- Hey everyone, 
welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene, this is Benji

and today we have a 
yummy slow your roll yoga.

So this is perfect if you are
feeling anxious and you need to

stop, drop and find a chill
or if you've just been going,

going, going and things are
starting to slow down and you

don't know what to do 
first or what to do next.

This is a nice little ditty
that's gonna help you transition

to taking good care.

So if you have a thick towel
like a beach towel or

if you have a blanket, 
go ahead and grab it

and if you don't,
don't worry about it.

Just hop into something 
comfy and let's get started.

(bright music)

Okay pals, let's come 
on down to the ground.

This is a practice that 
stays nice and low today

so we're just gonna ease in 
with a seated Forward Fold.

Benji's actually teaching this
class today and he's channeling

all the instruction through me

and then I'll share 
it out with you

so thank you, Benji.

If you brought a 
towel or blanket,

let's go ahead and 
use it to sit up on now.

Get the hips kinda high.

And then just nice and easy,
in your own time,

extend your legs out long.

You don't have 
to zip 'em up here.

You can keep your 
thigh bone, the femur and

the knee, the shin and the ankle
all in line with the hip point.

And then we'll flex the 
feet up towards the face.

And we're gonna start by
actually taking the fingertips

behind the thighs and you can
bend your knees and we're just

gonna take the thighs, we're
gonna give 'em a big hug here

starting in a Forward Fold.

So allow the weight of 
your head to relax down which,

of course, means you 
won't be looking at the video.

And that's good.

Take a break.

Allow the sound of 
my voice to guide you.

Trust me, trust yourself,

trust the video and this 
valuable little ditty that's

gonna help you slow down.

In time you can find a deeper
breath and even feel that breath

on your back body 
stretch here as you breathe in.

And then just 
slowing down that exhale

to calm the nervous system,

to soothe any frayed nerves

and to soften any worry.

Great. Then when you're 
ready slowly release that.

Come up all the way and 
we're gonna bend the knees.

This time we're gonna wrap the
arms around the shins so you can

give yourself a lot of space.

Some of you know I like to
call this my favorite yoga pose.

But you're gonna 
give your shins a hug now.

You can clasp maybe your wrists
or interlace your fingertips,

whatever feels good,
and then here it is, inhale in.

Exhale, bow the head down, 
let the shoulders round through.

And we're allowing ourselves to
just kind of bring our attention

inward while getting a really
great stretch in the back body.

So the weight of 
the head is relaxed.

We're breathing into 
the back of the heart space.

Feet are grounded,
forehead is soft,

jaw is soft.

And in a world

where we live kind of 
looking at the lens of

so many others moving fast paced
we really take some time here

to just fold in and slow down.

And then take one 
more big breath here.

Feel your back stretch.

And use your 
exhale to tuck your chin,

slowly roll it up nice and slow.

Send the legs back out and then
this time we're gonna reach the

fingertips all the 
way up and overhead.

So with a big inhale

send your arms all the way up.

And then exhale, think up and
over as you come back into that

Forward Fold, Paschimottanasana.

And feel free to bend 
your knees as much you need to.

Sorry Benji, excuse me.

And then allow the weight of
the head to fold over again.

With each breath 
inviting any anxiety,

any anxious feelings, again,

frayed nerves or worry to
just soften and soothe.

Start to listen a 
little more intently to

the sound of your breath.

Let go of any stress 
or tension in the neck.

Soft jaw.

Stay here with your breath.

Each exhale 
relaxing just a bit more.

And then tuck your chin and when
you're ready slowly release it.

Come all the way back up.

Excellent.
We'll lift the left knee.

Now we're gonna give 
the left knee a big hug.

And then from here 
you can hold on

hooking right elbow 
to left knee.

You can hold on here and send
you left fingertips behind you.

Or if you want a 
little deeper stretch,

you'll take the right fingertips
up and find a little bind here

kissing the outer 
edge of your right elbow

to the outer edge 
of your left knee.

Peace, Benji.

So whatever 
variation you've found here,

allow the chin to tuck and the
back of the neck to lengthen.

And use an inhale to sit up tall

and use your exhale to maybe go

a little deeper into the twist.

Left foot is grounding,
right foot is active.

Take one more 
beautiful breath here.

And then release back to center.

Extend the left leg out, 
bring your right knee in.

Same thing here.

Give it a hug in first.

Right heel still in line with
the hip point so not too narrow.

And then if you find you 
want to go a little deeper,

you can take the left 
fingertips all the way up,

find that bind outer edge of the
left elbow to the outer edge of

the right thigh, right knee.

And then right 
fingertips behind.

Same thing. We'll use 
the breath to grow this.

Inhale to lift and lengthen and
exhale to soften into the twist

so no pushing.

Just giving the internal organs

a gentle massage so that any

energy that's collected, that
you're storing from any stress

energy that you're storing from
previous events can kind of get

moved and soften here.

Take a deep breath in.
Sit up really tall.

And then exhale 
to slowly release.

Come back to center.

You're gonna 
bring both knees up now.

You're still on your blanket 
or towel hopefully

and you're gonna 
come right to the edge.

Right so that you feel a nice
support on your sits bones but

that your legs are 
able to get really heavy.

And then we'll open the 
knees wide for Cobbler's Pose.

We'll interlace the 
fingertips around the toes

or clasp the ankles.

Inhale in, and exhale, 
bend the elbows left to right.

Allow your heart to come forward
and then same as it ever was

chin to chest, round through,

relax the weight
of the head over.

Folding in, 
slowing down your breath.

Notice if you do have an impulse

to fidget or scratch something

or pop something or 
maybe you're holding somewhere,

clenching somewhere 
that you are not aware of.

Just take this time to notice.

No right or wrong.

Just using our time wisely

to slow down the 
pace and take stock.

Okay, you're doing great,
inhale in.

Exhale out.

Tuck your chin and 
slowly begin to roll it back up.

We'll close this chapter.

Takin' the hands to the 
outer edge of the knees,

closing the knees one 
more time, rounding forward,

kiss your forehead 
towards your knees.

Doesn't have to 
come close, right?

All of our bodies are beautiful
and different so just the

intention of bowing in.

Getting that great big
stretch in the back of the neck.

And if you get 
a little emotional

or anything comes up here,
it's totally okay.

I hope you know that.
It's totally normal.

It's what happens when we
gift ourselves with the time to

really be with what is.

But if we're going 
fast all the time then

you might miss 
those crucial moments.

Okay, unroll, unravel.

We're gonna come on 
off the blanket here.

And we're gonna take the
towel or blanket and, of course,

everyone will be kind of making
do with what they have but

you're gonna try 
to create a roll.

So like a little taquito.

A little roll.

So many things running 
through my head right now.

Let's just call it a roll.

So a roll, you're gonna take
it to the center of your mat.

And then you're 
gonna bring your roll

right up to the sacrum 
or the low back.

And then everyone 
will be a little different here

so I'm gonna cue 
options for the legs

to support you no matter what.

But bring it on 
up to the low back

and then use your 
core to slowly lower down.

And you want 
your roll to kind of,

not kind of, you want your roll
to support your spine here and

then I'm gonna invite everyone
to start with the feet on the

ground just so we can 
make sure we feel supported.

Allow the legs, the knees to
fold in towards each other so

feet as wide as the mat.

Then if your head is falling 
down off your towel or blanket

you might get an extra blanket
or pillow and bring it there.

And if none of these 
options are working for you,

you can take your roll and just
do a different little ditty and

bring it just 
underneath the shoulder blades.

In the opposite direction.

So we're here

or we're working 
with the blanket here.

And if none of these work, wrap
yourself up in the blanket like

a burrito of 
love and find a nice,

comfy position there.

Burrito of love.

I'll take two, please.

Okay, hands are gonna rest
gently on the belly or the ribs.

If you want you can 
bring one hand to the heart.

For the feet, again, we're
bringing them as wide as the

yoga mat and then 
we're bringing the knees in.

So it's the opposite 
of our Cobbler's Pose.

This was external rotation, this
is internal with the hips and

this is where we're 
gonna chill and rest.

So close your eyes.

Relax the weight of your body.

Feel supported here.

And when you're ready 
bring your attention

back to the 
sound of your breath.

The quality of your breath.

Inhale lots of love in.

And exhale lots of love out.

Take a couple quiet 
moments here to welcome in ease,

grace,

and the softness,

the willingness 
to slow down, reconnect.

If you're loving 
where you are here,

you can reach, (chuckles)

pause the video 
and come back here

for as long as you like.

If you are ready to roll up,

we're gonna 
slowly, slowly, slowly

come to a 
fetal position, any side.

So nice and slow 
you'll come off your roll.

And I love this 
little fetal position

for hopefully obvious reasons.

Just kind of coming back 
to that little innocence.

Feeling also great curvature 
in your back as you

hug your knees in, 
letting your heart rest.

Take one little last 
moment here to surrender.

There are so many 
things you cannot control,

that I cannot control

but taking time to 
slow our roll is one of

them that we can control so
thank you for sharing your time

and your energy.

Let's press up to seated.

Maybe sit back up on 
your blanket if it feels good.

Smile, bring the hands together.

When you're ready 
bring the thumbs

right up to your third eye.

Peace in our thoughts.

Drop the thumbs to your lips.

Peace in our words.

And very slowly 
dropping the hands to the heart.

Peace in your heart.

Love you guys.
Take good care.

Share this video with someone
you think might benefit from it.

And I'll see you next time.

Namaste.

(bright music)