- What's up everyone, welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is sweet Benji. And today we have Blanket Yoga. Yes, the practice of your dreams designed to help you handle stress. So if you have a blanket or two or three or four grab them. If you don't no worries, just bring your body and your beautiful breath, and all will be well. Hop into something extra comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alrighty my friends, welcome. Come on down to the ground. Hopefully by now you've collected your blanket or blankets or even a sweater. And I'm laying on a few and I brought, I've just grabbed a plethora of different blinkies here, and I'm gonna come to lie with my top blanket over me, and it looks like Benji too. And I'm gonna use one as a pillow, so set yourself up for a nice supine, relaxation beginning here. And we are going to take time to stretch and move our bodies today but we're gonna start with a little meditation, a little relaxation, so come on down to the ground. Benji is gonna be my breathing bolster today. And the important thing is to allow yourself to settle in with what is. Oh my goodness, easier said than done. So I'm gonna guide you, bring your left hand to your heart space once you come on down and your right hand to your belly. And relax your shoulders. And do whatever you need to do here now to get comfortable. And I'd like to just point out that if your current setup isn't quiet or serene or perfect, no problem. It's really not part of the expectation here. The opportunity is just to take some time for yourself. And mindfully tend to your current state, your emotional wellbeing, your physical wellbeing, and of course your mental wellbeing. So no worries if you're not set up in the perfect environment. (chuckles) And take a moment to close your eyes or just allow the eyelids to get a little soft and heavy. So you can keep the eyes if you like, but soften your gaze and start to notice your breath. And I think for this Blanket Yoga, which is really all about how we handle stress and taking time to handle stress gracefully, but also honestly, I would say, if you can do close your eyes here, just to help guide your attention inward. And bringing the awareness to the breath, you don't have to really force it or take on any breath technique here to begin, just allow yourself the opportunity and the time to notice. Notice the rise and the fall of your right hand as you breathe in and out. (soft music) Then you may experience that when you bring your awareness to your breath, just by bringing your attention to it, it starts to grow, it starts to evolve. So go ahead and allow that to happen. Maybe by bringing your awareness to the length of your inhale and the length of your exhale. Giving yourself an opportunity to gently release the things that have been weighing you down, maybe stressing you out or worrying you and really giving yourself a chance here to the best of your ability today to just breathe, just notice. And to welcome the sense of balance or equanimity to the mat, to your experience. Take a couple more deep breaths here and as you do so, scan the body, notice if there are areas where you might be holding or clenching. This could be an actual physical gesture, it could honestly just be a sensation. Like, "Oh I feel tight in the chest," or off in the stomach. Maybe I'm holding in the hips, the glutes. Holding in the shoulders. And then take one more deep breath in. And use your next exhale to open the eyes softly, sweetly, and we'll send the fingertips all the way up towards the sky. So reaching up to the ceiling or to the sky above you. Inhale in. And then exhale, you're just gonna cross one arm over the other, give yourself a hug here. Breathe in. Breathe out. Release the fingers all the way back up. And then other side, crossing the opposite arm on top. Breathing in, feeling the rib cage expand. And breathing out, allowing everything to soften. Alright, nice and sweet we'll release this, so moving sweetly today I mean the whole practice is called Blanket Yoga so just need to be aware of the quality of movement can be really sweet and cozy even if you're having a hard day, I got you. Alright, we're gonna bend both knees, Benji's here for it. (laughs) We're gonna bend both knees. You can stay under your blanket or you can kick it off here. It's okay to get a little messy or cozy with the blankets. I spent so many years of my life and my career, just kidding, but really being specific about blanket folds and there is a place for that in yoga, but not today, my friend. Hug the knees into the chest, feel that length in the low back. Maybe allow your eyes to close again, just to really bring your awareness to the sensation. We're gonna spread the toes, we're gonna rotate the ankles one way and then the other. Great then put your left foot down on the earth. Really feel it, if Benji will let me, really feel it ground. And then you're gonna hug your right knee, not just up towards the chest, but now take it all the way over towards your right shoulders. So we're opening up you should feel an external rotation in the right hip and a little bit of compression in the front of the right hip crease. There's an option here to try, it may not happen, to hook the right elbow to the kneecap. If that's not happening or right for your body, forget about it. And from here we're gonna slowly lift the sole of the right foot up towards the sky, breathe deep, and feel this connection in your core so your low back is nice and flush with the mat. You can stay here with the hands behind the right thigh, right hamstring here. Or we can reach to the outer edge of the right foot, and start to pull it down through the right shoulder creating, we call this a little Stirrup Posture here and the stirrup is right around your foot. You can also grab the inner arch if that's better for you. There's an external rotation in both the hip, which I mentioned, and the right shoulder. So externally rotate. Now, kick, kick, kick your right heel up towards the sky. Breathe deep, breathe into your belly. Option here to extend the left leg out long or keep it bent. Many of you I know are navigating your family, your pets as well. So we'll just do our best, I'll let Benji stay here for now. If the left leg is extended out long, go ahead and bring it back in. And then we'll release the bind on the right foot, and we'll switch to the other side. So right hand ground, excuse me, right foot grounds. And we'll slowly hug the left knee in. And just take it over towards the left shoulder. You can imagine the left hip socket going like this, so externally rotating. Give yourself a little visual. And then we can interlace the fingertips behind the hamstring, kick that left foot up towards the sky. Or maybe we take the bind to grabbing the outer edge of that left foot. Sole of the left foot up towards the ceiling. I'm kind of keeping awareness of my right knee, hugging it in towards the midline. Breathing deep here, left shoulders pulling down. Left heel is kicking up. And then breathe, breathe, breathe. The option to extend the right leg long. Maybe bring the right hand to the right hip crease. You got to bring the breath. And then if the right leg is extended, excuse me, go in and bring it back up. And then we'll slowly release the bind. Check it out, we're gonna hug both knees up to the chest. We're gonna cross the right knee over the left here. Toes are kind of kicking in space. Good from here take the index finger and thumb, listen carefully, you're gonna grab the big toes. Then kick both toes out, peek at me if you need to, this is like Cow Legs, Cow Pose, Gomukhasan Legs. And if the knees don't come close, you can make adjustments. If you are seeking a deeper stretch, you can grab the outer edges of the feet, both toes kicking out. For some reason like Supine Gomukhasan, Supine Cow Legs always kind of make me feel like I'm tapping my head or rubbing my belly. So if it takes you a second to get into your version of the shape, no worries. Oh my goodness, such love though for the hips and the low back, breathe deep. And then we're gonna unravel. I'm just gonna go right to the other side, keeping the core nice and engaged. So this is like maybe you're sitting at a desk, that image. Take the fingers bring them to the big toes, kick the toes out. Shins kind of looking up towards the ceiling or the sky. Good breathe deep. Maybe you grab the outer edges of the feet here, kicking out. Gotta breathe. Beautiful, then slowly unravel, nice work. We're gonna bring the hands to the backs of the thighs. We're gonna rock and roll it up. We'll come back down to the floor, but that's our floor warmup for now. So we're gonna come all the way up, and we're gonna come to all fours. So we're gonna use the blanket here now to pad the knees, and you're gonna come to Tabletop Position. And I'm gonna ask my friendly assistant here, hey excuse me, you're gonna come here, over? Actually that's great. Alright so here we go. You can use all the blankets to pad the knees here. Why not? We have them, let's use them. Wrists underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips. Spread the hands wide, if you're practicing in socks today, you can keep the socks on for everything. I think in my opinion today, otherwise, if you feel like you might want more grip with your toes, you can kick your socks off whenever you like. Alright, here we go, soft bend in the elbows, I'm gonna send my gaze straight down here to start creating a nice Tabletop Position. Hug the lower ribs in, inhale in. Exhale, curl the toes under lift the knees up, hover, Hovering Table, soft bend in the elbows. Upper arm bones are externally rotating. We're just creating a little heat. It's challenging perhaps, but welcoming that heat breathing deep for three, two, and on the one lower the knees, flip the toes, drop the belly, open the chest, look forward. Good, exhale, rounding through. Keep it going inhale, drop the belly, spinal flexion. And exhale, rounding through. Now do a couple more with the sound of your breath in your own time. You can close your eyes and visualize the spine, the vertebra. And then when you're ready bring it back to a nice neutral Tabletop Position. And we'll slowly press into the top of the left foot, press into both palms evenly, send the right leg all the way out and up, dial your right toes down. So right inner thigh is really shining up towards the sky. Femur is nice and snugly in the socket. And then we're gonna press into the right palms press into the top of the left foot, hold onto your center muscles, your core muscles, and we'll send the left fingertips forward, left thumb all the way up towards the sky, pinky down. Great, keep bringing that awareness towards the midline, whatever that means to you as you inhale in. Exhale, we're gonna squeeze it all the way in and up rounding the spine like Cat. Inhale to extend. Spread the fingers, spread the toes. And exhale to round it through. Inhale to extend. Exhale to round it through. Keep clawing through the right fingertips to take pressure out of that wrist. Listen carefully, inhale to extend. Exhale, you're gonna bend the left elbow, bring it in line with the shoulder, and you're gonna bend the right knee, and we're gonna reach, reach, reach behind to maybe grab the right big toe or the top of the right foot. Good, then start to kick the right heel up towards the sky, right toes up towards the sky. And maybe you send your gaze forward, inhale. Beautiful, breathe here. Nice external rotation in the left shoulder. Left glute is turned on. Kick the right foot out a little more, one more breath. And then exhale to release everything. Bring the knees wide, big toes to touch. Send the hips back, you're gonna send the fingertips forward, bring the palms together and then walk the elbows forward. Feel a nice stretching the shoulder, the tricep. We're gonna bring the palms all the way up and behind the head as we rest our heart in Child's Pose. Palms kind of a little shark fin above the head and the neck. Breathe deep here, let everything go. Inhale, fill the lungs. Feel the rib cage expand on all four sides of the torso. And then exhale, let everything go. Slowly release the fingertips back down to the earth. We'll come all the way back up to Tabletop Position. Stacking the bones, getting set up here. And then when you're ready, we'll send the left toes, left leg out long. And when you're ready to lift it up. Hug the lower ribs and find that connection to your core here, abdominal wall is engaged. It's almost like you're bracing here in your center and then right fingertips out, right thumb up. Soft micro-bend in that left elbow. I'm pressing my right foot firmly into the ground, dialing the left toes down. Alright, here we go, let's flow. Inhale. Exhale, rounding through contract navel to spine. Inhale spread the fingers, spread the toes. Exhale, round it through. Inhale to expand. And exhale navel draws up, up, up. Bring it in. Inhale to extend. And exhale to round inward and contract. Inhale to extend. Exhale, reel it in. And last one, inhale to extend. Bend the right elbow, bend the left knee, we're gonna reach around, try to grab our left toes here. If you do, we'll start to kick the foot out. Opening up through the right armpit chest and eventually finding that long Puppy Belly. So nice and open through the front body as you press away from your foundation. Definitely strengthening the right glute here. As you look forward, breathe. For your last cycle of breath maybe kicking the toes up a little more. Finding that big stretch through the left quad. And then slowly releasing everything back. Knees as wide as the mat or the blanket, big toes to touch. And once again, Child's Pose. This time you can take the palms up and overhead or reach the fingertips forward. Melt your heart and your head towards the ground. Take a deep breath in. And empty it out. Again, big inhale in. And empty it out. And altogether, here we go, inhale lots of love in. And exhale lots of love out. Really nice, here we go. Draw the navel up, bring it back to all fours. We're gonna slowly curl the toes under. Send the hips up high and back Downward Facing Dog. Nice and easy here. Stretching through the backs of the legs. Head below the heart. Peel the hip creases up and back. We're gonna take three breaths here together. Here we go, inhale in through the nose. Exhale out through the nose or mouth. Inhale in. And exhale out. Last one, find stillness in the body. Inhale, let the breath move you. And exhale out. So nice. From here go ahead and lower the knees back to the earth. Then you're gonna shift your weight to your left side and we're gonna step just the right foot up. Walk the left knee back, you have nice padding on the knee here or you should, then we're gonna interlace the fingertips bring them to the top of the right thigh. Inhale to lift the heart. Exhale to relax the shoulders. Inhale to lift the heart. And exhale to relax the shoulders. Awesome, inhale to lift the heart. And exhale to release everything down. Bring it back to all fours. And same thing on the other side. Stepping the left foot up, walking the right knee a little bit back. Ooh Benji is stretching. Interlace the fingertips. Bring them to the top of the left thigh. And here we go inhale to lift and lengthen. Exhale to relax the shoulders down. Inhale to lift the heart. Exhale practice softening, relaxing the shoulders. And one more time inhale to lift and lengthen. Exhale, soften, relax the shoulders. Let that be what brings you all the way back down. And this time knees together, really together, send the hips back, send the fingertips back, Child's Pose. Nice soothing breath here. On my cue, so here we go, inhaling in together. And exhaling, relaxing the shoulders. So inhaling to fill it up. And exhaling to soften. And one more, inhale, fill it up. Exhale to soften. Lovely, let's bring the fingertips back up. Listen carefully, from here we're gonna come on to the knees and you're just gonna swing the legs to one side, any side, and we're gonna come through to a seat with the legs out in front. So it seems so foundational, so basic, I guess to get good at breathing in and breathing out but this is something you can really do anytime, anywhere, doesn't require a lot of anything, just your awareness. And this can be really good for handling yourself in stressful times. Using an inhale to expand, embody, be present. And using an exhale to relax the shoulders, release tension so that things don't get caught. Okay, with the legs out wide, long, excuse me, feet hip width apart. Go ahead and flex your feet and spread your toes nice and wide. Hands come to the earth or fingertips for Dundasana. Come into alignment here to the best of your ability. Head over heart, heart over pelvis so nice long spine. And then we're gonna bend the knees a little bit here. Inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up. And exhale, belly comes toward the tops of the thighs. Heart forward towards the shins. Maybe we grab the big toes again here or again the outer edges of the feet. Then from here, you get to work it alright, work that breath, the technique of inhaling fully, feeling expansiveness, that expansion, and the exhale bringing a softening or a surrender. So keeping things moving, even when we feel like they're really difficult. (chuckles) I was gonna get dark there for a second, but you know, it's all good. You know. So on the surface where doing a Seated Forward Fold, Paschimottanasana but there's opportunity to apply that dance of the breath here. So I'm gonna get quiet for a bit and allow you to just play. You can work to straighten the legs here if that's your jam. I would say practice relaxing through the head and the neck, at least for a couple cycles. And you might even find a little wave, a little ripple of movement with your inhalations and your exhalations. Just play for a moment. If you're wondering if you're doing it right, yes, yes you are. Maybe if you haven't already take a couple cycles with the eyes closed. And then slowly releasing that and rolling up. And try not to fidget here just roll up. You can soften to the toes now and just observe. Notice how you feel. And now it's party time! Grab the blanket. Not all heroes wear capes but in this circumstance they do. So you're gonna bring your blanket into a little cape-like costume. Love a good costume. And we're gonna bring one or let's bring the left heel in first, and then the right heel in second so you're here, and you look cool. Okay? So you're here, little hip release, another hip release here so you're gonna come forward on to the fingertips and we're just gonna walk it in this case for me towards Benji's butt. Which someone in the Yoga With Adriene community taught me that this is called a butt skirt. Thank you. And here we are again folding inward this time with the blanket. Breathing deep, using that inhalation to really almost feel a stretch in the skin of the back. It's that expansive and then an exhalation. And I realize it's quite difficult to keep this breath going the whole time. So just see if you can catch a couple of good waves. And you can walk to one side if you like with the arms. And then the other. And just make sure you're giving it your best shot to really breathe a little deeper and more fully. Right, if not now, when? Okay and then come all the way back up. Rolling up through the spine. Yep, you guessed it we're gonna just switch the legs. So the right heel comes in, left leg to follow, Siddhasan. Fingertips come to the earth and then nothing fancy here. Breathe deep, walk it forward. I should mention too if the elbows don't come to the earth, no problem, breathing deep here, relaxing the head. You'll feel it in your hips and your low back. And if you wanna go full love cave, if you have a busy household or just the world is, you need to just a little second, you can go full love cave, bring your blanket all the way up and over, practice here. Safe space with your breath. Maybe walking the hands to one side here and then the other. And sometimes it really is that sweaty flow or that 10 minute conditioning or the vinyasa pact contemplation. But sometimes it really is just getting in to the body and returning back to your breath. And that's a great way to handle stress, and add blankets and Benji and voila. Okay, here we go. Okay, so now soles of the feet together. (chuckles) Last bit before we come back onto our backs. Soles of the feet together. Establishing, re-establishing rather, your cape. Get cozy. I mean, if you wanna go all the way here, you can. Why not? We're gonna grab the toes here, I think this is also a great opportunity if it's in your wheelhouse, if it's in your action, actually, I'm gonna invite everyone to do it. Why not? If not now, when? Take your thumbs to the arches of your feet, and let's just give the arches of the feet a little stimulation here, a little massage. And you don't have to think of it as like massage technique, just let your body figure it out. And if for whatever reason that this isn't available to you, maybe you pick another part of your body to just give a little touch. Hey-o, okay. And now a little Cobbler's Pose. Lift the heart, lift the chest. Breathe in and exhale slowly leaning forward. We can grab the toes here, we can relax the head forward. If you can close your eyes. (singing) Make a wish and blow out the candlelight for tonight is just the night we're gonna celebrate. (laughs) Every time I get a little further in the song. Okay. Into the Cobbler's Pose for one more breath. Relax the neck. Notice if you might be holding in the neck. And then slowly release. And do not underestimate, a little goes a long way working with the hips and the low back, especially with all the time we can spend sitting in chairs and on the couch and stuff like that. Okay. Let's come on down on the ground. Get your blankets. I'm gonna go full on here. So set yourself up for relaxation. I forgot, I need to guide you through a couple of these. So if you have a blanket that might work as a bolster for underneath the knees, let's roll it or fold it for behind the knees now. If you have a blanket or old comforter (laughs) for the head, you can use that. I like a little padding here for my body too. Benji, you're cool? And then, because a little bit chilly out, I'm gonna come back with my top blanket and just set yourself up. And it doesn't have to be perfect and it doesn't have to be like mine. It's literally the act of the gesture of like during this loving thing for herself that matters. So it doesn't really matter what it looks like. Just put a little love into it, you can smile, we're not gonna be here for too long. You can always of course pause the video after we've closed and stay here a little longer. It's also quite nice for us to just be on the ground. Getting our energetic being back on the ground to recharge. Yes, say yes. Okay. So I have my little bolster underneath my knees here. I'm getting really nice and cozy in my low back. I'm gonna let my blankie come all the way up to my neck and I'm gonna allow my arms to rest gently at my sides. You can also bring them to rest gently on your belly and feel the rising and the fall of your breath. Tuck your chin slightly, softened through your fingers and toes. And then when you're ready close your eyes, take a deep breath, the deepest breath you've taken all day. And let this be an I love you. Just hang with me. Let this be an "I love you" breath as you breathe in. And an I love you as you breathe out. Close your eyes and again, just in case the first one didn't catch, an "I love you" breath in. And an "I love you" breath out and you don't actually have to love yourself or believe it my darling but let's practice. Let's try it on. Big inhale, lots of love in. And I love you, lots of love out, yes. Now soften through your jaw. You can allow the breath to keep going in a little I love you waves, little whispers of love. Or you can kind of let it go, just let it do its thing. Let yourself be breathed. Get soft through the fingers and toes, relax your shoulders. With the eyes closed, you just bring your mind's eye or your awareness to the soles of your feet and in your own time, and really do this if you can. You're just gonna start at the soles of your feet and you're just gonna trace a very loving non-judgemental line all the way up the body, just doing a little scan. Softening and relaxing and appreciating each and every part as you bring your awareness to it. Starting at the feet. Come through the ankles and the shins and the knees. Then continuing up through the tops of the thighs, the femurs. And the backs of the thighs, hamstrings, the hips. Soften through the bowl of the pelvis. Send genuine love and appreciation to your low belly. Your low back. And your strong core, your center. And the ribs front and back. And the chest, the upper back, the shoulders, your neck. And the arms, the wrists, the fingers, the palms. Don't forget to bring your awareness to your jaw. Soften through the jaw, your finger, excuse me, not your fingers your lips (chuckles). You can smile. Move the tongue around a little in your mouth. Inhale in through the nostrils. And as you exhale send your awareness all the way up to the brow bones, your third eye and the crown of the head, the ears, the back of the head, back of the neck. Now relax the weight of your body fully into the earth. And for just a moment here, allow yourself to be. To be. (soft music) If you've captured an exquisite stillness and you wanna stay there, please do. It's precious, I know, so stay there. Otherwise, begin to rock the head a little side to side. And you can kind of feel the cushion hopefully of your blanket as a pillow on your ears. You rock towards the earth. And we'll begin to wiggle the fingers and the toes. Gently bat the eyelashes open. And we'll bring the palms together. Thumbs are gonna come up to the third eye. We're gonna close it out here underneath your blanket in case you want to stay here for a second on your back. Maybe in meditation or relaxation. Maybe in prayer. Whatever feels good for you. But you have to get up and boogie, pay attention to how you transition out of this. Right? I'll just say that. And enjoy the rest of your day or evening. Thumbs to third eye. Big breath in together, all together. Thank you so much for sharing your time and energy. As you breathe out, relax your shoulders one last time. And we'll whisper, Namaste. Take good care everyone. (upbeat music)