- Hey everyone. Welcome to BREATH, your 30 day yoga journey. Today is one of my favorite days. It's Day 18, Center. So hop into something comfy and let's get started. (bright upbeat piano music) Alright my sweet friend, let's begin lying down. Hooray! Come on down to the ground. Give yourself a moment here to just land. Don't think that I don't know what a heroic feat it can be to arrive here today. So wonderful job. Let's meet by taking a deep breath in here. And as you exhale, close your eyes, allow your hands to rest gently on the ground. And just take a second to relax the weight of your body into the earth as you tune in. Begin to notice the sound of your breath. And the depth of your breath. And begin to notice how you're feeling today. One of the best things I've integrated into my daily life is taking a moment to check in each day, really checking in with intention. And sometimes that's all it takes to help myself feel centered, just to honest to God check in. (chuckles) Being willing and available to notice how you're actually feeling each day. And if you haven't already, begin to gently deepen the breath. Maybe inviting that ocean sound into the practice again. And maybe playing with how short or how long your inhales and exhalations can be. Take a moment here to extend the inhalation. Slowing everything down and extending the exhale. Inviting everything to slow down just a bit. Slowing down, slowing down my heart rate, slowing down my movement, my steps so that I can find a center and begin again. Keep this little conversation going with your breath and we'll start to rock the head gently side to side. You can keep your eyes closed here if it feels good. Part the lips a little bit for this move just to ensure you're relaxed in the jaw. And just notice, you know, no harm done if you're moving quickly but just notice if when I invited you to start rocking the head side to side, you started with a quick pace. See if you can slow it down a bit. And I do think it's a good idea to close the eyes here just to start to really tune into this subtle body gesture. Gently stretching the neck, gently massaging the back of the head. Awesome. Then bring the head back to center. We're gonna point the toes towards the front just to stretch the tops of the feet, point, point, point. And notice how when you point, you feel your quads turn on. (clicks tongue) Wink wink. And then flex the feet now pressing the heels towards the front edge of the mat. Toes of course now aimed up towards the ceiling or the sky. And again, see if you can connect that maybe to your hamstrings, the backs of the thighs, just feeling that connection. Sweet, point the toes. Again, feeling that connection up through the legs and flex, pressing the heels. Feeling that connection in the backs of the thighs. Even the glutes. Now keep the toes pointing up towards the sky and we're gonna inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up, and then back as if we were standing in Volcano or Mountain Pose with the arms up and overhead, of course we're reclined. Spread the fingertips, spread the toes. Inhale in here, feel this expansion in the rib cage, just playing here. And as you exhale, see if you can draw the low ribs, peek at me if you need to, this area right here you can even touch the lower ribs, draw them in turning the abdominal wall on as you reach back. So we're creating this feeling of containment in the center of our being here. Good, then inhale, lift the right leg just to see if those abs are turned on just a little bit like an inch or two or three. And then release the right leg back to the earth. And then inhale, lift the left leg, again, just checking in with the abdominal wall. Sweet. And then slowly, release the left leg to the ground, bring both hands down, palms face down on the earth. Good, inhale in again. Exhale, see if you can create that feeling, that engagement, in your center by hugging the lower ribs in, pressing the palms into the earth. Good, then let it all go. Open the palms, wiggle the toes, maybe shake the legs a little. Alright, so maybe you were feeling it, maybe not. We're going to give it one more round just to play here. So flex the feet, inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up and back. For this round, exaggerate lifting the low back up from the earth. So you can really feel the difference. So peek at me if you need to, I could take my hand and put it right underneath my low back. There's a little space there. I'm creating a bridge with my spine for my hand to go under. So exaggerate that, I love the image of long puppy belly here. I actually saw a puppy recently and saw the puppy belly. It was the highlight of my year. Thank you very much. Inhale in when you're ready, deep breath. Exhale, navel draws down, we try to bring the low back really flush with the earth. Feel the lower ribs get heavy, feel that containment, that centering, that engagement of the abdominal wall. Lift the right heel, check in. Feel it in that low belly, maybe scoop the tailbone up. Yes and then lower the right heel lift the left heel, again, check in. Can you feel it? ♪ Can you feel the love in your belly ♪ Lower the left heel, that was the first, okay. One more big inhale in here. Exhale, bring everything in, hug the knees into the chest, wrap the around the shins and gently rock side to side. Crawl the shoulder blades down towards the hips. The image here that I love is like a bear scratching its back on a tree. I got to go to Yosemite last year before the pandemic and it was so exciting to think about sharing space with the bears. Da bears. Okay, enough. Extend the legs out long. We're gonna walk the heels now towards the left side, the bottom left corner of your mat and then you're going to do a little shimmy with the head and shoulders to the back left corner of the mat. So you're creating a beautiful crescent moon with your bod. Inhale, reach up, grab the right wrist with the left hand and then we just kind of exaggerate this lengthening in the right side body here. But try to also hug down in the center as we've been doing, keeping the abdominal wall, (chuckles) sorry, a little turned on. (chuckles) Alright. Deep breath in here. As you exhale option to cross the right ankle over the left. A lot of people like this gesture, but if it's not for you just skip it. So obviously I'm the guide today and I'm honored to be your guide. So you're not going to hear my ocean breathe 'cause I'm talking but I encourage you whenever you can to listen to your ocean breath. And I'll try to chime in with mine whenever I can. Using that sound to anchor or center the mind, busy mind, in the present moment. Okay unravel, bring it back to center. We're going to bring the arms down and then walk the legs over towards the bottom right. Shimmy the head and the shoulders over to the back right corner of your mat, already feeling it in the left side waist. Inhale the reach up, exhale, grab that left wrist with your right hand and breathing here, creating the sensation of that crescent moon shape here in the left side body. Then layering that connection to center hugging the low ribs in, it's this feeling for me of containment. And I love working with center work rather than just wham-bam core work because it really does connect us to a sense of empowerment, right? This chakra here of kind of like self-confidence, empowerment. This willingness to really know who you are and embody that person fully. Okay, cross the left ankle over the right if you haven't already. I'm always checking in to notice, you know, how different the left and the right side of the body may be, particularly in the limbs, in the joints. Okay, and then slowly let's unravel, bring it back to center, interlace the fingertips, bring them behind the head, extend the thumbs. We're gonna bring the knees up to the chest. Benji's back, come on buddy. Come be me my cheerleader for this next centering practice. Bring the knees up to the chest. Aww, thanks. Well, okay. See you. And then we're going to just send the knees out so that they're over the hip points. Shins parallel to the ceiling, low back flush with the mat. Now I want to take a second to lovingly just be a good friend here and be kind of transparent. If you haven't been in touch with center work for a while, then it might be best for you to keep the knees a little bit forward instead of over the hip points, and this is so that you can start to gain that core strength back so that we can keep the low back nice and flush with the mat. So in other words, if you bring your knees out and your low back comes up, back up the truck a little, hug the knees in just a little bit so you feel that low back flush with the mat. Alright, this might seem like overkill, but I don't want you to have a sore back after this and I want us to actually start building some incredible power and strength from the inside out. Okay, here we go, inhale in. Find that kiss of the low back on the earth. And exhale. We're gonna send the right leg all the way out, flex the foot as you lift right elbow up to the left knee, peek at me if you need to. Good, inhale, come back to center. Head comes all the way down. Exhale, switch, extend the left leg, left elbow to right knee. Good, inhale back to center. Exhale right elbow to left knee. Inhale to center, left elbow to right knee. Inhale to center nice and slow. Exhale to the left. Inhale to center. Exhale to the right. You have one more on each side, you got this. If you took a break, come back now. Over to left, twist, twist, twist. And to center, and last one, over to the right, twist. Excellent, beautiful. From here, release the hands, bring them behind the thighs. We're gonna rock up and down the length of the spine and my guess is this is going to feel nice for you but maybe not for everybody. So if it ain't for you, skip it and just meet me all the way at the top of your mat in a standing Forward Fold. So you're gonna rock all the way up, bring the feet together or hip width apart, your choice. Then plant the palms, step it back for Downward Facing Dog. Yes, pedal it out, ground through the feet, find that rotation in the upper arm bones. Find your center here by hugging the low ribs in. And if Downward Dog is a dreaded pose for you, anchor in the sound of your breath and focus on this connection in your core, your center, draw the navel in and up a bit. Just widening our perspectives here a little bit by keeping an open mind, open to a new experience each day, using these postures even when they're challenging or maybe especially when they're challenging to center you in the present moment. Alright, baby steps to the top of the mat, nice and easy stretching through the feet. Maybe passing through a little veil of humility as you come back up to your Forward Fold. Again, the feet together or hip width apart, your choice. This time really let the weight of the head go here. Ground through all four corners of the feet, don't forget those heels, the back two corners. Bend the knees slightly, and we're just gonna take the fingertips and walk them over to the right, dig into the left heel. What's up left low back? And then over to the left, dig into the right heel. And then back to center. Inhale lots of love in, yes, mean it, feel it, let's do it. Why not? And exhale lots of love out. And inhale lots of love in. And centering in that love as you breathe out. Then keep it going if it felt good, inhaling lots of love in as you roll up slowly and exhaling lots of love out. Alright, today, when you stand up nice and tall in this Mountain Pose, I'd like for you to find a little something that you can focus on down past your nose or maybe right out in front of you, and we're gonna keep the hands at our sides here with energy, with feeling, and we're gonna just play, and it'll be a little bit different for everyone here but just with the feet, however they are is totally good. So either hip width apart or flush together, you're going to lift up from the pelvic floor and slowly lift the heels up as high as you can. And then lower down. That's it, let's try again a little bit slower and with control. Lifting up. And bringing it down. And one more time, and this time, this is a little wild but just hang with me. Imagine that this part of your body, your center is actually what's lifting you up. So not the heels or not this maneuvering of the feet but it's actually this part of your body that's lifting you up. In fact, everyone take a fist, bring it right here to the belly or you know, to the upper abs, solar plexus, wherever feels right for you. And then lift up from here, lift, lift, lift. Good and then once you feel like you're up there and if you fall like I just did, just come right back, no biggie. Release the arms down. And then maybe we start to reach the arms up. And think about lifting from the pelvic floor and drawing the navel in and up, up, up. Beautiful. Then slowly drop your center down in space, that brings the heels to the ground, we bend the knees, and we send it all the way down, fingertips towards the toes. Good, inhale, nice refreshing breath in here as you bring it to a nice flat back position. Find length in the neck and then exhale to soften and fold everything down. Plant the palms, step one foot back then the other so you're in your Plank Pose. We're getting our conditioning in each day here. Again, find your center, hug those low ribs in and up. If you're collapsing in the shoulder blades here, puff up through the upper back body, send those scaps left to right, reach the heels back. We're here for ten, you got it. Nine, breathe, listen, eight. Seven, six, five, four, three, on the one squeeze the elbows into the side body lower all the way to the earth. Nice. Take a deep breath in here, press into the feet. Long breath out as you bring the hands in line with the rib cage. Again, squeeze the elbows in. Inhale, we rise up, Cobra. Exhale to release. Curl the toes under, inhale, big breath, all four sides of the torso expand. Exhale up to your strong Plank. Let your center of gravity be what lifts you up and back this time, Downward Facing Dog, nice. Then anchor the left heel, inhale lift the right leg up high. Exhale squeeze the right knee all the way up and forward then step it into your nice low lunge. Keep the back knee lifted today if you can, reach the left heel back and slowly sweep the arms forward and all the way up towards the sky. Now drop your center down low. Bend that back knee generously for a moment here so you can really get your center underneath you. So it feels like head and heart and pelvis are all in alignment, then you can start to straighten that back leg and maybe look up in between your hands. Fingertips have energy here, inhale in deeply. Exhale, open up, Warrior II. Inhale, straight leg today all the way up towards the sky, right fingertips reach up and back. Big breath, big stretch. Now hug the low ribs in, round through as you transition here, peek at me if you need to. So shoulders round forward, soft fingertips as we come all the way back and through, bend that front knee and come into the twist. The right fingertips lift us up, really today focusing on spiraling the heart up towards the sky. Good, and then bringing the right hand down, stepping the right toes back, inhale to look forward, shift forward. Exhale to lower all the way to the belly. Inhale, Cobra, your version. And exhale all the way back down. Inhale, big breath in here. Exhale to Plank. Inhale in here. Whole body experience and exhale, your center brings you up and back into your Downward Facing Dog. Nice. Anchor the right heel here. Big breath, as you inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, shift it forward, long breath. Step it up. Find your footing here, high lunge. But of course, feel free to lower that back knee if you need. Squeeze the inner thighs together from center, inhale, we rise up, reach the fingertips towards the heavens. Then let's bend that back knee here, really get our pelvis kind of underneath us. So this will be different for everyone but you want to feel that containment in the center that we had on our backs. Alright, maybe you start to straighten that back leg again when you've played with that centering. And maybe we look up towards the sky. Controlling the breath. Opening up Warrior II nice and wide. And right away straightening the front leg now, left fingertips up and back, big breath, big stretch. For this transition, navel draws in. So really draw the navel in, we round through bend that front knee, soft fingertips here in the transition as you come forward for your lunge, inhale spiral the heart up towards the sky. Energy in the left fingertips. Good and then slowly exhale, bring it down. Plant the palms, spread the fingertips, step the left toes back. Inhale to look forward. Exhale to lower to the belly. Inhale, your beautiful Cobra. That's right, (chuckles) and then exhale to release. Curl the toes under, inhale in. The exhale brings you up, navel to spine like a rocket ship. So from center, we're moving. Hips up high and back, Down Dog. Nice. Bend the knees, inhale to look forward. Exhale to make your way to the top. Find your way, my darling. Feet together this time. So really together, let's play. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale to soften and fold. Bend the knees, check it out, roll it up here. So rag doll again, but this time feet are together and we're feeling the squeeze, squeeze squeezing sensation all the way up, finding a sense of stability, of center, of power here as you squeeze the legs. And you can feel these big strong muscles of the legs turn on (laughs). The glutes turn on as well. And here we go. From center, if you liked this, bring the fist back to the abdominal wall and let's lift up. So this moves first here and then the heels lift. This time we're working with legs squeezing together, all of us. We can stay here focused on our point, our Drishti, a point in which we gaze upon, holding our balance, stability, finding center in both mind and body. Maybe we stay here or maybe we reach the arms all the way up. If you're on the toes, really on the toes, try to press into all of the toes, even that pinky. Relax any tension in the neck or the shoulders. Good, inhale in. Exhale, release everything and take it all the way back down. Let's rinse it off a little, inhale extension, lengthen the crown of the head, halfway lift. Exhale, soften and fold everything. Good. Shake the head a little yes, a little no here then slowly roll it back up to standing. Beautiful, hands come to the waistline and we're gonna turn to step nice and wide on the mat. Alright, toes turn out here to start. Nice wide stance. You want to make sure that your ankles are at least as wide as your wrists if you were to take your arms out. So sometimes that's a great way to check, particularly if you're new to the practice. Alright and then hands back to the waistline so that we can close our eyes or soften our gaze and imagine ourselves just embodying all that beautiful power that resides within. It's definitely a superhero pose. Think of this lifting up through the front body, this grounding through the back body. Inhale in. And exhale, we're gonna bend the knees, just drop the center in space. Now press into the outer edges of your feet 'cause your knees are going to want to roll in, totally normal. And we're gonna press into the outer edges. So we have a wider stance than Goddess Pose. So if you're bringing your feet in now, try to keep it a little bit wide. Pressing into the outer edges of the feet, seeing if we can feel the thigh bones, those femurs, slowly hug in. And if you're here, know this is to be expected. So we're just working, right? I've been doing this a lot, working, working to find this integration to work from center to stack the bones in an optimal way. So if the knees are knocking in, press into the outer edges of the feet, everyone draw energy up from the inner arches, engage the inner thigh. Standing tall here, inhale in. Exhale, straighten the legs. Beautiful, now turn the toes in, we've been here before. Inhale, lift your heart to the sky. And exhale, navel draws in towards the spine as we come forward. Nice flat back position. Looking down into our reflexion. This time we're gonna bring the left fingertips to the earth, or if you're like, "Adriene, not quite." Fold up your blanket, bring the earth up to you. Maybe some books or pillows, yoga blocks, imagine that if you have them. DVDs, do you guys still have DVDs? You'd have to stack a lot of DVDs. But hey. Alright, and if you're feeling impatient when I say things like that, just remember we're casting a wide net, a lot of people are practicing together and it's like kind of the magic of this. So be patient. Think of it as like, "Oh, I'm going to work out my breath "while my fellow humans get set up "so that we can all practice together." Right fingertips come to the left wrist and we're gonna slowly find a twist. So soft bend in the knees here as you slowly reach the right fingertips up towards the sky. You might check in, notice how your twists are kind of evolving here with the breath as we continue this journey. If you're here, that's normal too. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Inhale, maybe you send your gaze up towards your right thumb. And exhale we'll come back through and we will switch. Same thing on the other side, right hand or right fingertips replace the left hand and we'll take the left hand all the way up towards the sky. Careful not to lock out through the knees. Breathe, use your breath, right? Inhale to lift and lengthen always in the twist and exhale to go on the journey. Maybe on your last cycle of breath here you look up at the left thumb. Woo! And then slowly bring it back down. Alright, from here, heel-toe, heel-toe the feet all the way back to center. So you're in a Forward Fold. Inhale, halfway lift wherever you are on your mat, just give it a little length. And exhale to release. Fingertips come to the earth or your DVDs, and we're gonna lift the heels, we're gonna drop the center down in space, come into to a nice low crouch. Now we've played around with this before. Just take a second. Find your breath. Inhale in. Exhale. Nice and easy, we're gonna turn on the mat if you need to, and we're gonna open the knees wide, we're gonna keep the heels lifted. Alright, hands out in front, spread the fingertips. We're gonna draw the shoulder blades together, shoulders away from the ears. So we find on that connection in the shoulder. And then slowly, we're going to think about the center, your center of gravity is what lifts you up. Knees come up towards the armpit and don't worry about Crow Pose yet, we're just moving our center in space. Now, if I can introduce anything, if this is new for you it would be to A, move from center and not worry about the shape, but B, keep your gaze out, your focus, that Drishti that we had before because if you start shifting your center forward and the gaze is here, it's going to keep moving in space and you're gonna do a somersault. So let's just play here, a little Bakasana practice. We lift the center up, we send the gaze out in front, nice focal point out in front as we rock forward and back forward and back. And we've been working on a lot of things that will set us up for a nice healthy Crow. So you might just work on center forward and back, but if you find as you hug the elbows in and get those knees all up in there, (chuckles) fancy term, up towards your upper chest, you feel this connection in your center so much that you feel like you can lift one foot maybe and lift the other. And then maybe you rock forward, lift both feet. Feeling that connection in your center of gravity. So we're not really digging the knees into the arms here, we're finding that lift up through the navel. Just give it a couple rounds, make sure you're not holding your breath. And then when you feel like you've had enough, go ahead and come on down to the ground. Swing your legs to one side, send the legs out in front. Fingertips reach out in line with the shoulders and then we're gonna take the fingertips down. Good. Stretch, stretch, stretch. Take the right thumb to the center of the left palm and press it forward. Breathe in. And switch. Left thumb to the center of the right palm. Breathing in. And release. Now come to lie flat on the back, hug the knees into the chest. Inhale in deeply. And exhale completely. Awesome, send the arms into those cactus arms, roll both knees to the right side, inhale in. Exhale, turn onto your left ear. Take a cycle of breath here in. And out. And then slowly come back to center. Take it to the left. Breath in. And turn on to your right ear as you breathe out. Full cycle of breath here, in. And out. And then slowly come back to center and into the Corpse Pose. Extend the legs out long, arms resting gently at your sides. You can close your eyes here, you can always cover the eyes. And if this isn't your jam, you can sit up in a nice comfortable seat to find stillness in meditation. Let's just take a moment to congeal. Maybe a moment of contemplation, I think for today's theme is appropriate. You know, "What does center feel like?" is a good question to ask. Why is center important? Ultimately, this is what my practice and the practice I share really is all about, 100%. What is my relationship to center? What is that relationship like? What does it look like? What does it feel like it? What does it mean? And if you're like, "Oh, these all seem like good questions, "they resonate, but I don't know how to answer them." Don't you worry about a thing, it's the awareness of the very thing that will hold you in the present moment. One present moment leading to the next. Wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes, and slowly draw the hands together at the heart when you're ready. Feel your thumbs on your chest. And I invite you to see if you can play with moving from the center as you get up off your mat and even as you roll it up or walk away. Maybe getting in and out of the bathtub or the car, up and down off the toilet or just moving through space. Truly see what happens if you can remember, "Oh, what is it? "What is it like if I move from center? "How does that change the quality of my movement?" Sweet, thumbs up to the third eye, I think that's enough for today, I love you so much. Take a deep breath in. Exhale. The journey continues mañana, I'll see you there. Namaste. (bright upbeat piano music)