- What's up, everyone?

Welcome to Yoga With Adriene,
I'm Adriene and today on the

Foundations of Yoga Series

we have Camel Pose 
or Ustrasana.

This is an amazing back
bend, I love this pose

but I think it's really
important to know

the foundations of it so you
feel awesome and supported

going in and out of it,

and so you can grow your
back bending practice.

So, hop into something
comfy, grab a blanket

or a towel if you have one.
If you have two blocks great

but you don't need them,
you don't need anything,

just our bodies and an open mind

and a strong breath, alright?

Let's get started.

(light upbeat guitar music)

Alright my friends,
let's begin on all fours.

We're gonna start 
with a little Cat-Cow

because I would be 
a shitty yoga teacher

if I just took you 
right into Camel

Because Camel is a back bend

and we need to make sure
that we're prepared for that

in our body before we work
the foundations of Ustrasana.

So, come on all fours.

Take the wrists 
underneath the shoulders

and the knees 
underneath the hips,

and when you're ready,
start to come into your body

moving with the breath.
Inhale as you drop the belly.

Open the chest forward, 
maybe look up,

and then exhale. 
Really press into your feet,

press into your palms,
'round through the spine,

chin to chest.

Inhale, drop the belly.

Open the chest, look up,

and exhale, rounding 
through the spine,

navel draws up, 
tailbone lengthens down,

press into all ten toes,
or all of your toes.

Couple more times, inhale.

(inhales)

And exhale.

(exhales)

One more time.

(inhales)

Warming up through the spine.

(exhales)

Awesome. Heart to Earth pose.

Take the elbows down 
where the hands are

and, actually I'm gonna 
walk my elbows out

but you can walk your knees out.

I just want to stay on my mat.

And, we're gonna 
come to basically

a half Downward Dog here,

a little puppy posture
here to open up the chest,

open up the shoulders.

Find length in 
the lower back, so...

allow your pelvis to rock
towards the sky.

Pressing at the 
tops of the feet, inhale.

(Inhales)

Sweet, then draw the navel in.

This is a great thing to
practice too, for Camel.

Connect to your core, draw
the navel in from you center.

Engage the low belly 
and slowly slide

all the way through 
onto the belly.

(exhales)

Great. Sphinx Pose.

So, press into the 
tops of your toes.

Elbows are right 
underneath the shoulders.

Press into your palm through
down through your index finger

and inhale. Open the chest.

Inhale in again.

Find a broadness through
the upper back body.

So, engage the muscles there,

find a little broadness 
of the back body

and then exhale. Open the heart.

(exhales)

Great. Now practice engaging
the belly here in Sphinx.

So, even if it's 
just an exploration,

you don't have to do
anything one way or the other

but, just draw the 
navel in a little bit

Maybe lift the lower belly
in and up, Uddiyana Bandha.

(exhales)

Awesome, and then release.

Forehead comes to the mat.

(inhales)

We're gonna interlace the
fingertips behind the tail.

You can keep the 
heels hip-width apart

and when you're ready, press
into your pubic bone firmly.

Press into the tops of the feet.

Try to root down 
through your pinky toe.

Pull the knuckles away

towards your heels 
and when you're ready

press into your foundation
to slowly lift the heart up.

Now, press into the pubic bone,

press into the tops of the feet

but resist this clenching 
of the buttocks.

try to keep the buttocks soft
here, Also great for Camel.

Big breathes. Keep the chin
tucking into the chest here.

(inhales)

So, chin tucking in.
Big, big big breathes.

(inhales)

Shalabhasana variation. Locust.

Open the chest, 
one more breathe.

(inhales)

And then exhale, 
release everything.

Press into the palms.

Come back to all fours.

Awesome. Knees are 
gonna come together

arch to arch in the feet.
We send the heels back.

We roll up through the spine.

(inhales)

And head over heart, 
heart over pelvis.

Hero Pose, Virasana. 
Sit up nice and tall,

inhale in. Open the chest.

(inhales)

And exhale, dropping 
the shoulders down

away from the ears. 
Lots of space.

(exhales)

Awesome.

Okay, so Camel Pose.

A back bend. One of those
really wonderful back bends

that, if you take your time
with, it can be the most

amazing thing in the world.

And, I find that if you rush it,

It can be something that can be

can be quite painful 
and also perhaps

be, you know, prone to
injury, so this is a good one

to have a foundations for.

So, if you have a blanket
you can grab it now,

if not, you don't need it.

It just adds a little 
bit of extra cushion

...for the pushin'.

Just kidding, 
there's no pushing here,

for the knees and the legs.

So, we'll come up onto 
the blanket if you have it,

just to kind of alleviate
some of that pressure.

And if you have it, just
go ahead and let the ankles

stay on the blanket
and the toes spill off.

And, whether you 
have a blanket or not,

Everyone come to all fours

and we're gonna bring the knees

right underneath the hip points

and then just imagine 
kind of squeezing

the inner thighs together.

In fact, if you have 
a block handy

you can bring that block
to the inner thighs

and just kind of feel
what it would be like

to squeeze the 
inner thighs together

which creates this 
kind of scissor effect,

this lift up through 
the pelvic floor.

Alright.

Alright, alright, alright.

Okay, here we go.

So, I'm already working
with my energetic body

I'm pressing into my toes

and lifting up 
from the pelvic floor.

I'm engaging my inner thighs
without tightening my butt.

(giggles)

And then, nice and 
slow I'm gonna bring

the hands to the waistline
and come all the way up.

And, I'm gonna try 
to find that here.

Lifting up, up, up.

Pressing.

(inhales)

(exhales)

And then I'm gonna 
loop the shoulders

try to visualize what's
happening in the upper back body

as you loop the shoulders and
allow those shoulder blades

to really ground 
down the back body.

Think upward current of
energy through the front body,

ground into the back body,
particularly the tailbone.

Lengthening down towards
the core of the earth.

Okay. So now were
starting to find that, uh

action of hugging the muscle
to the bone for support.

I have my bones stacked right.

And I'm ready, 
so I'm gonna bring my hands

to the waistline and the thumbs
right to the sacrum here, so

that boney plate, 
right about here

there are other variations
which we're gonna explore

but for starters let's just
bring the thumbs right there

and I'm gonna 
actually use the thumbs

to remind myself: 
upward current,

upward lift through 
the front body

and then lengthen 
down with the tailbone.

So I'm not clinching or tucking

but I'm actually thinking 
about grounding,

lengthening down 
to the core of the earth

rather than tucking into itself.

'Kay, take what works for
you, leave what doesn't.

Sometimes a certain cue will
really work for someone else

and then it won't work for
another person but vice versa.

So, just trying to 
offer as much as I can

in the Foundations of Yoga

for as many people 
watching, practicing.

Kewl. Alright.

Then we move the mic a little.

And we play with that lift
from the pelvic floor.

Begin to open the chest.

Again, that squeezing is
really important here.

Often forgotten. So find that
engagement of the inner thighs

as you draw energy 
up, up, up, up, up

pressing down 
through the elbows,

shoulder blades drawing
in together and down

and then keep the 
neck super long here,

lots of awareness in the
neck as we open the chest.

Then press firmly into
the tops of the feet

and think about 
taking your heart center

up and over like a big rainbow
rather than straight back.

So I'm wanting to re--

I'm wanting to create
and then retain or

keep the back lengthened.
What's the word I'm looking for?

Don't know. But, wanting to 
keep this length in the spine,

I'm not wanting to crunch.

Especially in the lower
lumbars, so visualize...

You know me, 
always being creative,

your heart lifting up and over

rather than going straight
back in space, okay?

So here we go. Inhale, 
loop the shoulders,

pull the elbows back, 
lift your heart.

Focus on this foundation

of squeezing the 
inner thighs together

and lifting up through
that center channel,

that plumb line, so that
the pelvis is lengthening,

the tailbone is lengthening down

and the pelvis is coming 
right underneath

your core, your center.

Keep the belly engaged, 
your core engaged

as you begin to lean back,
hug the elbows together

and then think about lifting
your chin towards the sky

and drawing the 
shoulder blades down.

You might just stay here

(exhales)

or you might be able to
continue that up and over effect

(exhales)

and reach down to 
grab your heels.

Just start with the
fingertips on the heels

and lifting up from 
the armpit chest.

Inhale, then go up and over.

Lengthen tailbone 
down towards the earth,

down towards 
the backs of the knees.

You want to keep the inner
thighs squeezing together here

not splaying out and then

maybe I come a little
further down, maybe not.

Offering variations 
in a moment. Inhale.

Carve a line with 
the nose to look up.

If it feels right we might
release back all the way.

(exhales)

Again, lengthening tailbone down

shifting the hips slightly
forward, lots of length here.

To come out of the posture,

bring one hand to 
the back then the other.

Tucking the chin, 
tucking the chin

and then slowly coming
back the way we came.

So, tuck the chin, bring
the hands to the back,

and roll it up.

Then we'll take a break.

Just coming back onto the heels

and letting the blood restore.

So come back to 
this upright position

before you do Child's Pose.

Deep breath in.

(inhales)

Deep breath out.

(exhales)

Deep breath in.

(inhale)

Baby Child's Pose.

(relaxed moan)

Alright, so let's try again.

So a lot of the common things
is there's too much pressure

on the knees, so that's
why the blankie's good.

A lot of times we get a lot
of pain in the lower back

because the knees are too wide.

Or, we maybe we 
set ourselves up right

but then when we start
to go into the posture

the knees start to splay.

It happens all the 
time in foundation.

So that's why it's so
important to find that connect

and then retain, 
remain connected.

retain that connect, 
remain connected

as you grow the posture, right?

Just like...

The foundation of a 
house or something.

You want it to remain intact.

So that you can be supportive.

I'm in a weird mood. Okay.

The other thing is that

we wanna--

ooh, very interesting.
Oh that's a roly poly.

Baby roly poly.

You're chill.

Another thing 
is that we really want

to bring the hands 
to the heels right?

We wanna come into this awesome
shape that looks so cool

and feels so awesome, but
maybe it doesn't feel awesome

and we can't quite get there

so the blocks 
are really helpful.

You're gonna bring then to
the outer edges of your heels,

bring them at the top,

tip top...

...level.

(chuckles)

And then, here we go. We squeeze
the inner thighs together,

thumbs to the sacrum. Loop the
shoulders, find that length.

Go through your checklist,
lengthen tailbone down,

lift from the armpit chest.

Inhale in, press into
the tops of the feet,

lengthen tailbone down, think
up and over with your heart.

So, up and over rather than
sending it straight back.

Think up and over.

And then, maybe instead
of coming to the heels,

you can come to the block her
which is significantly higher.

And we open. Stay engaged
through your core,

breathing deep.

(exhales)

(inhales)

So this is a great variation,

you can still take the
head back if you like here.

Breathing deep. Ooh, that's
not good for my shoulders.

Breathing deep, deep, deep.

To come out, tuck the chin

bring the hands to the
waistlines, slowly roll up.

Sending it back, coming to a
little Virasana variation here,

breathing deep.

(exhales)

If you have a block, 
I didn't really like that

block variation 
for my shoulders.

Just, I think, anatomically.

Another great thing 
for the block

is to bring it 
between the ankles

so that you can 
just kind of have

a nice base for your 
feet to squeeze in.

Let's do one more 
Ustrasana back bend.

Pressing into the 
tops of your feet,

lift your heart, 
head over heart,

heart over pelvis. 
Take your time,

especially if you're 
in public class

don't let anybody rush you.

It's your body, 
this is your temple,

your vehicle so 
you gotta be mindful.

Lengthen tailbone down, 
lift up through the front body.

This time, another variation,

I'm gonna take 
the fingertips behind,

palms on the lower back.

So, this is another variation.

Inhale, loop the shoulders,

pressing down 
through the thumbs,

lengthen tailbone, engage belly.

Just like we did in sphinx.

And then when you're ready,

think up and 
over with the heart.

(exhales)

And play.

(inhales)

(exhales)

Keep the inner thighs engaged,

if you have that block there
you can squeeze your block.

Inhale, open the chest.

And then maybe we reach back

Grab the heels.

Maybe not.

And then we use our 
breath to really evolve here,

evolve the shape. 
Go on a little journey.

(exhales)

(inhales)

(exhales)

Let the breathe move you.

(inhales)

(exhales)

And then we slowly tuck
the chin to the chest,

bring one hand 
then the other back,

slowly, slowly 
stacking the spine.

Head over heart, 
heart over pelvis, smile.

(inhales)

Big breath in. 
Exhale all the way down.

Palms come together. 
Awesome work.

(exhales)

Just notice.

Great, then bring 
the knees together,

take a deep breath in,

and Child's Pose, yummy.

(exhales)

Rounding through the spine here.

If it fells good to bring
the fingertips forward

go ahead and do that.

Find what feels good.
Take a deep breath in.

(inhales)

And a long breath out.

(exhales)

Tight. Press into 
the tops of the feet.

Tuck the chin into the
chest, engage the belly

and slowly roll it back up.

Awesome work.

Alright my friends, 
awesome work.

I bow to you, namaste. 
I commend you for

combing though the
Foundations of Yoga Series

and going deeper, 
really taking the time

to grow your practice. 
It's for free.

You can do it in the
comfort of your own home.

So go through that playlist,
check out other poses,

learn things from the ground up.

Maybe go back and relearn
things in your body, you know?

Because we're always
changing, nothing's permanent.

And be sure to let me know
how it goes down below.

Your questions and comments
are always welcome.

Share this video with a friend

if you think they might enjoy it

and subscribe to the
channel already, alright?

Love you, take good care.

See you next time.

Namaste.

(gentle guitar music)