- What's up, everyone? Good morning and welcome to Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is Benji and we're wishing you a very good morning. We have a yoga practice to help you feel fresh and awesome for your day so hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, good morning my friends. Let's begin sitting up nice and tall in a nice cross-legged seat. We're gonna ease in and wake up together. Take your time as you get into place. Find length through the spine. We're gonna just start with soft, easy movement with the head and neck as we connect with the breaths. No need to force anything or push. Just begin nice and easy with soft, easy movement, maybe nodding the head yes and then no. Maybe drawing circles with the nose. You can close your eyes here now that you have your task and begin to deepen your breath. One of the awesome things about practicing yoga in the morning is it's the beginning of the day, right? You have an opportunity to start fresh, to let go of anything that's happened before and to begin anew. You don't have all the information of the day and the hip happenings of the day. They haven't occurred yet so you get to design, or attempt to design, the way you feel today. Maybe letting go of any baggage from the previous day. I'm just really seeing this as an opportunity to start again, begin again. There's no time like the present. Bring the head back over the heart. We'll bring the hands together. Prayer Position. And if Prayer Position feels really revenant and awesome really close your eyes and feel it. Drop your thumbs to your heart. If that's not your style then no prob. Press the palms together and start to open up through the shoulders, elbows left to right, and just create a little resistance here, a little sensation. The way I like to approach yoga is very personal, it's very individual. That's perfect for our morning practice, right, where you're really taking this time for yourself whether you're practicing alone or with someone. Wherever you are in mind and body just take a second to set an intention. It can just simply be to wake up. Take a deep breath in. And exhale to release the hands to the legs. Open your eyes. Smile just a little. We're gonna bring the legs one foot in front of the other so let's start with the left heel in and the right foot in front. If it's beginning to be a little bit tricky to sit up tall here, you can lift your bum up on a blanket or a block or a rolled up towel, even a couch cushion's awesome. Then here we go, a nice good morning stretch. Spread your hands, your fingers, super wide so you really feel the skin in between your fingers stretch really wide and then just reach up really naturally from here. You don't have to come into a perfect shape or worry about rotation. Just reach up in a way that feels good. We create length through the side body. You might close your eyes here again. Now that you know what you're doing you can close your eyes and feel it out. Think about lifting not just through the side body but through the front body and the back body, as well. Then like a little monkey or something you're reaching up and imagine you're now hanging from a tree branch or something here so you might even claw the fingers or take fists. (deep breathing) Begin to deepen your breath. Longer, louder, fuller breaths. We're just feeling the energy and the blood rush and you might be tired here so you might take a big yawn. (yawning) Then here we go, wiggle the fingertips actively. Wiggle the fingertips and rain it down nice and slow. Great, then you're gonna take the fingertips out all the way in front and then continue to reach your heart forward, palms come to the earth. You should start to feel this in the outer right hip. Breathe deep. Then turn your elbow creases towards the front and from here reach your heart forward and slowly melt it down, forehead to earth. I should say forehead toward earth because the forehead's not gonna come to the ground. If you have a block in your home practice you can actually bring the block to your forehead here. Otherwise just let the weight of the head hang kind of loose. Close your eyes once again, deepen your breath. You might rock gently side to side, feeling the sensation in the outer hip but we're also starting to create space in the lower back. Again, elbow creases are forward here so we're not clenching or we're rounding but we're rotating the shoulders out, elbows forward. Excuse me, elbow creases forward. Soft, easy movement as you sway like a branch in the breeze back and forth, back and forth. (deep breathing) Great, then root down through your bum. Hips grow heavy here. We're gonna slowly roll it up. Tuck the chin into the chest, nose toward the navel. We round forward, shoulders forward. This is my favorite Mister Burns moment, you know. Then from here we plant the seed, roll all the way down at the coccyx and then slowly grow awareness all the way up through the spine, all the way up, up, up. Rolling. Chin stays tucked 'til the last possible minute all the way up. We rise head over heart, heart over pelvis. Let's switch the legs nice and easy. Right heel comes in. Left leg comes out. Siddhasana is this shape. Once again, this time a little faster we spread the fingertips, inhale, reach to the sky. Lift and lengthen through all four sides of the torso. Maybe you take a big yawn here. (yawning) Maybe a lion's breath. (exhaling) Rotate the wrists. Awesome. Then send the fingertips forward. Wiggle the fingertips, rain it down, and send it all the way forward. Keep your heart open, chest open, elbow creases towards the front and you're gonna come into your fold here. Really feeling a nuance, what's going on in that left hip. Then same thing, you'll close your eyes or soften your gaze and start to rock gently back and forth like a branch swaying in the breeze. (exhaling) Relax your shoulders, relax your neck. Move how you wanna move throughout your day. Move like that on your mat. Nobody wants to be a basket case rushing from one thing to the next, feeling late and unprepared and grasping or pushing or trying to catch up. Mm-mm. Set the tone for your day by paying attention to the quality of movement on your mat. Just allowing sensation to occur, not forcing it. (exhaling) This is that Sukha, that ease. And it takes practice. Take one more cycle of breath here. Then again, plant a seed right at the tailbone. So root down, thigh bones heavy, tuck the chin, and slow this one down a lot. Slow, slow, slow. Rolling up. That seed at the base of the spine starts to grow taller. The chin stays tucked as long as possible as you roll up super slow, feeling your way all the way up through the spinal column. The neck nice and long. The posture grows tall. Eventually the third eye and the crown lift up. Head over heart, heart over pelvis. Alright, a little rinse. Squeeze shoulders up to the ears as you breathe in. Take a deep breath in here then pause, hold the breath at the top. If you want you can come into a little mudra here, index finger and thumb. Retaining the breath at the top. Squeeze and lift, squeeze and lift, squeeze and lift, squeeze and lift. Then exhale with a big sigh. (exhaling) Drop the shoulders. Awesome. Let's do that two more times. Inhale. Squeeze and lift. Shoulders rise with mindfulness all the way up to the earlobes. Then soften the skin of the face. Maybe you take the mudra here. Retain the breath. Hold. Squeeze and lift. Actively lifting, lifting, lifting. Then here we go. Exhale to drop. (exhaling) And one more time. Squeeze and lift. Inhale, hold or retain the breath at the top. Pause, hold it, you got it. Find the ease in the jaw and the skin of the forehead. Here we go. Drop and release. (exhaling) Awesome. Allow your hands to rest gently on the tops of the thighs and keep the mudra if you like. Relax the shoulders completely down, down, down and just notice how you feel. Take a little moment of meditation here to just close the eyes and notice. Sweet. Then draw the palms together at your heart. Once again, Anjali mudra. Take a deep breath in. (inhaling) Then exhale. Release the palms, come forward. We're gonna go all the way onto all fours so take your time getting there. Keep a little smile on your face or just a little softness in the face. If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed just start to soften. It happens. You wake up grouchy, God knows why. Just notice where you are and pay attention to the things you can do to alter how you move and how you feel. You're gonna go right into Cat-Cow so you'll drop the belly and open the chest. Then you'll round through spinal flexion, chin to chest, navel draws up. Then moving in your own time at a pace that feels awesome for you this morning. Again, if you feel sore or a little rickety, it's all good. That's why we're here. If you feel weak or tired or sad, accept that and let's see if we can just use this practice to create shift, to feel fresh. Take a moment or two to bump the hips to one side and then the other. Maybe draw circles with the ribcage. Get a little weird. Get weird. (deep breathing) Then we'll continue to explore body and space and wake up not just the physical body but the emotional body, mental, your mind, as well, by bringing our head below our heart, curling the toes under and peeling the tail up for Downward Dog. Pedaling it out. Nice and easy. Setting yourself up for greatness by really clawing into the fingertips, taking any pressure out of the wrist and then keep that rotation that we had in Siddhasana, Forward Fold, earlier with elbow creases reaching forward. Rotating forward. Yup, then take a deep breath in, still the body, and exhale everything out. (exhaling) Again, deep breath in. Body's in stillness, you got it. (inhaling) Nice cleansing breath out through the mouth. (exhaling) And one more. Claw through the fingertips. You can bend the knees as generously as you need here. (inhaling) And empty it out. (exhaling) Awesome. Baby steps to the top of the mat. Really feel the nuance as you step baby steps to the top. Waking up through the feet is so important before we put our shoes on for the day. Stretching through the Achilles. No metaphor there. Through the calve. And finally up to Forward Fold. Feet hip width apart where we really wake up the backs of the legs, bend the knees to, once again, send some love to the lower back body. Allow the weight of the head to round forward so you feel the stretch through the whole back, shoulders relaxing down. And again, this one's for our mental health. Calming the mind, bringing the head down, shaking it loose and adding that layer of breath to really bring a freshness to our cellular body. (exhaling) Awesome. Take one more cycle of breath here to do whatever you want. Keep the feet nice and planted firmly rooted, grounding for the day. Yes. Then release the arms and then slowly roll it up. As you roll up, once again, put a little awareness. If you like the metaphor of the seed or maybe a little white light, whatever works for you, put it at the base of the spine and grow awareness energy all the way up through the spinal column as you rise up tall, keeping the chin tucked as long as you can, and then lengthening up through the crown. These types of awareness practices, they're just tenfold any sort of muscular thing you could do even though of course we wanna build muscles to support the spine for good posture. But just taking some time in the morning to build awareness and tend to the energy that runs up and down the spine is so good for maintaining healthy posture throughout the day. Lift up through the front body. Think of this whoosh of energy kind of lifting your heart up, maybe lifting the chin slightly. Then it's all about balance, baby, so ground the tailbone down, lift up through the inner thighs, and hopefully you all are doing these videos wherever they are every week and you did our healthy knee video. You can engage the inner thigh and even the quad to lift the kneecaps up a bit here and play with that. Then nice and easy you're gonna take your hands and you're gonna bring 'em to the left side to look behind you as if you were going, "Right this way." Then you're gonna swing 'em to the front and take it to the other side. Then you're just gonna speed up that action and do a little wake up call. I like to call this knocking at heaven's door. I feel like I read that in a Kundalini book back when we had our nose in the books, man. This is a little great good morning thing. The key is to not get in your head, to keep length up through the crown, to keep a soft bend in the knees and that's why I said to engage your inner thigh and the quads to protect the knees. Keep your feet firmly rooted on the ground. Keep it going. It's okay to smile if you feel a little silly. Then the last, the best part is when you just give yourself a little (smacking) slap. And then allow your breath to be a part of this. Again, the morning practice is so great because you're not carrying the baggage of the day. But if you have any grogginess here, just give a little (exhaling). Whatever feels awesome. Then speed it up like kind of an awkward amount of speed. (rapidly breathing) You're gonna come back to Mountain Pose. Here we go. Open the palms out wide, lift the chest, and be still. Close your eyes. Feel. Notice. Bend the knees. Fingertips are gonna go down to come up. Inhale, reach for the sky. Big stretch. Exhale, rain it down. Move the fingertips, wiggle the toes or lift the toes. Forward Fold. Then you're gonna step just the left foot back. Left foot steps back here and we lower the knee down. Then inhale to look forward. You're gonna think about your heart really reaching forward and tug your right hip crease back. Great. Big breath in. Exhale to lift the back knee. This is an option, of course. You can keep it nice and low if your energy level's still kind of low and soft. Then from here plant the left palm. Inhale. Reach up towards the sky and as you do that lift the hips, inhale. Just a bit. Front knee stays bent. Then exhale, bring it down. Awesome. Back foot up. Back foot comes up to meet the front. I'm human, okay? Then inhale, Halfway Lift. When you do this we're gonna take airplane arms so open the shoulders. When you feel like you have that length, send the fingertips out behind you, palms pressing into an imaginary surface. Now we're building strength. Front body meeting the back body for good posture all day. One more breath. Maybe lift up through the triceps a little. Then exhale to release. (exhaling) Forward Fold. Awesome, step the right toes back this time. Lower the right knee. Then loop the shoulder and inhale. Really send your heart, chest forward. Just check to make sure this front knee is not going super far beyond the toes or far beyond the ankle really. Then pull that left hip crease back just a bit. Inhale. Then exhale. Keep the heart opening forward as you maybe use that exhale to bring the back knee up. Really lift the back of that knee towards the ceiling. Then right hand will come to the earth and we revolve, open the heart, the chest forward as you bring the left fingertips up. Big twist. Waking up the digestive organs. All of the internal organs. Really breathing deep and then using an exhale to guide it back down. This time we'll step the back foot, excuse me, the front foot back. Hello, good morning, Adriene. You're coming into a Plank Pose. You can lower to the knees here. You just wanna find nice, long extension in the neck. If you're in Plank, rock front to rock back. Create one nice long line of awareness from crown to tail. If you're on the knees see if you can rotate the shoulders away and again find that length from crown to tail. Three, two, take it to Downward Dog, one. Awesome work. Feel it out. Inhale deeply. Exhale. (exhaling) Everything. Drop the left heel down here and inhale. Lift the right leg up high. (inhaling) Exhale, step it all the way up and through. Pivot on the back foot. Slowly roll up Warrior I but take your time. Tend to the lower body first and then reach the fingertips up high to the sky. (exhaling) Inhale. (inhaling) Exhale. (exhaling) One more breath, inhale. (inhaling) Then exhale. Keep long through all four sides of the torso as you open up Warrior II to the left. Send your gaze past your right fingertips. Everything that you've kind of cultivated in your practice so far, embody it here. Go through your checklist. Inhale. (inhaling) Exhale. Peaceful Warrior. Reach the right fingertips all the way up and back. Front knee stays over the front ankle or reaching forward, shin bone reaching forward. Inhale in. Exhale, Extended Side Angle. Right elbow to the top of the right thigh. Left fingertips to the sky. You can also take the right fingertips down and that top hand forward depending on where you are in your body today. Here we go, inhale. (inhaling) And exhale, navel draws in for support. (exhaling) Here we go. Peaceful, not Peaceful Warrior, Reverse Triangle. Straighten through the front leg and send your right fingertips all the way up and back. Big breath, big stretch. Should feel awesome. Then here we go. Triangle Pose. You're gonna keep the front leg straight as you reach the right fingertips forward. Keep that length in all four sides that we've been doing and then here we go. Left fingertips up. Right fingertips down. See if you can get a little core activation here rather than collapsing down. Inhale. Exhale. Warrior II. Bend that front knee. Gaze forward. Awesome work. Deep breath in. (inhaling) Long breath out. (exhaling) Peaceful Warrior just for a breath. Inhale. Hey, Benji! Welcome! Exhale to cartwheel all the way down. Plant the palms, step the right toes back. Big breath. Exhale, lower all the way to the belly or, if you're ready, Chaturanga to Up Dog. You're gonna use a breath to open the chest, open the heart. You might be in a nice low Cobra here. Then send the hips up and back for Downward Dog. An option is to also come to all fours first and then peel up from there. Be kind to your body, be gentle. From Down Dog we'll anchor the right heel this time and inhale, lift the left leg up high. Exhale, step it all the way up and through. There's no rush. Pivot on the back foot. Find your footing first. Then wake up the spine by tucking the chin and rolling it up from here so you're not leading with the arms. Then again, tend to the lower body first. Then reach the fingertips high to the sky. Virabhadrasana One from there. Strong legs. (exhaling) Breathing deep. (deep breathing) Press into the outer edge of that back foot. Engage the right inner thigh. Inhale. (inhaling) Slow exhale. Open to Warrior II on the right. (exhaling) Deep bend in that front knee. Drop your center, wake up the core, gaze over the left fingertips. Warrior II, Virabhadrasana Two. Drop your center a little more. You got it. Here we go. Peaceful Warrior, left fingertips reach forward up and back. Create space. Set the tone for your day. If you're struggling, see if you can meet it with a softness, with a fierce breath and a strong connection to your core, your center. Inhale. Smile. Then exhale, again, from your center. Navel draws in. Extended Side Angle. Take up space here, lots of space. Strong body. Starting to wake up, create a little heat. Inhale. Lengthen. Exhale. Navel to spine. (exhaling) Then big inhale. And exhale, here we go all the way back. This time Reverse Triangle so straighten that front leg. Reach the left fingertips back. Notice if the ribs are coming out here. See if you can dial it in just a bit. Hug the front body to meet the back. Big stretch, big breath, relax the shoulders away from the ears. Inhale. Keep lifting up from the pelvic floor. Then exhale. Trikonasana, Triangle. Reach the left fingertips forward. Maintain that length. Then here we go, tipping our teacup down and revolving the heart open. (deep breathing) Breathing deep. Pulling that left hip crease back. Right inner thigh is nice and engaged. Take one more big breath here. And exhale, navel to spine. (exhaling) Then here we go all the way back up nice and slow. Warrior II. Pull the pinkies back. (exhaling) Nice work, here we go. Peaceful Warrior just for one breath. Inhale, reach it back. It'd be cool if Benji came back right here again but he's gone. Exhale, cartwheel all the way back. He's fired. Plant the palms, step the left toes back to Plank. Just kidding, he's never fired. Here we go. Mindful Mountain Climbers just for about 10 seconds here. So you can do whatever pace feels good. It can be really fast or it can be really slow. Mindful Mountain Climbers for five, keep going, neck nice and long, four, keep going, you got it, three, maybe cross it over, maybe speed it up, two, and one. Lower all the way to the belly. (exhaling) Awesome work. Swim the fingertips around to interlace behind the tail. Press into the tops of the feet and keep the heels hip width apart. Then loop the shoulders back away from the ears. Engage the upper back body. Then tuck the chin into the chest and slowly roll it up. Keep the neck nice and long. You can close your eyes and gaze right at your third eye. Inhale in. Exhale, stay lifted. Inhale in. Exhale, stay lifted. Then maybe a mantra for your day. Inhale in. Stay lifted, my friend. Here you go. Release everything, awesome. Press away from the earth. Come back to all fours. Walk the knees into center. Child's Pose. Fingertips all the way back towards the toes as you round the forehead down. Take a nice, fresh breath in here. Exhale to empty it out. (exhaling) Press into the tops of the feet. Slowly, again, tuck in the chin to the chest. Roll it up. If this is not available to you in the knees you can just come to a nice cross legged position or comfortable seated position of your choice and we'll roll all the way up. Hands can come to the tops of the thighs. Let me come all the way up, lengthening through the crown. Keep the lift. If you're feeling sensation in your feet, that's the point. We're gonna take a little twist to the left, we're not gonna be here long. Feet might be starting to wake up, tingle. Quote me on that one, please. Then back through center. Gentle twist to the right. Hug everything to the midline. Protect this lower back and this SI. This is gonna feel great. Come back to center. I promise, guys. Palms come together. We're gonna push 'em out to come forward. Then you're gonna swing the legs to one side and then send them all the way out long and feel the sensation in your legs, the blood, might even see the color in your feet. Whew, Dandasana. Hands are gonna come to the tops of the thighs here or at your sides and you're gonna breathe deep and just feel the sensation in your feet. (exhaling) Beautiful. Now hug the left knee in. Once again, hug the left knee in and just a gentle twist to the left. Then this time turn your gaze towards the front and you're just gonna nod front, I mean up and down. Really we're wanting to find this juicy action of the down, the chin to the chest. You should feel it in the left trap. No tension or stress in the neck and shoulders today. Connecting the lower body intelligence with the higher self, the upper body intelligence. Communication. It all collects in the neck, at least for me. Alright, after one more delicious chin to chest here, left elbow really hugging in so you could feel that deep stretch, then you'll release. We're gonna do a quick Baddha Konasana in between. Bring the soles of the feet together. You can massage the arches and inhale, lift your chest. Exhale, ground down through the thighs. Inhale, lift your chest more. Exhale, ground down through the thighs. Maybe a little Butterfly today. Why not? Gentle. ♫ Memory (humming) It's the one of maybe three songs I can play on the piano. If you know it tell me down below. Down below in the comments, jeez. Squeeze your right knee to the chest. Send your left leg out long. Give it a big hug and a nice gentle, so no pushing, no cranking, twist to the right. When you feel like you have that, maintain that in the spine and then look forward again. And here we go. Nodding the head up and down. To really find the stretch that I'm inviting you to find you wanna spiral your elbow in. That's why we've been working with elbow crease shining forward so you really get that rotation of the shoulder wrapping around and down. Just play with that a little bit here. Make sure you're breathing deep. If you lost the breath, nice, conscious breath, come back to it now. Close your eyes and get all zeny a little bit here. Relax your jaw. You're gonna have an awesome day, man. You're gonna have a great day. Even if challenge strikes, which it does, you're gonna be present, centered, ready for anything. Take one more chin to chest. Maybe lean your heart forward a bit. Come all the way back. Soles of the feet come together. Inhale in. This time send your heart up and then forward. Really drive your heart forward. Maybe grab the toes or the ankles here and one last Forward Fold. Feel that deep stretch through the inner groin. (deep breathing) Take some super loving breaths here, some super power breaths in and out. Baby pulse if it feels good but be really mindful. Keep your elbows in here. Then one last time, plant that seed in the tailbone area, the base of the spine, tuck your chin into the chest and slowly roll it up. As you roll up, you're gonna bring the knees together. You're gonna sit back, way back, and maybe the shins and the knees come up here and we wake up, put a little fire in the belly. Maybe take the fingertips out. This is the last bit so hang with me. Maybe you take palms to the left and extend the right leg out long. Give it a try. Maybe you take palms namaste to the right, extend the left leg out long. Give it a try. And back to center, here we go. Let's just burst a big burst of fresh breath and fresh energy. Squeeze everything in, in, in. Squeeze. Peek at me if you need to. Then exhale, navel to spine for stability. Send it all the way out and up. Fingertips, toes up. ♫ Navasana Awesome, and then release. Sukhasana. Close your eyes, get still for just one moment. I choose to have an awesome day. Clean slate. Inviting a freshness into the body and the mind. Throw the hands to the heart. Hats off to you. Thank you so much for spending a little time with me this morning and hundreds, millions, actually, of people around the world. We take time to fill our cup we can then allow it to overflow so we can help others find a meaningful contribution to humanity. But there's no pressure to do that in a day. So just do your best and find what feels good. Deep breath in. (inhaling) Long breath out. (exhaling) If this video helped you, share it with someone you know to help them spread the love. We'll finish by bringing the thumbs up to the third eye and bowing to the awesome within and recognizing that in all beings. Namaste. Have a kick butt day! (upbeat music)