- What's up everyone? 
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene and this is Benji.

And today we have 
a lovely practice

for the upper back body.

So hop it is something comfy.

Let's get started.

(bright music)

Alright friends, let's begin in
Extended Child's Pose.

Come on down to the ground.

Get your knees as 
wide as your mat

and nice and slow today

bring your fingertips to the
earth and you're going to walk,

walk, walk your 
hands all the way out.

Feeling that big stretch in the
inner hip, the groin.

I'm reaching towards Benji. 
Never let go.

And eventually I'm gonna melt
the heart down to the earth.

And I'm going to let you gauge
what it feels good based on

what's going on 
in your body today.

If this is too much, you can

just kind of stack 
the forearms here.

Create a little pillow for
yourself or sometimes I like to

say stacked the 
fists like bubble gum,

bubble gum in a dish.

Half the people 
will know what that is,

half the people won't.

And basically are just bringing

a lift so you can 
rest your forehead.

Now if you have a 
traditional yoga block,

you can use that as well.

Alright, and we've begun.

Extended Child's Pose,
your version.

If there are other variations or
modifications you need to start

with let's go ahead and start by
empowering ourselves to just go

ahead and do that.

And ultimately I'm wanting to

deepen the breath here and allow

a little bit of an 
opening in the hips.

Find some length 
in the low back,

the side body.

And as the heart 
begins to slowly

drop down towards the earth,

perhaps with, each exhale

we invite a soft opening

to the shoulders.

This is your chance to 
let go of the day thus far.

And politely put whatever
you have to do next on hold.

Any a To-Do list,
your ambitions,

your goals, gently put them on
the shelf and let's use this

time here wisely to

just tend to the body

and nurture.

I'm adding a gentle rock

on my forehead.

It's a bit of an 
allergy season here

so this can feel nice for the

nasal area.

This is just a good little
reminder that even though we're

working on upper back 
love today it's all one.

And both

our asana and the rest

of yogic philosophy 
teaches us that.

So that's the 
practice to remember.

Press into your 
toes down into the earth.

So create a full 
body experience even here

as you slowly begin to rise up.

Take a deep breath in.

As you exhale walk your hands
back underneath your shoulders.

Keep your knees wide.

Then nice and easy you're
going to drop the belly here,

open the chest and you're gonna
really work here to activate the

upper back body by drawing
the shoulder blades together.

And on an exhale, again,
keep the knees wide.

You're going to round through.

Tuck the chin into the chest
and really feel this stretch.

As you yield kind of find this

pressing away of the 
earth with your hands.

Good, inhale drop the belly,
open the chest.

Activate the upper back body

by drawing the shoulder 
blades actively together.

I'm widening my 
hands just a bit.

And then exhale, 
round it through,

exaggerate this stretch.

Really hollow through the chest.

And one more time.
Here we go, inhale.

And exhale, chin to chest.

Awesome.

Inhale come back to 
a nice straight spine.

You're gonna widen 
your hands now so that just

your thumbs are on the mat.

And then I'm gonna keep my right
hand pressing into the earth and

I'm gonna slowly take my 
left hand all the way up.

First to the shoulders,
you're just gonna

find this opening here.

Fingertips to the shoulder and
then if you want you can take it

all the way up to the sky.

Just depends on how you're
feeling in your body today.

So maybe you stay here or maybe
you reach it all the way up.

Reach, reach, reach, reach,
reach, reach, reach.

Breathing all the way.

And then once you find your
kind of full extension here,

see if you can 
create equidistance

between the ears 
and the shoulders.

So essentially you're just
noticing if you're collapsing in

your neck and you're 
working hard to create length.

This is hard work. 
You're doing great.

Take a deep breath in.

Good. Keep the 
legs where they are.

Keep the right hand where it is
and we're gonna slowly dip the

left fingertips down and then
they're gonna go in and under

the bridge of the right arm.

Oh yeah, and then you 
have this nice fulcrum here.

You can use your right hand with
your right elbow up to really

create a nice generous stretch.

That's option one.

Option two is to take the
right fingertips (giggles) and

actively reach them 
all the way forward

towards the top of your mat.
Super nice.

And then,

those are my two suggestions 
for the upper back body

but option three, still for 
the upper body but just a little

different, would be to bring the
right hand to the small of the

back, to your sacrum.

There is always 
option for a bind here.

So find a version here that feels
really good and then know that

you can always mix and match.

You're not married to one thing.

Then breathe deep.

Use your breath 
to find expansion,

to create more space.

And then use 
your exhale to soften

and create more connectivity.

Sweet, then when you're 
ready we'll slowly unravel.

Do it slow so you can 
really feel the sensations and

just kind of take 
advantage of the feeling

of the work that you're doing.

Then we're gonna 
reset it with the thumbs so

fingertips spill off, 
thumb come on to the mat.

And then establish this first so
press away from your yoga mat.

So we're not collapsing here,
and then from there,

slowly begin to open the chest,
bring your right fingertips to

your right shoulder.

Breathe deep 
here we're opening up

through the pecs, the chest.

Often we feel upper back pain
when these get really tight.

Want to try to even out both
front and the back body so that

we can get you feeling good.

Maybe we extend this with a
nice slow breath all the way up.

Right fingertips to the sky.

Spiraling the 
heart all the way up.

And then last but not least,
checking in with the neck.

Breathe deep here.
Keep pressing into your toes.

Awesome.

And then here we go.

Keep the left hand where it is,
right fingertips are gonna dip

down and come in and underneath
the bridge of the left arm.

And then we use the 
left hand on the earth

to really create 
an awesome stretch.

So you can bring 
your left elbow up.

We'll find nice 
full breath here.

Another option is to send
the left fingertips forward.

Really, really stretching.

Or left hand on lower back.

I'm loving this combo right now.

I'm feeling such a

generous stretch in my trap

which is such a crazy muscle.

Breathe deep.

Breathe in all 
four sides of the torso.

Take one more full cycle 
of breath in and out here.

And then slowly unravel.

Cool, so good.
Let's walk the knees in.

Let's get you off those knees.

We're gonna come through.

You're gonna bring 
the knees together.

You're gonna cross 
your ankles behind you.

We're gonna come through all the
way to a nice comfortable seat.

You're going to drag 
your hands behind you

here when you get settled.

Drag your hands behind you and
then with the fingertips lifted

or palms on the earth so this is
just gonna depend on truly the

anatomy of your arms and then
the tightness of your shoulders.

So no worries either way.

Fingertips lifted or grounded.

You're going to draw the 
shoulder blades together.

Get the legs really, 
really, really heavy.

Inhale in, slowly 
begin to lift the chest.

Exhale, send the 
chin up and throat back.

So, there's integrity here.

So we've gone and lifted 
the hips in other sessions.

There's integrity here kind of

keeping the 
hips nice and steady.

Drawing the 
shoulder blades together.

And then use your breath to feel
deeper stretch throughout the

chest line and the neck.

Chin up, throat back.

Gorgeous. Then we'll take one 
more cycle of breath here.

Let it be a nice big inhale.

Nice big exhale.

And then slowly peel up,

stretch through the 
hand while you're at it.

Come all the way up.

You're going to 
send your fingertips out,

Texas T, left to right.

And then on an 
exhale we're gonna

cross the right 
arm over the left.

Take your left 
hand to your right arm.

You're just going gonna use it
to kind of gently massage it all

the way over towards 
left side of your mat.

Fabulous, again, take 
it to the right shoulder.

And maybe one more time.

So the catch here is sitting
up nice and tall and lifting

through not just the front or
the back body and the side but

all four sides evenly.

You want to keep this kind of
column of your spine lifted.

And then you can work 
to actively drop your right

shoulder down 
here as you breathe.

And if you're noticing any
stress or tension in the neck,

just anytime you 
notice that, respond.

Awesome, slowly bring it back.

You can check it 
out here if you need to.

And then we'll send the 
fingertips left to right

once again, Texas T.

Alright, cross the 
left arm this time over.

Take your right hand 
to your left arm just

gently guide it over.

Creating length in 
the left upper back body.

Couple times here.

Let's do three times.

Navel is drawing 
in and up just a bit.

Spine's nice and tall.

Then you can just find a place
here that feels really good as

you work to again make 
sure you're not creating extra

tension in the 
neck and shoulders,

the jaw and then 
work to actively bring

this left shoulder down.

So there's a lot going on here.

More than meets the eye.

Okie doke, release that.

Shake it off.
Shake it out.

And we're gonna come 
through all fours now and

to a Downward Facing Dog.

Just like Benji but different.

So take your time 
getting there, oh,

today, take a wider 
stance in your hands for

your Downward Dog.

Really root down through
your index finger and thumb and

really get towards the outer
edges of your mat versus

kind of being narrow.

Give yourself a nice 
wide stance in the hands

and then work from there.

As always working 
from the ground up.

Upper arm bones rotate out and
when you're ready we'll send the

hips up high and back.

So definitely taking time to
bend the knees today so you can

get your heart 
melting towards the thighs.

Creating that space that we
all agreed we wanted today.

Peddle it out.

Keep the hands rooted.

Cool and then from 
here Downward Dog.

Find stillness.

We're gonna take a deep breath
in together here in stillness.

Here we go, big inhale in.

And on your exhale, go ahead and
breathe out through your mouth.

Inhale, fill up.

Exhale, bend your knees
breathe out through your mouth,

melt your heart 
towards your toes.

One more just like that.

Do it in your own time.
Listen to your breath.

Excellent, from there nice and
steady you're going to walk just

to the center of your mat.

Bend your knees, tuck your chin
and slowly roll up to standing.

And as you find a nice engaged

Mountain Pose here go ahead and

reach behind, lift your heart
up and you're going to interlace

the fingertips behind your tail.

So notice which thumb is on top
here and you're going to slowly,

slowly work to activate the
upper back body and drop the

chin just a little bit to 
lengthen through the neck.

So this is the first option.

If you have a couch or a chair
or a wall nearby you could also

look around and get creative or
you can save this for later and

you can also use the wall
here and we'll do both sides.

So if you're if you don't
have any piece of furniture,

architecture to play 
with go ahead and work here.

In time working to 
bring your palms together.

If you do have 
something you want to

get creative with and play

I'm going to walk 
over to the wall here

and start with my right side.

Finding that same 
active Mountain Pose.

So I'm lifting up through the
chest the heart and grounding

through the legs and 
then I'm going to use,

of course, the wall or my piece
of furniture to press into to

drop my shoulder blade into
socket and down and then find,

of course, this generous opening
in the chest and my right pec.

Breathing deep.

Awesome.

And then if you are working on
the right side with architecture

or furniture you can 
go ahead and release that.

And if you're here, interlace,

you can go ahead 
and release that.

Now if you're working 
sans architecture or prop

you're gonna interlace and just
bring the opposite thumb now in.

And then I'm going to take my
left hand now to the wall and

you can play as well.

And then just 
bring the yoga into it.

Don't forget your breath.
Don't forget your Mountain Pose.

Engage your feet.

So nice and active. Right?

And then when 
you find a good spot, enjoy.

Stay curious.

Dropping the shoulder 
blades down and in.

Feeling the heart lift.

Allowing the breath to 
really motivate the work here.

Whatever is going 
on in your body today.

Nice awareness of the neck,
maybe tucking the chin,

whenever you need.

Beautiful.

And then wherever you are,
take a deep breath in.

Use your exhale to 
gently cue your release and

then shake it 
out if you need to.

And we're gonna come to a

wide legged stance on your mat.

Okay, toes are gonna 
point in just slightly.

We're gonna find this 
upward current of energy

through the front body.

Downward current of 
energy through the back body.

So this is our last 
little ditty of the practice

so really just drop in.

Again, put your To-Do list on
hold and let's make the most of

this just kind of making sure
that we're taking advantage of

this awesome time that 
you've set out for yourself.

You're going to take your left
arm underneath your right here,

palms can come together or not.

Maybe you just hook pinky to
thumb or maybe you keep it at a

nice karate chop here.

Inhale, lift your elbows up.

This is important 
you want to find

the lift, lift, lift.

Exhale, slight bend in the
elbows connection to your core

as you round through this 
spine and slowly take it down

into a standing 
Wide-Legged Forward Fold.

Big move here.

Ground through the feet.

Soft bend in the knees.

As you slowly come up, make sure
you're not bringing any

pressure in the low back.

So gotta keep 
that core turned on.

Inhale to lift the elbows up.

Exhale, hug the low ribs in.

This time maybe 
taking more of a flat back.

Taking it all the way down.

And then strong foundation 
here, root to rise here,

as you lift all the way up.

Alright, now you're going 
to do one more on your own

moving with your breath.

Try to move nice and slow.

Lots of love for 
the upper back here.

Strong legs ground 
you as you rise up.

Great, to release go ahead and

send your 
fingertips up left to right.

You're going to 
create a big X.

We call a Star Pose 
with the kiddies.

Inhale in and then exhale to
release and you're gonna go

right into the other side.

So right arm comes 
underneath the left this time.

Find your bind or 
your grip or no bind.

No bind and then here we go.

Inhale, long belly.

You gotta get your energy
right so find that lift to the

front, that grounding through
the back so you can have your

support system as 
you lift the elbows up.

So legs are engaged.
Soft bend in the knees.

Feet are firmly planted all four
corners as I take it down now.

Breathing.

Slow and steady.

Excellent, and then root to
rise here feeling that opening.

Woo.

Inhale to lift the elbows up.

Feel that stretch all around the
shoulder girdle and then exhale

slow and with control so you
can really feel the sensation in

your upper back body.

Great, strong legs, 
strong core lifts you up.

One more time.
Take it away.

Moving to the 
sound of your own breath.

Then next time don't rush.

I'm just getting 
in case you're there,

the next time 
your elbows are lifted,

you're going to release.

Rebirth!

Take the fingertips out,
Star Pose.

If you're feeling brave you can

hop the feet 
together here playfully

or nice and slow 
we'll heel-toe, heel-toe.

Fancy yoga term.

Walk the feet 
together all the way

and zip up tight 
through thy legs.

Lift thine heart 
up towards the sky

and relax your shoulders down.

Cool.

Take a second here to 
just notice how you feel.

And as you sink back a 
little into your heels,

just kind of ground into a
moment of gratitude for you.

Yes, you for taking this time
for yourself to listen to your

body and tend 
to that good space.

Love you so much.

Let us know how your 
experience went in the

comment section down below.

Benji'd love to 
hear from you as well.

And if you know anyone who 
might benefit from this video,

please share it with them.

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With Adriene YouTube channel

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and our beautiful community.

Okay, take good care.
I'll see you next time.

Namaste.

(bright music)