- Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is sweet Benji. And we have a Yoga For Beginner's practice for you today. This one's a little longer, do not be scared. Hop into something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, and here we are. Come to the ground and we're gonna sit up on a little blanket if you have one, if not, that's alright. Come into a seat and we'll work right away to sit up as tall as you can. Allow the shoulders to relax. And we have begun. We will tuck the chin just slightly, feel a lengthening in the back of the neck. And as you're ready, I'll invite you to close your eyes here or soften your gaze down gently past your nose. So in this starting position, the shoulders are relaxed. We're actively sitting up tall. We find this almost slightly reverent bow. We tuck the chin, lengthen through the back of the neck. We draw our attention inward by closing the eyes or softening the gaze. And just begin to observe, notice where you might be craving to move or fidget or scratch. And we want to just kind of approach this, so by all of us, myself included, to approach this with loving kindness. So if you are fidgeting, scratching, uncomfortable, can't sit up tall, there's no harm in noticing that, there's no judgment. It's all good. We're simply noticing, simply taking stock. Expanding our awareness. Now slowly bring your hands together at your chest. Palms together in prayer at the heart. And even in the small gestures such as this one, you can think about how you move. So how you bring your hands together can be meaningful, it can help influence how you feel on the mat. Something to pay attention to, plant a little seed. How you move matters. Now drop your chin to your chest, bow your head to your hands. Take a deep breath in. And a nice slow exhale out. Again, deep breath in. And long breath out. One more time like this, inhale in. And this time as you exhale slow and steady, release the hands palm face up on your knees, lift your chest, open your eyes and relax the shoulders down. Just take a quiet moment here to observe how you feel. Great, now we'll flip the palms still on the knees here, and we're gonna start to move in a circular motion with the sternum, the chest. So we're starting to create some movement here in the body. Moving the chest forward, around, and back. Starting to move the rib cage, feel the belly move. And then reverse the circle. You can make it as big as you like, checking in with the shoulders, the neck, the hips. And then bring it back to center. I think about alighting, aligning, excuse me, your head over your heart and your heart right over your center. Fingertips come to your sides, inhale, reach all the way up big breath, big stretch. As you exhale, float the fingertips down, you can even give them a little wiggle. Good, inhale, reach up towards the sky. Big breath, big stretch. And exhale, wiggle the fingertips, float them down. One more time, synchronizing the breath with the movement and the movement with the breath. That's what we're here for, ah, lovely. A gentle twist, you're gonna take the left hand to the top of the right knee. Right fingertips come right behind the spine. Tuck your chin, look down and then from the base of the pelvis you're gonna slowly draw energy up. Then keep traveling up the low back, the mid-back, and then all the way up through the neck as you lift the chin and slowly begin to journey into the twist. Keep breathing here, deep inhalations. And long exhalations. Alright, now keep the left hand where it is on the right knee. You're gonna bring the right fingertips back. Right fingertips reach up towards the sky and then over into a side body stretch. If this is feeling way too jammed up for you here, just release the left hand to the ground and take the side body stretch here. So we always have options. Feel it out and then respond to that feeling. Mindfully with your breath. Alright, bring it back to center. And we're gonna take it all to the other side. So right hand comes to the left knee, left fingertips behind, drop the chin down first. Lift up, think about drawing energy up from the base of the pelvis. Start to lift up. Navel might draw in a little as you slowly travel up the spine. Chest begins to lift. Neck begins to lengthen, and we start to gently journey into the twist using the breath to lift up and lengthen through the spine. Using your exhale to soften slowly into the twist not pushing or forcing anything. You have to bring in the breath. Nice conscious breath. Keep the right hand where it is, left fingertips release. We think up and over here as we come into a side body stretch. And again, if this is too much of a bind in the front body, just release the right hand to the ground. And maybe that just feels better for you today. Finding side body stretch here. Nice, then bring it back up through the center. We're gonna take the fingertips to the shoulders now. Inhale, elbows forward, up, exhale, around, and back. You can close your eyes for this one if you like, find what feels good. Inhale forward, up, exhale, around, and back. One more time, inhale forward, lift up, exhale, around, and back. Awesome, release the hands. Bring them forward now as you slowly transition to all fours, (clears throat) excuse me. You can use your blanket here to pad the knees and we're gonna come into a Tabletop Position with a neutral spine. So lengthen the crown of your head forward so your neck is long, press into the tops of the feet. Knees are underneath the hip points, walk them there, wrists underneath the shoulders, walk them there. Spread your fingertips wide. It's gonna feel a little difficult to be on the hands like this at first, but claw the fingertips. Keep the integrity of spreading the fingertips wide. And in time we'll build strength and stability to be here for longer periods of time with more ease. Curl the toes under, send the hips to the heels. Good, inhale, rise up, shoulders over the wrist, exhale, send it back. With the breath, inhale. It's not a big move. Exhale, send it back. Inhale, shoulders over the wrist. Exhale, back. Now notice in this little exercise what's happened to your fingers and that hand to earth connection already. See if you can re-establish that connection, press into the index finger and thumb, claw through the fingerprints, ground down through the knuckles. Great, the next time you're lifting shoulders over the wrist, go ahead and press into the tops of the feet. Now uncurl the toes, drop the belly and inhale. Open the chest, look forward. Feel that beautiful stretch through the front body. Keep pressing in the top, pressing into the tops of the feet and the fingers. And then exhale, round through the spine, chin to chest, take it the opposite direction. Breathe here. Navel drawing up, pressing away from the yoga mat, chin to chest. Now let's flow with this, inhale, drop the belly, open the chest, look forward. Exhale, round through the spine, chin to chest, navel draws up. With your breath, inhale, drop the belly. Open the heart. Exhale, contract, round through the spine, press through your foundation, navel draws up. One more time, just with the sound of your own breath. Beautiful, then bring it back to Tabletop Position. We're gonna drop the elbows right down where the hands once were. So your forearms now are parallel to each other and they're straight. Press into the fingertips and we're gonna slowly walk the knees back towards the back edge of your mat. You're gonna send the hip creases up high and melt the heart down into a Puppy Posture or heart to earth pose. Big, deep stretch here in the shoulders. Find your breath here inhaling deeply and exhaling completely. Now press into the tops of the feet. You're gonna slowly lead with your nose here. So the nose is gonna begin to come forward. As you look towards your hands, we're gonna slide into home here. So dig into the elbows as you slowly lower the belly, the hips to the earth. If you need to make an adjustment with your blanket by pulling it up or to the side, you can. And we're coming into this Sphinx Pose here. Elbows are underneath the shoulders, heels are in line with the hip points, spread the fingertips still, claw through the fingertips, ground through the knuckles, tuck the chin into the chest. And just like we did in that twist, we're gonna think about lifting from the base of the pelvis here. And then slowly travel up through the low back, the belly, the mid back, the rib cage, and then we start to open up through the chest. Chin is parallel to the earth, so we're not crunching in the back of the neck. Sphinx Pose. Building muscles in the arms and finding stability. Breathing deep, pressing it into the foundation so that which is touching the earth here. Great, then draw a line with your nose to your right, just look past your right shoulder. And then draw a line back through the center and to your left, just look past your left shoulder. And then slowly come back to center. We're gonna release the chest and the chin to the earth slowly. Forehead comes to the mat. Hands come underneath the shoulders. We curl the toes under, inhale in, exhale, press up to all fours or if a Plank is in your practice already, you can press up to a Plank. Good, then from all fours or from your Plank, we'll slowly begin to peel the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Spread the fingertips, take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. Now start to bend one knee and then the other. Stay connected to the sound of your breath here. It's going to become harder and harder to stay connected to a conscious breath the more we layer on. So I'll just keep reminding you to come back to your breath and really let it lead the way. So you never get too far from a nice awareness of your breathing. Pedal it out for one more moment. And even if the arms are getting tired, let's all come into a moment of stillness in Downward Dog. Wonderful, now bend your knees. Start to look forward without crunching the neck and you're just gonna step as many steps as you need all the way up to the top edge of your mat. Feet hip width apart toes pointing forward. Bend your knees here and allow the weight of your head to drop down. You're gonna grab your right elbow with your left hand and your left elbow with your right hand. So you're clasping the elbows here and with a strong awareness in your feet, you're gonna start to slowly sway little left to right. Bend the knees, breathe deep. Then imagine you're just kind of holding all this tension and stress that you might be carrying around. Things that are making you feel heavy or anxious, inhale in deeply and as you exhale release the arms, let all of that go, bend the knees generously and slowly with the knees bent, strong engagement in the legs, start to roll it up to standing. And just as we've been doing, start to roll up through the spine, drawing energy up from the base of the pelvis all the way up through the low back, the mid-back, upper back, the neck, and finally up through the crown of your sweet head. Standing up nice and tall now in Tadasana, Mountain Pose. Lift your chest, bring a little energy through your fingers, relax your shoulders, take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. On your next inhale, spread awareness through your feet, so strong legs, as you reach the fingertips all the way up towards the sky. Right hand grabs the left wrist here. And we'll find a side body stretch again here. Now standing, digging into the heels, pressing into the ball joint of the big toe, the ball joint of the pinky toe. So essentially you are connected through all four corners of your feet. Great, bring it back to center. Switch. Grab the right wrist, this time take it up and over to the left. Inhale in deeply, grounding through the feet. And exhaling completely. Good, inhale, bring it up. Slowly carve a line with your nose to look up towards your thumbs and then nice and easy we're gonna bring the palms together, bend the knees and as slow as you can go Forward Fold all the way back down. From here, we're gonna bring the fingertips to the mat and we're gonna step just the right foot back. Great, just the right foot. Start to lower the hips. Right knee's gonna stay lifted. If that is a little too much for today, you can lower the right knee, but otherwise we're gonna keep the right heel lifted and we're gonna work on reaching the right heel towards the back edge of the mat. Front knee is over front ankle. I'm starting to find that lift up from the base of my pelvic floor again so that I don't have to crash all of my weight onto my fingertips. Lovely, then we'll plant the palms, we'll step the left toes back, come onto all fours and send it back, Extended Child's Pose. So bring the knees wide, send the hips back and just take a moment to rest. Inhaling lots of love in. Closing your eyes for a moment. Exhaling lots of love out. Beautiful, slowly press into the feet, press into the hands. So always staying connected in the transitions, come back all the way up into all fours. We'll curl the toes under, send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Beautiful, this time we're gonna take slow steps up towards the front of the mat, but this time we're gonna cross the feet one over the other nice and slow, criss-cross stepping all the way to the top. Make any adjustments you need to get there. Feet hip width apart. Good, inhale in deeply here. As you exhale, ground through the feet, bring your hands to the waistline and slowly rise up to Mountain Pose, standing nice and tall once again at the top of your mat. This time hands on the hips. Notice how you feel as you lengthen through the crown of the head, just coming into this power posture. And then we're just gonna test our balance a little bit. Inhale, lifting the heels. Squeeze the shoulder blades together elbows back as you lift up from the pelvic floor coming onto the tippy-toes and lowering them down. Inhale, lift up. Exhale lower, and one more time. Lifting and lower. Nice, fingertips go down. We inhale, reach for the sky, palms come together. And exhale, bend the knees generously as you slow and steady slice it down the middle, come back down into the fold. Beautiful. From here fingertips come to the earth, this time we're gonna step the left foot back. Try to keep that knee lifted if you wanna lower it, you know the ground is there for you of course, but I want you to work on reaching that left heel back, front knee over front ankle, lifting up from the pelvic floor. Finding that connection, that support from within. Lastly, open the chest, look forward, deep breath in. Long breath out. Good, plant the palms this time. Plant the palms, step the right toes back to Plank or lower the knees to all fours. So it just depends on your practice. You're in Plank or you're on all fours and we're here for three, two, and on the one we're gonna slowly, slowly transition to come onto our belly. So if you're on your knees, just walk the knees back and lower to the belly if you're in Plank, you can lower all the way down. Great, drag the hands in line with the rib cage, squeeze the elbows together, press into the pubic bone, inhale, lift up, baby Cobra. Very similar to our Sphinx Pose. And exhale, release. Again, inhale in use that which is touching the earth, your foundation, to rise into this baby Cobra, and then exhale, release. And one more time, inhale, we lift up. And exhale float it down, beautiful. From here, curl the toes under, press to all fours. Bring the knees nice and wide, toes to touch. Keep the left hand where it is as you inhale, reach your right hand all the way up towards the sky. And then exhale, thread the needle right fingertips come in and underneath the bridge of the left arm. We come to rest on the right ear, right shoulder, breathe deep here. Can take the left fingertips forward or all the way up towards the sky or all the way around to the small of the back or even the right waist. Some things to play with for fun. Inhale in deeply, as you exhale, use your left hand on the ground to help you unravel. Right hand comes to the mat and we inhale send it to the other side, left fingertips reach up. Exhale, thread the needle so that left hand comes in underneath the right arm and we come to rest on the left ear or the left shoulder. And then a little play time here. As you breathe deep into your belly, right fingertips forward, or maybe your right arm all the way reaching up towards the sky. Maybe even on the low back or around for little bind on the left hip crease. Just things to play with. Breathing deep. And then using your right hand on the earth. Follow your breath, inhale in. Exhale, unravel, come out of the posture. We're gonna walk the knees back underneath the hips, walk the hands out in front, curl the toes under, and send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale in deeply. Exhale, this time out through your mouth. Bend the knees, inhale, look forward and we're gonna criss-cross step just one foot in front of the other nice and slow, stretching through the fascia of the foot. You might feel nice stretch in the ankle, the achilles, the calf. We'll meet back at the front of the mat, feet hip width apart, toes pointing forward. Relax the weight to of your head in standing Forward Fold, Uttanasana. Now this time we're gonna bring the hands to the tops of the feet. Inhale, slide the hands up past the ankles, the shins, the knees, and allow them to land on the tops of your thighs as you loop the shoulders forward, shrug them up and back, coming into a half lift. So the spine is long. You're creating kind of a figure seven. The number seven shape in your body, should feel that way. Squeezing the elbows in. Inhale in deeply. As you exhale, let that all go, Forward Fold. Hands come to the waistline, inhale in. Exhale, press into the feet, rise up, strong legs. Come all the way back to standing. Relax your shoulders, lengthen up through the crown of the head. You're doing great. Shift your weight to your right foot. Use your hands on your waistline here to help you either lift and step or slide your left toes way back. So I'm gonna do the lift and step. I'm lifting and stepping all the way back, but you can also do the slide. Front knee is gonna bend, back leg is gonna stay straight. Pull the right hip crease back, lift your heart, drop the fingertips down, then reach them forward and all the way up and back. Hands can stay on the waistline if that feels more stable today. I'm now in a high lunge. Squeeze the inner thighs to the midline, feel that lift up from the pelvic floor, you got this. Maybe lifting the chest, spreading the fingertips, lots of energy, maybe looking all the way up towards the sky. Inhale in, listen carefully. Exhale, pivot on the back foot, right fingertips go forward, left fingertips go back. You're now in Warrior II, Virabhadrasana II. Back toes are turned in. And then just notice where your spine is at here. So maybe leaning forward, we're gonna slowly begin to create more awareness in the spine, wanting the shoulders and the hips to feel like they're stacked here. Good, now inhale in here. Exhale, right fingertips are gonna come down to the outer edge of that right foot. We're gonna pivot on the back foot and we're gonna come right back to that lunge that we've been in before. Nice low lunge, amazing. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, step as many times as you need to back foot up to meet the front. Slide the hands up to the tops of the thighs. Inhale, halfway lift. And exhale to let it all go. Hands come to the waist. Here we go, inhale in. Exhale, press up, power up, embody this shape here, nice strong Mountain Pose. Lift your chest. And then exhale to release. Beautiful, hands on the waistline here. Shift the weight to the left foot. You can do lift and step or keep those toes on the ground and just slide it all the way back, okay? Just playing around here, finding your center. Back heel is lifted, hands on the waist, we bend that front knee, front leg. Just feel it out, find your breath. Maybe the fingertips go down, forward, up and back. High lunge, lifting up from the pelvic floor. Everyone gently pulling that left hip crease back, finding length in the spine. Nice opening through the shoulders. If the fingertips are reaching up, you can keep them nice and wide so the shoulders have space. Alright, then slow and steady we're gonna dial our center. We're gonna turn our center towards the right. We're gonna plant the back foot down, send the left fingertips forward, right fingertips back, Warrior II, Virabhadrasana II. Find your footing, lift up from the base of the pelvis, find that length in the spine. And again, just notice if you're leaning forward here or back. Think about head over heart, heart over pelvis. We're stacking the shoulders in line with the hips. Just the orientation in space. Take one more deep breath in. And on your exhale, slow and steady, again, from your center, left fingertips come to the outer edge of the left foot. We pivot on the back foot as we bring the right fingertips back down and voilĂ , you are back in that low lunge. Take a deep breath in. Inhale, look forward. Listen carefully this time, exhale, plant the palms. Your choice come to all fours or step that left foot back into Plank. So we're in a Plank or a Half Plank. You got this. Squeeze the elbows into the side body. Slowly, slowly, lower down to your belly. Last Cobra, inhale, rise up with the breath. Exhale to soften and release. From here, we're gonna slowly come onto the elbows, shift to one side of your mat and then very simply just roll over onto your back, nice and slow. You can use your blanket here as a pillow for your head if you like. When you get there, just take a second to get centered on your mat. Then we're gonna hug one knee, any knee into the chest, breathe in. Breathe out and release it back down. Opposite knee hugs up into the chest. Squeeze it in, breathe in. And breathe out, awesome. Now, both knees all the way up you got this, squeeze. Hugging the knees in towards the chest. Inhale in. And exhale, allow the knees to melt to one side, any side. You get to choose just a little twist here, Reclined Twist. Arms can rest gently on the rib cage or you can spread them out wide. Inhale in deeply. As you exhale, slowly bring it back to center. Take another deep breath in. And exhale to the opposite side. Find what feels good with the arms, breathe into your belly. Soften the skin of the forehead. Inhale in, follow your breath. Exhale, melt it back to center. Left foot comes to the ground, right ankle crosses over the top of the left thigh. Then reach your right hand through the space here, interlace behind your left thigh and nice hip stretch here to close the practice. You can find soft easy movement if that feels good. You can start to soften your gaze or close your eyes. Take a deep breath in. And then slowly release and switch. Right foot to the ground, left ankle crosses over. Interlace the hands behind the right thigh. You can keep the feet active here. I encourage it. Find soft, easy movement. Breathing deep. Oh, Benji is coming back. And then slowly release. We'll take Benji's cue here, and find a nice comfy spot, extending the legs out long. Take a deep breath in and allow your arms to rest gently at your sides. Maybe press into the elbows, walk the shoulder blades down towards your hips. Find some space between the ears and the shoulders. And then close your eyes, and just for a moment here, allow yourself to rest. Rest your heart, relax the weight of your body completely and fully into the earth. Soften through the fingertips, soften through the toes, let your lower body get really heavy, let your upper body get really heavy. Maybe part your lips gently. Soften through the jaw. And soften through the skin of the face. Relax the weight of your head. Just allow for a quiet moment of simply being here at the end of your practice. Present with what is. Allowing the nutrients of your practice to seep in. All the movement and breath that you just experienced, allow it to integrate. And take a nice slow sip of air in through the nose. And out through the mouth. And again, in through the nose, inviting some movement back to the fingers and the toes, and out through the mouth. And draw your right hand to your belly, your left hand to your heart space. Feel the warmth of your hands on your body. And just take one last moment here. Perhaps a moment of gratitude or just a loving moment. One last present moment in your practice with your best self. Hardest part was showing up. Thank you so much for being here for showing up and sharing this time with me. Hope to see you again soon. If you like, you can bring the palms together, thumbs right up to the forehead or the third eye. And we'll seal the practice by whispering, Namaste. (upbeat music)