- Hi everyone, 
welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I am Adriene, and today 
we have an awesome practice

for upper body strength.

But we're gonna do it 
the find what feels good way,

mindfully and with breath.

So hop into something comfy,
and let's get started.

(upbeat music)

Okay, my friends, 
let's jump right in

with a little 
warmup for the wrists.

You can do this standing,
seated and cross-legged,

or on the knees like moi.

You're just gonna take 
a second to sit up nice

and tall through the spine,
take a deep breath in.

Land here in the moment.
(Benji exhaling)

Aw, he just exhaled 
right when I said that.

Good job, Benji.

And nice and easy, 
we're gonna slowly bring

the fists together

and out in front,

and you're just 
gonna take some big circles

in towards your body 
and out towards your body.

In towards your body 
and out towards your body.

And as you do this, 
you can close your eyes

or soften your gaze 
and just try to maintain

this length in 
the spine (laughing)

as you slowly drop your breath.

Breathe into your belly.

So we are focusing on 
upper body strength today,

but not at the cost 
of sacrificing any sort

of inner calm or 
connection to what feels good.

So we're gonna do a 
little bit of both today.

That's the beauty of yoga,

uniting breath with body,
mind with body.

Alright, and then 
reverse your circle.

Bring it in towards 
you and out towards you,

in towards you and out.

Excellent.

And then bring the 
palms together at the heart.

The next time you 
bring your wrists in,

you're gonna get 
active in the hands here.

So press the 
palms together firmly.

Send the elbows left to right.

Inhale in.

Exhale. Dial the 
fingertips down in a way.

Ooh yeah.

And then inhale, 
thumbs to sternum,

exhale, dial the 
fingertips down and away.

Move nice and slow here.

One more time, lift the 
chest up to the thumbs,

and then exhale, 
dial the fingertips down.

Awesome.

Bring the hands back to the
heart, interlace the fingertips,

press the palms forward.

Take a deep breath in,

and then empty it out.

And then nice and easy, you're
just gonna take the pinkies,

bring it all the way up, big
stretch here as you breathe in.

And then exhale to 
release the fingertips,

release the arms, 
bring 'em all the way down.

Alright, shrug the 
shoulders up to the earlobes

as you take a deep breath in.

And then exhale, breathe out.

Twice more, inhale,
shrug and lift.

Exhale, breathe out, relax,

and then one more 
time breathe in,

shrug and lift, and then exhale,
relaxing the shoulders down

and coming into our first Plank.

Let's all start in Half Plank,

just to get a nice 
placement in the foundation.

So palms nice and wide, pinkies
almost at the outer edges

of your mat, 
if not all the way there.

Then starting on the knees,
try to create a nice,

long length in the spine here,
already the muscles

of the abdominal 
wall turning on,

crown of the 
head lengthening out,

gaze straight 
forward and slightly down,

so we're not 
collapsed in the neck.

Then you know where 
you're at in your body.

If you want to lift the 
knees already here, you can,

working in a full Plank.

So we're knees 
lowered or lifted.

And for this first round, 
we're gonna keep the elbows

hugging in to the side body,
gaze straight forward,

chin slightly tucked.

Again, you can work with 
the knees lifted as well.

We're gonna inhale in, 
exhale slow and steady,

keep the elbows hugging in,
just lower halfway.

Beautiful, exhale, press up.

Inhale slowly, 
lower down halfway.

Gaze forward.

Exhale, press back up,

keeping the spine 
nice and long here,

hugging the elbows in.

Lower down halfway, 
exhale, press back up.

Two more, inhale, halfway lower.

Exhale, press up.
One more, you got this.

Inhale, halfway lower.

And exhale, press back up.

Awesome.

Send the knees 
as wide as your mat,

send the hips back, 
send your heart down.

One cycle of breath here 
in Extended Child's Pose,

so make this breath awesome.

Big inhale.

Long exhale.

Excellent.

Slowly come back up,

bring the knees 
back underneath the hips,

come into a Half Plank or 
Full Plank, yogi's choice.

Make sure the upper 
arm bones are rotating out,

and make sure you have a
nice, wide base in your hands,

not too narrow here.

Alright, so now we're gonna
take the elbows left to right

in a 90 degree.

If you don't have the 
mobility or the strength to go

at an exact 90 degree, that's
where your headed, okay?

So it's okay if 
you don't hit that.

If you have some 
tightness in the wrists

or if you need to modify,
make it small.

You don't need to go 
past a pain threshold.

So you can keep 
it nice and small.

Again, we're lifted up in Full
Plank or we're on the knees.

Okay, here we go.

You're like, "Okay, 
I've been here, I'm ready."

Inhale, look forward, exhale,

draw the shoulders 
away from the ears.

Inhale to lower, 
exhale to lift.

Elbows left to right.

Inhale to lower,
exhale to lift.

Inhale to lower, gaze 
is forward, exhale to lift.

Strong core, inhale to lower,

exhale to lift.

Inhale to lower,
exhale to lift.

One more, inhale to lower,

exhale to lift.

Great. This time walk the 
knees together, really together,

arches of the feet really
together, send your hips back,

and then slowly flick your
fingertips back towards your

toes and melt your heart down.

One cycle of 
breath here if you want.

You can bring the 
hands into fists here,

bring the fingers in, 
and just get a little massage

on the wrists as you 
rock the wrists gently back

and forth on the earth.

Okey-doke.

Slowly rising back up, 
back to Plank or Half Plank.

Chaturanga, half pushups.

Here we go.

Knees lowered or lifted,
nice strong base,

draw the low belly in, 
keep the neck nice and long.

Here we go.

Inhale, keeping the elbows
hugging in to the side body.

Lower halfway, your version,
exhale to press back up.

Inhale, lower halfway, 
exhale, press up.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

Three more.
Inhale, exhale.

You've got it, two more.

Inhale, exhale.

Last one, meet your edge.

It's okay if it's small.

Inhale, lower, exhale,
all the way up.

Here we go.

Knees wide, big toes to touch,
send it back,

walk the fingertips forward.

This time, option to come into
a little Namaste shark fin,

bringing the palms 
up behind the neck.

Take a deep breath in,
you got this.

And empty it out.

Alright, back up 
to Plank or Half Plank.

Stick with me, just a few more
minutes left, you got this.

Here we go.

This time, elbows left to right,

and you can do a half 
pushup or a full pushup,

so depending where 
you are on your journey,

depending on how 
you're feeling in your body,

your energy today.

Alright, so we're in a
full pushup or we're in half,

excuse me, Full Plank 
or Half Plank here,

neck is nice and long, 
with a focus on the spine.

Alright, you ready?
Here we go.

Inhale, lowering down.

Exhale to press back up.

Inhale to lower down, 
gaze forward.

Exhale to press back up.

Inhale, lower.

Exhale, lift.

Listen to your breath.
Use your breath.

Inhale, lower.

Exhale, lift.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

One more, you got this.

Inhale, lower.

Exhale, lift.

bring the knees together,
really together, Child's Pose,

Balasana, send 
the fingertips back,

rest your forehead down.

Inhale lots of love in here.

Exhale lots of love out.

Alright, rise back up.

Last bit here, we got this.

We're gonna come 
everyone into Full Plank.

You can do it.
Here we go.

Bring the hands wide, 
upper arm bones rotate out.

So bring this 
mindfulness to the picture,

even when you get tired.

Not even, 
especially when you get tired.

So here we go.

Hugging the low ribs in,
Full Plank,

you reach the heels back,

toes are in line 
with the hip points.

Inhale, try to keep 
this connection to your core

as you send the left 
fingertips all the way up

towards the right shoulder.

Then bring it down.

Right fingertips 
to left shoulder.

It's okay if you shift 
in the hips here to start.

Eventually, we 
want to keep it going

to where we're not 
shifting in the hips.

Keep a nice rhythm here.

Toes hip-width apart,
maybe slightly wider.

Back and forth,

crossing opposite hand 
to opposite shoulder.

A trick here is to 
press away from the yoga mat,

just like we do in 
all of our yoga practices,

really finding that yielding,
that lifting,

that hollow front body.

Welcome the heat.

You're here, you got it,
for one more minute.

Crossing back and forth,
back and forth,

waking up the 
abdominal wall, the obliques.

Let's do one more on each side.

Try not to move the hips at all.

Excellent. After you've 
evened it out,

spin onto the outer edge
of your right foot,

inner arch of your left foot,

bring your left 
hand to your waistline.

Breathe deep here as you lift
up through the right hip.

Maybe you take the left
fingertips up towards the sky,

maybe not.

Inhale in, exhale, 
come back to center.

Last little bit here.

We're gonna turn onto the
outer edge of the left foot,

inner arch of 
the right foot, again,

lift your hips up high.

Right hand comes 
to the waistline.

Breathe in here.

Maybe you take the right arm up.

Side Plank, one more breath.

And then exhale, 
come all the way down.

Great. Lower the knees,

come back to your nice, 
comfortable seat,

either on the knees or in 
a nice, cross-legged seat.

Inhale, sit up nice 
and tall wherever you are.

Exhale, empty it 
out through the mouth.

Let go of some heat.

Cross the right 
arm over the body,

take your left hand 
to gently guide it deeper

into the stretch.

And then release and switch.

Excellent. Let your hands rest 
gently on the knees or thighs.

Palms face up or down, 
whatever feels best for you.

And then just take one more
moment here before we sign off

to close your eyes and notice,
observe your breath.

Notice how you feel.

What energy did you stir up?

And if it was tough, 
or you got frustrated,

it's all good.
Motivation to keep showing up.

Waking up the body, 
building strength, mindfully,

having fun.

You can mesh this practice

with another yoga practice
on the channel.

I'll put some suggestions in
the description down below.

As you're ready, 
bring the palms together.

We'll close out by 
taking a deep breath in

and using the 
exhale to bow the head down

towards the hands,
towards the heart.

Thanks, everyone.

Let me know how it went for you

in the comment 
section down below.

I love you all.

Nice work.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)