- Hi everyone and welcome to Dedicate, your 30 day yoga journey. I'm Adriene and this is Benji and welcome back. It's Day 2 and today we're focusing on Foundation. So hop into something comfy and let's get started. (bright music) Alrighty my friends, welcome back. Let's begin in a nice comfortable seat. Take your time getting down to the ground. When you land sit up nice and tall. Remembering that you can always lift the hips if you need a little boost to help you find length in the spine. And right away we're going to align head over heart, heart over pelvis today and allow the hands to just rest gently on the thighs or the knees, whatever feels good. And then I'd like for you to just notice where your heels are if they're really crunching close in to your body or if you perhaps would benefit from a little more space. So to each his own, just wanting you to pay attention because today Day 2 we are remembering that or learning that after the breath, foundation first. So always, always, always, as we introduced in yesterday's session breath comes first so you can always be playing with that expansion of the inhale. Really imagining it moving out through all four sides of the torso so we tend to kind of breathe here a lot without just consciousness. Totally normal. And in our yoga practice we have a great opportunity to drop the breath down and you can even hear my voice change when I bring the breath down here, that awareness into my diaphragm and feel that expansion and then yes, of course, the relaxing of the shoulders down as you breathe out. So after that little dance which you can do at any point during this journey if you need to take a break you can just return back to your breath. After that we always want to come to the foundation. And if you've been practicing yoga for 20 years I think this session is still going to be amazing for you because I always find myself kind of exploring off on a trail which is great and then having this moment where I remember (sighs) how's my foundation? How is the soil? How is that which I'm building upon? Is it steady? Is it cracked? Am I ignoring it entirely? Is it like a fire and does it need tending to? That fire about to go out so there are a lot of rich metaphor there of course but ultimately this is really important because it's going to keep you safe and it's going to set you up for greatness in the asana practice. So, right away just notice does it feel better to have my heels in here or would I benefit from giving myself more space? By now I hope that you've settled in. And if you're having trouble kind of feeling out head over heart, heart over pelvis, go ahead and close your eyes and let's all actually just place a little awareness at the base of the spine. The pelvic floor. And if you're a creative intelligence type, if you are a visual person you might even place a little soft light right there at the bottom of your spine, the base of the pelvis. And then try to keep an open mind as we slowly travel all the way up from the base of the pelvis, just with your mind's eye, to your center. And you're going to identify with your center different every day and everybody you have to also remember this journey is designed for so many types of people, so many different moods energy levels so try to keep that in mind as you find your center and know that it's going to be different for everyone and it's gonna be different every day. Sometimes your center is going to be up here. Sometimes it's going to be right here. Sometimes it's gonna be right here. So place a little soft light or just awareness now in your center. Maybe it's just above the navel today. Maybe it's right there in the belly and then continue all the way up to your heart. And see if you can align those three things you might be leaning forward a bit. You might be maybe hanging back. I always like to call this the Mr. Burns. This kind of you know, so energetically we're drawing up from the base of the spine through the center and then the heart center and now all the way up to the crown of your head, So foundation isn't always physical though we're gonna be focusing a lot on the physical today. It's also how you regard your energetic state. And a lot of times I find you don't really have to do anything. You just have to kind of bring awareness to your energy and it will start to support you rather than work against you. And then it's so great because in yoga when we use asana practice and then the energetic hygiene of regular daily practice together we start to really move in a way off the mat where we feel like okay, yeah, things are moving with more ease. You feel like you're working for yourself instead of against. When you're ready bring the hands together at the heart so we have this awareness. Just to reiterate, pulling up little energy from the base of the pelvis all the way up through the center it continues all the way up through the midline to the heart and all the way up to your crown. And so this is your inspiration to sit up nice and tall. Not really muscling or forcing yourself right because that's not sustainable and it's not going to feel good. Okay and any of this that resonates, great, and any of it that doesn't no worries. Remember we are practicing with people all over the world and take what you need and leave what you don't. Take a deep breath in and on your exhale bow your head to your heart mind intelligence to the body intelligence. Take a moment and just connect the two. Uniting. Mind and body as we set out on our journey today. Great, then inhale in. Exhale to release the fingertips to the earth. Flutter your eyelashes open. Lift the corners of your mouth and let's rock and roll. We're gonna inhale, send the fingertips out left to right. Big stretch. Draw the shoulder blades together. Lift your heart space up, up, up. Great, then on your next exhale bring the palms together, Anjuli Mudra at the heart. A little prayer position. Beautiful now chin to chest, reach behind palms kiss together. And then on your next inhale, reach all the way up towards the sky. Big stretch, feel that length in the side body. Exhale, float the fingertips down wiggle the fingertips. Notice what it feels like to be alive today. So really present. Here we go, inhale halfway. With the breath, exhale palms together. Great, chin to chest. Slowly reach behind. Inhale, lift all the way up. Now lift through the front and backside. Reach, reach, reach. Exhale, empty out the breath as you float the fingertips down. We're gonna do this one more time and we're gonna really try to sync up the breath with the movement. Here we go, inhale halfway. Exhale, hands to heart. Chin to chest reach behind. Inhale, reach for the sky. Exhale float it all the way down. You got it. Beautiful, left hand to the earth. Inhale reach up with the right hand and then over. Big side body stretch. Then from your navel, from your center, draw in. You're gonna take your right fingertips to the ground. Keep the hips heavy here and you're gonna slowly sweep the fingertips all the way around. Should feel good in the back body. And then come all the way up through center. Take your left fingertips up and then over. Breathe, feel the stretch. Nice and then left fingertips come all the way down to the earth. We sweep all the way through. And come all the way back up. Right fingertips reach up to the sky. And then take it over. Side body stretch and then right fingertips to the ground. Sweep it all the way through. Around, around, around and over to the right. And then take your left arm all the way up, right arm all the way up. Imagine you're holding a big beach ball up and overhead. You're gonna pull the thumbs back, keep the pinkies forward and then just check in with the shoulders here. Use the tools that we've already learned together. Inhale, fill all four sides of the torso up. Find expansion and then exhale. You know what to do, exhale drop the shoulders down. Once more like that, inhale. Exhale, drop the shoulders down, create space. Beautiful, inhale palms kiss up and overhead. And exhale hands to heart, Namaste. Okay, diving forward onto all fours. Come to that Tabletop Position. So finding your foundation right away here spread the fingertips super wide. Wrists underneath the shoulders, knees directly underneath the hip points. Inhale, drop the belly open the chest Cow Pose. Exhale, round through, chin to chest. Close your eyes, visualize. Really stretching through the skin of the back body. Now on your own moving with your breath, see if you can synchronize the movement to the breath and the breath to the movement. And as you're ready you're going to begin to veer off the railroad tracks just a bit while still keeping this awareness of your foundation. So you might bump the hips a little left to right. You might check in with the neck. You might notice you're collapsing in the shoulders. Find that pressing away that yielding from the earth. Great, then come back to Tabletop Position. Hold on to your foundation here and nice and easy, you're going to find that hollow body by hugging the low ribs in, drawing the navel up and in. We call this Uddiyana Bandha and then once again checking in with the length of your neck. Giving awareness in your neck. Alright, here we go, hold onto this awareness of the midline. This is so important when remembering foundation, building foundation, returning to the power of your foundation. It's not just about that which is touching the earth but again your awareness of your energetic body. So bring your awareness to this center channel, we call this this is the Shashona or the midline. And you're going to try to hold on to that as you kick the right leg out. So if you're not holding onto it you're just gonna shift all the way over into your left side. But if you work to maintain that awareness of the midline, the Shashona, as soon as you dial your right toes down. You're gonna feel your abs turn on. You're going to feel your energetic center just start to brighten and you're gonna start to breathe a little deeper. A more supportive and conscious breath. Okay, check it out, you're gonna inhale in here. Exhale, slowly bring the knee in. Nose toward the knee rounding through just like Cat. Then inhale, send the right leg out and look towards the front of your mat. Careful not to crunch back of the neck. So like a one legged Cat-Cow. Here we go, exhale bring it in. Claw through the fingertips. Inhale, send it out. One more time, exhale bring it in and really draw the navel up and in, up and in, up and in. And then release. Great, switch it to the other side right away. Find that connection. Lift the front body up to meet the back body. Maybe lifting the lower ribs up and in. Finding that hollow body. Claw through the fingertips. Shoulders are still working here. Externally rotating so your elbow creases are towards the front of your mat. So we're working to build stability in the shoulders here and then when you feel like you have that connection to your midline, to your center, send that left leg out long. Dial the left toes down. And just pay attention. These practices build on one another so taking your theme of yesterday and building on it today with your foundation. Take one more breath here to really lift from your left inner thigh. If you start shaking here that's to be expected. We're working with so much integrity here. So beautiful, here we go, inhale. Exhale, bring the knee in, nose toward the knee. Inhale just look to the front edge of your mat. Don't crunch the neck. Kick it out. And exhale, reel it in. Cat. Inhale, send it out. With your breath, exhale, reel it in. Last one, inhale nice and slow. Don't rush. And exhale, reel it in. Awesome, from here you can release the left knee to the earth bring the toes together knees as wide as the mat. You're going to send her hips back. Walk the fingertips forward as much as you can. Breathe, breathe, breathe and melt your heart to the earth and slowly take the palms together up and over behind the back of your head. This is incredible ancient yoga posture called Namaste Shark Fin. It's a very old traditional Mudra. No, just kidding but you can imagine the shark fin up right behind you, palms pressing together. Fingertips pressing together and then from here we walk the elbows just a bit. Feeling that nice stretch through the shoulder girdle. Triceps. Keep breathing. And if you need to here, you can bring the fingertips in to knuckles and rotate the wrists one way and then the other. And take one more loving breath here. And then slowly release the palms back to the earth. Carve a line with your nose to look forward and bring it on up. Lead with your heart. Remember how you move matters the transitions here matter as you walk the knees in. Curl the toes under. Take a deep breath in and on an exhale Downward Facing Dog. Take your time. So here we want to make sure that the hands are not too narrowed but that you really take up a lot of space on your mat. This is gonna help us bring that external rotation in the shoulder. And then you can play with how wide or how short your dog is and I encourage you to change it up from time to time. Then make sure you're breathing. Claw through the fingertips. And then slow and steady, bend the knees. Belly comes towards the tops of the thighs. Carve a line with your nose to look forward and we're gonna step one foot up then the other. You can do as many steps as you like. Maybe you do a ragdoll one step and then the other or maybe it's baby steps to the top of your mat. Take that Forward Fold at the top. Now immediately today, ground through all four corners of the feet. Tuck your chin and slowly from the ground begin to rise up. And slowly once again stacking head over heart, heart over pelvis. Take a second here. Feet fully grounded. Energy drawing up from the earth to just find what feels good. So it could be looping the shoulders a couple of times. It could be noticing that maybe your clenching or holding in the jaw. Maybe you're just furrowed in the brow and it's time to soften and remember ah, yes this is time that I've dedicated for me. And then we'll bend the knees. And when you're ready spread the fingertips wide you're going to lead with the thumbs ground through the feet as you reach the fingertips all the way up, big Beach ball up and overhead. Then hold that big beach ball up and overhead, again thumbs back, pinkies forward. And then hold onto your center of gravity as you slowly take that beach ball all the way over towards the left side body as far as you can go with maintaining integrity in the neck. Then in front you're going to feel this firmly in the low body. Use that connection to your center as well to bring you all the way back up and then slowly over to the right. So you will know here even though this seems like such a simple gesture you will know if you're muscling or like kind of hanging on by a thread. So ground through all four corners of the feet. Lengthen down through the tailbone turn on through your abdominals and then slowly bring it back to center. Awesome, inhale, reach for the sky. Wiggle the fingertips just to create a little energy and exhale rain it down all the way. Inhale, halfway lift your version so you can bring palms to the thighs now, palms to the shins or fingertips to the earth just use an inhale to find length. You can mix and match these as well. I encourage it. And exhale to fold. Okay rewind ground through the feet. Reach back up towards the sky as you breathe in. Big breath, big stretch. Capture something up and overhead, strong legs as you bring the hands back to the heart. Awesome work, here we go. Soft knees. Fingertips are going to go down to come up so inhale big beach ball up and overhead. Exhale, take it over to the left, strong legs. Inhale, rise up. Exhale, over to the right. Inhale, rise up. Wiggle the fingertips, exhale, rain it all the way down. Inhale to find length. Exhale to soften and Forward Fold. Beautiful, plant the palms from here, step the right foot back. Just the right foot. Then loop the shoulders and slowly begin to open up the chest towards the front of your mat. Bring your front knee over your front ankle. So all four corners of the foot are rooted here. And then you're gonna take your left thumb to your left hip crease and just pull it back. Just a bit. Whoa, now squeeze the inner thighs towards the midline. Reconnect as you inhale, radiate your heart forward. Big stretch, you can always lower the back knee here. Listen to your body. And then on an exhale, plant the palms we're gonna step in back to Plank or Half Plank. You're doing great. Find that hollow body here. Again, you can lower the knees. Find that length through the neck all the way up through the crown. And if your knees are lifted go ahead and widen your toes about hip width apart. So you have a nice strong base here. So you're always wanting to create a strong base. Thinking about stacking the bones so that your muscle can hug to the bone and not be strained. Cool. Soft bend in the knees. Now you're just going to step the right foot up. Front knee over front ankle. Slowly grow the pose. Loop the shoulders back, begin to open up through the chest. Let your heart energy radiate forward again going beyond just the physical thinking about your powerful energetic body. And if you need to lower that back knee, please do. Maybe everyone might check it out. Now as we begin to layer on your breath's going to want to disappear. That nice beautiful, conscious breath so keep remembering to bring it back. Bring it on home. Inhale, lift the chin, send your heart forward. Exhale, plant the palms. We're already connecting to the abdominals here to your center as you send the right foot back. Okay, so the attitude you bring to this is everything. You can lower the knees, you're going to find that hollow body here. Your shoulder blades are going to move left to right instead of collapsing into the center. You're reaching the heels back. You have a nice strong wide base. You're here for three, two, one, Downward Dog. Awesome work. Send the hips up high, melt your heart back. Start to go through your checklist. Upper arm bones rotate out. Inner thighs rotate in. And if Downward Dog is too much, you can always insert the Puppy Posture that we learned yesterday instead. It's a beautiful modification, you get the same benefits. It's just a little less weight bearing and a little less heating. Shake their head loose in your Downward Dog and when you're ready, you're going to anchor through the left heel and slowly inhale, lift the right leg up high. Keep the right toes dialed down just like we did on all fours in that One-Legged Cat-Cow. And then here we go, you're gonna shift forward, roll through your left foot as you squeeze your right knee all the way up and in and then gently place it up. And if it doesn't come up all the way you'll just do whatever you need to with love to mindfully move that foot all the way up. Great, then back knee lowered or lifted, yogi's choice, inhale. Open the chest. Let your heart radiate forward. And then exhale. You're going to soften through that back knee, pivot on that back foot and slowly roll up keeping that front knee bent. Roll up just like we do in Mountain. Rolling all the way up. Beautiful. Okay, here we go. Thumbs back pinkies forward. I'm gonna inhale, take that big beach ball all the way forward, up and back. Front knee is bent. Back leg is straight. I'm engaging, I'm lifting up from the arches of my feet. Breathing deep, finding that expansive breath. Beautiful, beautiful. Strong legs. Front knee over front ankle. Warrior I. Inhale, carve a line with the nose, look up. Exhale, open it out to Warrior II. You might widen your stance. The main thing here is remember to turn those back toes in because this translates to the shin bone, the knee, the thigh bone all the way up, femur to the hip so if this is turned out it's gonna be really hard to get your hip to square forward. So you want to turn it in from foundation and then work your way up from there. Make sure you're not on a tight rope so you can widen the feet a little bit here. Take one, oh we're here, sorry. One more breath, Warrior II. Pull the pinkies back. Got tied up in my foundation and then here we go, we're gonna flip the script. You're going to take your right fingertips forward, draw a line all the way up and back, Reverse Warrior or Peaceful Warrior. Take a deep breath in. Then from center, from your core cartwheel it all the way back to your nice low lunge. Take your time. Awesome, beautiful work. Inhale in here. Exhale to reset. Find your foundation. Squeeze inner thighs in the midline. Then left hand presses into the earth and nice and easy big open twist to your right. You're gonna reach your right fingertips up high. Back knee can lower here, totally. Inhale in. Exhale bring it all the way down. Beautiful, plant the palms, step the right toes back. Plank Pose or Half Plank. Breathe here. Lower belly and upper abdominals coming in to kiss towards the middle. You're here for three. You're doing awesome. Find your breath, two. And Downward Facing Dog on the one, here we come. Bend your knees. Start to lean in. Feel that warmth. Send awareness to your hands. How we come back to that narrow stance or can we get a nice wide base going? Can we claw through the fingertips? Fingers spread wide. Then when you're ready anchor through the right heel and inhale lift the left leg up high. Dial the left toes down. Breathe. Here we go. Inhale in, exhale, squeeze as you roll through your right foot. Left knee up towards your chest, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and then step it all up. Come into a nice slow lunge here. Just breathe. Checking out what's going on with the hips. You can always lower that back knee. Nice, and then here we go inhale in. Exhale, you're gonna soften the back knee, pivot on the back foot and nice and slow. Keep that front knee bent as you roll up stacking through the spine. Good, find that strong connection to your back leg by turning the right toes in and pressing into the knife edge of that foot. And here we go, big beach ball up in overhead. Lots of space. Strong legs. Breathing deep. Carve a line with your nose forward, up and back, integrating the neck as you look up. Inhale, exhale Warrior II. So left fingertips forward, right fingertips back. Pull the pinkies back and lift up through the chest. And just take stock here. Breathing deep. Head over heart, heart over pelvis. Back toes turned in. You're doing great. Let's flip the script by sending the left fingertips forward then reaching up and back, Peaceful Warrior. Lots of integrity in the neck here. Breathe, breathe, breathe, inhale. Then from center draw your navel in cartwheel all the way down. Have some fun. Back to your nice slow lunge. Back knee lowered or lifted, inhale, open up through the chest. And exhale, plant your right palm to the earth. Big inhale, nice open twist all the way towards your left. Opening up, breathing, breathing into your belly. And then using your exhale to take it all the way down. Awesome work. Way to move with intention. Plant the palms. Step the left toes back. Here we go, Plank Pose. Nice wide base or knees together. Neck nice and long. Slow building of core throughout this journey. You won't regret it. Stick with it, find your breath for three, two, and on the one we're going to gaze forward, shift forward on the toes. Squeeze the elbows into the side body. Find that nice hollow front body as you lower all the way down your belly and belly flops are totally welcome, right? Press into the tops of the feet. Drag your hands in line with the rib cage. Suck the elbows into your side body and then here we go find a softness and an ease as you slowly inhale, Baby Cobra, just a baby. Nice, low Baby Cobra. Find your breath here. Listen. And then release forehead kisses the mat. Twice more, inhale, lift it up. Just a nice easy Baby Cobra. Waking up muscles of the back body that maybe haven't been woken up in a while and releasing down. Then one more time, with your breath. And then forehead comes back to the mat. We'll curl the toes under, lift the kneecaps, tone the quads, and yogi's choice, you can come to all fours or through Plank. Here we go with the breath. We'll inhale in. On an exhale make your transition. All fours or Plank and then straight to Downward Facing Dog. Shake the head lose. Check in with your foundation here. Awesome work. Here we go, bend the knees generously, belly comes towards the tops of the thighs. Carve a line with your nose and look forward. Inhale in and then exhale, make your way to the top. You can baby step, you can ragdoll or you can hop or float. Forward Fold at the top of the mat. Here we go. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, soften and bow. Bend your knees. Plant your palms. Step your right foot back, step your left foot back. Here we go, inhale in. Exhale lower the knees to the earth. You're going to swing your legs to one side. Move mindfully any side and come all the way through to a seat, legs out in front. So for Foundation day, Dundasana. Dunda, Sanskrit for stick or staff. So you can imagine the stick (clicks tongue) as the spine. And if you're rounding here you might grab a blanket or something help lift the hips up. Or if you don't have that available and you want to just find that length, bend your knees. Bend your knees and lift the heart. So and traditionally too it's kind of fun you can take the fleshy part of your buttocks aside just kind of feel those sits bones really root to the ground like two little push pins. And then you have to do the work you have to find that lift. Lifting, lifting, lifting energetically from the pelvic floor. All the way up through your center line, all the way up through the crown and then fingertips can either come to the earth or palms to the earth. This is truly depending on just the length of your arms, just anatomy. So honor your body. Find a place for your hands so that you can lift, lift, lift and then flex the feet, toes towards the face, engaging the legs. Breathing deep here. Your heels might even hover off the earth just a bit here. You're breathing into your belly and you're trying to draw your elbows together shoulder blades together as you lengthen through the crown for three, two, find your breath. And one. Beautiful, release. You're going to bend the right knee. Lift that right leg all the way up. Give it a nice little snuggle, a little hug. You can kiss it if you want. Or not. And then here we go, we're going to inhale, reach the right arm up first. Exhale bend the right elbow, just bring it down. So shoulder blades kind of coming up, around and into socket. And then I keep the lift as I turn to my right side. Great, now hold onto your base. Hold onto your foundation. So this left leg is important. Everything's important. You're going to work from the ground up as you hug your right knee in with the left elbow. And then from the base of the spine begin to turn slowly traveling all the way up through the low back. The lumbar, through the midline. The thoracic and then all the way slowly up drawing the shoulders down as you lift your heart, your chest and then in time you can work with the neck, the cervical spine. Breathing deep holding onto that nice strong foundation in the left leg. Breathe into your belly. Massage your internal organs, you're doing awesome. And then slowly release. Thank you right leg. Go ahead and extend it out and we'll bring the left knee in. Give it a little hug. You know, obviously I'm being silly when I say kiss the knee but when I'm trying to get you to do, get us to do, me too, is connect to the body. Not just kind of take the orders, right? Check off the guidelines. And when we do these sort of things we kind of connect our brain and our heart as well. So here we go. (chuckles) Inhale send the left fingertips up. Find that length here. Think head over heart, heart over pelvis as you slowly bend the left elbow, squeeze that left scap all the way in. Pay attention. Just notice what's happening and then best you can you're going to find your position of your left fingertips without collapsing. Although this looks pretty cool. Okay? So finding that lift and lengthen through the heart. Squeezing into the midline here. Maintaining foundation in the right leg. And then we're going to hook them here. Hook the right elbow on the left knee. And begin at the base of the spine slowly turning. Breathing all the while. Mindfully finding a lift as you breathe in. And then continuing to travel up the spine as you breathe out. Soften your jaw. Breathe, breathe, breathe. You're gonna feel awesome after this practice. Breathing. Hold on to your base. Remember foundation first. And then notice how my right hand is soft. I'm not gripping or pressing or pushing. Soft and easy so we're really, really cultivating the energetic foundation too that's going to help us sustain a regular home practice in a way that feels awesome. Alright, take one more breath. And then slowly melt it back. Thank your left leg. Send it out. Then we're gonna bend the knees. Bring the feet to the ground. Hands are gonna come to the backs of the thighs today. And when you're ready we're going to roll it all the way down. Nice and slow. Send your legs out long if you have the space. Inhale, reach the arms all the way up and overhead big beach ball. Take a big breath in and a long breath out as you relax the feet. And inhale in. Exhale, hug both knees into the chest, nice and slow. Just one final little hug here. You can lift your head up or not. Just an option. Breathing all the while, slow loving breaths. Close your eyes feel your yoga mat rising up to meet your back body here. If the head's lifted go ahead and lower it now. Beautiful. And then we'll release the feet to the earth. Extend one leg, then the other. And today allowing everything to relax. Fingers, toes, breath. Even faster than you could have ever imagined. So this unraveling takes time but what if you were to just give yourself permission here to let go? To surrender? And for 30 seconds practice exquisite stillness. Take a deep breath in. And exhale. Notice where you might be gripping or holding here. And see if you can soften. I love the image of a parent or a caregiver holding a baby and that surrender, that trust that the baby participates in to just let go and be held. This is an important part of the foundation of yoga to me. So thank you so much for participating. As you're ready, we'll slowly bring the hands together and the thumbs up towards a third eye. Day two in the books. You're incredible. I'll see you tomorrow. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. And we close the practice by saying Namaste. (bright music)