- What's up, everyone? Welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is Benji and today per your request, we have a core conditioning practice. This one's a quickie so hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, let's begin on our backs. So take your time getting down there, we don't need to rush anything here. Move mindfully. A little goes a long way, we really wanna pay attention to the how, so we're gonna focus on the breath today while we get our core conditioning in. So to start, you're just gonna bring the hands to the belly, feet on the ground, knees up towards the sky, close your eyes, relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in, fill the belly with air. And then exhale, it softens and releases. And again, big inhale. Fill the belly with air. And exhale, it softens and releases. And last time, this time really inhale lots of love in. And lots of love out. Beautiful. Alright, from here, we're gonna extend the legs out long. Then we're gonna start nice and easy. Hug the right knee into the chest and then switch, hug the left knee into the chest. Hug the right knee into the chest and then the left. Now we're gonna add a lift of nose toward the knee. You're lifting the head, the neck and the shoulders. If this doesn't work for you in the head, the neck, the shoulders, you can bring the head back down and work here. We are targeting the lower belly here, scooping the tailbone up. Keep the shoulders relaxed in either variation. Breathing deep. Now just when you feel like you wanna give up, that's actually when we're going to now straighten the legs and work in little scissors. So you can keep a little bend in your knee, but we're extending the legs out long, just challenging yourself here. And we're gonna be here for three, two, and even it out on the one. Great, hug both knees into the chest. Bring the palms into the knees. You're gonna draw the knees out wide, so the, excuse me, out in front, so the arms are extended. Peek at me if you need to. Good, then take the knees out wide and then draw them in towards center. Good, take 'em out towards the front edge of your mat around and in towards center. And one more time, out, around and in towards center. Beautiful. Interlace the fingertips, send the hands behind the head here, nice and easy. We're gonna lift the shins so that they're parallel to the sky or to the ceiling. So you're gonna feel that tailbone scoop up, the low belly draws down. Belly is engaged, abdominal wall is engaged. We're just gonna do light taps here. Right toes, left toes. Nice and easy. Now we're wanting to make sure that this knee over the hip stack doesn't get too rocked. So you're not wanting to bring your knees in too much, but as best you can try to keep the knee over the hip so that femur is aligned. You're gonna feel it in your low belly, you're gonna wanna keep your low back nice and safe, nice and flush with the mat. Alright, just when you wanna give up here, we're gonna lift the head, the neck, the shoulders, keep the elbows wide to challenge ourselves here. Tapping the toes with the head lifted here. In this nice, little neck hammock here, you can extend the thumbs so you have a little bit of support. We're here for three, gaze up towards the sky, two. And evening it out on the one. Beautiful. Release, hug the knees into the chest, take a deep breath in. And then exhale, extend the legs out long. Alright, from here, listen carefully. You can start by using your hands on the ground, we're gonna inhale, sit up all the way tall, send the fingertips up towards the sky and then exhale, Forward Fold. Navel draws back, nice and articulate through the spine, we roll it back down to one. Use the hands if you need to, otherwise we'll inhale, reach the arms all the way up as you sit up. Then exhale, fold. And then slow and steady navel draws to the spine, we lower down with control. Here we go, inhale to lift. Exhale to fold. Slow and steady with control all the way back down and you can move in your own pace, nice and slow. Again, feel free to use the hands on the earth, or fingertips on the earth to get through that first move, and in time, you won't need them anymore. Alright, so you can start to do this now at your own pace. Don't feel like you have to rush, right? This is not about number of reps, but about the quality of movement and your connectivity and your engagement. So we're slowly building heat up here. Again, if you need to use the hands or the elbows to sit up, go for it. Don't be hard on yourself, just take it nice and slow. Really articulating through the spine on the way down. Beautiful. We're gonna do two more, wherever you are, you got this. If you took a break, pick back up, here we go. And after that final one, you'll come onto your back. And you can center yourself on the mat, recenter rather. Then we're gonna bring the hands right underneath the bum here. Beautiful. Alright, with the legs extended out, let's lift now, big breath, big move here, we're gonna lift both legs up towards the sky, bend just the right leg down and we begin to scissor move here. Many of you know this, but stay with your breath here nice and slow. Hugging the low ribs in. Chin is nice and tucked. Oops. Keep it going, nice and steady. And then if you want, we can add a little lift, a little hover, lifting the head all the way up. Keeping that image of like a orange or a mango, grapefruit between the chin and the chest here. And for the last 10 seconds, we're gonna speed it up here. Scissoring the legs, Breathing deep. Scooping the tailbone up, pressing the hands into the earth. Three, two and one. Great, slowly release the hands, hug the knees into the chest. Rock gently side to side. Observe your breath. Beautiful. From here, we're gonna extend the legs out one more time. This time as we inhale, we're gonna sit up, we're gonna lift up, we're gonna bend the right knee, we're gonna grab, excuse me, the left knee, we're gonna grab the left ankle or the left foot. Good, then slowly lower down. Alternate. Lifting up, grabbing the right foot or right ankle. Or maybe even right knee. And slowly releasing. Again, this is not about the number of reps, this is about slow, beautiful movement with connectivity. Engage, working the whole abdominal wall. I'm gonna stop talking so I can do this with you. Finding a nice pace with your breath. This is about connectivity and engaging your muscles, not about reps or quantity. Inhaling to lower. Exhaling to lift. Beautiful. Then even it out and we'll release, nice and easy. Bend the knees, feet come to the ground. Interlace the fingertips, bring them behind the head. Okay, last little bit. Shins come parallel to the ceiling again. We're gonna extend the right leg out, right elbow to left knee. Inhale to center, exhale left leg out, left elbow to right knee. You got this, inhale to center and switch. Alternating here, finding that center moment to really draw the navel down. Beautiful. Moving with your breath, nice and easy. Bicycles. Beautiful. Now, if you want, you can pick up the pace here, go at a double-time speed. Nice and easy for ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five. Keep breathing, four, three, two and one, release it. Beautiful, hug the knees into the chest (chuckles), you're like, "Nice and easy?" When I say nice and easy, I mean like nice and easy in the face, like not working any harder than we need to. Alright, from here take the knees over to the right side. Just a little twist here can let the arms open up into little cactus arms. Close your eyes and relax, breathe into your belly. Beautiful and then bringing it back through the center, taking the legs to the other side, and just taking a second here. Feel that nice twist, that massage in the belly. Close your eyes, relax everything, breathe in. And breathe out. Awesome, come back to the center, hug the knees into the chest. One last time, slide the hands behind the thighs and then you can rock up to a nice comfortable seat. Alright, high five, everyone, thank you so much for joining me for this conditioning practice. I will see you next time, take good care. (upbeat music)