- What's up everyone? Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.
I'm Adriene and this is Benji.
And this is a practice that invites you
to fall in love with your greatest teacher,
your most amazing confidant, your best friend, yourself.
Also fun for partners and pals,
but this is really a great practice
that is hopefully gonna hold you
in a beautiful space, wherever you are,
to find what feels good and practice a little self-love.
So hop into something comfy,
grab a blanket if you have one, and feel the love blossom.
Let's go.
(upbeat music)
Alright, let's begin on the ground. Take your time.
Comin' on down, we're gonna find
a nice, comfortable seat of your choice,
and we're gonna interlace the fingertips.
Wherever you land just allow the hands to
rest gently in your lap.
Take a moment here
to just gently find soft, easy movement in the head,
the neck.
Relax your shoulders.
And then bring the head back to center.
Head over heart, heart over pelvis.
Sit up nice and tall.
Imagine there's a beautiful golden string
pulling you gently up, up, up from the crown of your head
so you just create more space here
in this posture, in the shape that you've chosen
to begin this beautiful practice of love in.
And as you're ready,
we'll take a deep breath in.
Good, and a nice, easy exhale out.
That's it. Big inhale in.
And nice, easy exhale out.
Good. One more time.
The biggest breath you've taken all day.
Inhale lots of love in.
And nice slow exhale here,
lots of love out.
Now slowly, gently lift your hands up
and look at your hands
and notice that you're holding your own hand here,
and just notice what that feels like.
We're gonna lift the chest a little more,
melt the shoulder blades down the back body a little more,
sit up taller.
Then inhale in here
and exhale gentle twist to the right.
Beautiful, inhale back to center.
And exhale, gentle twist to the left.
Inhale to center.
And exhale, nice and easy to the right.
Inhale to center.
Nice and easy to the left.
Now, keep it going, inhaling as you come back to the middle
and exhaling as you twist.
Keep the lower half of your body nice and heavy,
and keep the skin on the face, the jaw, the brow, calm.
Soft and easy here
as you inhale to center
and exhale to the side.
Great, the next time you're back at center,
again, just take a look at your hands.
You're holding your own hand here.
We're gonna press the palms forward now,
feel that stretch in the wrist.
And then inhale, send the pinkies all the way up and back
for a big stretch here on the side body,
the front body, and the back body.
Inhale in deeply here,
and as you exhale, release the grip, wiggle the fingertips,
and float them down gently
to the earth.
Pause here and just notice how you feel.
Beautiful, now we're gonna come forward
onto all fours nice and slow.
Alright, and I'm gonna ask my date tonight
if you don't mind Benji, up, over here.
Come on. (snapping) Up here. Good boy.
Oh, that's good. That's great.
And we'll meet in Tabletop Position.
Wrist underneath the shoulders,
knees directly underneath the hips.
We're gonna move the hips in a circular motion here.
So nice and easy moving in one direction.
If this makes you feel silly or smile, just enjoy that.
And then move it in the opposite direction.
And then back to center.
Draw your navel up to meet your spine
so you feel this connection in your core.
From here, inhale, drop the belly,
open the chest, look forward.
Exhale, round through the spine, chin to chest.
Good. Inhale, drop the belly.
Heart energy shines forward.
And exhale round through the spine, chin to chest.
Feel the skin of the back stretch.
Twice more on your own with the sound of your breath.
And after two more rounds,
go ahead and drop the elbows right where the hands are,
walk the knees back, and melt your heart to the sky.
Puppy posture here or Heart to Earth Pose, Anahatasan.
Beautiful opener for the shoulders here, a surrender.
Maybe the forehead comes to the mat, maybe not.
Now start to listen to the sound of your breath
a little more closely here.
Let the sound of your breath
kind of symbolize your heart's song here.
Get a little closer. Snuggle in to the sound of your breath.
Maybe that's implementing Ujjayi breath here.
Or maybe it's letting out a sigh.
Don't be shy.
Snuggle up to the sound of your breath.
Okay, press into the tops of the feet,
claw through the fingertips.
We're gonna keep the elbows and knees where they are
and just lift the head
and begin to shift your heart forward here,
coming all the way to your belly.
We're gonna interlace the fingertips again,
and once again, just take a look down
and notice that you're holding your own hand.
Elbows are underneath the shoulders here.
Inhale, press into the elbows,
draw the shoulder blades together
and down your backside as you lift your chest.
Close your eyes.
Breathe here, just feeling that length
from the waistline all the way up to the shoulder,
all the way up to the ear.
Good, then draw a line with your nose,
past your left shoulders
as you press firmly into your right elbow.
Good, and then draw a line with your nose
over past the right shoulder
as you press firmly into your left elbow.
And bring it slowly back to center.
You're gonna walk the elbows forward.
Bring your chin to rest on your knuckles here
and we're just gonna kick the legs for three.
Try to touch your heels to your glute. Two.
And one, let it go.
Bring the hands down, elbows back underneath the shoulders.
So it's time to get a little steamy in here,
in this date night's just about to get hot.
So here we go. Curl the toes under, inhale in.
Welcome a little fire as you lift the hips
for a forearm Plank. You got this.
Breathe deep here.
Reach your heels back and draw your navel up.
We're creating more strength,
connection, and muscle tone
in the abdominal wall.
We're getting strong in the back body.
We're keeping the chest nice and open.
And just when you want to give up,
we're actually going to turn the right knee
to kiss the center of the mat, down and in,
and then lift it up.
And then bend the left knee,
drop it down to kiss the center of the mat,
and then lift it up.
Four more times, right
and left.
Right and left.
Last time. You got this. Right and left.
Beautiful. Both knees come down.
We release the hands back to the earth
and we walk the knees back once again, Heart to Earth Pose.
Breathe deep. Big shoulder open right here.
Try to press into all of your knuckles firmly, evenly.
Inhale lots of love in.
And exhales lots of love out.
Beautiful. From here, again, lift the head, lift the chest,
slide on through to home.
This time we're gonna walk, belly comes to the mat.
We're gonna walk the right elbow to the center of the mat.
We're just gonna reach behind
and look to maybe grab your left foot.
If you can't reach, we'll just bend the knee
just like we did in that kick, kick, kick.
You'll just bend the knee
and you'll feel your hamstring engage
and you will feel your quad lengthen.
With the arm, with the bind, of course, it's a little more.
Breathing deep here.
Nice big stretch through the front of that left hip.
Good. Then release and switch.
Take it to the other side.
Again, if you can, grab that leg, it's okay.
You'll still feel it by drawing the right heel up
firmly towards the right glute.
Okay, slowly release that. Come back to center.
Bring the hands underneath the shoulders.
This time, curl the toes under, inhale in.
As you exhale, you get to choose,
you can press up to all fours
or to the top of a Plank.
Your choice.
Take a deep breathe in here,
then everyone exhale Downward Facing Dog.
We'll meet my date tonight, Benji,
in his pose of choice, Downward Facing Dog.
Send the hips up high.
Take a couple breaths here for you.
Find what feels good.
Keep listening.
Work to really get close,
present with the sensation of each posture of each breath.
One present moment really is a window
opening up into the next.
And then we're gonna slowly, nice and easy walk.
You can criss-cross your steps,
maybe one foot than the other, all the way to the top.
Feet hip width apart or flush together, your choice.
Coming into a Standing Forward Fold.
Relax the weight of your head over here.
Just allowing the blood to flow
here with the head below the heart and the hips.
Now take the deepest inhale you've taken all day here.
And as you exhale, really let something go.
Something that's been maybe weighing you down,
causing you distress or creating, cultivating an insecurity.
Take a deep breath in here and use an exhale to let it go.
Maybe an argument, a silly thing,
or maybe even an important thing
when choosing at least for the duration of this practice to
let it go.
Alright, now ground through the feet.
Find your footing as you bring your hands to the waistline.
Inhale in, bend your knees generously,
drop your hips, and slowly rise up to stand.
As you stand up nice and tall here,
lift the chest, open your heart,
then you'll release your hands
and you're gonna hold your own hand behind your back now.
Work to bring the palms together.
It's okay if they don't make it,
but work to bring the palms together.
Open up through those tight shoulders.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
Deep breath in again.
And this time, as you exhale, bend your knees.
We're gonna dive for forward.
Keep the fingers interlaced here
as the crown of the head reaches down towards the earth
or in my case towards Benji.
We'll shake the head a little yes, a little no.
And then release the bind,
gently bring the hands to your mat.
Good. From here, we're gonna step just the right foot back.
Try to keep the back knee lifted.
Know that the ground is there for you
if you want to lower it. We're gonna keep it lifted.
We're gonna inhale sweep the arms forward, up and back,
nice high lunge here,
and exhale, hands to the heart.
Good. Inhale, bring the right elbow
over towards the outer left thigh.
Bye, Benji.
And we're gonna spiral the heart up towards the heavens here
in a Revolved Lunge.
So breathe into the belly here.
And as you exhale, draw the shoulders away from the ears.
Just let the neck be nice and long.
Good, inhale in again, come back to center
in your nice high lunge.
Release the fingertips down to come up, inhale in.
Exhale, wiggle the fingertips,
bring it all the way back down.
Step the left toes back lower from Plank
all the way to your belly.
Let an inhale open the chest as you lift up Cobra.
Exhale, soften and release
all the way back down to the earth.
Curl the toes under, your choice, all fours or Plank.
Take a deep breath in.
And exhale to Downward Facing Dog.
Beautiful.
Take a deep breath in here.
And a long breath out.
This time, step the right leg forward,
try to keep that back knee lifted,
know that you can always lower the knee here.
And when you're ready, inhale,
sweep the arms up and over your head, nice high lunge here.
Pull that right hip crease back
and slowly lower the hands together
down at your heart space. Here we go.
Left elbow now reaches up and around.
We create length in the left side body
as we move into our twist, outer edge of that left elbow
to the outer edge of your right knee.
Press the palms together.
Again, find length in the neck here.
Legs are nice and strong.
Can always lower that back knee here
if that feels best for you today.
Breathing deep as you open your heart up towards the sky.
Good. Relaxing your shoulders.
Inhale in deeply.
As you exhale power through those legs,
come all the way back up, hands at the heart.
High lunge, fingertips go down to come up.
As you inhale, reach high towards the sky.
And then as you exhale, wiggle the fingertips as you
bring it all the way back down.
Good. Step the right toes back.
Here we go, inhale in. Exhale, lower to the belly.
Inhale all the way up for Cobra.
And exhale to release.
Your choice, all fours or Plank.
And we'll meet in Downward Facing Dog.
Bend your knees, walk your hands now back towards your toes,
and let the head hang here breathing nice and easy.
Good. Then walk the hands all the way back out to a Plank.
Take a deep breath in.
Then back to that Forward Fold at the back edge of your mat.
Walk 'em all the way back.
Let the breathe be easy.
Maybe find a soft easy sway here.
And again, connect to your core,
walk it all the way up to Plank.
Welcome back, Benji.
And then hips up high and back, drop your heels.
Send it all the way back to Forward Fold.
And twice more, all the way out to Plank.
Building some heat, and all the way back to Forward Fold.
Last time. All the way out to Plank.
And all the way back to Forward Fold.
This time in the Forward Fold,
you can take your hands underneath your feet here,
toes to the wrist creases.
Wrist creases.
Say that five times fast.
You can wiggle your toes if you like here.
We can allow the weight of the head to hang over.
Nice, easy breaths.
Then we'll release that
and walk the hands all the way back out to Plank,
and then drop down to the elbows.
Interlace your fingertips, hold your hands once again,
and we're gonna drop the hips to the right
and then back to center.
And drop the hips to the left and back to center.
We're not doing a lot of these. You got this.
To the right, feeling those obliques turn on,
and to the left.
And to the right.
And to the left.
And twice more. You got this. To the right.
To the left. Breathe.
And last time. To the right and to the left. Beautiful.
From here, drop the knees, cross the ankles,
and slowly roll through to a seat
and just close your eyes
and see how fast you can find stillness here.
Just listening to the sound of your breath.
(calming music)
Now, once again, interlace the fingertips,
open your eyes, hold your own hand.
You're gonna take your hands behind your head
and really press your head into your hands
as you open up through the chest, the armpit chest,
really lift the heart.
Open the elbows wide, take a deep breath in.
And then exhale to release everything.
Come forward.
Walk the knees back underneath the hips
and send the hips up high and back for Downward Facing Dog.
The heels do not have to touch the ground,
but experiment with how short or how long your dog is.
Just play a little bit.
So you can walk the feet closer or walk the feet back.
Good. Then bend the right knee
and turn to look underneath your left arm.
And then drop your right heel down to the earth and switch.
Bend your left knee
and turn to look underneath your right arm.
Great. Then straighten both legs.
Inhale, look forward, bend both knees.
Exhale, make your way to the top.
From here, bend the knees,
send the hips back, fingertips forward.
A brief Utkatasana to really feel your power.
And then we rise up, inhale, reach for the sky.
And exhale, hands to heart.
Once again, just see how fast you can find stillness,
feel your own essence, that connection inward.
Getting to know
you better.
Shift your weight to your left foot and inhale.
We're gonna peel the right knee all the way up.
First with no hands, a Standing One-Legged Tadasana.
Then we'll take this right foot
and bring it either above the left knee or below.
We can even keep our right toes on the ground
or we can even use a wall to help us work
on this Tree Pose, this Vrksasana.
Pressing the palms together at the heart space
and really feeling that connection.
Or if you are practicing this with someone,
you can press palm to palm with them here,
either with your short arm
or by crossing over
like so, so that'd be here.
So you can play.
If you are snuggling up
to your very best friend, your best teacher,
best confidant, which is yourself,
then you can mirror me here with palm to palm.
Holy palmer's kiss.
Take a deep breath in,
grow a little taller in your tree.
And then exhale to release.
Second side, shift the weight over to the right foot.
Peel the left knee up on a imaginary golden string
and just check this out here.
So you're not hanging on for dear life,
just in case you're brand new to the practice.
You're looking at what needs to be engaged,
what needs to be softened to cultivate balance,
which is a great, beautiful metaphor
for our life off the mat.
And then when you're ready, we can take that foot,
place it wherever appropriate for today's posture
and we'll press the palms together.
Press the right inner thigh to meet that left foot.
And if you're practicing with someone in the room,
maybe you take a hand to theirs,
either the arm closest to them or you can cross over.
There's lots of options.
This is a good one.
So the arm that's closest to you
you can reach up high
and then cross over to meet them in the middle.
You could also come up with your own variation.
And again, if you're solo like me,
feel the warmth of your palms pressing together,
nurturing your most important relationship.
The one with yourself.
The one that influences all the other relationships.
Okay, here we go. Inhale in.
Exhale, if you haven't already, release.
Just come to stand in Tadasana Mountain Pose.
Notice how you feel.
On your next inhale, open the arms super wide
and as you exhale, give yourself a big hug.
Take a deep breath in as you feel your own embrace
and how powerful that can be.
Feel your feet grounding on the earth.
Stand up nice and tall.
Inhale to open it up
and just put the opposite arm on top here
as you give yourself a big ol' hug once again.
And then we'll release the arms.
You're gonna take the right arm to the left side,
right hand to the left side of your neck
and you're just gonna drop your right ear
over your right shoulder
and give yourself a little neck massage here.
And then switch to the other side.
Left ear over left shoulder.
Give yourself a little massage with your left hand.
And then come back to Mountain Pose.
And if you're solo, just breathe deep here nice and slow.
If you're working with someone,
maybe go back to back with them
and just feel the warmth of their body very gently.
Don't need to press.
Be really respectful as you go back to back
and just listen to the sound of your breath here
for a couple cycles.
In and out.
Notice what it feels like to just breathe.
To be present fully.
And what would the quality of our life be like if we
had more of a relationship
to this sensation or this feeling
of being fully present with ourselves
and fully present, more fully present with one another.
Alright, if you're back to back with someone,
you can step back to the front of your mat.
I'll step back to the front of my mat
and we'll inhale to reach the fingertips up,
clap the palms together, (claps)
and then send it all the way back down Forward Fold
one last time.
And then bring the hands to the earth,
step one foot back then the other, lower your knees,
swing the legs to one side, any side,
and we are coming down to our backs here
for some floor work.
So come on down to the ground. Yay.
Bring the hands, palm face down,
underneath your hips here, your bum.
Snuggle your shoulder blades underneath your chest.
And when you're ready,
engage your core to send your toes up towards the sky.
If you can straighten the legs, great, zip 'em up tight.
If not, bend the knees as much as you need.
Inhale to lower the feet down,
hovering just above the earth,
and then exhale to lift them up.
Inhale to lower.
Exhale to lift.
Inhale to lower.
Exhale to lift.
Inhale to lower.
Exhale to lift. Keep it going.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes here
and find a little groove with your breath.
Exhaling as you lift the legs up,
inhaling as you lower them to hover.
To take it out of the low back,
engage those upper abdominals by hugging,
really knitting the low ribs down.
Down and in.
Good. The next time the legs are up,
we're gonna release the hands, we're gonna bend the knees,
and we're gonna grab the ankles
or the outer edges of the feet for Happy Baby posture.
So find soft, easy movement here.
You can massage the back body.
Find what feels good here.
Opening up through the hips.
Nice. Then we'll release the feet to the ground
And then when you're ready,
right ankle's gonna cross over the top of the left thigh
and we'll lift the left foot up
to find a little figure four position here,
and same thing, soft, easy movement here
as you breathe deep.
Now release the left foot to the ground,
but keep your right leg crossing over.
So you're gonna bring the right toes down to the ground.
Right leg is crossed over the top of the left thigh.
Then you're gonna lift the hips up
to bump them to the right side of your mat
and then you're just gonna allow the weight of your legs
to drop to the left side.
You might bring your hands behind your head here
or into Cactus Arms,
or maybe the palms rest gently on your ribcage.
Breathing deep here, maybe turning onto your right ear.
And then slowly come back to center
and we'll take it to the other side.
Crossing the left ankle over the right,
finding that figure four.
Neck is nice and long here, so tuck your chin.
Rocking gently side to side if that feels good,
keeping the feet active.
And then releasing the right foot down,
crossing the left leg over the right,
lift the hips up, bump them to the left,
and then allow the weight of your lower body
to melt to the right as you come into this twist
on the other side,
turning onto your left ear,
and breathing nice wide lateral breath here.
So don't skimp on the breath here.
You're gonna want to take a nice deep, full belly breath in.
And a long breath out.
And then slowly unravel. Come back to center.
Soles of the feet come together, knees wide.
One hand on the belly, one hand on the chest.
Close your eyes, take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
And then bring the knees together.
Walk the feet as wide as your yoga mat
and we find internal rotation, knees kissing together.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
Now extend the legs out long,
rock the head gently side to side.
Get that massage in the back of the head.
And then if you brought a blanket to class,
now's the time to get cozy with it.
So you can wrap yourself up however you like.
You can go full burrito, taquito.
Maybe you share your blanket with someone, maybe not.
Maybe you enjoy
wrapping yourself up in a little cocoon,
just you and only you.
Get nice and cozy.
And if it's a warm climate
for some, maybe, depending on where you're practicing,
you can roll your blanket up
and use it as a bolster
underneath the backs of the knees
or the back of the head.
Now allow your arms
to rest gently at your side, palm face up.
If you are practicing with someone,
you might grab their hand,
but honestly, maybe not.
Maybe you guys are just
individually relaxing side by side.
Maybe you're practicing with someone virtually.
So you're kind of connecting with them across oceans.
And I think that's one of the most beautiful things
about this practice.
This type of practice, in particular,
is that by showing up
on our mats at home,
which is increasingly more uncomfortable
than showing up sometimes
in a group and sometimes the total opposite but
it really does ask a lot more of us
to show up and be with ourselves,
to hold ourselves accountable,
and ultimately to practice loving and caring
for ourselves first so that then we are familiar
with how to do that for others
in a really true and authentic way.
Take a deep breath in here.
And actually, whether you're practicing with someone or not,
let's all bring one hand back to the belly
and one hand back to the heart.
So let's all kind of bring it inward,
just as a way of us all recognizing
that it starts with ourself.
And we can't bypass that relationship
and that this practice
and every practice in which we show up
to get to know ourselves better.
Supports...
Supports you in that process,
the process of learning to love yourself,
to know yourself.
Okay, deep breath in.
Long breath out.
And it is a process. That's all, I'll say. (chuckles)
And nothing more.
Just breathing here, listening to the sound of your breath.
Inhaling lots of love in.
And exhaling lots of love out.
Now I'd like to invite you to
quietly, to yourself, just in your head,
name one thing, one thing you love about yourself.
And no one else ever has to hear this thing.
And if this is really difficult for you,
I just want you to feel supported
and I want you to know
that I'm aware of how difficult this can be
for any one of us on any given day.
Just name one thing.
One single thing that you love about yourself.
Alright.
Slowly peel your hands out from underneath your blanket
if they're there and bring the palms together.
We're gonna bring them right up to the forehead.
Thank you so much for sharing this time
and your energy with me.
Both are extremely valuable, I know,
and you could do a lot of things today
and you chose this practice.
So I really appreciate you
and I hope you have a beautiful rest of the day.
May this fun little practice inspire you
to keep showing up for yourself
so that you can keep showing up for the world.
I love you all. Take good care.
Namaste.
(upbeat music)