- What's up, party people? Welcome to Yoga with Adriene, I'm Adriene, and today we have a big request. This is yoga for service industry folks. So I have a lot of friends who are on their feet all day, whether you work as a waiter or waitress or you work in a salon or I could think of literally a million other jobs where you're on your feet all day, and you need a little bit of a practice to decompress and stretch tired, sore muscles that are probably overworked. So you deserve this time for yourself, hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright my friends, so let's begin standing. We're gonna do a little bit of work on our feet and then get you off those feet and stretch the legs with the support of the earth. So just bring your hands to your waistline here and bring the feet hip width apart. And just take a little moment to tap into a little inner smile, whatever that means to you, because you are awesome, you're a total bad ass, we're taking this time to counterbalance all the time you spend on your feet and all the hard work you've done and put in a little you time, a little TLC. So hats off to you, awesome, tap into a little inner smile here, it helps you kind of transition from the work day, you know, anyway, so. Shift your weight to one foot, doesn't matter which foot, and then just take the opposite toes and bring them to the mat and start to stretch through the front of the foot. And just to make sure we're not collapsing into the standing foot, just lift up through your chest a little bit. And then walk it back just a little bit, take it back so you're really stretching even more and maybe even you're able to straighten that leg. Ooh, and pop your toes, ooh! Take one more breath. Awesome, then whatever foot that you're on, stay on it, and just take the opposite heel forward, bend the standing leg, and we're just gonna come to a little forward fold here, but you're really tugging back on that front heel. Awesome, just a little counter there, and then release and switch. So toes come down, opposite toes come down, we stretch through the toes, maybe pop your toes here, through the front of the foot, and then last but not least try to find a lift up through the heart. Yeah, awesome. Then maybe, this will be individual of course, but maybe walk it back, find a little deeper stretch, maybe even straightening that leg. So you're feeling it all the way through the front of the hip crease. Awesome, and then release. Dig that heel into the ground, bend the standing leg and take it forward. So really tug back through that heel here, just a little counter, stretching through the back. And then release, awesome. Bring the feet back to hip width apart, we inhale in, and exhale, fold. Forward fold. Bend your knees generously, so you're really gonna want to bend the knees so you can get a nice stretch in the lower back. Keep the feet firmly planted, and begin to let the stress and any tension spill off the back body here, any weight you've been carrying. Again, bend your knees generously so we can really get some lower back love here. Stretching through the hamstrings. Maybe grabbing the elbows, opposite elbows, and rocking side to side. Shake the head loose. And then release. Tuck the chin into the chest, roll it up, nice and slow. Awesome, and then we'll come back to standing. Take a cleansing breath here, so big inhale in through the nose, and exhale, let it go. Awesome, take the feet super wide now, this is the last standing pose before we bring it to the ground, so take the feet super wide and turn the toes in slightly, so you're really feeling this stretch by pressing into the outer edge of the foot. So you should be feeling sensation in the outer edge of the foot. Then bring the hands back to the waistline, find that lift in the heart. And so standing wide leg in forward fold, you can't always do everywhere, I understand, so you can do the forward fold, but this is a good one to do daily if you can. So therapeutic and really nice for preventative care. So inhale, lift your heart, exhale, inner thighs spiral back as you send the hips back and we slowly come down. Again, big toes are turned in, fingertips come to the ground here, and if you're really tight, go ahead and bend the knees generously and breathe here, finding soft, easy movement. If you're able to take it down a little more you will, maybe bringing the head down to hang, maybe it can touch, maybe that's something for another day. Or maybe you take a twist, right fingertips up towards the sky, and then left fingertips up towards the sky. Soft, easy movement. See if you can deepen your breath a little bit here, just to start to release any stress, tension in the body. Take one more breath wherever you are here, standing wide legged forward fold. And then exhale, release. Bend the knees, bring the hands to the waistline, inhale and again flat back, and exhale to come all the way up. Whoa, feel the blood flow, opposite direction. And then nice and slow, so find articulation in the feet here, you can even use this motion to really massage and dig into the ball joint of the big toe and dig into the heel. Walk your feet all the way back to hip width apart. Big cleansing breath here. Inhale in. Exhale, let it go, let go of the day thus far, let it go. Awesome, now we're gonna come to a seat. Alright, so once you get down on the ground, you don't even need a yoga mat, just get down low, come into a nice comfortable seat. This could be cross legged, kneeling, you can even sit in a chair for this next piece. And sit up nice and tall and once again, a cleansing breath, just kind of washing away the day thus far, inhale in and exhale out through the mouth. Then working into the neck and shoulders here, so drop the chin to the chest, wherever you are, and then slowly we're gonna draw a U with the nose, back and forth. So you'll go to one side and then the other. Big U or big smiley face. Or a big semicircle. And once you feel like you have it down, go ahead and close your eyes, gonna help really start to relieve any stagnant energy and stress that you're holding onto. I know that sounds like a load of crap too, but I do believe that it's true, when you close your eyes you're just kind of signalling the brain body connect to go inward and to relax. Great, even it out, and then come back to center. Lift your head, lift your chin, and then send your fingertips forward and then fingertips down. Plug your shoulders in, lift up through your sternum, and then feel that strong stretch through the forearm. If you need a little more, just do one hand at a time and give yourself a little forearm massage here, so if you're carrying things or working with the muscles of the arms, give them a little release here with the thumb, and then you can also flip the palms and give yourself a stretch here, either here or using the opposite hand to go a little deeper, maybe even one finger at a time. Awesome, and then when you feel satisfied with that, take it forward, so if you're in a chair you're gonna want to come off your chair now and get down low, brothers and sisters, come on now. And you can move nice and slow. This time is for you, you're not here to master anything, this is TLC, relaxation time. So move nice and slow, come down to the ground, and we're gonna bring the knees wide, big toes to touch, and here we go, inhale reach your right fingertips forward, find a nice long stretch in your right side body, and then threading the needle here, so the right fingertips come in and underneath the bridge of the left arm and we come to rest on the right ear. Pelvis does rock up here, it's gonna be awesome, feel awesome, once you land. Find what feels good with that top arm, so maybe it's pressing into the left palm, keeping it really active as you stretch out through the neck, the shoulders, the muscles of the upper back body, maybe you take the hand to the lower back or up to the sky or take a little bind. Another great option is just to reach it all the way out in front. Then bring the breath here, press into the tops of the feet for a little stability, and breathe deep. And slowly we'll release. Use the hands to press yourself back up. Come back to all fours and we'll reach the left fingertips forward. Soft, easy movement, find that length in the left side body, and then threading the needle here, coming onto the left ear, should feel really good as you breathe into the muscles of the upper back. Again, right elbow can come to the sky, to the lower back, or all the way out in front. Breathing into the twist. Again sending lots of breath and awareness to the upper back body, the shoulders, the neck. Press into your toes for a little stability here. Awesome, then slide it back in and come back to all fours. Walk the knees underneath the hip points, cross the ankles, and slowly, mindfully, be careful of your knees and ankles, come all the way through, and we're gonna send the legs out front. Keep it soft and easy movement here. So we're gonna windshield wiper the legs back and forth, get a little glute massage here, so if you're on carpet you might not feel this as firmly, so too bad for you! No, just kidding. So if that's the case, then just make it about moving through the hip sockets and maybe even finding a little lift through the armpit and chest to open up through the pecs and the shoulders. But if you're on a hard surface, you can really get a nice little gluteus maximus (laughs) massage. Dude, if you're sore from being on your feet, then you know what I'm talking about though. Yes. Okay. After you've windshield wipered the legs a little bit, we'll sit up nice and tall with the legs straight out in front. And take your right knee, lift it up, hug your right knee in, and swim the right fingertips around for a twist. Press into your left heel, inhale, sit up nice and tall, and exhale, look past your right shoulder. Inhale, and exhale, come back. Take your right foot into your left hand and we're gonna cradle it, maybe rocking a little bit back and forth, or if it feels good, you can take the foot to the elbow. Maybe rock front to back, a little side to side. And then release it. Cleansing breath here, inhale in, exhale, let it go. Awesome, hug the left knee in, give it a hug, swim it around, find your twist. Press through that right heel for stability, a little grounding in the twist, and then inhale, sit up nice and tall, and exhale, journey into your twist. There's a tendency here to lean back into it, so use that pressing of the right heel forward and this lift up through the sternum to ground you. Sit up nice and tall, even if it means you don't twist as much. One more breath. Use your exhale to release. Right hand takes the left foot this time, we open up through the hip, and it might just be here, ooh, working. In time we might take it here, a deeper stretch. And everyone's just anatomically different, some hips are really open, some are really rotated internally, so just check it out, feel it out. Awesome, and then release. Cleansing breath here, this time with arms. We inhale, reach for the sky, and exhale, bend the knees, cleansing breath, bow forward, pashit motanasana here in seated forward fold. Bow your head, close your eyes. Feel that stretch through the back body as you breathe deep. And then slowly roll it up. Hike both heels in towards the center. This is our last pose here, so enjoy this time. You can always continue on after this video, but just a little something. We'll come into cobbler's pose, so the knees come nice and wide and the feet come together, and if you have a hard time sitting up tall here, just bring the toes out, or sit up on a blanket or block. And or. We're gonna use the thumbs here to really massage the feet. So start with the arches, rubbing the arches of the feet, and then on to the heels, the ankles, and just start to soften your gaze here, so, you know, when you're at work, you have to be, you know, spinning a ton of plates and focused and eyes open, so just kind of go inward a little bit here. Soften your gaze, you might even close your eyes, as you rub your toes. Awesome, then grab your ankles. Inhale, lift your heart, and exhale, bend the elbows left to right, come forward, try to touch your nose to your toes. Again, feel that big stretch in the back body. Relax your shoulders down away from your ears. Take one more breath here. And tuck the chin into the chest, and slowly roll it up. Awesome, cross the ankles and we'll come to sukhasan. Final cleansing breath, here we go. Inhale deeply through the nose, and exhale, relax your shoulders as you exhale completely, out through the mouth. Awesome work. Alright, my darling friends, so that was your practice for today. If you're hungry for more, dive into another video right now, or might I suggest maybe taking an epson salt bath, if you're not already into that you should give it a try. You can also just do a foot bath, it's really quick and easy and a little goes a long way, I swear to heaven. Another great thing is sending your legs up the wall, for legs up the wall pose, vrida karini. We have a whole video for legs up the wall which talks about how amazing that is, and again, how a little goes a long way, so you just kick your legs up the wall, and you can kind of support your lower back with a blanket. Anyway, check that out if you're interested. I've got your back. Thank you so much for the request, I appreciate it, that's one of the things I love about this diverse community that is Find What Feels Good and Yoga with Adriene, is that we are having conversations and we're all together, me included, trying to find ways in which we can use the tools of yoga to live a happy, healthy, and supported life. So namaste from my heart to yours. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your energy with me. Let us know what you do down below, let us support you, let's have a conversation down below, let us know what you do or how you're feeling after this practice, and subscribe to the channel if you haven't already, share this video with your friends, and I'll see you next time. Take good care. (upbeat music)