended to treat or diagnose any disorder, physical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before beginning any exercise program.