- Howdy pal, and welcome to Yoga with Adriene.
I'm Adriene and today we have a meditation
for you to help you with anxiety.
Happens to the best of us.
It can get out of control fast.
So, thank you for joining me in this meditation
to help quell and soften and maybe even cure
you from regular anxiety attacks.
Hope into something comfy and let's get started.
(gentle music)
Alright, my sweet friends, so we're going to begin
by finding a comfortable seat
and what was a comfortable seat yesterday
or where you may end up years from now
in your meditation practice or just in your body
is just always right in a constant state of flux
for so many reasons.
So, I'd like to invite you today to really consider
what's gonna feel best.
If it's leaning up against a wall,
snuggle up against a wall.
If it's sitting on the edge of your couch
or participating in a chair, fabulous.
Or you can lie down, you can practice
this meditation lying down.
So, we definitely wanna come to a place
where we feel comfortable and safe
to do this brief meditation and to practice the breath,
the pranayama, and so today, just an extra gentle nudge
to find a comfortable seat and really be honest about that.
So, if it's not Sukhasana today,
find something that feels supportive and good.
For those coming into Sukhasana,
you can even play with the legs here, one foot in front
of the other, maybe give yourself a nice wide base.
So, we'll all come into a position
that we feel is the most supportive of us today.
Again, it can be lying down.
And when you arrive there, really choose to arrive
by acknowledging, oh I chose to turn on this video,
I made the choice to tend to what's going on,
and the first position
that I'm even taking here
was also a choice to feel supported and comfortable.
So, basically we're shifting gears a little bit
from a mindset
that might feel a little bit anxious or off,
and we're starting to get organized in the brain and body
and say, okay, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa,
I have some power here,
a lotta power
to help guide myself out of
that which doesn't feel good
and to help guide myself
to a place that feels
more supported.
So, hopefully by now, you found your seat for today,
whatever it may be,
your place where you are
going to reside,
and when you arrive there, you can use
the sound of my voice now as a guide,
so close your eyes and just bring some awareness
to your chest, your heart space,
and depending on where you're at today, my sweet friend,
you might already start to lean in
and just feel what's comin' up,
let the emotional body have
a seat at the table and just notice.
And wherever you are today,
see if you can begin to do just that, notice.
Come into the role of the observer.
So, I find it very helpful to close the eyes,
relax the shoulders, and bring your awareness
to your heart center or your chest area
and just allow whatever feelings come up,
whatever thoughts, just notice them.
And then notice where you might be holding
or gripping in the body, the fingers or the toes,
the ankles or the wrists, and see if you can use
this idea of the observer to just notice
all of those points
and then in time to allow
just the noticing to bring a softness, an awareness.
So, your only real job here in this practice today
is to pay attention.
We use Pranayama technique to help
guide the energy of the body
and to hopefully help relieve you from feelings
that are not serving,
if you feel stuck or off or anxious, stressed out.
Hopefully, the Pranayama will allow us to
just shift our perspective or break the pattern
that we might be stuck in.
So, after you've taken a couple moments to just arrive here
and settle in,
acknowledge that you chose this,
start to notice your breath.
You don't have to do anything, just acknowledge it,
notice the natural ebb and flow.
Notice what it feels like as you breathe in
and notice what it feels like as you empty the breath out.
And then again, bring your awareness
to your chest again, your heart space,
this place that tends to get really tight and collapsed
when we feel anxiety,
and see if you can start
to lift up through that area, even if it's not
a big muscular movement but just a little energy.
Then allow that to affect your breath,
maybe taking a more fuller inhale,
feeling the heart lift a little,
then perhaps feeling the shoulders relax
and soften as you breathe out.
So, the neck and shoulders also get a lot of tension,
a little tightness when we feel anxious,
so use your inhale to feel expansion,
and as you start to deepen the breath,
use your exhale to find a softness, a surrender.
Alright, you're doing great.
Stay with it, stick with it, eyes closed,
shoulders relaxed,
lots of awareness
around your heart center, your chest, your sternum.
On your next inhale, see if you can bring
the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth now,
just right behind the teeth, and breathe in,
and then breathe out, jaw nice and soft.
Again, the tip of the tongue comes to the roof of the mouth
and we breathe in.
The jaw stays soft, not clinched, as you breathe out.
And on your next inhale, we're gonna count to four.
Breathe in for four.
Here we go.
Tongue comes to the roof of the mouth.
And we inhale, one,
two, three, four,
and then just let it go soft and easy.
Inhale for four, one,
two, three, four,
and then let it go.
Notice how you feel, stay present, keep observing.
Adding onto this ratio, now we're going to hold the breath,
retain the breath in between the inhalation
and the exhalations for a seven count.
So, we'll do one breath cycle, just in and out,
and then we'll start with the four.
So, breathe in deep here, nice, soft, easy breath.
And exhale just to relax the shoulders,
empty everything out.
I'm breathing in for four.
Inhale, one, two,
three, four, holding,
retaining the breath for seven,
six, five, four, three,
two, one, and let everything go.
Notice what thoughts come up, stay present, let it unfold.
Try to keep the body still.
And the last bit of the ratio is an exhale for eight.
So, we'll inhale for four, I'll guide you with my voice.
We'll hold at the top, retaining the breath mindfully
for seven and then a nice smooth exhalation on the eight.
Four, seven, eight.
Soften through your fingertips and toes.
One breath cycle, in and out to start, and then we'll begin.
Here we go, inhale.
Empty it all out.
And inhaling for four, inhale, one,
two, three, four.
Holding for seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
And exhale for eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Just notice how you did, no judgment, just observing.
Inhaling for four, inhale, one,
two, three, four.
Retaining on seven, six,
five, four,
three, you got this, two, one.
And big exhale, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Inhale for four, three, two, one.
Retain for seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
And exhale for eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, and one.
Inhale for four, three, two, one.
Retain, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Exhale for eight, seven, six, five,
four, three, two, and one.
Let everything go.
Stay with it.
Notice what comes up.
Reside in that wonderful role of the observer.
And wherever you are, whether you're seated in a chair
or Sukhasana or lying down,
you're gonna find soft, easy movement with the neck.
So, if you're lying down,
you might rock the head gently side to side.
You might shake the head yes and then no.
And then you'll start to bat the eyelashes open.
Soft, easy movement with the neck and shoulders.
And then we'll take a big inhale in
and exhale, sigh it out, so this is important,
little big of sound here.
Inhale in.
Sigh it out. (sighs)
And one more time, inhale.
(deeply sighs)
Hands come together, notice how you feel.
Thank you for sharing your time
and your energy and your practice with me
and all the people around the globe participating,
working towards a happy, healthy balanced life.
Namaste.
(gentle music)