- Oh hello there! Welcome to Yoga With Adriene or welcome back. I'm Adriene, that's Benji and today we have a lovely practice for lymphatic flow. So hop it to something comfy and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, here we go. Come on down to the ground. We're gonna begin lying down on our backs. Thank you so much for taking this time for yourself, spending it with me and, of course, with dear Benji here. When you come on down to the ground, go ahead and let your legs stretch out. We're just gonna take the arms up and overhead and take a big full body stretch here to start. Start to bring your awareness, your attention to your breath and you can even close your eyes here as you start to move the feet a little, maybe pointing and flexing the feet. And maybe spreading the fingertips wide and then closing them. Moving the ankles perhaps and the wrists. And then take a deep breath in here, big full body stretch. And as you exhale, we're gonna bring the arms back in as we slowly hug the right knee, just the right knee all the way up towards the chest. Now you can just bring your awareness to your lower back here, make any adjustments here so that you're comfortable and then slightly bring a connection to your core. So we're not just soft in the belly but there's a little engagement there. Then we're gonna flex the left foot and actively bend the elbows to squeeze the right knee in towards your chest. So you feel this kind of massage, this compression in the front of the right hip crease. And then begin to gently deepen your breath, feeling that rise and fall. That big, full inhalation. Filling the lungs with air and that long slow exhalation, letting the ribs and the chest soften. Great, now from here we're gonna bend the left knee, bring the left foot to the ground and you're just gonna use that to kind of ground you here as you pull your right knee towards your right shoulder. So we're just opening up through that hip here, still focusing on that massage or that compression in the right hip crease. Then you can stay here particularly if you're feeling a little unstable, maybe re-engage the core or there's an option to bring your left hand down to the earth and just slowly open up through the left hip by coming on to the outer edge of your left foot. You're not coming into a full reclined Cobbler's or like an open butterfly knee but just a little opening here. Good, then inhale in, fill all four sides of the torso with air and then exhale, use that slight drawing in of the belly, slight drawing into center to come all the way back to center, stretch both legs out. Inhale, reach up towards the back, so a big full body stretch, reach up towards the top of your head, beyond the top of your head actually, sorry. And then exhale slow and steady, bring the arms back in and this time left knee comes up. Nice stretch here, try to keep the shoulders relaxed. Think about softening through your sternum, your chest. Good and then again, finding a little massage in the front of the left hip crease this time. And starting to activate the right foot, the right leg, just feeling a little connection to core here. And when you're ready, we'll keep the left knee squeezing up towards the chest as you bend the right knee, right foot comes to the ground and then slowly begin to open it up. Think about bringing your left knee towards your left shoulder. Squeezing, feeling that gentle compression in the front of the left hip crease. And I'm staying in kind of a nice neutral spine here but just play with your pelvis, make sure you're not feeling anything funky in the low back. Alright, stay here or option to bring the right hand to the ground and just slowly with the core engaged, open the right knee gently, it's kind of a funky one, to the outer edge of the right foot. Breathe, you got to bring the breath. I know you can. Big inhalation. Long exhale. Good, relax through your shoulders, inhale in again. Exhale, we draw it all back into center on that exhale. Great, bring both feet to the ground now, knees bent, palms on the earth. Snuggle your shoulder blades underneath your heart space and really feel the backs, like the the mid-back, backs of the ribs, press into the mat here. Curl the tailbone up so you feel this connection in your core, this imprint, navel to spine, low back flush with the mat. Good, keep the shoulders relaxed here, inhale in. Exhale, slowly begin to lift the hip points. Nice and slow massaging all the way up through the spine. Keep your gaze up towards the sky here as you lift the chest to the chin. Slow and steady rising up, shoulders relaxed, gentle drawing in of the low ribs. Good, then slow and steady, soften through the sternum, the chest and begin to roll it down. Sometimes it helps me to close my eyes here in these ridges to kind of slow down and feel the sensation through each vertebra. Alright, here we go again. Inhale in. Exhale, begin to tuck the tailbone, move through that imprint, that navel to spine and then slowly begin to press into all four corners of the feet to continue rolling all the way up, nice and slow. Take a deep breath in at the top, your top. And then exhale, nice and slow all the way down. Beautiful, from here we're gonna lift the knees up towards the chest and bring the hands to the backs of the knees and you're just gonna allow the weight of your feet to drop here up and then down. And you get to kind of give a little pressure in the backs of the knees here like a massage, like a squeeze so you're not pressing but just moving the toes up and back. Again, you can offer a little squeeze behind the backs of the knees here. And we're breathing here. Let's continue for five, for four, three, two and on the one, we're gonna connect to our core and start to rock and roll up and down the length of the spine. This move is not for every body so if you are not all about it just turn to one side and use your palms to press up to a nice comfortable seat, otherwise we're gonna massage up and down the length of the spine and then we'll all join in together in all fours. So make your way to all fours, spread the fingertips wide. Knees are underneath the hips, wrists underneath the shoulders. Inhale, drop the belly, open the chest, collarbones wide as you look forward, claw through the fingertips as you draw the navel up, round through the spine, tailbone draws down towards the backs of the knees as the chin draws in towards the chest. Take three more of those on your own with the sound of your breath. Invitation here to soften your gaze or close your eyes. Beautiful, come back to Tabletop Position here, press away from your yoga mat. On your next inhale, send your right toes out, left fingertips forward. Breathe in, find length. Exhale, navel draws in, elbow and knee come together, chin to chest. Beautiful, inhale, expand. With the breath, exhale, draw it in. Inhale, expand, reach out, nice long neck. Exhale, contract, navel draws up, draw everything in. And last one, inhale, expand. Exhale, draw it in, squeeze and lift. And release back to Table. Second side. Inhale, left toes back, right fingertips forward. Expand through the front of the left hip crease and right armpit chest and then exhale, squeeze and lift, draw it in. With the breath, inhale, expand. Lots of awareness in the fingers and toes and exhale, shift it all back in. Inhale, expand. Exhale, contract. Inhale, full body experience here as you reach out. Exhale, full body experience as you draw it in. Good, and release back to Table. Beautiful, we're gonna curl the toes under here, just gently send the hips back towards the heels. This will look and feel a little different for everyone. So if you need a little more, you can start to come all the way up. If you need to stay on the hands quite a bit, please do. Try to press into the ball joint of your big toe here, sorry, your big toe mound. And then through all of your toes, one at a time just try to press down. It's gonna be tricky once you get to that pinky toe. Then if the hands aren't out, walk them forward. Keep the toes curled under. From your navel drawing in and up, lift the hips up high, Downward Facing Dog. Take a deep breath in here. And as you exhale, melt your heart towards your knees. What does that mean? For me, that's about engaging the core. It really is about finding that engagement so that you can take some of the weight out of the front body and shift it into the back body. Cool, then bend your knees, inhale to look forward, exhale, walk, hop, float, make your way to the top of the mat, feet hip-width apart. Guys are doing great. We're gonna grab opposite elbow here, just rock a little side to side, bend the knees, feel that meticulous attention and grounding in all four corners of the feet. Deep breath in, long breath out. And then we'll release the arms slow and steady, roll it up with a generous bend in your knees. Keep the knees bent as long as possible and then slowly as you lift the chest, we can straighten through the legs, lift the heart, Mountain Pose. On your next breath in, reach the arms all the way up to the sky. And exhale, bend the knees again, Forward Fold all the way back down. Fingertips come to the mat, just take the left foot back, just the left foot. Slowly lower to the left knee, interlace the fingertips, bring them to the top of the right thigh as you lift your chest here. Now pull your right hip crease back, feel that length in the front of your left hip crease and we're gonna feel the belly stretch here as we lift the chest to the chin and then the chin to the sky. Back toes can be curled under or uncurled pressing firmly into the mat. Just find a little stability there. We're not sinking into the hips here but rather we're lifting up to find length through that left hip crease. Again, pulling the right hip crease back. Good, then release. Fingertips come to the earth and we're gonna pull the right hip crease back to straighten the front leg. Flex your right toes towards your face. Big stretch here so big breath. And then exhale to roll through, try to really articulate through that right foot. Come back to your nice low lunge, lift the back heel and walk it all the way back up to standing Forward Fold, feet hip-width apart. Good, this time we're gonna interlace the fingertips behind the back. And we're gonna draw the knuckles up and away from the spine. You can square the wrists here, palms don't have to be flush together. If they are, that's great. If not, make an adjustment. And we're just gonna take a couple breaths here. Nice bend in the knees, at least a micro-bend, so don't lock. We're just gonna shrug the shoulders a little so as if you were kind of shrugging "I don't know," but in this interesting position. Shrugging the shoulders to the ears and then drawing them away. And to the ears, squeeze, and then draw them away. And then just feel that movement around the shoulder and the mid-back. Breathe. And then release it, releasing the bind, bringing the arms back down to the earth. This time we're gonna draw the hands to the waistline, bend the knees and press into the feet to rise up slowly. Rise up, feel this lift through the front body and energetic lift. And this grounding through the back body. Allowing the body to respond to that energetic invitation here, too. Okay, this time only right arm lifts up. And then take it over to the left side. Dig into your right heel, stretch. You can keep your left hand on your waistline if that feels more supportive. Breathe in. Breathe out, hug the low ribs in just a bit. Press into both heels. And then come back to center, allow the right fingertips to float down. Inhale, left fingertips reach up, and exhale over to the right. Navel draws in and up, keep that core engagement. Shoulders are relaxed, again, right hand can come to the waistline here. Press into all four corners of the feet. Press into both heels evenly. Big stretch here, big breath, inhale. And then exhale to come all the way back to center, beautiful. Inhale, reach for the sky. Exhale, wiggle the fingertips as you bend your knees and Forward Fold. Fingertips come to the mat, step the right foot back, right foot back, front knee over front ankle. We lower the right knee to the ground, interlace the fingertips, bring them to the top of the left thigh. So we're not kind of dumping all the weight in here. We're actively pulling up from the pelvic floor, we're feeling that length in the front of the right hip crease, we're pulling the left hip crease back so there's a lot going on here as you lift your chest now to the chin and the chin to the sky. Breathe. Steady with your breath. And then slowly releasing that, fingertips come back down and we shift the hips back, pulling the left hip crease back, flexing the left toes toward the face here for one breath cycle in. And out, as we slowly roll through the left foot. Lift the back knee, Runner's Lunge, and here we go, stepping the back foot up to meet the front. You can take as many steps as you need here. Forward Fold at the top. Once again, interlacing the fingertips behind the back. This time you can take the opposite thumb on top. Nice bend in the knees here as you draw the knuckles away. And this time, we're gonna draw the knuckles all the way up towards the sky. Careful not to push or press, use your breath to guide you here. And then, just a slow, really small, okay, my friends, tick-tock of the knuckles left to right. Very small drawing a line with the knuckles left to right. Try to keep your hips nice and stable, knees bent. So we're engaging strong muscles of the legs and the glutes here. Sweet, and then release that, arms come back down. We're gonna just refresh with a little halfway lift so inhale, lift your spine up, your back up halfway, crown of the head forward (chuckles). And then, exhale, slowly release everything back down. Alright, fingertips come forward, inhale, bend the knees, hips come back. Don't hate me, Utkatasan. We got this. Pressing into the heels, sending the hips back like you were sitting in a chair. Hands can come to the waistline if the shoulders are tight, otherwise fingertips forward and not too narrow, lots of space, palms facing towards one another. Thumbs up, pinkies down. You might lift the thumbs a little bit. You might sink down a little bit lower. Good, now we're gonna inhale, rise up. That's with the inhale. Exhale, go right back to that chair, it's like a squat. It's not like a squat, it is a squat. (laughs) Inhale, rise. Exhale. Inhale, rise. Navel draws in as you squat. Option here to inhale, rise, keep the arms up, exhale, send the fingertips down and back as you sink back into your Chair. Inhale, reach up. Exhale, press back. Inhale, reach up. Try not to rush this here. Keep it nice and slow and controlled. Moving with your breath. Now your next inhale, rise up, come all the way up onto your tippy-tip-tip toes even if it's just for a moment. And then lower it down and shake it out. Literally, shake it out. Shake your hands, shake your feet. Pet Benji. And then come back to feet hip-width apart. You can stay at the front of your mat, wherever it feels cool for you for this next bit. I'm just gonna come to center to demonstrate. So we're gonna take the right hand and we're gonna bring it all the way to the left, the back of the left shoulder. And then you're gonna take the left hand all the way back and over towards the right hip. Then turn to look past your left shoulder, breathe in. Exhale, you're gonna move through center and just take it to the other side. So you grab your right shoulder with your left hand, just allow your right hand to come to the left side waist. Alright, here we go. Come through center. And over to the left. Center, over to the right. Now we're just gonna start to speed it up a little bit and you might just kind of allow your hands to make contact with your body here. And then we're gonna start to grow this. So in three, two, one, we're gonna allow the arms to just be loose and to go a little bit back and forth, knocking on heaven's door. Now start to allow the feet to move here as you rock side to side. And you might start to connect this with the breath pattern. Whatever feels good, there's no right or wrong. Then we'll pick up the speed here, bringing a little more rigor (chuckles) to this move for three, for two and on one, we slowly slow it down and release. Beautiful. If you're not at the top of your mat, go ahead and come to the top of the mat. This time we're gonna bring the toes together and heels together. So if you want to stay in hip distance, that's a choice otherwise nice, conscious footing with the feet together. Fingertips reach all the way up as you breathe in. Wiggle the fingertips as you bend the knees, Forward Fold, as you breathe out. From here, inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, soften and fold. You're gonna step the left foot back, left foot back and this time you're gonna pivot on the left foot. And then keep the right fingertips just by the right ankle as you slowly open the left fingertips up into a Triangle Pose. So we're building Triangle from the ground up. Sometimes it's helpful to have a block here to put your hand on but we're engaging the core here as well so we may work to a point where we may not need to lean on that right hand so much. Inhale in. Lengthen through the neck. Lengthen through the crown. And exhale, bring the left fingertips slowly down then the right knee come into your Runner's Lunge, look forward. Good, deep breath in here. As you exhale, step the back foot up to meet the front. Inhale, halfway lift here, refresh. Exhale to soften and fold. Triangle on the other side. Step the right foot back, pivot on the back foot. So right toes are turned in, left toes are straight. We straighten through the front leg, nice and slow, left fingertips outside the left ankle we draw a line with the right fingertips all the way across the chest and up towards the sky, Trikonasana. Gently hug the low ribs in, breathe. Playing with the spiral for one more breath. Spiraling your heart up towards the sky maybe. And then exhale, soften and release, bring it back down to that Runner's Lunge. Inhale to look forward. Exhale to make your way back up to the top. Feet together, really together. Good, inhale, halfway lift. Exhale to soften and fold. Good, bend the knees. This time Utkatasana, fingertips forward, hips back with the feet together. Good, continue to rise all the way up. Big breath in. As you exhale, interlace the fingertips behind the back. Knuckles draw down and away as you open the chest, lift your heart. Maybe lifting the corners of the mouth too, maybe. And then exhale to release. You can walk the feet back out to hip-width apart if that feels more stable or keep the feet together, Mountain Pose. We're gonna end with some gentle neck release. So we're gonna start walking, not walking, moving, drawing, there we go, drawing, drawing circles with the nose, excuse me (chuckles). That's what happens sometimes in this setting when I'm practicing with you is I'm kind of, my energy, I get taken on the journey of the practice and I have to stay grounded in the instruction. Then reverse your circle. Draw the shoulder blades together. Lift the chest just a bit. Last but not least, we're gonna take the hands, create a space between the index finger and the ring finger, and you're gonna bring them to just under the ears here. We're just gonna do a little massage under the ear here. Can start to think about the next steps of your day. Maybe give thanks that you took this time for yourself to get things flowing, to connect to your breath. Remember how good your body is at healing. And that your natural state is balanced. And feels at home in your skin. Thank you for sharing this time with me. I got your back. Always here. I think Benji is too so have a great rest of the day. You can release the arms gently down at your sides, notice how you feel. We'll take one last breath in together. Inhale. And exhale to relax the shoulders and close the session. Thank you guys. Love you so much. See you next time. (upbeat music)