- Hello, everyone, and welcome to Move, your 30 Day Yoga Journey. I'm Adriene and that's Benji. And today is Day 5, high fives all around. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited that we are doing this thing. So it's Day 5 and we're looking today at what it means to deepen. Let's get started. (soft upbeat music) Alright my sweet friends, let's begin lying down today. Take your time, coming down to your mat or to the floor. And we're gonna begin with the feet as wide as the yoga mat, allowing the knees to gently knock together. And as you get situated here, just think about allowing, period. (laughs) But think about allowing yourself to kind of let go. So, dropping the shoulders down to the earth, relaxing through the toes. Letting the head get heavy. And if you haven't already bring your hands to your body somewhere, maybe on the belly or the heart. And we're gonna just allow ourselves to sink right in today. Close your eyes. (laughs) My voice is nice and deep for this Day 5. Deepening practice. Benji just let out a sigh. He's allowing himself to sink into the moment too with us. And I'm sure by now, you're just noticing where your mind is. You might feel some tension or resistance to be here, but just remember that that is, in a way, what this is all about. Showing up and committing to being here with yourself. No matter what the circumstances, I'm so glad you're here. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Feel your breath move you as you inhale deeply. And empty it out. One more time here, close your eyes if you haven't already for this last one and take the deepest breath you've taken all day. And exhale to let it go. The hard part is done. You're here, let's lift the heels, lift the toes, hug the knees into the chest. You can rock gently side to side here, getting a little massage in the back. Just creating some soft, easy movement here to start walking the shoulders down. Maybe finding some gentle movement in the feet. Softening through the skin of the face. So if you're kind of clenching in the forehead or the brow, see if you can relax that a bit. Maybe relax your tongue in the mouth and continue to gently deepen your breath. That's your first job here. And as we deepen the breath, we really kind of open or continue to open up this idea that our breath is, is our spirit, right, is our true self. Like when we take time to nurture that relationship, we are creating a sense of wholeness, of feeling complete or more true, which can then lead to us, feeling confident. And to us feeling more capable of loving ourselves. I mean, the list is endless. And then of course, that has a beautiful movement beyond ourselves, it creates a ripple effect. Alright, send the left foot down now and gently extend the right leg up towards the sky. Take a deep breath in here. Then on your exhale, bend the right knee, you're gonna take the right ankle over the top of the left thigh. Then we'll lift off with the left foot and interlace the fingertips behind the left thigh. You're gonna try to keep some energy in your right foot. So you can think about flexing the toes back towards your right knee and same thing with the left foot. Good then use your right elbow maybe to press the right thigh bone that right femur out, as you squeeze, your left thigh up towards your face. Keep the shoulders relaxed, breathe in, breathe out. Maybe create some soft, easy movement here by rocking side to side. Or by simply continuing to deepen the breath, creating movement in the posture, with the breath. Release the left foot to the earth, extend the right leg up high, and you're gonna slowly lower it with control. Just get in the habit of kind of moving with control. We're gonna start to really dissect, not just what we do here as we continue this journey, but how we do it. So paying attention to how you move because how you move matters. So here we go, bend the right knee, right foot comes to the ground, left foot up high. Inhale in. Exhale, bend the left knee, cross it over the top of the right thigh, and we'll interlace, same thing as we did on the other side. But notice how this side may or may not feel different breathing deep here, lots of energy in the feet using the left elbow, maybe to press into that left inner thigh. And again, keeping a softness through the forehead, the jaw. And taking one more deep breath here. Think about sending the breath almost like down to your hips and space. Just use your imagination. Visualize the breath going all the way down to your hips. And then when you're ready, we'll release right foot to the ground, send the left leg up high. And again, now you can flex the foot or point the toes, but nice and slow as slow as you can roll. This is really for the brain, just kind of training us to move mindfully and with control. Great, and then when that left heel kisses the ground, go ahead and bring both feet to the ground. Heels, walk up towards the hips. We're just gonna open up through the front of the hip here. Inhale, slow and steady peeling up from the tailbone, lifting the hip points towards the sky. And exhale, lowering it down. Keeping all four corners of the feet grounded. As you inhale, we lift up. Nice massage on the spine here. And exhale, we lower. And last one this time we're gonna stay for a bit so inhale, lift up. So we're not allowing the knees to splay out, but we're keeping them stacked so press into all four corners of your foot. That's the ball joint of the big toe, ball joint of the pinky toe and the back two corners of your heels. Then we'll interlace the fingertips this time and maybe walk the shoulders a little bit closer together underneath your heart space here. Breathing deep. Again rooted through those feet. Shins moving forward. You can visualize them moving forward. Chest to chin. Chin to sky. Nice, easy subtle movements here, subtle cues. Good and then you may just stay here for two more cycles of breath, or if you'd like a little bit of a challenge, you'll press the palms into the earth for more stability, maybe inhale lift the right leg up high, just check it out and then exhale, lower. Inhale lift the left leg up high. Press into the palms. Exhale, lower. Good inhale altogether now, exhale to release. So nice, alright, we're gonna come up to a seat. So if you liked the rock and roll move from before, you can do that. If it wasn't your cup of tea, just gently turn to one side and use your hands to press all the way up. We'll come to a cross-legged position facing the front of the mat, you can always use a blanket or multiple blankets towels, or a block to lift the hips here. So let's do the right foot in front of the left here to start. You can cross the ankles, sit up nice and tall. Good, inhale, send the fingertips behind your ears, reach up high, high, high. Just to accentuate kind of invite this length through the side body. Head over heart, heart over pelvis. So just notice if you're leaning forward or maybe collapsed back. If you're collapsed, lift those hips up, maybe again on a prop. Good, inhale in. Exhale, slow and steady, we're gonna rain the fingertips down and begin to lean forward. Palms or fingertips kiss the ground. We wanna keep the sits bones, your buttocks, really grounding down, so if it starts to lift up, you've gone a little too far and you can just play here, walking the fingertips or the palms out. If you're ready to rock and roll with the forearms down, maybe we practice that. And when you're ready, allowing the weight of the head to melt down, breathing deep into the low back here. You can think about the sits bones staying rooted and kind of spreading left to right. Again, we're using this visualization, our imagination, to create more depth of practice. So a lot of times you might hear someone who's guiding yoga, say something where you're like, "Give me a break," and that's okay, that's human, but stay open to visualization and your imagination being a beautiful tool for deepening your practice, finding depth, and that's really in life too at least for me. Take one more breath here. And then you use your exhale to slowly come up. We're just gonna do a gentle twist to the right, left hand on the right knee, we've done this before. Oh my gosh, I see three cardinals down there. Not one, not two but three. Amazing. And then through center and over to the left, just a little twist. Breathing into your belly. And I saw actual three cardinals, not my imagination. (laughs) Although what do you see? What do you wanna see today? Okay, so we'll release that. We're gonna lean back onto the hands just to take the left foot in front. So we'll cross other direction. Inhale, reach for the sky. Lots of length. Exhale, lean forward. Keep the back of the buttocks, the sit bones really rooting down and find your fold here. So it may be forearms, it may be fingertips it may be blanket or block. Maybe you reach all the way forward. And when you're ready, when you have a nice base, relax the weight to the head over, inhale lots of love in. You're doin' this. Exhale, lots of love out. Taking this time, being consistent. Find a nice audible breath here just to bring, bring it all in to this moment, you're here. We're doing this. 30 days of movement, for the brain for the body. Inhale in deeply. Exhale, come all the way up. Nice, this time to the left side, a gentle twist first. Breathe in. Good, breath out, take it to the right. Ooh, there goes the cardinal and then all the way back to center. Alright, let's come forward onto all fours. Take a couple of Cat-Cows there. Inhaling to drop the belly, exhaling to round through the spine. Then, when you're ready, curl the toes under, send the hips up high Downward Facing Dog. Deep breath in. Long breath out. You got this. Deep breath in. Press into the fingertips, press into the knuckles. Long breath out. Good anchor through the left heel, inhale, lift the right leg up high. Exhale, bend your right knee, you're gonna step it all the way up and to the outer edge of your right hand. The outer edge of your right foot. Benji is going to (chuckles) keep my right foot nice and warm there. Alright, lower the left knee down. And if this is a lot for you, maybe take the blocks and lift the ground up to you, or you can use your books or even the blankets here, just to give you a little lift. Alright, little Lizard variation, front knee over front ankle. I'm drawing the navel in and up, lifting a little from the pelvic floor. Neck is nice and long. So not hanging here. Just lots of awareness in the spine. Now stay here or inhale in, exhale, lift the left knee. And then lower. Lift and then lower. And then last time lift and we'll stay here, breathing deep. You might stay on the fingertips on your props. Or on the palms, or you might come to forearms here. Breathing deep. (Benji growls softly) Benji, Benji. Finding that depth of breath. Again, maybe thinking about that breath, traveling all the way down to your hips. Alright, if you're on the forearms, gently come back up to the palms. If your knee is lowered, go ahead and lift it. And we're gonna plant the palms and we're gonna step the right foot all the way back up to that Three-Legged Dog. Inhale and then exhale, lower the right leg down. Great, second side, inhale lift the left leg up high. Right heel is really heavy here. Good, exhale, bend the left knee. We're gonna step that left foot to the outer edge of the left hand. Outer edge of the left side of the mat. Good, then lower the right knee down, breathe deep. (Benji growling quietly) Benji. Good, front knee over front ankle, just check it out here on this side, sending breath all the way down to the belly, finding that depth of breath. And if you're new to this type of breathing, it can be kind of arduous, like, "Okay, I gotta do that deep breathing again," but try to stick with it. Remember, this is a beautiful time of day that we've carved out to really make big moves here. So, basically bring the breath. You got to bring the breath, stick with it. Maybe you lift the back knee, maybe you come onto the forearms. Breathing deep. Good, and if you're on your forearms, come up to your palms. If you're on your right knee, lift your right knee, and together, we'll press into the palms and send that left foot up and back, Three-Legged Dog, take a deep breath in. And then exhale to lower, Downward Facing Dog. Beautiful inhale in deeply here. And exhale completely. Now listen carefully, you're gonna bend the knees and you're gonna walk the hands back towards the toes. So you're at a Forward Fold at the back edge of your mat. Then you're gonna open up the heels and then open up the toes. So you're basically widening your stance so that your toes are turned out and they're just about on the edge of your mat. And if you're not on a yoga mat, they're just a little bit hip width apart. Good, then bend your knees, bring your hands to the waistline. Draw your shoulder blades together and rise up strong. Like the powerful being that you are. And here we are in a Mountain Pose variation. Send your fingertips down gently at your sides and you can kind of visualize the Mountain here. Crown on the head is the top, your arms are the sides and you are the steady, steady rock in the middle. Lengthening all the way up through the crown on the head. Take a deep breath in here. And then exhale, you're gonna bring the palms together, we're gonna bend the knees, we're gonna go into a squat here, so nice and low. Now you may have a moment where the heels start to come up here and that's all right. We're gonna drop all the way down, we might reach for our props here once again to bring them underneath the buttocks here. Palms come together. We're coming into a yoga squat or a yogi squat, Malasana variation maybe, which is down low. But if you find that maybe this mid squat is better for you or maybe with the heels lifted, is a little better for you. We're here for three more breaths. You got this. I know you've probably come out of the posture already. Now, let's come back in for three breaths. If you haven't already, rockstar. Find a variation here. Just checking it out. Deep, deep hip stretch, and also deep, deep mind game. (laughs) We got this. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Then wherever you are, take another inhale in and use your next exhale to initiate lifting the heels and walking the hands all the way to a Plank. You're gonna walk the heels in line with the hips and then check it out. Keep the toes curled under so you're gonna keep the feet where they are in this Plank. As we slowly shift the hips forward, press away from the yoga mat with your palms and open up here. We're just opening up through the front body, through the front of the hip crease, that hip flexor and then we are gonna take it to Downward Dog. Nice, let's repeat that. Inhale, slow and steady from your center. Keep the toes where they are, lift up. It's a little Upward Dog variation and then use your core as you lift your hip creases up and back, Downward Facing Dog. Good again, inhale, forward. This is the last one. And exhale, use the abs, send it up and back. Amazing! Inhale, lift the right leg up high. Exhale, bend your right knee. We're gonna slide your right shin on the ground all the way up to a Pigeon Posture. Now take a look back at your left foot. You're gonna bring it, top of the left foot to the ground. Nice and straight, so check it out. And then again, here's a great place to use a prop. You can use the blanket or towel or block to prop the hip up here, as needed. Inhale in. Exhale, walking the fingertips forward, maybe forearms, maybe you come, to fingertips, arms fully reaching forward, outstretched. Keep some energy in the right toes. And breathe. Deepen your relationship with your breath. Deepen your relationship with your body. Know that you are in a safe and loving space to explore here. I got your back. Inhale in. Exhale out. Walk the hands back, go ahead and bring the fingertips really back in line with the hips, lift the heart, breath in. Good and breathe out. Plant the palms, curl the back toes under same thing as before, we're gonna inhale reach right back to that Three-Legged Dog. And exhale, lower the right foot down. Second side. Inhale, lift the left leg fully up high. Exhale, sliding it all the way forward, bend your left knee. Shin comes all the way up and we can move our prop to the other side as needed. Take a look at your right leg. So it look back at it, and then, (laughs) it's inappropriate. And then as you're ready, find your fold here. I love a good fold, it's like great reminder to go inward here, there's an opportunity. We spend so much time just kind of paying attention to the exterior, and this practice, and this journey in particular is a beautiful invitation to come back to the interior, the inner ecosystem and let that influence your beautiful exterior. Inhale in deeply. Exhale, let everything go. Lovely. Inhale in again. Use your exhale to slowly press yourself back up. Walk the hands, fingertips back just a bit. Lift the heart, the chest. And then slowly release, curl the back toes under, press into your palms, inhale, kick the left foot up Three-Legged Dog, and exhale to lower everything down. Great, take a deep breath in here, Downward Facing Dog. And exhale sigh it out. Beautiful, from here slowly lower the knees to the earth and we're gonna cross the ankles and we're gonna come through to either lying down or you can come through to a nice cross-legged seat. So your choice on how to end the practice here today. I'm gonna come lying down. And bring your hands somewhere on your body. So if you're seated you can bring them to the thighs or the knees. If you're lying down, maybe bring them to the belly or the heart. Close your eyes. Inhale lots of love in. Exhale lots of love out. Just take a moment here now to let the breath just be easy and soft, with the eyes closed, just give yourself another moment here to just be present with yourself, present with what is. Then start to gently move the fingers and the toes, the ankles and the wrists. Part of my practice that has really motivated me to keep moving is this ever evolving, just kind of constant deepening of my relationship to myself. And I think that there's loads of science behind why we feel this way after movement, particularly daily movement. But stay on the lookout, if you haven't already felt that spark, just stay present with your experience and thank you so much for showing up today. If you can do five days, we can do five more. So I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. We have some core work tomorrow, but don't be scared this is going to ignite all the good stuff and help us get stronger and move better and better and better and better. I love you guys so much. Bring the palms together, take one last deep in, we'll seal the practice with a breath in, and a breath out. Keep breathing, keep moving and I'll see you tomorrow. Namaste. (soft upbeat music)