hello everyone and welcome to yoga with Adriene I am Adriene and today we have a special by request sequence yoga when you're feeling under the weather when you're feeling a little sick this is a short sequence of postures that will support you when you have a cold or perhaps your immune system is feeling a little low as you may know or as you may not know and you'll soon learn it's so important to nurture the body when you're feeling ill to give yourself permission to stop and slow down on crumpled the body and nurture it so that you can get better all the more faster and find what feels good so put on something comfy grab a blanket or a pillow and let's hop on the net all right so to begin today we're going to come to a nice cross-legged position I'm sitting up on a block here but you can roll up a blanket or you can just sit flat on the earth we raise the hips a little bit to just allow the legs to fall down find more space in the hips and there's no right or wrong here we can draw the heels in we can leave them out just come to a nice comfortable seat where you feel that you can roll up to the spine and perhaps align the head over the heart and the heart over the pelvis so if you're really you know got the gunk I have a couple tissues by your side maybe a glass of water or some hot tea now or to follow this video I'm just going to move nice and slow the name of the game today is yummy so we'll begin to loop the shoulders forward up and back open scuse me maybe close your eyes you know what to do here so we're looping the shoulders you can trust yourself for a moment closing your eyes looking away from the video and looping the shoulders forward up and back and while we do this we're just going to check in with the breath inhaling in through the nose and exhaling through the nose or the mouth so if the nose is a little bit stopped up no worries don't give up don't say I can't because you can we're here to just kind of check in at the body and give it a little love take a couple more loop to the shoulders here a couple more deep breaths awesome then we'll turn the palms face up on the lakes and find this openness this lift in the chest and the heart so it's not a forced thing Oh hatha yoga no it's actually quite natural just this lift and my theory as we just take a couple moments here to be with the breath you can close your eyes and just listen my theory is that we actually can heal ourselves and boost our immunity a lot faster and more successfully when we just take a moment to be with the breath to be in the moment so that means we're not fighting being sick we're not just going to the dark side when we're sick we're just kind of listening and I know I'm varying off in a hippie dippie land here but we're just listening to the body and and not going to the dark side so if you're feeling bad continuing to say I'm sick I feel awful oh you know it's just not helpful instead we can take a more nurturing approach is where I'm going here so we're going to nurture the body today by drawing the palms together at the heart interlacing the fingertips and you can open your eyes here as we press the palms forward up and back take a deep breath in we're just kind of uncommon so if you've been sick for a while or just starting to feel the immune system go down chances are the body has started to go into this kind of protective mode and that's human that's our parasympathetic nervous system no biggie we're going to take a second to counteract that so we're here and we're just moving a little back and forth that's it nothing fancy the elbows can be bent generously if the shoulders are tight or we can press up through the thumbs we're breathing in here again just coming up and out of that crumpled state then we'll come back to Center stillness again head over heart heart over pelvis well inhale lift the chin all the way up and on an exhale chin to chest as we float the fingertips down and away great chin to chest here as we interlace the fingertips behind the back now loop the shoulders draw the knuckles away from the crown of the head and slowly we'll begin to lift the chin back up towards the heaven three to five breaths here so perhaps there's a little tightness in the chest and I turn to the side just so you can see perhaps there's a little tightness in the chest we use the inhale to expand through the lungs and we use the exhale to maybe draw the shoulder blades in together and down notice I'm moving a little organically in the neck finding what feels good now as we tend to our immune systems but truly always right great take one more breath here and then exhale with control with grace release the fingertips and we're going to gently come to all fours so I'm going to move the pillow blanket or block out of the way and come to all fours just a little cat-cow here so there's always more to be discovered here in my humble opinion palms spread wide wrists underneath the shoulders knees directly underneath the hips a little nice and slow today it's a sick day let's give ourselves some love inhale heart opens chest opens we press away from the earth and exhale curl the tailbone under find a little organic movement here as you maybe Rock a little side to side and then again we inhale looping forward and exhale pressing away from the earth we draw the navel up chin to chest one more time inhale long puppy belly here and long neck exhale pressing away from the earth chin to chest great then when to curl the toes under walk the fingertips back a little Yoga for the feet bonus here as we draw circles with the nose keep breathing so we're breathing into the soles of the feet if this is too much for you if you're like I am sick girl I'd said I didn't want to work hard today then just come up onto the tops of the feet and work the neck here so either on tops of the feet or we're sitting back reverse your circle if you haven't already if you find any crunchiness you can work in and out of it then we'll come back to Center stillness spread the palms dive forward to all fours then this isn't a fancy yoga transition here my friends take it nice and slow just going to take one foot up then the other and come to a nice bent leg forward fold now this might seem counterintuitive if you're really stopped up so if you are really stepped up go gentle you can keep the elbows on the tops of the thighs here maybe wrap the fingertips around the elbows here and just play with dropping the chin to the chest and then lifting back up chin to chest and lifting back up another variation to try can see my hair doing weird things here enjoy another variation to try if we feel that it would be relieving would be to come all the way down grabbing the elbows coming all the way into Tadasana the forward fold and giving it a gentle Rock breathing deep in through the nose and out through the nose or mouth if the nose has stopped up couple rocks here so I'm either rocking here or I'm rocking here do two more breaths wherever you are great then I'll release the palms back to the earth spread the palms wide and come back to all fours cool we're going to bring the two big toes together widen the knees as wide as the mat and send it back extended Child's Pose so a couple of options here we can massage the forehead right here rocking a little bit back and forth if you have a head cord we have a lot of congestion in the head this can seem really simple but can be quite yummy and to just Rock a little back and forth on the mat I have been known no joke to like take a little smear heyo of eucalyptus or peppermint put it on the mat here and just rock back and forth breathing in the aromatherapy so that might be a good option he'll there's like Vicks on this thing so I could even take my fancy Vicks Kleenex roll around here improvising skills are one of the best things you can do in yoga so have a couple options there breathe into the back body raw a little back and forth and then slowly we'll walk the palms up and grab either a blanket a pillow or a block I have a pillow here because I want I'm pretty sure most people have a pillow on their bed so I'll set my pillow up here breathe into the legs breathe into the back body as I dive in for a nice yummy restorative extended Child's Pose come on to one year here in breathe after a couple breaths we'll come on through and take it to the opposite ear nice long smooth deep breath so I'm still getting my stretch my hip stretch still kind of lengthening through the side body breathing into the back body but in a normal in a morph scuse me getting to relax in a more nurturing fashion and I'll slowly roll it back up take that pillow and put it to the side because we're to use it just one more second so we're all different we're all watching this video at different states of cold or allergies or just a little bit you know immune system down so you can stay in that supported extended Child's Pose for the next thing or we can slowly transition into a downward dog we're just going to do one so some people may be a little more active they need a downward dog or two when they're feeling down some need to just simply take care right so you can stay in that extended Child's Pose for this next posture or we'll move our sit bones up towards the sky curls the toes under curls the toes curls zette toes under and come into a mobile downward dog so I encourage you to move chances are the body's a little stiff we've been under the weather we've been maybe in bed or taking it easy a little bit longer and as you should so work it out find places to stretch find places to lift and lengthen spread the palms wide and for heaven's sakes my friends breathe deep again we might skip this we might have too much pressure in the head or you might not have the energy that we really require for this posture so you might be an extended Child's Pose but if you are in downward dog take two more breaths awesome then we'll slowly lower to all fours and if you're an extended Child's Pose here together we'll rock up move the pillow to the side and slowly come to seated great beautiful everyone take the legs nice and wide great so this doesn't have to be a gymnastic thing this can be a nice narrow thing it doesn't have to be a big wide stance so just test out the waters find what feels good and then we have a couple options here we can walk the palms forward so we're getting a nice little leg stretch but still keeping it nice and chill right we want to take care of the body and just provide the body with some nurturing empowerment rather than power yoga so notice I'm rocking a little side to side here nothing fancy I have a little bit of brightness in my feet but again I'm not pressing trying to lift my heels we're giving ourself permission to move nice and slow today rocking back and forth perhaps keeping the sit bones on the ground and then after I've gone a little bit side to side swaying like a goofball then I'll come up onto my fingertips and crawl my fingertips forwards this can be a little different for everyone maybe I come all the way forward maybe I'm like whoa Nelly here so find where it feels best for you today and breathe in towards the legs and if you're one of those smart people that's like what is breathe in towards the legs mean it just means nice deep breaths and awareness towards the legs integrating breath and body then the final thing here is that we'll use a prop to support so we can stay there for five even ten breaths if you want to do this on your own so we can take a block to the forehead which feels great if you have a lot of congestion here and again sometimes swiping a little bit of oil there is lovely or you can take a Vicks Kleenex it's nice and do that here so I have a little bit of support relaxing the shoulders down Rock a little massaging you can stay here if I'm at peace if I don't have a block and I'm like I want something then by all means my friend you deserve something we'll take a pillow or more blankets anything couch pillows put them in front and chill here oh so getting the stretch those essential aw getting the stretch that I need again this can be a little more narrow and the knees can bend so find a supported forward fold here smile enjoy this moment often we just Cho down our vitamins and take the medicine we're told to take OD on the elixirs and sometimes it's just nice to be with your body and your breath thinking about yoga practice as a medicine for living take one more breath here this blanket totally smells like a horse a horse in a good way though then when you feel satisfied roll it up my friends move your comfy stuff to the side and bring the soles of the feet together interlace the fingertips around the toes maybe you walk to sit bones closer to the heels maybe not and we breathe as we inhale in check in with the neck and then when you feel satisfied you might forward fold here chin to chest or you might stay up so I have two options in the spinal posture to release press into the outer edges of the feet untangle the fingertips lift your heart and we're just going to windshield wiper the legs is something you can do while you're watching TV while the soups on the stove or the tea kettle is a boiling this rocking hips back and forth knees left to right now there may be crossing the legs and finishing with either a chant if you chant or just deep breath in and out just a mindful moment of connectivity when I'm sick I say this affirmation my immune system works perfectly so after this video is over you can pause sit in this posture for a minute or two and just repeat to yourself my immune system works perfectly