- Hello everyone, 
and welcome to

Yoga With Adriene.
I am Adriene.

Today we are going 
to learn Tree Pose,

one of the most 
well known poses in the

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

So, this is a balancing posture,

great for the legs, 
great for the entire body,

and mind, and soul.

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

(upbeat music)

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

We'll bring our 
attention to the feet, and

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

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

and really spread my awareness

through all four 
corners of the feet.

So, the ball joint 
of the big toe,

the ball joint of the pinky toe,

and the back two 
corners of the heels.

So I'm really 
spreading awareness

and plugging down 
through the earth.

And I'll soften the knees here,

and just like I do 
in Tadasana, just kind of

roll up through the 
spine and find that lift.

So, I'm kind of 
drawing energy up through

the arches of the feet,

lifting and lengthening 
through the chest,

up through the crown 
of the head, Tadasana,

Mountain Pose, 
grounding through the back body.

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

into my bones, 
but I'm lifting and

lengthening up, nice and tall.

Blue Heeler, everybody.

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

Okay, draw the palms 
together at the heart,

Blue didn't want 
to do Tree Pose today,

he's going to go 
do Savasana instead.

Okay, from here, palms 
together at the heart,

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

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

press into the palms, 
maybe lift the sternum up

to the thumbs, and loop 
the shoulders a little bit

forward, up, and back.

Nice and tall.

Now, I'm going to 
shift my weight over

into my left foot.
Again, pressing

through all four 
corners of the foot.

I'll peel up 
through the right heel,

nice and slow.
Especially for beginners,

don't rush this, 
take your time,

take your time.
Everyone, take your time.

I'm gonna keep 
my pelvis tucked in,

lengthening down 
through the back of my spine.

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

'cause this is 
foundations of yoga,

so we're especially 
taking our time here

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

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

1950's, 60's girl group pose,

my pelvis is going to 
want to tuck out here.

My mic.

And I want to keep 
it tucked in. Support.

Head over heart, 
heart over pelvis.

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

I'm looping the 
shoulders to ground down

through the back body,
tucking the pelvis,

lengthening through the 
tailbone and lower back,

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

Hey-o.

From here, 
I'll interlace the fingertips,

and just take a 
couple breaths here.

Just noticing 
what you have to do

in that standing leg to balance.

So for me it's 
shifting my weight

back into my heels, 
kind of forward there,

and then also, kind 
of finding that integrity

through the center channel,
lifting Mula Bandha,

up through the 
crown of the head.

Then I'll slowly 
release back down

and just notice what 
that was like, take stock.

Palms back 
together at the heart.

Take a deep breath in.

And exhale 
lifting and lengthening.

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

Taking my time, 
tucking the pelvis,

lengthening through 
the lower back and tail,

and slowly lift 
that left knee up, interlace.

Bring it around,
and just check in.

Now, you might 
not be stable here,

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

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

But we can also practice this,
especially beginners

next to a wall 
for a little support.

So when we start 
to feel that balance,

we press back up,

and find that 
integrity through the center.

Drawing the navel in 
towards the spine here, inhale.

And cool, 
that was a nice check-in.

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

Each time I come here,
I lift my sternum up

to the thumbs, and 
now going into Tree Pose.

Peeling the heel up.

Taking my time,

and then from here 
I'm going to take my

right hand, and 
open this knee out wide,

so I'm really 
paying attention to the

sensations in the hip, here,
and just noticing

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

opening nice and easy, 
just checking in, pressing

into all four 
corners of the standing leg.

I'm lifting up 
through the center channel.

Now, a couple of 
options; full pose:

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

to the inner thigh here,
my left leg.

Now the tendency is 
to press that right foot

into the inner thigh,
because you're

going to want to 
hold on for stability,

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

to press back 
with that left thigh.

So we have this 
opposition going all the time,

this way that we 
talk about a lot in

Foundations of Yoga, 
now I'm talking about

it here, drawing 
everything into the center,

letting the top of 
the right thigh draw

out and away, so 
I'm softening here

as I open up, 
tucking the pelvis.

I'm going to 
turn to the side just

to show you this alignment here.

So the tendency is to come here,

so I'm going to 
let this roll out by

scooping the tail 
bone under and down,

letting this roll out here,
drawing the navel

in towards the spine,
and then maybe

I come palms back to the heart.

Now, a couple of modifications

here, we're 
still on the right leg.

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

up here, and again,
as I said before,

use the wall to just kind of

bounce off here, 
so if I start to fall

I can still practice 
building this strength

and this integrity, 
from the crown of the head,

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

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

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

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

I can come into a 
Mudra of my choice,

maybe turn the 
pinkies in to open

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

I have active 
body here so I'm really

lifting and lengthening up,
pressing that

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

And a couple of modifications,
so

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

I can also bring it here,
just kind of

letting this soften 
and in time, you know,

check in with my balance,
perhaps

create more 
stability in the body.

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

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

I can keep my big 
toe on the earth here,

slowly practicing 
the action points of

tucking the pelvis in,
lifting through the

front body, softening 
that right hip out and around,

top of the thigh 
wrapping around here.

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

this option here using 
this thigh to press back.

I do not 
recommend or I encourage you

to steer clear of this option,
because that's

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

a nice little 
place for the arch of

my foot to stand, it's no good,

it's too much 
pressure on the knee,

and we want to be able 
to meet both body parts

together to find 
that lift in the asana,

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

nah, use here, here, or here.

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

we'll release, 
same way we came up,

back down, maybe take 
a nice deep breath in,

reaching the fingertips up, and

then exhale back to the heart.

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

peeling up, now, 
through the left heel,

and kind of finding 
my foundation and finding

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

Also, I should 
have said this before,

but using the focus here,
to help balance

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

constantly like this,
here's a place where

we get to 
practice this soft focus,

maybe just past the 
nose here you can find

a little spec of dirt 
or dust or something on the

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

We call this a Drishti, a focus,

focus is important, 
and then from there,

after I've anchored 
my eyes in my Drishti,

with my Drishti rather,
I'll slowly

begin to lift that left knee up.

Checking in, 
spreading my awareness

through all four 
corners of that right foot,

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

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

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

on all fours, 
like during Cat-Cow,

and we kind of press 
up and out of the earth

rather than sinking 
in; same action point here.

Really coming into the body,
lighting that

fire, to find 
balance using those

opposing forces 
to find that balance.

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

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

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

Tree Posing, doing 
this at the same time.

So, drawing that left foot in,

pressing back with 
the right inner thigh,

head over heart, 
heart over pelvis here,

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

And you can 
have the hands on the

waistline, here, too,
you can have

them do whatever you want,
right?

Find your own expression,
I'm always

encouraging that, one as a way

for us to get into 
the poses and evolve,

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

Maybe my version of this pose is

not the best version for you,
ok?

Palms can come here, 
I can inhale, reach the

fingertips up, 
sometimes I like to

purposely tell my students and

public classes to wave to,
kind of,

throw themselves off 
balance so they can connect

to that line, that 
center; kind of practice

finding balance in 
the challenging moments.

♫ Metaphor ♫

Palms come together here,
and I just want to

point out on this side as well,

that we can bring the 
foot here below the knee,

we can even bring 
the left toes here,

and remember, 
every day is different,

that's the beautiful thing about

balancing posture 
is there's no hiding

in them, you have 
to be really truthfully

yourself and in the moment, and

they're always different, right?

Can't pretend; 
you can also use the

wall for a 
little stability here.

Coming back down 
the way we came up,

pressing through all 
four corners of the feet,

equal parts standing,
we'll talk about this

another day, Samasthiti,
I think we might

talk about it a little 
bit in the Tadasana video,

and then just to close it off,
softening

in the knees, inhale 
spread the palms, reach

up, deep breath, and 
exhale back at the heart.

Ok, so that was Tree Pose,

beautiful, balancing posture.

As I mentioned before,
like one of

the beautiful things 
about balancing postures

is that you can't 
really hide in them, you

kind of have to meet 
them wherever you are today.

So, made it where you are today,

no toxic thoughts, 
just see where you are,

use that wall if you need to,
let me know

how it goes, 
and, yeah, be sure to

like us on Facebook 
if you haven't already.

Subscribe to the channel,
I was about

to go into old man voice again,

and, yeah, let 
me know how it goes.

Love you guys, Namaste.

(light, upbeat music)