- Hello everyone, 
welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I am Adriene and 
today we're gonna

check in with our hips.

I've been receiving 
some great feedback,

thank you so much.

And particularly 
after Pigeon Pose,

I got a lot of 
feedback and requests

chats about hip problems

and just overall 
tightness in the hips

that are affecting 
other areas of life.

So hop on the mat and 
let's check in with the hips.

(upbeat music)

Okay, so first we're 
going to come to seated here

and just put one leg 
in front of the other.

So we actually 
call this Siddhasan,

but we're not gonna 
worry about asana terms today.

Remember, Adriene?

So we're just gonna 
draw one heel into the center

followed by the next.

And your knees might be 
like this and that's okay.

We're just 
gonna totally let time

and breath and space happen.

Eventually they'll come down.

I'm still even evolving 
my hip openers, of course.

Don't worry about the shape.

Just come into this sensation.

I'll sit up nice 
and tall here, inhale.

And then we're gonna come to
these spider fingers here.

This is what we 
do in kid's yoga,

and I'm just going to 
take my spider fingers forward.

Taking a check in here to root
down through the sit bones.

So my sit bones are 
gonna wanna peel up here,

but rather than let them peel
up I'm going to root 'em down

so I get the full gamut here.

Walking forward, 
if it still feels cool.

And then maybe if 
this is available to you,

dropping onto the 
forearms here, the elbows.

And this is where I really 
start to breathe into,

in my case, the right hip,

whichever leg, 
of course, is forward.

So, here I'm gonna let the
weight of my head drop down.

If you have a block or 
a pillow, a blanket here,

you can maybe bring it to allow
the forehead to rest there

and then this is just 
a gentle, gentle thing

so it might not feel 
like a lot is going on here,

but if we're pressing 
down through the sit bones

and really starting to 
breathe into the outer edge

of my right hip and also 
just kind of compressing,

massaging, stimulating 
the hip crease gently here.

And just because I can't 
help but talk about

the ripple effect, 
make sure your shoulders

aren't coming up to your ears.

Make sure everything's 
nice and spacious here.

Maybe you have a lot 
of flexibility in the hips

and you can come 
all the way down.

So a couple breaths 
here and then I'll just move

a little bit quickly here.

My idea here is that 
I'll just kind of show you

these stretches and then 
you can turn the video off

or just let it play 
and do it on your own,

taking your own time with these.

I'll switch the legs,
and same thing,

checking in now 
with the opposite hip.

I feel a little more 
space in this hip for me

than the other one, 
so I come all the way here.

And then using 
the palms to support

as I press back up, voila, one.

Okay, number two, is 
we're going a little bit deeper

in the hips and 
this is a great check in.

This is gonna be 
different for everyone.

Well, kind of a 
fire log pose here

where I stack the shins.

So, some of adults can go into

these hip openers 
easy breezy with ease.

I'm a great example 
because I'm like the other half

of the adults and I have to
really spend a little time

and space and 
breath to open up the hips.

One leg is in front, 
the other one's gonna stack.

Ideally in the full 
on fire log posture,

the ankle stacks over the knee

and the knee 
stacks over the ankle

and again I have some folks
in class, even newbies to yoga

that can come into 
this easy breezy beautiful

where the knee goes 
all the way down.

But look, I am not perfect here

and I am 
breathing into right hips,

hip bones rooted,

lifting up through 
the crown of the head,

so not collapsing here 'cause
that doesn't do me any good.

So, finding that support and
I have a lot of space here,

so I'm gonna slowly,

never gonna press down 
into that knee, my friends.

Don't press, that's just silly.

But I will encourage it, 
the power of touch is good.

Just kind of breathing.

Notice I'm keeping my 
feet nice and bright here

to protect the knees.

I can take a 
block or a blanket here

just for a 
little bit of support.

And breathe in here.

And then just to show the
opposite side, nice and easy,

mindfully coming 
out and switching

to check in on the other side.

And as you can see, the left
hip is a little bit more open.

Breathing in here.

So again, I'm not coming
into any asana shape per se,

even though I am.

Everything is an asana, right?

Shape of the body.

Body shapin'.

Checking with 
the sensation here,

breathing into the 
outer edge of that hip.

I'm really feeling it 
wrap around here, that's yummy.

And then with the support of
heart, kind of chest open here,

I'll support as I come out.

And back to cross legged.

Okay, so the third 
thing is what we kind of refer

to as eye of the needle

and this one's 
great because we have

the support of our 
earth on our backs,

so I'm gonna start 
in an Dandasana here.

I'm just kind of 
walking you through.

Soles of the 
feet come to the mat

and then I guess I don't need
to spell this out for you.

Come to flat back.
(laughs)

Ah, there we are, there we are.

Take a deep 
breath in and and out.

Knees pointing 
up towards the sky.

I'm gonna keep the sole 
of the left foot on my mat,

and inhale, draw 
the right leg up.

Just taking a second here

to let the lower back 
become flush with the mat,

feel that support,
it feels good.

And then I'm 
gonna bend my right knee

and bring my right ankle across

the top of the left thigh.

Now this might look familiar.

I'm gonna gently 
take my palm, again,

no pressing hard, no slamming,

and no slamming ever,
no slam books here.

Slam books suck, 
I never liked that.

I never got that,
that's just mean.

Okay, palms opening to 
just kind of gently open

the hip here and then bring
that brightness into this foot.

Okay, now I can 
walk my left heel up

if that feels available,
feels good.

And if my hips 
are superdy, duper tight,

I might just stay here.

Just kind of gently pressing.

Breathing, of course, 
nice, full deep breath.

To go into the 
full stretch I'm gonna

take my right fingertips 
and I'm gonna take them

through this hole here.

I'm gonna take 
my left fingertips

and bring them around 
and I have two options here.

I can interlace on 
the top of the thigh here,

just going a little 
bit deeper into the hip

or if that's feeling 
like a bit of strain,

then I'll start here

with my fingertips interlacing 
underneath the thigh.

So I have option 
here or option here.

Now from here, no holding,
right, breathe deep.

You can rock a 
little side to side.

That sometimes feels awesome.

Not only am I massaging 
the lower back here,

but I'm really 
getting into that hip

and then I can also use,

and this might be 
a little hard to see,

but I'm gonna use my right elbow

to maybe press 
my right thigh out

if I'm feeling like 
I can open the hip

a little bit more here.

Again, I can't 
help but encourage

full conversation in the body.

So, don't let the 
shoulders get all cramped up

towards the ears, relax, soften.

Bring your awareness 
to your right hip.

One last little goodie here

is I can inhale in and exhale,
squeeze my left knee in

as I peel the nose up.

Again, I'm using my right elbow

to kind of press in 
the right thigh here.

Feet are nice and bright,
not lazy. Just full awareness.

And then exhale, I melt down.

Slowly release the fingertips,

bring the sole of the mat.

Sole of the mat?

Sole of the 
foot back to the mat.

Send that right 
leg up and unravel.

Take a second here 
to windshield wiper

these knees back and forth.

Massaging the booty.

Checking in with the hips.

Kind of stretching through the
front of the hip creases here

as I draw the right knee down.

Nice, big breath 
from blue healer.

And then the opposite direction.

And then we 
switch to the other side,

soles of the feet on the mat,
inhale, left leg up.

And then bending here, 
left ankle crosses over top

of right thigh as I gently
guide my left knee open, gently.

Eye of the needle.

So this is where the eye of
the needle things comes from.

You probably know this, but
just in case you're wondering.

Here's my needle.

Yeah, is that right?
Or no, this is my thread.

(laughs)

Thread going through 
the eye of the needle here.

And then wrap around, again,
interlacing here or here.

We can also use this strap here

if you're not making it.

I'll come here today

and using my left elbow 
to again just kind of gently

guide that left thigh out.

Relaxing the shoulders down.

And then maybe squeezing in here

or rocking a 
little side to side.

(humming)

Ooh yeah.

Breathing deep into my left hip.

Variation, I can 
inhale in, exhale.

Squeeze my knee up towards 
my chin, nose to knee-ish.

And then back down.

And then releasing the 
fingertips and unravel.

One more time, I windshield
wiper the legs back and forth.

Again, I just wanna point out
when you rotate to one side,

so say my legs 
are going to the left.

Use this, this is 
a great stretch here

to draw that right 
knee all the way down,

breathing into the 
front of the right hip crease.

So I'm spending a lot of 
time stretching that outer,

so kind of getting 
that space here

and then opposite side,
take a couple breaths,

drawing the left knee 
towards the front right corner

of the mat, breathing in here.

And then why not?

Let's close it off with 
a little Recline Butterfly.

Letting each exhale 
soften and relax

through the hips.

Okay so, thanks to 
those of you who wrote in

requesting for the hips.

I love your feedback 
and I love your questions.

Hopefully this helps you.

If you have 
something in particular

that you would like help with

or if you have questions 
about anything yoga related,

leave a comment below 
and I'd be honored to help.

Thanks everyone and namaste.

(upbeat music)