- What's up my friends? Welcome to Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene and today we have yoga for when you're angry or pissed off when you feel disrespected, when communication wires get crossed and you know, shit hits the fan. I have your back. Let's hop on the mat and get started. (light acoustic music) - Alright, my friends, so we're going to begin in an extended child's pose. Knees nice and wide. Big toes kissing. And heart melting to the earth. Walk the palms out nice and slow. If this isn't comfortable for you, then you might just start this first beat in a comfortable posture, any choice, cross legged or on the knees or even in a chair. We're just going to take a second to kind of acknowledge how we feel and connect with the breath. So, I'm going to do it in extended child's pose. This shape, total surrender shape, right? So, come into a surrender shape, whatever it is for you. And I'll start by not showing my underwear on YouTube, although that could change your mood. Okay, sorry, excuse me. Forehead melts to the earth. Heart melts down in extended child's pose. A little humor can always help too, in all honesty. And then take a second to notice your breath, and you know, we begin yoga practice a lot by saying, well I never do this, but there's this idea that we're supposed to be able to clear our mind, let go of our thoughts. And while that, yes, is the intention, perhaps on a day like today, a moment like now, that is difficult. There's also this common thought that, you know, the yogis, that's those of us, us folks trying to fight the good, conscious fight, are, you know, always happy and without anger or fear or jealousy or any of those things that, of course, we are with, we are all with those things because that is life and our nature, human nature. So, today in your surrender shape, wherever you are, even if you're just staring at the video, take a deep breath in and just acknowledge how you feel. Whatever's going on, acknowledge it, notice it. (deep breathing) - And the idea is that we're not trying to hide anything in the yoga practice or check out, but rather check in and wrastle with our feelings and learn how to maybe deal with it in a way that is constructive instead of destructive. So, take a note of that, and give thanks because already you're doing something constructive. So, there's no judgement if you get pissed off and you go punch your pillow or you know, do whatever it is you do. But you can give thanks and maybe release a little bit of tension knowing that man, you're doing something awesome right here, right now, even if you don't do this whole video. (deep breathing) - And we'll begin to deepen the breath as a way of acknowledging our feelings, acknowledging ourself, and a way of smiling, giving thanks for this moment that we're giving something new a try. (deep breathing) - Then, slowly, we'll come from this extended child's pose to the belly, or if you're in a seated posture, go ahead and come on to your belly. Oh yeah. And then we'll draw the elbows underneath the shoulders, press into the palms in a kind of classic yoga shape here, just to kind of focus us in the moment. We'll press into the tops of the feet, come to a sphinx pose, loop the shoulders, press into the palms, and see if you can really, really press into the earth with everything that's touching. So, maybe engaging the tops of the feet so that the knees lift a little bit here. Maybe pressing into elbows so we can find length through the torso and spine. If you really want to go for the gold, press into all ten knuckles strong, imagine tearing your yoga mat in half cause you're so angry, but here we are doing something constructive, aware. Pressing down all ten toenails. Ooo, I hate when yoga teacher say toenails in class, and I just did it. Not really, I don't really hate it, but it's just funny. And then one more breath. So, really pressing into that pinky toe is what I wanted to say. One more deep breath here, good, good, good, and then release. Oh my gosh, yes, to my all time favorite. Palms stuck together for a little pillow action here. So, take a look at the video, and then when you feel like you have it, come to this radical yoga posture. If you have a pillow handy or anything at all, you can even use it. So, if you have a nice pillow, you can grab the pillow like this. I have this little thing here. Lay my brain here. So, but it's not necessary. Shake the hips a little left to right. And find what feels good in this moment. Then we'll bring the two big toes in, and splay the heels out wide. See if this feels good for you. For some, it can feel quite comforting. And, if not, let the toes open wide, and see if this feels good for you. Toes out, so for me, my hips don't play like that. Homey, don't play like that in my hips, but if for you they do, you might want to come here. See, I think of everything. And then, if neither one of those, maybe it's just straight out. So, we have in, we have out, and we have straight kind of in line. Just find a place where you can relax in the lower body. If you have props, if you have blocks, you can even bring the arms up on blocks and the head down to a block here. So, we're preparing for a crocodile breath as we call it. And there are many ways to do crocodile. But today we're going to keep it really simple. Bring your awareness to your breath. Relax through the hips, the legs, the ankles, the feet. You can close your eyes here, and relax best you can through the neck. So, it's why it's helpful to kind of get comfortable and adjusted in a way that you can relax through the neck, the shoulders, the arms, the elbows. Relax your jaw, soften through the skin of the face. So, if you're clenching the eyebrows, relax my friend, soften. And then I'm noticing for some reason I'm clenching my right butt cheek, so I'm going to soften that. So you just kind of need to do a full body scan here, and really, you owe it to yourself to do that. Letting go in any place where you might be clenching or holding tight. Then back to the breath. (deep breathing) - In crocodile breath, essentially we're using gravity to play with this relaxation, this integration of the breath all the way down to the lower belly. So, as you breathe in through the nose, see if you can allow the breath to expand in the abdomen, and with the support of the earth here, you can really feel where it goes. And kind of where it's getting stuck. This is tricky at first, and you might want to give up right away. I encourage you to stick with it. Play with your breath. Seeing if you can use the inhale through the nostrils to expand the abdominal wall, the abdomen, the lower belly. (deep breathing) - You can feel those muscles. As you breathe in, you can feel them dropping, pressing into the earth. (deep breathing) - Then bring your awareness to the rib cage, just adding another layer here. On your next inhale, see if you can expand through the ribs even more. Again, feeling the abdomen, but also now expanding through the rib cage. Play with that inhale. Play with the way in which your ribs maybe press into the earth as you breathe in deeply. (deep breathing) - Now, stick with it, stick with it. And bring your awareness to your lower back body. Inhale, see if you can stretch the skin of the lower back. Relaxing through the glutes. So, there's a lot to play with here. (deep breathing) - Keeping playing as you inhale. This time, see if you can take an inhale so long that just when you feel like you've taken in all the air, you take in a little bit more, little sip more. Then hold at the top, and slow and controlled exhale. (deep breathing) - Couple more times just like that. (deep breathing) - And on your next exhale, see if you can kind of just push out all the air, and then at the end, push out a little more. (deep breathing) - Awesome, then slowly, nice and slow. Totally zenned out by that crocodile breath. Whoa, lift the head. Draw the palms underneath the shoulders for support. Curl the toes under. Come to all fours. One and one only downward facing dog here, as you slowly lift the hips. As you lift the hips up high, take a deep breath in, bend the knees. As you exhale, drop the heels, melt your heart back. Inhale, bend the knees. Press away from the earth. Exhale, drop the heels, let it go. Shake the head a little yes, a little no. And then, slowly lower onto the knees. Swing the legs to one side, any side. And come to lie flat on your back. Allow the legs to extend out long. Get comfortable here, arms resting gently at your sides. Then crawl the shoulder blades underneath you here so that your chest can really open and relax. Just kind of neutrally, naturally. So, it's all connected right. You'd be surprised sometimes how the more we kind of hold things in and tighten up, that manifests in the body, as we know. So, take a second to really crawl the shoulder blades underneath you, open to the chest, imagine a little sand bag here, little sand bag here. Maybe windshield wiper the feet. Then, I wasn't going to do this, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'm just feeling brave. I wanted to do this, but then I got shy, and now I'm going to do it in the moment. My teacher used to do this with us, and it really helps, but it's also really silly and kind of, I mean I used to think it was so stupid. So, we're going to laugh, and we're going to do it for up to 30 seconds. We'll see how far you can get. So, you come into a little corpse pose here, and you're just going to start laughing. Ready? Go. (laughter) - And eventually, your fake laughing leads you to really laughing at yourself. (laughter) - Keep it going. Connecting to the same muscles that you did in crocodile breath. (laughter) - And then, let it rest. I'm so embarrassed. I'm like getting high, but it's so great. I'm glad I didn't skip that. (laughter) - And then sigh it out, let it go. It's great when you do that with a big group of people too cause you do get lost in it. Your Judgy-McJudgerson mind just escapes you faster than you would think. Okay, clench the fists together. Clench hard, squeeze the toes, engage the legs. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Lift your heart. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Clenching, clenching, clenching the jaw, the face, squeeze everything, clench your fists. Take a deep breath in. And then exhale, let everything soften. Let everything go. Close your eyes. Let your breath return to it's natural rhythm. It's natural ebb and flow. Mindfulness. Total winner in my book. Blanket your body in a soft white light. Take a second to do absolutely nothing. Whatever works for you. Hopefully this video has guided you to a place where you feel a little bit better. Acknowledged. Connected. And in control. A little bit of yoga goes a long way. I commend you, I applaud you, I laugh with you, I am so proud of you and me for at least trying to use mindfulness and the tools of yoga to live in a conscious, happy way. Understanding that we still get pissed off, and ticked off, and angry. It's part of being human, being awesome. So hopefully you feel a little more balanced, a little more blissed out. Stay here as long as time allows, and when you rise up, see if you can let some of that energy that wasn't serving you, see if you can let some of that shit go. Leave it on your mat. Peace everyone. Namaste. (light acoustic music)