What's up everyone? Welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is Benji and today we have an awesome practice titled Yoga Belly. So hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Okay pals, let's begin on the ground. So come on down to a nice comfortable seat. Sit up nice and tall. Just take a second to land here in the moment. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your energy with me. And think about it, with so many people and pets around the world practicing in this very moment with you right now. So there's something there that I think is magical. Take it or leave it. You are not alone. Hopefully by now you've selected a comfortable seat. You can even do this first portion on the edge of a chair or the couch. We're gonna take a second to just land in this moment and tune into how we're feeling (singing) via the breath. So close your eyes. And if you're super brand new to yoga and closing your eyes seems weird or for whatever reason if closing your eyes is scary, no prob. Just send your gaze gently down past your nose and I am so honored to be your guide today and I'm excited to get to do so and I'm gonna guide you with the sound of my voice here in the beginning so you do not need to look at the video. Besides Benji's not here today so there's no reason to look at the video anyway. Just kidding. Okay. So when you're ready, take a deep breath in. Nothing fancy, just a big inhale. And to follow, nothing fancy, just a long exhalation. Whoa, that's it. Big inhale. And long exhale. And any little movement or gesture that wants to come out here, relaxing the shoulders, opening the jaw, relaxing the tongue in the base of the mouth. Maybe you do close your eyes or soften your gaze. Let it happen and let your breath inspire that conversation. So ultimately we're just taking a second to slow down. Notice the breath. And gently, ever so lovingly, begin to slip into this role of the observer. And that's where I'd like to invite you to be for today's special Yoga Belly practice. Because our relationship to our belly, in my opinion, needs a lot of love. It need some work. And it's gonna take us being brave enough, bold enough, kind enough to slip back into the role of the observer. And notice our thoughts and notice how our thoughts and words make us feel. And just pay better attention to our relationship with our belly and our relationship with ourselves. And for me yoga is just a bomb tool (laughs) for all of that. So hopefully by now you've taken at least a couple good cycles of breath. And I just want to highlight the word cycle because every breath rendition will be different and your job is to keep returning to the mix. Continue to gently deepen your breath and let's bring one hand to the heart and one hand to the belly. Drop your chin. As we prepare to begin pranayama technique called diaphragmatic breathing or as I like to call it, "Belly Breath." So we're breathing downward this idea of directional breathing instead of breathing up with the inhale we focus our attention and send the breath, the awareness downward as we inhale. And then right at the base of the spine which is like an amazing place to just put your attention when you need grounding it's awesome you do a little somersault and allow the breath to come up and out of the nose or mouth on the exhale. So the inhale drops down and we fill the diaphragm or this visual of filling the belly with air happens. And then on the exhale, it's a slow reversal. All the way up and out. So before I guide you through a little breath ratio just start to play with that on your own. And if the hand is on your chest or your heart is moving up and down. That's kind of a good little just thing to pay attention to. A good, I was gonna say trick but let's not say that. Let's be better than that. It's a good little thing to pay attention to. To just notice is that breath traveling down into the belly. Am I breathing into my diaphragm? Or is it still pretty high up? And if it is high up and you are moving, great. Gotta start somewhere. Maybe returning to a soft gaze here or closing the eyes so you can really feel your way through this practice. Feel that breath. Feeling the belly expand almost like a balloon being inflated as you breathe in. And then imagining a slow softening of the belly, navel drawing in towards your spine as you breathe out. And each time you breathe into your belly really hold your belly with love and breathe love down into your belly. We say it often on this channel, inhale lots of love in. And exhale lots of love out. And try not to worry too much about the outcome or like your review of this practice or your experience, just try to be in the moment and give yourself a little bit of a fighting chance to find something new. In particular when it comes to your relationship to this beautiful part of your body that often gets shunned, hidden, sucked in, hater-ade. And then we're gonna do a little breath ratio here to just explore the belly breath a little more and then we'll do some poses to explore that breath within. So we're gonna inhale on a four count, inhale one, two, three, four belly gets big beautiful belly and then on the exhale we're gonna breathe out for six. So six, five, four, three, two, one, navel draws in and there's a little bit of stimulation there in the core and the abdominal wall drawing in. So it's inhale for four, exhale for six. Let's take one full breath in here for nothing. Inhale. And exhale. And then slow controlled breath, here we go, inhale for one. Two. Three, four. Belly is expanding. Exhale for six, five, four. Three, two, one. Good. Awesome job. Let's go again. Inhale for one. Two. Three. Full belly. And exhale for six. Five. Four. Three. Draw it in on the one. Inhale for one. Two. Three. Full breath. Four. And slow exhale for six, five, four. Three, two, one. Relax your shoulders, breathe in for one. Two, full breath, three, four. Exhale for six with control. Five, four, three, two, one. Inhale one, two, three, four. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale one, two, three, four. Shoulder's relaxed. Five, four, three, two, one. Inhale one, two, three, four. Exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale one, two, three, four. Six, five, four, three, two, one. Inhale one, two, three, four. Last exhale six, five, four, three, two, one. Let your breath return to a natural ebb and flow. Let your hands slowly lift up, float up soft and easy towards the sky. Take a big stretch in. Wiggle the fingertips. Big stretch up high. Wiggle the fingertips. And then on an exhale, nice, easy twist to one side, any side. Just nice and easy. Now breathe into your belly here. Find that belly breath. Inhale lots of love in. Lengthen through the crown of the head. And then exhale, contract. Draw the navel in towards the spine. Inhale, breathing into the belly. Expansion, expansion, expansion. Exhale, contraction. Navel draws in. Great, slowly release. Bring the fingertips up. Wiggle them. Float it up so basically find ease, right? Dropping the rigidity here today. And then slowly taking the twist to the other side and finding your belly. Breathe into your sweet belly. Feel the expansion as you inhale. Shoulders nice and relaxed, not moving on that inhale. And then on the exhale, what happens after expansion? What's the natural thing that happens? Contraction, so we contract. Engaging. So good for the internal organs as well to move and breathe in this way on the mat but also off the map as well. Alright, take one more big belly breath in here. And exhale draw the navel in towards his spine. Slowly release. We're gonna come to all fours. Right into Cat-Cow. You know what to do here. Place your hands and feet with care. Stack the bones. And when you're ready, inhale to drop the belly, open the chest forward. Hang out there for a second. Maybe rock the hips a little side to side. Expansion and then what happens after that? Contraction, we flip the script. We round through. We engage the muscles of the core. We connect the core to the whole body. Understanding or welcoming this understanding that it's all one beautiful moving part. Cool, inhale, drop the belly. Exhale, round through the spine and then if you are not already which most of you are, I'm sure, just start to take it away. Find a little rhythm here that feels good moving the spine. Little daily movement of the spine and your regular diaphragmatic loving belly breaths, ooh, that'll change your game. Awesome. Then bring your spine back to a nice neutral position and nice and easy we're gonna drop the hands, excuse me, the elbows exactly where the hands were and you're gonna walk the knees out for Puppy Posture. The ultimate long puppy belly here as you slowly peel your hip creases. Imagine them lifting up towards the ceiling. Heart goes down, belly gets long. Forehead may or may not come towards the earth. And we find our big belly breath here. Now on this one since we have a back bend going see if you can think about the breath going into all four sides of your torso. So a big lateral breath so it's a nice wide breath. Whatever that means to you. Awesome work. Then keep pressing into the tops the feet here, start to hug your lower ribs in. Draw your low belly in towards your mid belly up towards your upper abdominals as you slowly slide in. So you're finding this containment in the abdominal wall as you slowly slide through to a Sphinx Pose. Open the chest. Inhale in. Expansion, breathe in all four sides of the torso. Check it out, exhale, curl the toes under. Contract, hung the low ribs in start to build strength in the abdominal wall as you breathe deep here reaching the heels back. Forearm Plank. Breathing deep, you got this. Pressing away from your yoga mat. Lifting your heart up between your shoulder blades. Bringing a fire to your belly for five, four. Keep going. Three. You're doing awesome. Slow descend of the knees down to the earth on the one. Great, slowly lift back up onto your hands. Nice neutral spine here. Inhale in. Exhale, slowly walk the hands towards the knees and then all the way up to tops of the thighs. So now you're on your knees and on your shins and the toes are not coming in or going out but they're nice and in line with your knees. So you have a strong base here. Great, take your sits bones. (chuckles) Screenshot. No, no do it. Oh great. Take your sits bones down towards the backs of your knees so you feel this connection in your abdominal wall. So we're going from here to here. I'm going to think about taking my hip points now up towards the sky to just, again, engage my core in a really mindful way. Excellent. Then I'm gonna inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up towards the sky. Thumbs back, pinkies forward. As you exhale just try to create more stability in your center lengthening sits bones down. Taking hip points up high. Hugging the low ribs in. Then inhale in here. Exhale, you're gonna keep the right arm reaching up towards the sky but you're gonna take your left hand and bring it just to your waistline here. Then keep pressing into your feet. Maybe take the hit points a little bit forward. Feel that stretch in the belly. Pull the right thumb back. A little Half Camel or a Camel modification, modified Camel. Anyway, inhale in. Exhale connect to your center, to your belly. Draw it together to come all the way back up. Left hand goes up, inhale. Exhale, right hand comes down. Take your right thumb right to the waistline here. Use that for a little support system and then peeling crown of the head back, hip points forward. Breathing deep here. Strong base feel that stretch. Inhale in. Exhale connect to center to come back. Reach both arms up, big inhale again. Up here and then exhale to rain it all the way down, all the way down. Come to all fours. Nice. Inhale in. Exhale, curl the toes under. Send the hips up and back, Downward Facing Dog. Pedal it out here, just stretch through the legs. Take a nice wide base in the hands. And then start to breathe into your belly here, something fierce. A fierce love for your body, for your breath, for this time that you've carved out for yourself and for the relationship between all of those things. Lots of gratitude. Alright, keep that belly breath going. And we'll slowly begin to walk the feet. Slowly, slowly, slowly towards the center of the mat. Hands walk in to meet the toes. Bend your knees as generously as you need here. And feel that amazing release of the low back. Ground through all four corners of the feet. Shake the head a little yes, a little no. And really feel that connection of foot to earth. And notice what that can do for you if you really feel and connect with that action versus just kind of taking orders from a yoga teacher. So find a little depth. Keep observing what all is here. Be shifting the weight a little front, a little back. Cool and then when you're ready, breathe into your belly, find expansion and feel that pressure into the tops of your legs as you breathe so much love in to your belly. And then exhale, use that to draw the navel in and tuck the chin and slowly roll up to standing. Coming into Mountain Pose, Tadasana. Finding that gentle lift in the heart. Relax your shoulders and just find this upward current of energy through the front body as you breathe that directional breath down, down, down. Feel the belly expand as you breathe in. And soften and gently retract as you breathe out. Draw the shoulder blades together here, so activate the upper back body. And just notice where you might be holding or gripping in the toes, the belly, the shoulders. Then on your next big inhale reach all the way up fingertips spread, reach for the sky. And then exhale, you're gonna bend the elbows, wiggle the fingertips and interlace the fingertips behind the tail. Big opening here to exaggerate this upward current of energy lifting through the front body to exaggerate this lift through the heart. And exaggerate this activation of the upper back body. Inhale in here. Exhale, bend your knees generously. Send your hips back, way back and slowly melt your belly towards your thighs. Knuckles reach up towards the ceiling here. Breathe into your belly and feel that connection of belly on the top of the thigh. Forward Fold, eventually crown of the head reaches towards the earth. Inhale in. Exhale slowly bring it back up ground through the feet. Feel the legs get strong as you release. Release the fingers. Inhale, reach for the sky. Exhale, bend the elbows, spread the fingers. Interlace, this time opposite thumb on top. The weird one, the one that feels a little funky. Find that lift, that connection. Breathe in. Exhale, send the hips back. Bum back, bend your knees. Try to keep your knees over your ankles this time as you activate more muscles in the legs and around the hips and slowly come in towards your Forward Fold. Strong legs. Now use this connection of belly to thigh to breathe into that area of the body. Think lots of love in as you breathe in. And think lots of love out as you breathe out. Great, strong legs again. Slow and steady. Dig into the heels. Engage the quads, the glutes get strong as we slowly rise up. Break free and this time hands come to heart, Anjuli Mudra. Inhale in here. Exhale, bend the knees. Try to keep the sternum lifting towards the thumbs as you said the hips back. So strong legs again. So we're pressing into all four corners of the feet here. Feet are hip width apart. Nice and easy. You can lift the toes to really find that connection of foot to earth. Great, then how's your belly? Breath into your belly. Hug the lower ribs in. See if you can take your tailbone, your sits bones just like we did before, down towards the heels to engage find this connection in the belly. Excellent, inhale in here. Exhale, twist. You're gonna take your right elbow towards the outer edge of your left thigh. And if the elbow doesn't make it you can just use your right hand and maybe take the left hand up towards the sky. So we're going for a twist here. Beautiful, breathe into your belly here, inhale. And exhale to slowly release come back to center. Can give the legs a break if you need to. And then when you're ready let's take it to the other side. So big twist, strong legs, send the hips back. Left elbow to the outer edge of the right leg. Or you can modify. Breathing into your belly in this deep twist. You got it. Inhale in. Lengthen through the crown. And then exhale to slowly release. Awesome work. Hands stay together, slowly shift your weight to your left, excuse me, your right leg. Slowly peel your left heel up. Inhale. Exhale, connect to your center. Muscles of the belly, abdominal wall connect as you lift your left knee up high. Beautiful, rotate left ankle one way and then the other. Standing One-Legged Tadasana. Holding onto your center. Then taking the left hand to the left ankle, you're gonna bring your left knee in. Big quad stretch here. Inhale. Exhale. Slow and steady, heart goes forward. You might flip your left hand to the left arch and we start to kick the left foot back for a Dancer Pose. Maybe the right fingertips come forward. Long belly here. We grow the posture with the breath so inhale to find expansion. And exhale, find support through that contraction. Keep the shoulders relaxed. Put it all together here. Inhale to your full capacity. And then exhale to slowly bring everything back. Back to feet hip width apart. Back to palms together and shift it to the other side. Left foot grounds down. Inhale, peel the right heel. This is it. This is the last bit of our practice so stay focused and stick with your breath. Lifting the right knee up, connecting to the lower belly here. Standing up nice and tall. Don't rush it. Find this One-Legged Tadasana. Engage the muscles of the low belly. Breathe deep. And when you're ready maybe taking the right hand to the right ankle. Squeezing that right knee to center. Big stretch in the quad. And then soft bend in the standing leg as you begin to grow your practice with the breath. Maybe taking your right hand to the right arch of the foot. Maybe slowly easing the left hand forward creating balance. Playing with your breath. Using the inhale to expand. Grow the posture and exhale to create more stability. More connection. Soften the skin of the face. Welcome that heat. Press up and out of that standing leg. Take one more big breath in. And then exhale to slowly guide it all the way back. Feet hip width apart, palms together. Inhale in. And exhale out, relax the shoulders. Let your left hand come to your heart. Drop your right hand to your belly. If the feet are not hip width apart, go ahead and walk them hip width apart. Right underneath the hips or the shoulders so nice strong stance. Close your eyes. Gently bow your head just a slight reverent bow. Then notice how you feel. Congratulations. You got that yoga belly. Continue this exploration. And this willingness to reside in the role of the observer off the mat. Take it off the mat and into your everyday. More love. More awareness. One final deep belly breath, inhale. And exhale. Namaste. (upbeat music)