Hey, everyone, and 
welcome to Yoga with Adriene.

I am Adriene.

And today, we are 
going to learn Cat-Cow.

Which is one of my favorite
things in the entire universe.

So I'm happy to 
share it with you today.

Cat-Cow is 
great for happy spine,

massages the internal organs,

stretches the belly, 
builds muscles in the back,

and can also reduce stress.

Which we all need to do.

I don't think we 
will argue about that.

So hop on the mat 
and let's learn Cat-Cow.

(lighthearted music)

Okay, so we're going 
to begin on all fours.

And we can pad the 
knees with a blanket,

or we can double up the mat.

In fact, let me just 
show you that really fast.

This is a great trick if
you're working on hard floors

and you don't have a blanket.

You can peel the mat 
up and double it up here,

or quadruple.

Triple, quadruple it up.

And it becomes a nice 
little padding for the knees.

Ta-da, so use a 
blanket if you like,

or double up on the mat.

Okay, so together, we'll 
come to arrive on all fours.

And right away, of course

I wanna think 
about my foundation,

that which is 
touching the earth.

So I'm gonna spread 
my palms as wide I can,

and place them 
underneath the shoulders.

So wrists 
underneath the shoulders.

I'm gonna check in with my legs.

Knees directly 
underneath the hips.

And checking in 
with my foundation,

I will therefore press the tops

of my thighs into the earth.

So rather than just 
hanging out on all fours,

I'm already 
considering my foundation.

And not just that, but 
pressing up and out of it.

So finding this what 
we call tabletop position.

And to do that, 
I'm really gonna extend

through the crown of the head.

By maybe taking my gaze down
between my two index fingers.

And then maybe 
drawing the shoulders,

Not maybe, how about we draw

the shoulders 
away from the ears.

My yoga mentor will be like,
what's with all this maybe?

No maybe, let's roll the
shoulders away from the ears.

See if we can 
create a long neck here.

And then, 
particularly for us gals,

but for everyone, just 
check in with the lower back

by drawing the naval 
up towards the spine.

So sometimes we get 
caught in this nice pelvic tilt,

which is lovely.

But we'll want to come 
into the tabletop position.

So straightening that out.

So there's kind of a lot 
of activity going on here.

I'm pressing up 
and out of my palms.

I'm engaging the pelvic floor,

pressing into 
the tops of the feet,

drawing my naval to my spine,

shoulders away from the ears,

long beautiful neck here.

Then of course,

I'll begin to come 
into my breath (exhales).

Maybe first just 
noticing the natural rhythm,

the natural ebb 
and flow of the breath.

And then beginning to 
stir it up, play with it,

see if I can extend 
the inhale (inhales).

And extend the 
exhalation (exhales).

I'm starting collect tiny
beads of sweat on my forehead.

One, because it's 
kind of hot in the room.

But two, because 
I'm working here.

I'm already creating a full
body experience for myself,

engaging the core (inhales).

Connecting from 
the crown of the head

to the tip of the tailbone.

Okay, so this is 
actually Tabletop position.

This is the preparatory
pose for Cat-Cow.

So I'll inhale and 
break this line in the spine.

Scooping my heart forward,
pelvis tilts here,

as I shine my heart forward,
gaze can come forward here.

I'm drawing my 
shoulders away from the ears,

and I'm continuing that action

that I had in Tabletop position

of pressing up 
and out of the earth.

Rather than just 
collapsing into my bones.

So inhaling, long belly.

Then on the exhale, opposite.

So I'm gonna 
start at the tailbone.

Curl my tailbone under,
travel up the spine,

draw the naval 
up towards the sky,

chin slowly rotates, 
tilts towards the chest.

So we wanna draw 
the chin to the chest,

but not forcefully,

just letting the 
flow up the spine.

Allow the crown of 
the head to release.

And then same thing here.

I could be hanging 
into my bones here.

Or I can really get my money's
worth, as I like to say.

I can press up 
and out of the earth,

really feeling the 
skin of the back stretch,

drawing the naval 
up towards the sky.

And then on your inhale,
on the next inhale,

same thing, 
scooping the heart forward.

Lengthening 
through the side body,

pressing up and out of the palms

as the tailbone lifts up,
pelvic tilt.

Heart radiates forward.

Nice big breath in.

On the exhale, tailbone 
curls under, chin to chest,

naval draws up, pressing
up and out of the palms.

In kids yoga, 
here we pretend like

we're black Halloween cats here.

We go hisses.

Now on the inhale, 
scooping the heart forward,

I want to just take 
a quick moment to say

rather than thinking of this
as a U shape,

the letter U, 
like I love you,

or other things,

rather than 
thinking of it as a U shape,

and then an N shape,

think about it as a journey.

So the breath is taking us on

the journey up 
into that U shape.

And then we'll connect 
the breath and the movement

by then traveling 
into the N shape.

So a good example of that,

if you're like, 
what did she just say?

Is when I'm here in 
this kind of U shape,

stretching the skin on my belly,

rather than just thinking
about going from here to here,

I'm gonna really 
enjoy how I get there.

So connecting 
it with the breath.

I'll maybe start at 
the tip of the tailbone.

Start the movement there.

And then slowly 
travel up the spine,

like two little 
fingertips walking up my spine

until they continue to
walk, walk, walk up my neck.

And then the crown 
of the head releases

only because I finally 
made it there in my journey.

And then I begin again, inhale.

Looping the 
shoulders away from the ears.

Again, scooping 
the heart forward.

So this is a really 
great spinal flex warmup.

And I feel like a lot of times,

we just blow through 
it like everything else,

like really fast.

So take your time, 
consider the breath.

And then marry the 
breath to the movement.

Always wanting to marry 
the breath to that action,

the action to the breath.

So here we go, Cat-Cow.

Inhaling, scooping 
heart forward (inhales).

And again, inhaling.

Heart radiates forward,
long puppy belly here.

Pressing into 
the tops of the feet.

In kids yoga, here we say, moo.

And then, exhaling.

Traveling up the 
staircase of the spine.

Pressing into my palms.

All of this is on 
that exhale (exhales).

Long breath in, long neck.

And we can close the eyes and
really enjoy this (exhales).

So that was Cat-Cow.

A wonderful 
basic foundational pose

that you can do 
every day when you wake up,

or before you go to bed.

Super yummy for the spine.

Thanks for being with me.

If you have any questions,

leave them in the 
comments box area.

I'll get back to 
you as soon as I can.

Make sure you 
subscribe to my channel

and visit yogawithadriene.com.

Hope you have a beautiful 
time practicing Cat-Cow.

Namaste.

(lighthearted music)