- Hey everyone and welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and today on the Foundations of Yoga we're learning Rabbit Pose or Bunny Posture or Hare Pose. H-A-R-E. (laughs) This is a great near inversion. I love, love, love this posture because it reminds me that we need to practice and be attentive to this idea of calm and this practice of breathing in tight or uncomfortable situations. The Foundations of Yoga series is really great 'cause it just gives us an opportunity to play with the postures, to break it down, to workshop, to explore and hopefully have a little fun. So hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat guitar music) Alrighty my friends, welcome. In the Foundations of Yoga series we don't just do the pose, but we very much embrace this idea of process and really put that into play while learning the pose. You're rarely going to see us just jump right into, like today, Rabbit Posture, but rather we need to warm up the body to make sure that we're connected. Right away, think of the body as one moving part, rather than a bunch of disjointed parts. We're gonna maybe bring a little blanket or towel to pad the knees. We're gonna come to all fours and just start with some gentle spinal flexion, Cat-Cow. Most everyone is familiar with this. See if you can slow it down and start to sync up with your breath right away. So as you inhale you press into your hands and feet and drop the belly, open the chest. Find length in the front body. And then as you exhale start to round opposite direction, chin to chest, heart lifts up between the shoulder blades. You're really pressing into the tops of your feet and all 10 fingers. Then again, inhale, drop the belly, open the chest. Gentle tug of the shoulders back so you create lots of length in the neck. And then exhale, start with the tail, rounding through chin to chest. Again, especially as we prepare for Rabbit Pose, press away from your yoga mat so you feel this lift in the upper back body, this hollowing up through the chest. Alright, one more time, inhale to drop the belly. And exhale to really round, draw the navel up this time. Press, press, press away from your foundation. Try to draw your nose towards your navel on this one. Awesome, then inhale, come back to a neutral position, neutral spine. You're just gonna bump the hips to the left and then turn and look past your right shoulder. Take a deep breath in and then exhale, press away from your hands and feet here. And then slowly come back to the neutral spine. Awesome work, and then bump the hips to the right. Turn and look past your left shoulder. Inhale in and then exhale press away from your yoga mat. Beautiful, inhale, come back to neutral spine. Then exhale, you're gonna drop the elbows right where the hands were. I have my blocks right here so I'll use them. Nice and slow you're gonna walk the knees back and come into a heart-to-earth pose. We're really opening up through the shoulders and chest here. You're lifting up through the hip creases, feeling that stretch all the way through the back body. If you have a block, it's nice to keep a block between the index finger and thumb so that your fingers aren't coming in or splaying out, but staying nice and square. And then just lift your tail and since we're focusing on Rabbit Pose today, think of a little bunny's tail. I know this is silly as heck, but just give yourself a visual. Right at the coccyx you have like a little bunny tail. Try to lift that part up towards the sky even more, creating more length and more space. Then breathe, send awareness with each inhale all the way to your tail. And then back up and out through the nose or the mouth. Again, creating spaciousness here. Then connect to your core to come out of this shape. Draw the navel up and in, slowly rise back up. Walk the hands underneath the shoulders. Walk the knees underneath the hips. Cool. Now we're gonna take the right fingertips forward. Feel light in your left wrist, so don't crash into your left wrist. Lift your heart, feel a lightness as you inhale, reach forward. And then exhale, thread the needle. We're waking up the upper back body. Right fingertips are gonna go underneath the bridge of the right arm and you're gonna rest your right ear on the earth or on a block. Lots of loving, beautiful, big inhales here to really make the most of this. Then just notice where you might be gripping or holding and see if you can soften there, breathe deep. Should feel really good. Then again you can imagine that little pom-pom of a tail on your coccyx and just lift that part up towards the sky, creating more spaciousness in the pelvis. Lifting the hip creases up should feel really good. Then last but not least, you can choose a variation with the left hand, either taking it up towards the sky, maybe left hand on the small of the back, or all the way forward. Make a choice and then take a deep breath in and a long breath out. Then slowly we'll make our way back up through and take it to the other side. Again, try to find a lightness here so you're not just diving into the shape, but find a little buoyancy. Use an inhale to reach the left fingertips forward. Find expansion, length, and then thread the needle on the other side. Stay present, notice what it feels like on this side. Breathing deep. Give the thinking mind a break here. Just stay present with the sensation of the body and the quality of your breath. And again, lifting the hip creases, feeling the sits bones spread left to right, creating an awesome spaciousness. Breathing, breathing, breathing. And when you're ready to, find a variation that feels good with the top arm, make a choice and breathe deep. Take one more big inhale here. Exhale to unravel and bring it back to center, awesome. Alright, so walk the knees right underneath the hip points if they're aren't already. Notice I say hip points because the hip sometimes is a little bit wider. Wanna really bring these bones into alignment so the top of the thigh bone's coming up and into the hip crease here. Just an image, so we're stacking the bones. For now we're gonna come onto the tops of the feet. Right away we're gonna start to gather some energy up through the lower belly. Here it is just kinda blah. We're gonna draw navel in and up, find that Uddiyana Bandha, that navel lock. Draw the navel in and up. Then we're gonna slowly, you can of course use a little blanket to pad the knees. If you need to press pause and go ahead and grab one, you can. But for Rabbit Pose we're really gonna focus on the sensation over the shape. I know when I was younger I used to just cram myself into this posture 'cause I wanted to make it. Now I've backed off a lot to just focus on the sensation over the shape. It's amazing how, if you practice this regularly, it will evolve, body is amazing. Nice and slow we're gonna walk the fingertips underneath the shoulder blades and just narrow this Tabletop Position so that the spine is starting to round. The navel's drawing in and up. Obviously now my upper back bardy, let's party, upper back bardy. My upper back body (chuckles) is starting to lift up, chest lifting. There's like this doming effect, right? Okay, so I'm cultivating the support from within with Mula Bandha, pelvic floor lift. Navel draws in and up, I hug the lower ribs in. You might just stay here working on this. So great for the upper back body, so great for your posture. Press into the tops of the feet. So great for the nervous system, and breathe, to continue. I'm gonna slowly maintain this energy in the front body, this gathering up and in. Press into the tops of the feet. I'm gonna continue to walk my hands all the way back and as I do that, I'm gonna reach the crown of my head towards the ground. In order to do that, I'm gonna draw my nose towards my navel to maybe get the crown of the head on the ground. If not, I'll just work as best I can. I can also use a block or a little stacking of towels to bring the crown of the head to the mat there and work here. Crown of the head comes to the ground, chin comes in up towards the chest. I'm not worrying about grabbing my heels yet, I'm just working on finding this support, this gathering of energy through the front body as I press into the tops of the feet. You can take breaks at any time. We're here to workshop this and play. See if you can bring your breath more into the picture the longer you're in this shape. Let the breath support you, guide you. And then if you're here, you might interlace the fingertips or grab opposite wrists behind the legs. We start to find a little pressing of the tops of the feet, a little resistance as we lift the hips up and then press into the earth, so a little yielding here. Playing with opposition. I'm not gripping, I'm not holding, I'm not clenching in my jaw or furrowing my brow. I'm breathing nice and easy. Cool, press into the tops of the feet, release the arms, and slow and in control roll up. Stack head over heart, heart over pelvis. We'll just be here for one beat just to give it a break, especially if this shape is new, and then enjoy that yoga high. Feeling good, rabbits. Alright, let's go for it one more time. Make sure the knees are in check right underneath the hip points. Take a deep breath in, long breath out. Connect to your feet, don't forget about your feet here. Hands are gonna come down to the earth. As you're ready, walk 'em back. As you start to walk 'em back, start to cultivate that energy up through the front body. Maybe you just bring them behind the knees for this round again, grabbing opposite wrists or interlacing the fingertips. Or maybe this time you reach back to grab the heels. Now, sometimes you can shorten the distance by curling the toes under, grabbing the heels, and then working from here. But again, for too many years I feel like I just wanted to come in the shape and I bypassed creating all this length and space. Now lift the hip creases up the same way you did when we lifted our tails. Press into the shins, press into the tops of the feet. I'm not putting a ton of weight on the crown of the head, guys. I'm not hurting my neck, I'm being super mindful. I'm keeping my shoulders nice and stable. Breathing deep here, hugging the lower ribs in. Creating so much spaciousness in the back body. There's this gentle compression on the internal organs as I lift up through the front body, so great for your body, oh my gosh, so good. Feeling the blood flow opposite direction. This can be a frustrating posture too, so just breathe deep, explore. Notice I'm not collapsing in the shoulders but drawing them away. One more breath here, you got it. And then with control, slowly release hands to support. From here, we're gonna walk the hands forward and we're gonna cross the ankles behind us and we're going to use the fingertips to guide you, but we're gonna come to Sukhasana. You should feel all the blood flow shifting once again, it should feel really good. Just see if you can tag a little weight in your elbows here as you lift up through your heart. Feels good. Rabbit Pose can bring energy to the body, it can bring a focus, a clarity. Nice, fresh rinse to the energetic channels that run up and down the spine. Encouraging healthy flow of energy, healthy blood flow. I invite you to practice Rabbit Pose maybe once a week and just see how it goes, see how it grows. You can also add a little Rabbit Pose to the end of another practice just like you would a Crow Pose or a back bend and just see how it evolves through time. We'll draw the hands together, Prayer Position. And just because, let's think of something that we're thankful for today and place it right between the hands. Could be someone or something. It could be chocolate. Whatever came to your mind, go with that. Something you're grateful for. Then take a deep breath 'cause we have so much to be grateful for. For me, this yoga practice and this community is certainly one of them, one of the things I am most grateful for. Inhale, lift your heart, smile. Exhale, we bow. Namaste. (upbeat guitar music)