- What's up everyone? Welcome to Yoga With Adriene, I'm Adriene. And today on the Foundations of Yoga Series we have pyramid pose, or parsvottanasana, amazing posture, really great to explore in the foundations of yoga because it can seem quite simple, but for me this asana is very much one of these like poses. There's so much going on, there's a lot to pay attention to, so hop into something comfy, and let's play in pyramid pose. (upbeat music) All righty, let's begin with the feet a little bit wider than hip width apart here. Toes pointing forward. Just kind of mark your stance. Allow your energy and your tension to settle in to this moment, this exchange. Your yoga practice. And right away, especially because we're focusing on the foundations of our posture today, pay attention to the feet and maybe lift your toes, spread your toes, find that foot to earth connection as you draw energy up from the arches. And then I always say a little goes a long way. And so especially today as we work towards pyramid posture, finding this awareness of the energetic body as well as kind of our foundations and our alignment. Right, the action. So, all that to say, see if you can lift up through the center channel, maybe find a big lift through the front body, whatever that means to you. Just explore, this is a practice, and then grounding through the back body. Again, a lift through the front body, whatever that means to you, and grounding through the back body. And as you play with this, just noticing of energy and this awareness of energy. Notice if that shifts your breath at all. Maybe take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Maybe take one hand to the front, and one hand to the back and just guide this lift up through the heart, the chest. And this grounding through the shoulder blades and the tail. Cool, then draw the hands to the waistline here. Deep breath in. Long breath out, relax your shoulders. And warming up the side body here for intense side body stretch, that's the translation of parsvottanasana. We're gonna lift the left fingertips up and over, stay connected in your feet here. Shoulders relaxing down as you start to stretch out through the side. So Yogis choice here, you can find gentle movement here, gentle pulses. You can find stillness and use the power of the breath to support you. See if you can find a little containment in the front body here, so we're not just spilling out. But finding that, almost zippering up of the front. I like that image, this drawing in of the lower ribs. Engaging the upper abdominals. Remember, the neck is an extension of the spine here. Also really important in our posture today, so just notice what's going on in the head, the neck. And take one more deep breath in, big side body stretch. Exhale, come back to center. And we'll take it to the other side. Standing up nice and tall. Feeling your feet, creating a full body experience here as we explore our practice today. Right fingertips are gonna reach all the way up and over. So we warm up the body here. Reminding the mind, the thinking mind to just focus on the sensations rather than on kind of hitting your mark, it's the beauty of the Foundations of Yoga series, too, as we just kinda take some time to explore. (breathing heavily) Again, paying attention to the sensation in the lower ribs, the upper abs, just noticing if you're kinda splaying out here, can you draw that energy in? Just support the back, the spine. And remember, your neck is a nice long extension of the spine, take one more inhale here. And exhale all the way down, awesome. We're gonna bring the feet together. And bend the knees. Inhale, reach for the sky. And exhale forward fold with the knees bent so just warming up the hamstrings so we can work in our posture today, stretching through the back body. Again, no need to straighten the knees here. Keep them bent. And then allow the head to hang over. Awareness in the shoulders here, as we start to breathe a little deeper. (breathing heavily) And again, notice I'm not trying to hit any certain mark I'm just kind of allowing a little bit of time and space for the backs of the legs to open up. (breathing heavily) And I'm gonna roll up through the spine again feeling strong, strong, super strong connection through my feet, so bending the knees, tucking the chin. And slowly stacking up through the spine. Pressing into all four corners of the feet. And finding that awesome lift in the chest, in the heart. Just that simple little diddy will change your day, I tell ya, all right, so now we're gonna head into pyramid posture, so go ahead, and take the right foot forward, the left foot back, and we're gonna start nice and slow here, it may even seem like too slow but I want you to go on this journey with me. Front toes are gonna point forward. Back toes are gonna point towards the front left corner of your mat, or a little bit wider. Now traditionally we come heel to heel alignment, but actually today, take your right foot out an inch more so that you're on two skiis, right? These two parallel lines rather than this tight rope. In time you can work to narrow that a little bit heel to heel alignment, but for now give yourself some space. This is for the hips, this is for all those connective muscles and tissues so that in time we can square the hips without pinching the lower back. So, maybe take the hands to the waistline, or one hand to the front, one hand to the back. Find, reconnect to that lift up through the front body, and that grounding through the back body. So this is anatomical and energetic here. We lengthen the tailbone down. We draw the naval inward and upward. We connect the upper abdominals, hug those lower ribs in, but also you can just think, I think a really nice way of treating it is just finding this lift up through the front, and there's a grounding in the back. And that balance, the body starts to kind of explore that naturally rather than having to go at it in a very rigid way, or how to way. So find that connect, play there. Again, we are on two parallel lines here. And then back to the feet, connecting through the feet, drawing energy up through the legs. Really pressing into the back foot here. This for me, this is really important. This is kind of the root of this posture, believe it or not. As we draw the energy up, we wanna be careful especially in the front knee, to not lock out. But find a soft, microbend. Alright, and now for this one we're gonna reach behind, interlace the fingertips and open the chest. Just take a second to find that length in the side body that you had before, stretching it out. And then it's so simple right? But there's a lot going on here, so let's reconnect the breath, to focus. Concentrate. If the shoulders are tight, you can square the wrists off here, instead of bringing the palms together. All right, big inhale as you press into the feet and lift your heart. Exhale from the hip creases, my friends, we'll begin to send the hips back. Tailbone goes straight towards the back edge of your mat, we hug the lower ribs in, and crown of the head reaches forward, so nice flat back here. Again, if this is too much for these shoulders, you can square the wrists here. Or even bring the hands back to the waistline. Shoulder blades draw together, we hug those lower ribs in here, we're gonna be here for a couple breaths. Breathing, drawing energy up from the arches. There's a lot going on here in the pyramid posture so breathe deep. Try to stay focused. Once you feel like you know what you're working on, take your gaze straight down, and imagine your tailbone reaching towards the back edge, crown of the head reaching towards the front. Take one more breath here and nice flat back position. And then soft bend in that front leg as you power through the feet and rise up strong. Fabulous, release the arms. And take a rest. Awesome work, 'kay we're gonna do the same thing on the other side, just flat back position. So step the left leg forward, right toes back. Find the placement of little bit wider than heel to heel, so again, traditionally it's heel in line with the heel for pyramid, and the stance is much smaller than your triangle or your warriors, right? So really starting at the feet, and drawing awareness all the way up. Lifting up through the chest. Grounding through the back. This side is gonna be different, so explore the sensations here. Stay present. And power through that back heel, soft bend in the knees here as you swim the fingertips around, opposite thumb on top this time. Draw the knuckles down and away and we go through our checklist. (breathing heavily) And connect to your breath. (breathing heavily) Inhale in, find that lift up through the front body. Exhale, slowly from the hips, from the hip creases we begin to send the hips back. Tailbone reaches towards the back edge. Hug the lower ribs in. And we come to a nice flat back position here. Again, if this is too much in the shoulders, you can bring the hands to the waistline. Working to create a nice long line from the crown to the tail, couple breaths here. Breathing deep, finding that opposition. The crown of the head reaching one way. Tail reaching the other. Grounding through the feet as you draw energy up through the inner thighs. Take one more deep breath in here. You got this. And then exhale, soft bend in the knees as you power through that back foot. Power through the front foot, and lift your heart all the way back up. Great, release the arms. Ooh, amazing, this is gonna be great. This is gonna feel great for the wrists too. And we'll switch. Okay, second round, front toes facing forward. Back toes facing the top left corner. Find that lift up through the front. That grounding through the back, so go through your checklist. Now traditionally we come reverse namaste here. Palms together behind the back, Anjali Mudra, or you can grab the elbows. So that's an option. Again, you can also interlace or keep the hands on the waistline. So here we go, inhale lifting up. Moving through that flat back position. Let's explore, from the hip creases, sending the tailbone back, heart forward. Take it nice and slow. See if you can stay connected to your feet here. When you come to the flat back position, pause for one breath cycle, inhale in deeply. And exhale completely, this time. Continuing the around through, fingertips can come to the earth, or to a block. And we pull up through the right hip crease. And we ground down through that back heel. Now if you wanna experiment here walking your toes in to feel that heel to, heel alignment you can. Otherwise, just keep it nice and wide. Your body will tell you. Working to square the hips forward or allowing for the hips to be where they are. Just nice and slow. (breathing heavily) So really waking up the backs of the legs. Stretching through the hips, the hammies, of course. There's a variation here to hold your Anjali Mudra behind the back or you can take the hands gently to the backs of the Achilles here, the calf. And take one more breath wherever you are. Make sure you're not holding the neck, any tension in the shoulders. (breathing heavily) And then slowly we'll bring the hands to the waistline, or interlace behind. And rooting to rise here, nice and strong. Coming through your flat back. And then all the way up. Super strong. Inhale in. And exhale release. And let's do the other side. Left foot forward, right foot back. So when we get the opportunity to kind of break things down like this, you really go, holy moly, yes there's so much there for me to explore. And that's what makes yoga asana so exciting for me. Not in like mastering all these poses, but getting to find more and more and more in each posture. Creating that full body experience. All right, hopefully you're activating down through the feet, lifting up through the front. Hopefully you're creating an experience and staying present in that experience here. When you're ready, we'll take it forward. Inhale. And exhale, peeling back with that left hip crease. Hug the lower ribs in. Take your time. Be patient, stay focused. This is a pose, and reverse triangle that really knock me out off my game fast. Stay present. One big breath in and out here at flat back position, and then when you're ready, we release. Hands can come to the earth, or a block. This posture, like all hamstrings stretches, really takes time and lots of conscious, conscious full breath (breathing heavily). So great for the feet if you have flat feet, or if you have tight feet. These are wonderful postures for you. All these pyramid like postures. Drawing energy up from the arches. Rooting down through all four corners. Take one more deep breath in. And we'll root to rise here. Maybe taking the hands behind, finding that length in the spine, coming through your flat back position. Stay present, stay focused. As you rise all the way up. Take a deep breath in, exhale to release. Bring both feet together. Come to mountain pose. Just take a second to notice how you feel from head to toe. And slowly draw the hands together at the heart. Awesome work. So if you wanna keep playing, check out the other videos in the Foundations of Yoga series. This is a great way to deepen your practice and to continue to find what feels good. Take good care, namaste. (upbeat music)