- Hello, everyone and welcome to Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is Benji and today we have a special sequence for teachers. So yoga for the teachers. We'll do yoga in a classroom. In fact, that's coming up. I'm super excited about it. But this one's for you, teachers. This is also really for anyone who wants to fill their cup and get a little nice flush of energy going in the body. I like to think of us all as teachers, actually. If you need to fill your cup, if you're a parent, or you have an influence on someone or something it might be a good idea to take care of yourself and this little ditty will be perfect for that. You're gonna need to hop into something comfy, of course, but you're also gonna need a pen or a pencil today. Let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, let's begin in a nice, comfortable seat today. Today's practice is all about filling your cup, taking good care of yourself and blanketing yourself in a warmth, a energy that feels really nurturing and good. As a teacher you take on so much responsibility and influence. I feel like today's practice, even though we're gonna do some good stuff with the body, is really about just taking some time for yourself. Come into a nice, comfortable seat. Just take the time for yourself. You don't have to have a lot of energy for this practice. You don't have to do anything really. Just allow this time to unfold. Sit up nice and tall and when you feel comfortable, see if you can close your eyes as you sit up really, really tall and begin to relax your shoulders. If you are in desperate need of this practice you might already start to feel a little, we'll call it warmth, but it could be emotion or just a sigh of relief. Tapping into that heart space a little because as I'm sure you know as a teacher it's impossible to not engage your heart space. You have to have that care, that awareness, that connect to really inspire and to share. Start to notice your breath. Again, you don't have to do anything fancy. We'll do another practice video with pranayama techniques. But today it's just nice, easy flow of breaths. Just start to notice your natural ebb and flow. Then as you're ready begin to take deeper breaths, but just as you're ready, as it feels good. Let it come from a real place. (exhaling) Take what you need. (inhaling) Then as you're ready continue to notice and deepen your breath, but let's bring the palms together right at the heart. Oh, I summoned Benji in with Anjali Mudra. As you bring the hands together, Anjali Mudra, really gonna focus on what this mudra feels like today because I feel like it's appropriate for this practice. Palms coming together right at your heart space. Use whatever is going on here, whether it's a soft palm to palm or a firm press, use that to lift your chest, your sternum up to your thumbs. Then tuck the chin slightly and just notice where your thoughts are going, your mind is going. I'm assuming that you're a very busy person, have a lot of stuff to do. So, again, just relax the skin of the face. Let your breath flow easily here. Choose to take this time for you so you can allow the mind to quiet a little bit and just focus on the sound of your breath. Just take a couple more breaths here to be quiet and still, feeling your hands together at your heart. Great. Then take a deep breath in. As you exhale, open the eyes slowly. (humming) And grab your pen or pencil. This is something that we're gonna start off with and then we're gonna move the body, but obviously you can do this at work, as well, in your little free moments. A lot of grading papers, a lot of hand stuff, just in general this idea of the hand being a symbol of something that lifts us up, that nurtures, that can protect, that can communicate. We're gonna attend to the hands a little bit here to start. You're gonna take your pen or pencil and you're gonna bring it right to the base of the palm here. (chuckling) This will be a little different for everyone. It will also depend on your utensil, your tool. You're just gonna roll it here. I like to kind of curl the fingers so that I can really get a nice strong base and get to the places that feel good. It might be a little bit on the wrist. For me it's here. This muscle is needing a little love. Then you can also take it here. Of course we know this. And then onto the other hand. Just take a couple moments to play here starting with the little hand massage, a little awareness in the hands. But also we won't let go of this length up through the spine and this lift in the heart that we've already established. Nice of Benji to join us. This is yoga for teachers but really we're all teachers, right? Anyone can practice this. I'm gonna post that, as well, so I hope that other folks are joining us, even Benji's a really great teacher. As we know our students are also really great teachers. This mentality is a great way to consider how we're all one which is a yogic principle. Just some food for thought. Alright. Let's wrap it up here. If you haven't done the full hand, give it a go. Then just notice if you've kind of started to collapse here so you can keep a lift even if the muscles of the lower back are starting to speak to you. See if you can draw the navel in and lift up. Start to activate those muscles so that you can sit up nice and tall at your desk or have a nice, good, long tall energy for your students and for yourself. Alright. Here we go. One more big breath in. Then take your tool and place it gently to the side. Alright, thriller arms. Fingertips down. You're gonna loop the shoulders, lift the heart even more and really press through the wrists here, stretching through the forearm. You can start to find soft, gentle movement in the head, the neck. (exhaling) Benji is super relaxed today. Then flip the script. If you want a little more you can take opposite hand to the fingertips, stretch. Keep lifting up through the heart. Again, we're trying to create a full body awareness here so not isolating the parts. Then big circles with the wrists. Awesome. Then drop the left hand at your side and inhale, sweep the right fingertips all the way up first. Create length here as if someone were pulling you up from your wrist. Then from there create space in the left shoulder, left ear, so we're not here, and then side body stretch. (exhaling) Feel that length, that stretch through the side body. Inhale. Then exhale, release. Right hand comes to the ground. Again, think up first. So reach, reach, reach. Then relax your right shoulder down, create space between the ears and the shoulders, and inhale and exhale. Big stretch. Find what feels good. Start to breathe a little differently. Maybe let the breath affect the way you explore this stretch. And let your stretch affect your breath. Alright, one more inhale. Big stretch. Then exhale, come back to center. Awesome. We're gonna come forward onto all fours. Take your time. Move with this, again, I'm calling it warmth, but this just idea that ah, this is my me time. Filling my cup, taking care of myself. We're not moving in a task mastering mode, but rather in a way that feels a little more caring and a way that feels good. Huh, imagine that. Tabletop position. (inhaling) Find a new breath here. (exhaling) We're actually gonna curl the toes under here today. You're gonna walk the hands just a little bit in front. We're usually stacking shoulders over wrists. You're gonna walk hands a little bit in front. The adjustments today, our toes are curled under and the hands are a little bit in front of the shoulders. Alright, here we go. Press into your toes and claw through your fingertips then carve a line with the nose and drop the belly, feel the skin of the belly stretch as you find this Cow variation here. Press away from your yoga mat. Then see if you can rotate your biceps towards the front. So we're not here, but we're opening up through the chest, the shoulders. Great. Then soften through the face. Your jaw unclenched. Take one more cycle of breath here. Opening up through the front body, through that throat chakra. Crown of the head lifting. Great. Then we're gonna go through a Cat Pose by starting at the tail, listen carefully, start at the tail and go really slow and articulate all the way up through the spine. Navel draws up. We hug the lower ribs up, start to feel a stretch in the shoulder, in the rotator, oh yeah, so good. Take it all the way back. Hips bone towards the heels. Feel that stretch through the fascia of the foot and then when you're ready, ah, melt the heart down to the earth. Maybe forehead comes to the mat. Maybe you close your eyes and take a couple of cycles of breath here. Sorry, I got into it. Just feel how the breath moves your body, the expansiveness in your torso, (exhaling) the connection of your fingerprints to the earth. Just starting to really drop in and relish this time for yourself. Then press into your foundation. All of your toes. Grounding down through the fingertips. Rise back up. You're gonna carve a line with the nose forward, up, and back and come right back into that Cow variation. Feel the blood flow here opposite direction. You should feel a little flush of energy. Inhale. Then exhale. Same thing, but just a little faster this time. Rolling all the way up through and sending the hips back. (exhaling) Inhale. Tugging the hands back, clawing through the fingertips. Use what you got here. Pressing in your foundation. Inhale, open the chest. (inhaling) Exhale. Start at the tail so the pelvis rotates, navel draws up. We round through the back body. Forehead to mat. Great, let's do one more. Inhale. (inhaling) And exhale. (exhaling) Awesome work. Inhale, come all the way back up. Walk the knees underneath the hips, wrists underneath the shoulders. You're gonna bump the hips to the left and turn to look past your right. Big inhale in here. Exhale, come through center. Bump the hips to the right. Turn to look past your left. Nice, inhale, come back to center. Exhale, curl the toes under and send the hips up high and back. Downward Facing Dog. Go nice and slow like you love yourself. Nice full body stretch here. Breathing deep. Pedal it out. Go ahead and go inward here. You put out a lot, so go inward. Close your eyes, turn the two big toes in. Breathe into your belly. (deep breathing) Then from here we're gonna cross one foot over the other to walk all the way up. You're gonna move nice and slow. You're gonna cross. Feel that big stretch. Crossing one foot in front of the other. Nice and slow. Getting into the hip. Nice and slow. Then all the way up eventually to the top of your mat. Forward Fold. Take a second here to shake the head loose. (exhaling) Soften through your fingertips. Really feel your weight distribute evenly through all four corners of the feet. (inhaling) Again, just allowing the blood to flow (exhaling) down. Fresh blood here. (deep breathing) Listen to the sound of your breath. (inhaling) Generous stretch in the lower back by bending the knees. (exhaling) Then as you're ready tuck the chin, press into your feet, and slowly roll it up. As you rise up stack head over heart, heart over pelvis. Notice how you feel. This might seem a little easy, right, or elementary, but I really want you to just close your eyes and just notice how you feel in your body, what feels tight, what feels a little congested. What part of your being needs a little nurturing today? Is it physical body, is it just your heart space? Using your breath. (deep breathing) Allowing your mind to be still. Or maybe you need to smile a little bit. Lift the corners of the mouth just a hair. Just take this time to check in. Then as you're ready keep the feet where they are but you'll just reach around, interlace fingertips behind your back, behind your tail. Then start to open up through the chest here and you're gonna draw the knuckles down towards the earth. You really get a big stretch through the pecs. Then you're gonna draw the knuckles down, soft bend in the knees, and slowly rotate to the right. You're not gonna crank this at all actually. Just slowly. Then try to move from your navel. Draw the navel back to center. Then draw the knuckles to the right. Then from your center, from your navel, all the way back. Awesome. Take one more cycle of breath here in and out. In. (inhaling) And out. (exhaling) Then we release and hands are gonna come to the heart. Great, here we go. Cross right ankle over the left. Inhale. Fingertips reach up towards the sky. Big stretch. Exhale. Tilt towards the right here. Press into your left heel. Inhale all the way up and exhale, hands come down through the midline as you Forward Fold. Three breath cycles here. In and out. In and out. Allow the weight of your head to relax over. Press into the ball joint of your big toes or find a place to ground down firmly through your feet. Awesome. Then press into the feet, draw your navel up towards the sky. Let the front body really hug into the back body here so there's connection in your center, basically. Then hands come back to heart as you rise up. Notice how you feel. Deep breath in. (inhaling) A long breath out. (exhaling) Awesome. Uncross. Left ankle crosses now over the right. Find that connection of your feet to the earth. Really lengthen tailbone down. Get your pelvis right underneath your center. Then when you're ready inhale. Reach up towards the sky. And exhale, bring the fingertips up and over to the left. Big stretch. Lengthen tailbone down. Pull the thumbs back. Awesome. Then inhale, rise up. Exhale, palms come down through the midline as you Forward Fold. Send some love, some breath through the lower back body, the hip. This little ditty is so great for really the whole body, let's not lie, full body experience, but for the psoas, the side body, the hips. Breathing deep. The lower back body. (humming) Three cycles of breath here. (deep breathing) Then we'll draw the hands to the heart and slowly come up from a place of connect pressing into the feet, hugging the glutes in, head over heart, heart over pelvis. Anjali Mudra. Notice how you feel. You should feel a nice flush here. Alright. Exhaling in unison again, Benji. Awesome. Uncross the legs. Now we're gonna take the feet super wide and we're gonna turn the two big toes in. Hands are still at the heart. Take your time. (inhaling) Alright. Prasarita. Here we go. Press into the outer edges of the feet and draw energy up through the arches. You're gonna lengthen the tailbone down and really, once again, find that lift of sternum or chest to the thumbs. Beautiful. Inhale, reach the fingertips towards the sky. Palms are gonna stay pressing together. Anjali Mudra or heart mudra. Then we're gonna inhale in and exhale over towards the left. Big side body stretch. Inhale, rise up to center over to the right. (exhaling) Inhale, rise up to center. Here we go. Palms come down the midline. Soft micro-bend in the knees. You find that beautiful rotation in the hip. Femur bone plugging in there. Beautiful. We come all the way down. Aw, Benji. Hands come to the earth. They can come in line with the arches, maybe the crown of the head comes down, maybe you stay on the fingertips, maybe you have something nearby, a block or a book, to bring the earth up to you. We're gonna be here for six cycles of breath. Feeling the blood flow opposite direction. You're staying plugged into your feet. Side bodies are long. (inhaling) Creating a full body experience. Lots of TLC here so breathe deep to infuse this action with some tender loving care. (deep breathing) Lots of awareness in the shoulders here. Drawing energy up through the kneecaps, toning the quads. Again, big toes are turned in slightly. We're pressing into the outer edges of the feet and drawing energy up through the arches of the feet. Then on your last cycle of breath here, wherever you are, maybe find a variation. Try and tap into a little creative energy whether it's opening the chest, maybe taking a twist. (deep breathing) Then here we go. Hands come to the heart. Big power pose. Excuse me, to the waistline, hands come to the waistline. My bad. Soft bend in the knees. Human moment there, sorry. Then you're gonna slowly rise up through that flat back position. Strong and steady. Connect to the length of the spine crown to tail. Here we go. Loop the shoulders, pull the elbows back, and come into your power pose. (deep breathing) Just feel it. The same way you would teach someone to feel their worth, to feel the love that they are worthy of and to trust that. Just take a second to bask in (deep breathing) that love, that worthiness. Strong legs, heart lifted. Then release the hands. Bring 'em back to the heart. Anjali Mudra. We're gonna heel, toe, heel, toe the feet all the way in. As you do this you can really get a little massage going in the feet. You can have some fun with it. Should feel really, really good. Awesome. Inhale, reach for the sky. Clap the palms together up and overhead. Ji namaste. Then exhale. Forward Fold all the way down. Bend the knees. Belly comes to the tops of the thighs. (deep breathing) Beautiful. You're gonna use the fingertips to walk forward. Lift the heels, bend the knees and slowly lower your center, your hips, your bum, all the way down. Stay here. If it feels good you can draw the nose in towards the center of your chest a bit. Stretching through the quads, the legs, the back. Lots of awareness in the shoulders and in the jaw. (deep breathing) Take a deep breath in. (inhaling) And a long breath out. (exhaling) Then just take a second to let your jaw really, really relax and your mouth open here and feel this great stretch through your Achilles and the calf, the upper back body. Awesome. Then activate your core here just to be mindful. Activate the core as you slowly tuck the chin and then come up. Feel this energy, this flush of energy. Then you can take the fingertips back or you can keep 'em forward, but definitely take what you need here to transition all the way to a seat. You're gonna bring the soles of the feet together. Baddha Konasana. Cobbler's Pose. When you get there, make sure you can sit up nice and tall. If you need to put something underneath your bum, then go for it. Then we're just gonna open the legs like a book here. Use your thumbs to give your feet some love. A little massage and the arches opening up. Then just check your thoughts here. If you're like, "Oh, I'm tired," or, "Oh, I can't get my legs down," that does really does not matter. This is about the experience and this is about the self care. Give yourself a massage. Really massage these arches really good, maybe the heels. Maybe you squeeze the toes. Sit up a little taller. (inhaling) and breath a little deeper. (exhaling) When you're ready you can either hold on to the ankles or hold on to the toes. Lift your heart the highest you've lifted it all day. Then slowly take it forward. You don't have to bring the nose to the toes unless that feels good. You can keep it nice and open here focusing on this. Or if it does feel right bend the elbows left to right. You can round through the spine. Close your eyes and breathe deep again knowing that you are loved and appreciated and the energy that you put out is so important. The energy that you put out is also the energy that, hopefully, I believe anyway, you'll receive back. Rooting down through your sits bones, through the tail, or what feels like that area of the body to you, whatever it's called doesn't matter, just down, down, down. So you're really rolling up from a place of connect. Root down and rise up through your spine. Awesome. We're gonna come onto our backs now nice and slow so bring the knees together. Keep a connection, a little thread of the breath going as you come onto your back. This is our last bit here. You're gonna hug one knee into the chest. You're gonna cross that ankle over the opposite thigh. A little figure four here, a little release. Feel your back supported on the earth. You take a lot of time to support others so use this time to really maybe say to yourself quietly, "I am supported." Thread the needle if you wish. Flex both feet and breathe deep as you squeeze the legs up towards your chest, keeping the shoulders relaxed. Maybe a little smile. Soft, easy movement and lots of big loving breaths. Inhale lots of love in. (inhaling) Exhale lots of love out. (exhaling) Inhale lots of love in. (inhaling) And exhale release and switch. (exhaling) Opposite side. Even it out. Notice now they're different. Smile, breathe. A little brightness or a little energy in the feet. (inhaling) Relax your shoulders. (exhaling) Feel supported by the earth. Your spine literally supported here. Maybe soft, easy movement. Rocking side to side I can feel some tension or some tightness in my left back body. (deep breathing) Side note, I wiped my mat down with a little ylang-ylang oil and it's so nice. Highly recommend. (deep breathing) Not sure if ylang-ylang is right for the yoga for teachers but maybe. A little self love, a little romance. Energy for the self. Okay, one more big breath in. (inhaling) Then use an exhale to release everything. Alright. Take any other movement here that feels good that's mindful and slow, safe, and steady. Otherwise we'll start to make our way to a nice Corpse Pose, Savasana, a place where we can surrender and just restore. Whether you came to this video looking for exercise or just some self care I hope that you benefit from just taking some time to slow down and balance out your energetic bodies, that you can have the energy you need to serve others and kick butt. Close your eyes. Relax your shoulders one last time here. Just, even if it's for 30 seconds to a minute, allow yourself to close your eyes and do absolutely nothing. A total surrender. Allow your body to experience what it feels like to do absolutely nothing. A complete calmness so that you can identify that and know that it exists when you need balance or you need to restore, refresh, fill your cup. A personal thank you from me to you for all that you do and all that I know you'll continue to do. We have to pave the way and take responsibility for the way we engage and I think for all teachers that's a really, really valuable and important role that you play in teaching that and sharing that. That how we move has everything to do with the outcome. Stay where you are or if you're ready to rock and roll or if you have to get up and go bring the hands together at the heart. From my heart to yours, namaste. (upbeat music)