what's up party people welcome to yoga

with Adriene I'm Adriene today we have

yoga for wrist pain so we have a yoga

for healthy wrist video that will go

great and in alignment with this guy so

you can work on them together but I

think this one's really great for those

who are experiencing fussiness in the

wrist this is going to help anyone who

wants to deepen their practice so be

sure to favorite this video so that you

can return to it easy and make sure to

share it with your friends who also

practice yoga who could maybe benefit so

we're going to treat wrist pain we're

going to work on strengthening

stretching and most importantly building

awareness from the ground up

let's get started

all right so the first thing we're going

to do is bring the palms together at the

heart take a look your hands if we can

really line them up kind of meticulously

so we're really kind of paying attention

to the detail right away today and I

think that's kind of part of today's

lesson if you will is just pay attention

to the detail and the sensations in the

muscles and the joints so we're going to

press the palms together right here at

the heart with the elbows actively

moving left to right so there's a real

press here that you're probably going to

feel right away especially if this is

new to you you might already feel a

little bit of a screaming sensation in

the forearm so in which case you might

ease up a little bit so we'll all be at

different places here today just

starting here and it is hard work and I

think that I don't know how else to say

it but I think that one of the issues

with wrist pain is we kind of lose a

little bit of patience working with the

arms the wrists you know holding our

body weight on our arms or wrists our

hands so we need to maybe soften up a

little bit and you know practice work

hard and then ease up and then practice

meet your edge work hard and then ease

up so as you play a little bit here with

this so again it might seem quite simple

but lift the sternum to the thumbs

actively press into all look your

knuckles elbows left to right lots of

space between the shoulders I'm sitting

up on a block just to kind of help me

with this lift you can sit up on a

blanket or a pillow or a block or a

couple of books works great just give

yourself a little lift and hips so that

you can practice here with a little more

ease okay a couple more breaths here

again we're easing up whenever we need

to taking a break and the last but not

least of course we'll connect the breath

because we're going to be

working on anything we should be

breathing connecting that as a way of

building our practice as a way of

expanding our awareness and absolutely

as a way of tending to any pain in the

body I love my mom and my dad but when I

was little you know and I would get hurt

my mom was never one to kind of rush

would be like you know she would always

just you know say take a deep breath

take a deep breath and so now even my

you know stubbed my toe or really hurt

myself or if something happens in my

life that really shocks me and wants to

you know yeah pull the rug out from

underneath me I just take a breath so

take a breath here when you experience

any sort of pain are dealing with wrist

pain in your public classes to take a

load off take a breath try not to get

frustrated no panic okay so one more

breath here so if you're in the rest

come back to it

engage the biceps even if you can draw

the shoulders down and then gently

release awesome palms face up press into

the base of your wrist here this is a

little counter pose inhale in exhale let

it go okay so the next thing we're going

to look at is the palms and the

connection of the hand to the earth this

is the number one thing that I like to

share when people come to me in public

classes with wrist pain and you know we

have a whole class there we don't really

have a lot of time to get into the

nitty-gritty this is like my go-to okay

first let's start here at the foundation

of course right so we're going to come

to all fours and actually before you do

that just take a second oh to give your

baby some love squeeze the wrist use

your thumbs to really massage here

vigorously if it feels good and then the

hands the palms oh yeah baby now we're

talking screw it all the way up here why

not

cuz it is all connected right and then

we'll come to all fours so we're going

to take just a little focused moment

looking at the palm here so spread your

palms super wide we're going to come

into a tabletop position so we have four

posts here if you will and this is

important knees underneath the hip

points

wrists underneath the shoulders so that

I'm stacking the bones right away I'm

not too far out or too far and of course

I'm exaggerating but you'd be surprised

so lots of awareness and stacking the

actual bones and then we'll look at the

foundation here so I'll just look at

this hand that's closest to camera since

I don't have anyone here with me and

I'll use my other hand to kind of show

you what I'm talking about so the first

thing with wrist pain is really has to

do with the hand because of all the work

that we do at computers and now on our

cell phones the hands are getting a bum

deal here in general but then especially

we come to practice with our full body

you know 360 experience and the hands

are all so take a second here to spread

your palms super wide you can work with

both hands here again I'm just going to

be using the left hand to demo and see

if you can stretch just as an experiment

you can start off even with the pinky

see if you can stretch the hands the

fingers as why is possible so that

you're actually seeing a little bit of

the webbing in between each finger okay

start there that could be a decent-sized

stretch for you here especially if

you're new or maybe we're tending to

this for the first time with a little

more consciousness okay and then notice

what's going on with the thumb

especially as you spread awareness

through both hands oftentimes the thumb

start to curl in again that's because of

all of our you know computer computer

time and Lord knows what else so see if

in particular once you get once you move

from the pinky finger to the thumb so

you can get that thumb nice and straight

okay just point

here and then you might start to notice

that the wrists are already is starting

to feel a bit of compression a little

pressure and so now what I'd like for

you to do is starting with the pinkies

start to press into the knuckles this is

just an experiment here so you don't

basically I'm trying to get you out of

the zone of trying to like get it right

look at the video look at your hands

okay just to just experimenting here

waking up the hands number one remedy

for wrist pain for me waking up the

hands other things too of course but man

oh man okay and then continue the

journey on the knuckles all the way to

the thumb and then choose one hand to

look at here first and just look at the

space between the index finger and the

thumb you chances are you've heard your

teacher your yoga guide say this a

million times

press into the fleshy part between the

index finger and the thumb these muscles

here in the hand firmly pressing down

great and you're like wow cool in this

four-post tabletop position I actually

feel like I have it but I'm still

feeling in the hands but I still feel

pressure on my wrist so now that you

have this kind of beautiful awareness

through the fingers the knuckles and

we've committed to that hand lock we

call this hasta bandha of the fleshy

part between the index finger and thumb

now see if you can while keeping that

integrity in the fingers that fleshy

part between the index finger thumb see

if you can kind of actually lift this

area of the palm it may not lift but

it's an energetic thing maybe even it

looks a little bit kind of like a

suction here to where you feel like

you're clawing almost the earth so we're

not just smooshing down but we're

playing here and again if you're like if

I'm getting it Adrian just just play

that's what we're here to do we're

deepening our practice we're taking

responsibility from happiness and also

making sure that we can grow our

practice and do crazy fun things like

this in a safe and happy way so just

playing now with the suctioning action

of the palms almost as if a

image that I do like is like that we're

clawing the mat so kind of claw with the

fingers and kind of play with that

suction if you need to take a break here

take a break and then again so we've

played with spriting of the fingertips

recap played with the pressing of the

knuckles down and really engaging

between the index finger and thumb that

fleshy part of the hand there and now

we're playing with a suction so you can

even find this like almost like starfish

suction and chances are if you are a

human and you actually just did that

little exploration I mean you're already

feeling the muscles over your forearm

brighten up I know I am so again feel

free to take a little break

massage right think about when you're

studying something you don't read it

once and boom I know it I processed it

boom BAM unless you're a genius which

you probably are but you know there's

this there's this thing about learning

and growing that you have to allow

yourself that processing time and I

think when it comes to the risk people

are just like wow I have weak wrists or

I can't do this or yeah I have batteries

and I'm not trying to dishonor that like

you you might you know that's a real

thing in our world carpal tunnel all

that but I do think that yoga is

actually good for a not bad for it and

that hopefully this will help who knows

let's see okay

adding on so now I have this great

integrity in the hand come back to all

fours take a look down and I'm spreading

the palms I'm really pressing in Adrian

asked me to really really really press

down between index finger and thumb

while still suctioning a bit through the

center of the palm

so really awakening those muscles in the

inner part of the hand but then what's

happening is I'm feeling still feeling

pressure in the in the base of the wrist

so I'm not necessarily wanting to put

pressure in the base of the palm and to

do that I really need to continue the

journey up through the forearm right so

pressing into the foundation strong here

this muscle I can feel it's like working

super hard here between index finger and

thumb but then what's happening is I'm

getting all this compression here you

can even see it in the skin so keep this

pressing down my friends this

handlock as we call it as we suction

press and suction lots of things going

on so it might even seem a little

counterintuitive but we'll get the hang

of it

that hust hasta bandha the hand lock

more on that later so I'm pressing

through here and now I'm going to travel

up so the problem when we press into the

index fingers I'm going to try to

exaggerate this without hurting myself

is that we start to kind of collapse you

see it actually all the time in in in

new students who are starting to really

pay attention to their hands at first

we're all here in down dog oh this is

where most of us are and we start to

build awareness our wrists start to hurt

so we start listening to what our yoga

guides saying and start pressing it

indexing and thumb but then the problem

is we're pressing into this area so

strong that now we're having wrist pain

on this end so just jumped from the

right from one side of the wrist to the

other so we need to find balance and

support so as you're pressing into the

index finger and thumb we want to find

actually an external rotation in the

upper arm and shoulder to balance that

out so I'm pressing down here at the

same time while I have this integrity of

the center line through the hands I'm

drawing energy up from the earth

pressing away kind of yielding to find

this rotation in the upper arm so I

don't want to get too hokey or deep here

but this is what our our yoga is all

about hatha yoga kind of finding the

push and pull the balance and ease

places where we internally rotate and

then lift and externally rotate I mean

that's the joy of yoga that's the dance

so again if you're new to partner like I

have no idea what the hell you just said

let's just play see what happens so I'm

going through the palm and then to test

this I'm just going to kind of turn my

hands as if I was trying to open two

doors or turn two knobs this is the

image

on the earth so play with that maintain

the work that we just talked about in

the palms and the CP can I guess if

you're trying to open two jars and then

if you're super bending the elbows and

you notice your elbows coming out you

need to soften through the elbows a

little bit keep a little buoyancy there

so we're not walking through the elbows

and whew I feel a little tremble here is

a lot going on hopefully you feel it too

let's take a little break shake it off

and now we're going to apply it okay so

let's try a downward dog with everything

we just worked on so spreading through

the palms the fingers the knuckles

suctioning through the center pressing

an index finger in thumb and then that

sensation of turning left your right

growing tall through the forearm tops of

the shoulders rotate out and then let's

practice it in a downward facing dog

pressing into the index finger and thumb

you can go ahead and look at your hand

see what's going on here tops of the

shoulders roll away whoo yeah strong

hands

great then release the head take a deep

breath in just notice what's going on

Connect you might be trembling shaking

here working really hard waking up

muscles that have not had a

cockadoodledoo yet great and then

release notice as you get tired what

comes up first the inner palm the outer

edge just notice and then shake it off

awesome work okay so back to all fours

we go we're going to apply this to one

more pose and that's plank which might

make you go up but this is the perfect

pose to apply this this awareness and

the palm to so let's let's do it one

more time coming to all fours and then

just notice how you kind of go back to

your old habits of like Oh coming on the

outer edge or whatever so so go into the

zone probably going to be a little sore

in the forearms here takes time and then

we're just going to go through our

checklist turning the denars opening the

shoulders pressing through the India

finger and thumb and then when you're

ready connecting with your breath and

finding playing just notice what's going

on here yeah excellent tops of the

shoulders rotating away pressing find

that suctioning effect one more breath

here whew strong great and then slowly

lower the knees and come off the hands

and shake it off awesome all right so

after all that awesome work we're going

to go into another lovely level a

situation that is really great for the

wrists also really wonderful as you're

trying to strengthen and you know tend

to that wrist pain so we're going to

come to a forward fold nice and easy I'm

going to go into it from my downward

facing dog so you get a little bonus

time to practice integrating your new

hand the Earth's connection so you come

to your downward facing dog and then

eventually come to forward fold toes are

pointing forward my friends and feet are

hip-width apart great and then when you

arrive we're going to take the palms can

be really nice after all the great work

you've just done and we're going to

bring the toes right to the wrist line

keep breathing keep breathing toes come

right to the wrist line here walk the

toes right up and then go ahead and

begin to wiggle the toes a little bit

here squeezing one at a time

pulling the fleshy part of the palm away

from the wrist and this should feel

awesome you can rock a little front

eventually releasing the weight of the

head over Rock a little back and rock a

little front

keep breathing and rocking back a bit to

the heels gently gently and then one

more time if it's all great give a

little wiggle once again oh so good

so good and releasing the palms one at a

time

awesome take a deep breath in and slowly

make your way back to all fours okay

last thing we're going to do is end with

some Eagle arms just feel good on the

the the upper back body as well I'm

coming to sit on a block you can sit up

on a chair that's in your room if you

like here a blanket again stack of books

or you can just do this in a nice

cross-legged seat so let's see I'll come

to a little hero variation so come to

your nice comfortable seat don't stop

the video now you're almost done done

awesome work that's definitely going to

help your practice mm-hmm and help you

with your wrists growing your practice

strong and healthy let's take the

fingertips down arms forward I call this

thriller arms as you press into the base

here plug the shoulders in lift your

heart

inhale smile exhale here we go right arm

underneath the left here crossing at the

elbows I'm going to wrap the arms around

the palms are going to come wherever

they do naturally now notice that the

shoulders are shimmering here to one

side to the other see if you can level

the shoulders here we go inhale lift the

elbows up high lengthen through the side

body exhale plug the shoulders down keep

your lift in the sternum the heart

inhale lift the elbows a little higher

exhale shoulder blades glide down the

back body press into the palms and one

more breath maybe elbows lift a little

more and exhale and gently unravel come

back to the thriller arms this time

we're going to talk to the hand

so we just flick the wrist slowly up

plug the shoulders in spread the palms

and now left arm underneath the right

wrapping around inhale lift the elbows

up high exhale shoulders gliding down

the back body press into the palms or

fingertips wherever they rest pressing

into the center inhale elbows lift

excuse-me exhale release and inhale last

time elbows lift and exhale grounding

shoulders down whew awesome inhale in

exhale to unravel all the way ah and let

the palms rest gently in your lap

whether you're in a chair or in your

cross-legged or here let's just take a

second to let the blood flow the

opposite direction close your eye so

take your eyes off the video for one

moment you're just notice the sensations

from the shoulders from the center of

the back body and the neck all the way

down through the shoulders the elbows

the forearms the wrists the palms the

fingers and soften through the fingers

here and then back to one edge all the

palms together at the heart

awesome work apply this practice to your

everyday home practice definitely take

the time when you're in public class we

get there a little early to at least

massage the wrist or even do some of

these things so that when you're moving

quickly through your practice with your

mates you are taking good care

awesome have a great one namaste