- Hi everyone, and 
welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene, and 
today we are going to learn

another foundational yoga pose

called Extended Child's Pose.

Sounds yummy, and it is,

so let's hop on the mat and
learn Extended Child's Pose.

(upbeat music)

Okay, for Extended Child's Pose,

we're going to
begin on all fours,

Tabletop position.

Pressing up and 
out of the foundation,

extending through 
the crown of the head.

Then I'm gonna walk my 
palms a little bit forward

on this one, so 
I'm walking my palms

a little bit out from 
underneath my shoulders.

So in Tabletop, we're 
directly underneath, stacked.

Now, permission 
to move them forward.

Okay, so palms going forward.

Now I'm gonna 
take my two big toes

and I'm gonna bring 
those two big toesies together,

letting them kiss together.

I'm gonna press into my palms

and widen my knees,
so right knee comes

to the outer edge of the mat,

left knee comes to 
the outer edge of the mat.

Then I'm in this 
awkward position,

but I'm about to send it back
into Extended Child's Pose,

so I inhale, look forward, and
exhale, send it back.

I'm gonna send my sit 
bones back to kiss my heels.

I may adjust my palms here,

creating space
in the side body here,

nice and long in the side body,

and then because this 
is Extended Child's Pose,

I'm gonna keep my arms 
extended out in front of me.

So I inhale, reach, 
exhale, send the sit bones back

to kiss the feet, or the heels,

and then finally, 
I'll inhale and again

extend through 
the crown of the head

and exhale, begin to 
melt it all the way down,

letting my elbows relax,
letting my forehead

come to kiss the 
mat and letting my heart

really release 
towards the earth.

I can take a second 
here to rock the hips

a little side to side.

I can take a second to 
actively reach my fingertips

towards the front edge 
of the mat and then exhale,

melt the heart down.

A couple of action points here.

I still can keep the 
tops of the shoulders

externally 
rotating away from the ears

so, for instance, 
then I don't get caught

in my Relaxation Pose or 
my Resting Pose like this.

I keep this 
action of lots of space

between the ears and shoulders,

drawing away from the ears here,

going so that 
when I'm resting here,

I'm maintaining a 
nice space between

the ears and the shoulders.

Now, if you practice 
this posture and you're like,

my sit bones are 
nowhere near my heels,

it's okay, it takes time, right.

Every posture is taking time,

so just feel it out.

You may only get to here.

The forehead may 
not come to the mat.

The sit bones may not 
come all the way to the heels,

but give it time, right.

You can rock a 
little back and forth,

and once you 
come into your posture

your in Extended Child's Pose,

imagine filling the 
skin of the back with air

as you breathe in, 
and then imagine drawing

your sit bones down to 
kiss the soles of your feet

as you breathe out,

so we're really 
getting our money's worth here

in this Extended Child's Pose.

We're inhaling, 
filling, stretching

the skin of the back with air,

and on the exhale 
we're seeing if we can create

a longer line in the spine,
sending those sit bones back

to kiss the soles of the feet.

So in your mind's eye you
can see the crown of the head

from the tip of the 
tailbone nice and long

as we take five to ten breaths
here in Extended Child's Pose,

heart melting to the earth,

shoulders relaxing, releasing.

This is a great 
posture to practice

when you first 
wake up in the morning

or before you go to bed.

This is also an 
excellent posture

to take with you 
into public classes,

so if you ever are 
feeling like you're compromising

the breath or if 
you just need a rest,

if you're in a more active
class than you bargained for,

or you're feeling a little
more fatigued than energized

and you're in a public class,

this is a great pose 
to just take a breath,

to check in, cool off the body,

definitely more 
of a Resting Posture.

Some teachers call 
this pose Best Friend Pose.

BFF, best, BFP,

Best Friend Pose,

super cheesy but it is sweet,

and if you go to public class,

sometimes it does 
become your best friend.

You're like, okay, 
just need one second

before we go 
to Downward Dog,

for the tenth time,

to take a rest, to 
be with the breath here,

heart to earth.

I think it's a really 
beautiful posture too, Pranam,

kind of just bowing to the
earth, bowing to the beloved,

bowing to that which 
is greater than ourselves.

I think that's really beautiful.

So, Extended Child's Pose.

Okey doke, so that 
was Extended Child's Pose,

and I just want to 
say that if this pose

does not feel like 
your best friend right away

to stick with it.

I support you, give it 
a little time and space,

and before long, I hope 
that it feels yummy for you.

The breath, man, so 
powerful in creating

a nice, resting posture 
out of Extended Child's Pose.

So, give it a try, let 
me know what you think.

Leave questions, comments 
in the comment box below.

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and I will see you next time.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)