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- Hello everyone, 
and welcome to

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Yoga With Adriene.
I am Adriene.

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Today we are going 
to learn Tree Pose,

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one of the most 
well known poses in the

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Western yoga world, 
meaning that it's taught a lot.

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So, this is a balancing posture,

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great for the legs, 
great for the entire body,

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and mind, and soul.

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Let's hop on the mat 
and learn Vrksasana, Tree Pose.

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(upbeat music)

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Okay, so we're going 
to begin standing tall.

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We'll bring our 
attention to the feet, and

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bring the feet flush together
here, so side-by-side.

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I'm gonna take a 
second to lift up my toes,

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and really spread my awareness

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through all four 
corners of the feet.

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So, the ball joint 
of the big toe,

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the ball joint of the pinky toe,

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and the back two 
corners of the heels.

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So I'm really 
spreading awareness

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and plugging down 
through the earth.

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And I'll soften the knees here,

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and just like I do 
in Tadasana, just kind of

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roll up through the 
spine and find that lift.

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So, I'm kind of 
drawing energy up through

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the arches of the feet,


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lifting and lengthening 
through the chest,

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up through the crown 
of the head, Tadasana,

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Mountain Pose, 
grounding through the back body.

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So I have my opposition here,
I'm not sinking

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into my bones, 
but I'm lifting and

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lengthening up, nice and tall.

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Blue Heeler, everybody.

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Okay, I'll draw the palms 
together at the heart.

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Okay, draw the palms 
together at the heart,

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Blue didn't want 
to do Tree Pose today,

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he's going to go 
do Savasana instead.

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Okay, from here, palms 
together at the heart,

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Anjali Mudra, again, I'm 
not just collapsing here,

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but, I'm taking this 
time for myself to really

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press into the palms, 
maybe lift the sternum up

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to the thumbs, and loop 
the shoulders a little bit

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forward, up, and back.

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Nice and tall.

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Now, I'm going to 
shift my weight over

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into my left foot.
Again, pressing

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through all four 
corners of the foot.

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I'll peel up 
through the right heel,

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nice and slow.
Especially for beginners,

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don't rush this, 
take your time,

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take your time.
Everyone, take your time.

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I'm gonna keep 
my pelvis tucked in,

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lengthening down 
through the back of my spine.

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So, I'll turn for 
a quick second here,

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'cause this is 
foundations of yoga,

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so we're especially 
taking our time here

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to just, kind of, show the basic
alignment and foundations here.

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So as I peel up 
into this, kind of, like,

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1950's, 60's girl group pose,

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my pelvis is going to 
want to tuck out here.

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My mic.

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And I want to keep 
it tucked in. Support.

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Head over heart, 
heart over pelvis.

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Okay? So I'm 
lifting up from the earth,

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I'm looping the 
shoulders to ground down

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through the back body,
tucking the pelvis,

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lengthening through the 
tailbone and lower back,

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and then, I may begin to,
slowly, lift my knee up.

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Hey-o.

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From here, 
I'll interlace the fingertips,

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and just take a 
couple breaths here.

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Just noticing 
what you have to do

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in that standing leg to balance.

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So for me it's 
shifting my weight

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back into my heels, 
kind of forward there,

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and then also, kind 
of finding that integrity

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through the center channel,
lifting Mula Bandha,

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up through the 
crown of the head.

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Then I'll slowly 
release back down

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and just notice what 
that was like, take stock.

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Palms back 
together at the heart.

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Take a deep breath in.

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And exhale 
lifting and lengthening.

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I'll slowly peel the 
left heel up. Check in.

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Taking my time, 
tucking the pelvis,

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lengthening through 
the lower back and tail,

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and slowly lift 
that left knee up, interlace.

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Bring it around,
and just check in.

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Now, you might 
not be stable here,

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so we'll talk about some 
variations in just a moment

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and I'll write more 
about it on the blog.

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But we can also practice this,
especially beginners

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next to a wall 
for a little support.

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So when we start 
to feel that balance,

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we press back up,

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and find that 
integrity through the center.

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Drawing the navel in 
towards the spine here, inhale.

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And cool, 
that was a nice check-in.

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Slowly lower down, palms back 
to the heart, Anjali Mudra.

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Each time I come here,
I lift my sternum up

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to the thumbs, and 
now going into Tree Pose.

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Peeling the heel up.

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Taking my time,

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and then from here 
I'm going to take my

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right hand, and 
open this knee out wide,

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so I'm really 
paying attention to the

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sensations in the hip, here,
and just noticing

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if I'm having to crank 
that leg out, or if it's

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opening nice and easy, 
just checking in, pressing

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into all four 
corners of the standing leg.

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I'm lifting up 
through the center channel.

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Now, a couple of 
options; full pose:

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I'll grab the ankle here,
and draw it in

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to the inner thigh here,
my left leg.

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Now the tendency is 
to press that right foot

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into the inner thigh,
because you're

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going to want to 
hold on for stability,

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so, I'm going to encourage us,
as an action point,

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to press back 
with that left thigh.

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So we have this 
opposition going all the time,

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this way that we 
talk about a lot in

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Foundations of Yoga, 
now I'm talking about

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it here, drawing 
everything into the center,

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letting the top of 
the right thigh draw

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out and away, so 
I'm softening here

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as I open up, 
tucking the pelvis.

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I'm going to 
turn to the side just

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to show you this alignment here.

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So the tendency is to come here,

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so I'm going to 
let this roll out by

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scooping the tail 
bone under and down,

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letting this roll out here,
drawing the navel

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in towards the spine,
and then maybe

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I come palms back to the heart.

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Now, a couple of modifications

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here, we're 
still on the right leg.

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If I cant, well I 
can bring leg all the way

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up here, and again,
as I said before,

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use the wall to just kind of

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bounce off here, 
so if I start to fall

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I can still practice 
building this strength

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and this integrity, 
from the crown of the head,

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to the tip of the 
tail, really, from the arch

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of the foot, drawing up,
so I'm plugging

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into the earth, but I'm 
also lifting up and out.

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If I'm here, I can 
come all the way arms up,

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I can come into a 
Mudra of my choice,

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maybe turn the 
pinkies in to open

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the shoulders so I'm not here,
and again,

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I have active 
body here so I'm really

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lifting and lengthening up,
pressing that

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left thigh in to meet 
the right sole of the foot.

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And a couple of modifications,
so

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I can bring the leg 
all the way up to here,

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I can also bring it here,
just kind of

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letting this soften 
and in time, you know,

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check in with my balance,
perhaps

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create more 
stability in the body.

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Or, I can even, if 
I'm not wanting to use

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the wall, or even 
if I do have the wall,

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I can keep my big 
toe on the earth here,

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slowly practicing 
the action points of

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tucking the pelvis in,
lifting through the

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front body, softening 
that right hip out and around,

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top of the thigh 
wrapping around here.

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So I have this option, 
I have this option, I have

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this option here using 
this thigh to press back.

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I do not 
recommend or I encourage you

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to steer clear of this option,
because that's

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my knee joint, yeah, so 
even though it's kind of

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a nice little 
place for the arch of

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my foot to stand, it's no good,

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it's too much 
pressure on the knee,

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and we want to be able 
to meet both body parts

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together to find 
that lift in the asana,

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so this is no good, 
don't use this thumbnail,

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nah, use here, here, or here.

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Ok, so after we've 
checked in on the right side,

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we'll release, 
same way we came up,

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back down, maybe take 
a nice deep breath in,

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reaching the fingertips up, and

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then exhale back to the heart.

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Let's check'er 
out on the other side,

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peeling up, now, 
through the left heel,

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and kind of finding 
my foundation and finding

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that lift from the earth 
before I even lift that leg.

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Also, I should 
have said this before,

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but using the focus here,
to help balance

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in the posture, 
so, you know, we're

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constantly like this,
here's a place where

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we get to 
practice this soft focus,

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maybe just past the 
nose here you can find

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a little spec of dirt 
or dust or something on the

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earth, the ground in 
front of you to focus on.

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We call this a Drishti, a focus,

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focus is important, 
and then from there,

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after I've anchored 
my eyes in my Drishti,

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with my Drishti rather,
I'll slowly

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begin to lift that left knee up.

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Checking in, 
spreading my awareness

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through all four 
corners of that right foot,

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and drawing up, so, 
when I'm sinking into this

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hip bone, ouch, it's 
harder to find stability.

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When I'm lifting up, 
very similar when we're

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on all fours, 
like during Cat-Cow,

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and we kind of press 
up and out of the earth

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rather than sinking 
in; same action point here.

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Really coming into the body,
lighting that

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fire, to find 
balance using those

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opposing forces 
to find that balance.

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Ok, from here, I'm 
going to open left knee out,

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and you decide; check in 
on the opposite side here.

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Sorry, I'm like, I 
feel like I'm talking,

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Tree Posing, doing 
this at the same time.

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So, drawing that left foot in,

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pressing back with 
the right inner thigh,

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head over heart, 
heart over pelvis here,

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tucking in the pelvis, to
find that lift, that length.

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And you can 
have the hands on the

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waistline, here, too,
you can have

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them do whatever you want,
right?

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Find your own expression,
I'm always

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encouraging that, one as a way

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for us to get into 
the poses and evolve,

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another as a way to, you know,
really find what feels good.

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Maybe my version of this pose is

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not the best version for you,
ok?

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Palms can come here, 
I can inhale, reach the

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fingertips up, 
sometimes I like to

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purposely tell my students and

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public classes to wave to,
kind of,

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throw themselves off 
balance so they can connect

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to that line, that 
center; kind of practice

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finding balance in 
the challenging moments.

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♫ Metaphor ♫

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Palms come together here,
and I just want to

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point out on this side as well,

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that we can bring the 
foot here below the knee,

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we can even bring 
the left toes here,

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and remember, 
every day is different,

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that's the beautiful thing about

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balancing posture 
is there's no hiding

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00:10:41,374 --> 00:10:44,177
in them, you have 
to be really truthfully

244
00:10:44,177 --> 00:10:47,447
yourself and in the moment, and

245
00:10:47,447 --> 00:10:50,550
they're always different, right?

246
00:10:50,550 --> 00:10:54,387
Can't pretend; 
you can also use the

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00:10:54,387 --> 00:10:57,490
wall for a 
little stability here.

248
00:10:57,490 --> 00:11:00,760
Coming back down 
the way we came up,

249
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pressing through all 
four corners of the feet,

250
00:11:02,629 --> 00:11:04,230
equal parts standing,
we'll talk about this

251
00:11:04,230 --> 00:11:05,999
another day, Samasthiti,
I think we might

252
00:11:05,999 --> 00:11:08,468
talk about it a little 
bit in the Tadasana video,

253
00:11:08,468 --> 00:11:10,036
and then just to close it off,
softening

254
00:11:10,036 --> 00:11:12,472
in the knees, inhale 
spread the palms, reach

255
00:11:12,472 --> 00:11:17,477
up, deep breath, and 
exhale back at the heart.

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00:11:20,580 --> 00:11:23,283
Ok, so that was Tree Pose,

257
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beautiful, balancing posture.

258
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As I mentioned before,
like one of

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00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:28,555
the beautiful things 
about balancing postures

260
00:11:28,555 --> 00:11:29,756
is that you can't 
really hide in them, you

261
00:11:29,756 --> 00:11:31,791
kind of have to meet 
them wherever you are today.

262
00:11:31,791 --> 00:11:33,793
So, made it where you are today,

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00:11:33,793 --> 00:11:35,495
no toxic thoughts, 
just see where you are,

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00:11:35,495 --> 00:11:36,763
use that wall if you need to,
let me know

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00:11:36,763 --> 00:11:40,133
how it goes, 
and, yeah, be sure to

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00:11:40,133 --> 00:11:42,035
like us on Facebook 
if you haven't already.

267
00:11:42,035 --> 00:11:43,336
Subscribe to the channel,
I was about

268
00:11:43,336 --> 00:11:45,905
to go into old man voice again,

269
00:11:45,905 --> 00:11:48,541
and, yeah, let 
me know how it goes.

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00:11:48,541 --> 00:11:51,544
Love you guys, Namaste.

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(light, upbeat music)