- Hey guys. 
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I am Adriene, and today on the
Foundations of Yoga series,

we're gonna learn one
of my favorite postures.

It's a wide-legged Forward Fold,

standing wide-legged 
Forward Fold today, or Prasa...

(laughs)

Prasarita Padottanansana.

I'm human, guys.

It's Sanskrit. 
Say that five times fast.

It's one of my favorite poses.

It's great for the whole body.

It's great for the legs,
it's great for the back,

it's a really great pose
that I often recommend

for students who have anxiety.

If you're anxious, 
or if you're feeling

particularly anxious 
about something,

this is a great pose 
to kind of tackle

and experience to quell that.

So, sounds pretty good to me.
I don't know what you think.

Let's hop on the mat and learn

standing wide-legged 
Forward Fold.

(upbeat music)

Okay, so from 
your Mountain Pose,

we're gonna step 
the feet nice and wide.

We're gonna send the
fingertips left to right.

Brighten the fingertips,
spread your fingertips,

and just like we 
learned in Triangle Pose,

Foundations of Yoga 
Triangle Pose,

this is kind of a good guide,
to just go ankle to wrist,

rather than saying 
three to four feet.

Everyone's different, 
right, you know?

One of my best friends is
seven feet tall, so it's like,

you have to take in your
body to account, okay?

And especially when we're
focusing on foundations,

it's like, it's a good 
time to slow down

and be like, "Oh, but for
my body it's different.

"For Adriene's body it's this."

But as a general mark, we can
go ankle to wrist connection

for these kind of standing
wide-legged things.

Take a second to 
pull the pinkies back,

just to find that lift
in the heart, why not,

lengthen the tailbone down.

And then whatever this means
to you, close your eyes

and think about the 
sit bone to heel connection.

Cue Kermit the Frog, go.

What I mean is, see a line

from your sit bones 
to your heels.

So you might have noticed
you were collapsing

into the inner 
arches of the feet.

For this wide-angle pose,

I really wanna 
press into my heels.

And again, 
whatever it means to you,

consider this sit bone 
to heel connection.

I think you'll notice 
that you kind of

sit back onto 
your heels a little bit

when you think about that line.

Maybe you actually feel
the muscles, the connection

from the sitting bones all
the way down towards the feet.

And maybe you notice how,

everyone go ahead and
bring your hands to your

waistline here while I
talk about this foundation.

'Cause you're like, "My arms!"

Hands to the waistline
here, hands to the hips,

whatever feels good.

You notice that 
your weight goes from

the inner arches, perhaps,
to the outer arches.

And then see if you can
keep a little integrity

in that big toe mound.

So it might seem like

I'm talking a lot 
about the feet here,

but this is Foundations of Yoga,

so really taking a second
to build from the ground up.

This is gonna help us once we
go down into the Forward Fold.

And this is why 
we have this series.

It's like, when we're
in fast-paced classes,

we kind of don't have the time.

It's ironic that we're in yoga
and we don't have the time

to kind of build 
a good foundation.

So taking the time now.

Lift your toes to just
kind of really marry

that sole of the foot
connection down to the earth.

And then experiment with turning

your two big toes in slightly.

So perhaps you've 
already done that.

But maybe you haven't, maybe
you're naturally turning out.

See if you can turn 
your toes in slightly

to really feel that connection
to the outer edges of the feet.

Your feet might 
even start to feel

like they're doing 
a lot of work here,

and that's good, that's okay.

Press into the heels,
lengthen the tailbone down,

take a deep breath in.

I'm gonna reach my
fingertips behind my ears

and reach up just once to
kind of lengthen the side body

in case it's the only
thing you're doing today.

Engage the tops of the thighs.

Engage the knees here by lifting
the kneecaps just slightly.

Pull the thumbs back, 
remember this space.

Keep it lifted, 
heart lifted as we

bring the hands 
back down here,

fingertips left to right.

Take a deep breath in.

Keep the armpit 
chest lifted here,

so this part of 
the body lifting,

naturally we're here, right?

So lift, lift it up.

In fact, 
everyone open your palms.

This is that Titanic
thing I keep referring to,

that ha-la-lu Kate Winslet moment.

Confidence.

And then keep this lift, 
this confidence,

and bring your 
hands to your hips.

Now, notice I said hips this
time, rather than waist.

Bring your hands 
to your hips, baby.

And bring your fingertips
to your hip creases.

Inhale in, lift your chin
slightly, press in your heels.

Exhale, draw your navel, 
hug your navel

in towards your 
spine just slightly,

so full body experience 
here, my friends.

Knit the ribcage together, so
draw the ribcage in together.

So I'm engaging 
my center, basically,

is what's happening here.

And with my fingertips 
on my hip crease,

I'm gonna keep center engaged,
pressing into the heels,

got this beautiful 
Pata Bandha foot power,

we'll talk about 
that on another day.

Shoulders are drawing 
away from the ears,

shoulder blades 
are plugged in together,

as I send it forward.

Nice flat back.

So I might wanna 
start collapsing here,

'cause I'm like, "Uh!"

But instead I'm gonna hold
onto this, that we just built,

right, everything is building
on top of each other here

in the foundations, and I can
take my gaze straight down,

maybe eyes are 
looking slightly ahead,

just to kind of give myself
a little bit of length.

Tops of the thighs 
are drawing up.

And I'm just gonna 
go halfway here,

breathing into my back.

Sit bones, sitting bones
are gonna shine behind me.

I'm kind of using my
fingertips here to feel

this deep crease in the
hips and tops of the thighs.

And then I'm gonna use
the power of my legs,

the outer edges of the feet,
to come all the way back up.

Whoo!

Shake it out.

Move your torso.

I'm embarrassing myself.

Inhale, lift your heart,
loop the shoulders.

Now we're gonna go all
the way down this time,

and I'm gonna give you
plenty of modifications.

So I know the legs 
are working hard here.

If they don't feel like
they're working hard,

then take a look, take a
gander, down at your feet.

Engage.

Again, sit bone 
to heel connection.

Hip to heel connection.

And when you're ready, 
find that lift, send it forward.

Now we're gonna 
go through the stages

that we just went through.

So I'm kind of using 
my fingertips here

to remember to 
just crease at the hip,

not at the waist, 
keep a nice long spine.

I'm gonna go through that
flat back position here,

lots of space between
the ears and shoulders,

and then I'll continue down.

Now, maybe don't go this far.

Maybe we're here and we're like,

"Oh, need to put hands down."

So put hands down.

Palms are gonna 
come to the earth.

And I'm gonna keep 
my palms directly

under my shoulders here for now.

Soften in the knees, 
everyone, here,

'cause we don't want the
legs to be locked, per se.

So soften the knees,

you can even sway 
a little side to side.

And we'll straighten 
the legs but still

keep a little micro-bend.

Now, notice I'm not collapsing

into my shoulders here either.

I'm full of integrity as I
press up and out of the palms.

Kind of, you know, 
keep an awareness

of the back of the head 
and the neck here.

So, not crunching, 
not completely collapsing.

But the gaze is 
straight down for now.

Take a deep breath in,
press into the heels,

sit bone to heel connection,
whatever that means to you.

And then we 
might just stay here.

Chilling, breathing.

Strong legs.

I love this posture, 
there's a beautiful dichotomy,

especially eventually, once
we get the hands walking back,

of, kind of yin and yang, 
if you will.

The masculine, the feminine,
the sun and the moon, whatever.

You know, strength
building in the lower body,

but as we slowly begin to
soften in the upper body,

we find that balance,
those two opposing forces.

And we see how they kind of need

each other to work together.

Now, again, I said we can
stay here, no problemo.

But maybe I might 
start to soften

in the elbows and 
walk my hands back.

Maybe there.

Maybe I walk them 
all the way in line

with the arches of the
feet, which is eventually

where I'm heading 
in the final posture.

Now, you might find 
here that you

want to adjust your stance,

and you can always 
do that mindfully.

Maybe I find that the crown of
the head comes to the earth.

Now, the elbows 
and hands are gonna

wanna come out, my friends.

As I shine my 
sit bones behind me,

I'm gonna keep my elbows
at a nice right angle,

in line with my shoulders still.

So I keep them on the same track

as I pull them back in.

Now, the crown of 
the head eventually,

you're like, "Yeah right,"

but might come to the earth.

In the meantime, 
I'm going to work

at any stage that feels
appropriate for me.

I might even, come
here, little blue block,

I might even have a
block or something here

to rest the crown of my head on

as I build towards 
the full posture.

But guys, everyone, keep
those elbows hugging in,

in line, nice beautiful
alignment here, nice right angle.

I've never lost connection with
my feet, my legs are strong.

And here I begin to
soften in the upper body,

as I maintain this strength,
this strong foundation

in the lower body.

Maybe you mix and 
match your variations.

Maybe you even 
straighten the arms out

for a breath, melt the heart.

You know me, break the rules.

Crown of the head, 
if it is on the ground.

Make sure that we're drawing
the navel in towards the spine

and really breathing into
the neck, nice long neck.

So we're not collapsing
here, but we're breathing

into the back of the
neck, we're brightening.

There's a bug.

My hands are 
staying connected, strong,

Hasta Bandha, we'll talk
about that another day too.

And then eventually, 
guys, we're gonna get

to where we lift the
heels, we lift the toes

and come up to our heads, crazy!

But now we breathe 
into our booties.

We breathe into our hips. 
We breathe into the upper back.

I maintain this 
connection with my center.

And to come out of the pose, 
I'm gonna move

just in the same steps, opposite
direction, mindful, mindful.

Soft micro-bend in the knees
here, so I'm not locking out,

soft micro-bend.

I lift from my heart if I'm on

the crown of my 
head or the block.

I walk the palms back in line.

We pick up with our friends
that are here, hello.

We come to tent the palms first,

kind of connecting 
to the center.

So I'm not hoisting 
my body around,

but I'm really connecting 
to my core here.

And then I lift my hands
back to the hip creases,

back to the hips, loop the shoulders,

draw the shoulder blades
in, together, and down

as the heart rises, and with
strong legs we lift back up.

Inhale, send the 
fingertips left to right.

Exhale, palms together at the heart.

And then bend the knees
and hop the feet together.

Or step the feet together.

Go ahead and hop the feet
together, let's be adventurous,

let's be wild and crazy today.

Ready and hop.

(exaggerated groan of exertion)

(laughter)
(relaxed sigh)

We have landed in Tadasana.

We take a deep breath.

And before you stop this video,

and before we say Namaste,
notice how you feel.

Notice how your legs feel.

Do you feel a little bit taller?

How do you feel?

Okey-doke, so that was our
wide-angle Forward Fold.

Again, this is a great
posture if you're feeling...

(stressed hum)

like that, 
if you're feeling anxious,

this is a great posture for you.

It's talked about 
in the yoga world

as a cure pose for that, 
so, you know,

take with you what 
you will, but it is

really great for 
the nervous system.

It's strengthening as well,

as we talked about, it's good

for balancing 
those opposing energies.

The Foundations of Yoga
series continues on and on,

so make sure you hop along.

Subscribe to the channel
if you haven't already.

Favorite the ones that
you wanna come back to,

to maybe continue to
work on, whether you're

a beginner or you're just
wanting to deepen your practice.

I feel like if you 
favorite the video,

then you'll be able to
return to it more easily,

with more ease.

And grow your poses.

Hopefully this is helping
you out in public classes,

or if you haven't been
to public class yet,

maybe this is slowly helping
you gain the confidence

to roll out the mat in
front of a bunch of people

and practice yoga.

I got your back, leave
comments, questions below.

Send in your requests, and
we'll see you next time.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)