- Hello everyone and welcome
to Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene and today
we are going to start

with a posture called Sukhasana,

a seated mediation pose, if you will.

You don't have to do any
mediation but this is our first

posture and hopefully 
it will improve

this Mr. Burns quality

that we all are slowly
falling into because of hours

and hours on the 
computer or on Facebook.

So, we are going to 
counteract that today

and learn Sukhasana.

(upbeat music)

Ok, so welcome, 
Sukhasana, the easy pose.

Sukhasana is not always
that easy so rather

than thinking of it 
as the easy pose,

which, Sukhasana 
is Sanskrit, by the way,

translating to easy pose.

I like to think of it 
as this pose of ease.

So, a place where 
we attempt to find ease.

So, we are going to
start by taking the legs,

crossing them 
criss-cross applesauce style

and right away paying
attention to our foundation.

So, always in yoga 
asana thinking

about building it 
from the ground up.

So, the foundation 
being, of course,

whatever part of your 
body that's touching

the Mother, the Earth.
That was kind of new-agey.

The Mother Earth.

So, right away, even here,

sit bones, these 
two push pins connecting

to the Earth.

I love yoga cause we
get to touch our booties.

So you can take your fingertips

and move the fleshy part
of your buttocks aside

feeling the sit bones
root down to the earth.

And then the 
outer edges of the feet

also connecting to the earth.

So already I am starting
to put myself in this chair

or this place where 
I have more awareness

than maybe I do 
unlocking my car door

or getting into the car.

So, if this pose is not
feeling so easy for you,

then you can take some
props, you can take a block,

or a blanket, which I have
here, this little Mexican

blanket or even a book, anything

and lift the hips up,

so you have a little bit
of a fighting chance here.

So, the tops of the thighs
can melt down and hips

can open up a little bit more.

Hands can rest wherever
they gently fall naturally

and just ask yourself 
if you feel happier

with your palms up 
or palms down.

Rather than saying 
any which way lately,

I am interested in just
empowering you to find

what feels good. I feel like
yoga is awesome for that.

Empowering ourselves
to find what feels good

and then, of course, recognize
when things don't feel good.

So, Sukhasana, the pose
of ease or the easy pose.

We'll connect the 
outer edges of the feet,

the sit bones to the earth

and then we'll just start by
kind of hunkering down here

drawing the chin to the
chest, rounding the spine,

coming into that kind
of Mr. Burns posture.

Chin to chest here, 
navel draws back.

You can close your 
eyes and just letting

the skin of the back stretch.

Take a nice, 
sweet, deep breath in.

And as you exhale, you can
begin to rock the pelvis down,

sit bones connecting 
again to the earth

and I'll just slowly crawl up
the staircase of the spine.

Nice and slow, just
like we do in 6th grade

theater arts class,
vertebrae by vertebrae,

lengthening up through
the crown of the head.

And then maybe 
I'll loop the shoulders,

taking the shoulders a
little forward, up and back,

and then I want to tag
a little bit of weight

down in my elbows 
just to create space

between my ears 
and the shoulders.

And at any time if you're
feeling like you could use

a little space in your neck, 
I recommend dropping

your chin to your chest
and drawing a few circles

with your nose, round and round.

And if you're a little
bit tight in the neck,

which most of 
us are, you can start

with small, like saucer-sized
circles and then allow

them to grow larger, 
like salad plate,

and then big.

Buffet plate.

And then don't 
forget to reverse it.

OK, so we have a 
couple of neck rolls.

We have a couple 
of shoulder rolls

and then, Sukhasana.

Tops of the thighs roll down.

There's this idea of
being present and soft

but still firm in the body.

So, you can think 
about drawing your navel

to your spine and then
finding this natural

lift in the heart, or
your sternum, the chest.

So, the chest is lifting
up towards the sky,

so is the crown of the head.

We've looped 
the shoulders around,

giving a little 
weight to our elbows.

So, I have this 
sweet feeling right now

of being grounded to the earth

but still lifted and
lengthening up towards the sky.

Then I will begin 
to soften my eyelids,

maybe soften the 
skin on my face,

relax the face.

Can smile a little bit,

like what am 
I doing, mediation,

Sukhasana, what is yoga, 
why am I here?

And just come to 
this place of inner calm.

Heart's lifting, shoulder
blades are rotating

together and down.

Navel is drawing 
towards the spine.

And then if we want, 
we can draw the palms

together here, really
pressing the palms together.

We call this Anjali Mudra,
which we will get to

when we talk about 
mudras on another day.

But just as a little
reminder, I like to bring

my palms together here
in the prayer position

to lift my heart, or lift
my sternum, to my thumbs.

And then just notice if
you tend to lean foward

a little bit here, 
maybe you have a little

flexibility in the 
hips or if you feel

like there is a magnet 
drawing your navel

to the wall behind you.

And maybe just as 
a little bit of a guide,

in fact I will turn to
the side to show you this.

Maybe just as a guide
here, we can think about

rather than being here
or here, think about

finding a straight line
from the crown of the head

through the heart 
and then to the pelvis.

So, in general, I feel
like head over the heart,

heart over the pelvis,
is a sweet way to be.

And then if you notice yourself
like, chilling out here,

not being judgmental, like,
"Oh God my posture sucks,"

but just remembering, 
head over heart,

heart over pelvis
because it's the journey,

it's the practice, 
it's the art of noticing,

or the awareness 
that's gonna get us

to this place of ease.

So, then just being like,
"oh yeah, head over heart,

"heart over pelvis."

Finding that 
awareness in the body

and then coming into alignment.

We can sit here in Sukhasana

for at least five nice,
long, deep breaths.

I recommend 10 to 15.

And remember yoga was, 
or yoga asana rather was first

created so that the yogis
could sit in meditation pose,

this easy pose so they
could find ease here,

so they could sit in meditation
for long, long, long,

long, long extended 
periods of time.

So, arrive at your seat, 
find that ease

and if you get really
distracted, just come back

to the sound of the breath.

I like to think of this
pose as a check in.

Ok, so, that was Sukhasana
or the easy pose.

Thank you so much for
being with us here today

and for learning 
that basic posture.

If you have any 
questions or comments,

please leave them 
in the comment box

and I'll get back to you.

Subscribe to my channel
if you haven't already

and visit Yoga With Adriene 
for a lot more yogic goodies.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)