- What's up, everyone?
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.
I'm Adriene, and today, we have a core and restore practice.
Who said you can't have it all?
This practice targets the muscles of the deep core.
So you're gonna get a lot out of very little.
It's gonna require your attention and love for yourself,
but we'll take a nice chill pill at the end,
and hopefully leave you feeling awesome.
You want to know why?
Because you deserve it.
Let's get started.
(upbeat music)
Alright, way to show up.
Let's begin in a nice comfortable seat
of your choice.
We're just gonna take a little second to tune in.
So come on down to the ground.
Feel those sits bones on the earth.
Do a little wiggle.
Any little movement that feels good.
And then let's come to stillness.
Easier said than done, I know,
but just taking a moment here to land.
Maybe close your eyes, relax your shoulders.
And the breath, of course, a big part of our
movement practice today.
So start to notice your breathing.
Trust that you chose the right video, the right practice.
We have 20 minutes here together.
It's gonna fly by.
Building strength
from the inside out.
And today, really activating the muscles of the deep core.
And we'll make sure you leave here feeling good,
taking some time to relax at the end.
Draw the palms together.
We'll lift the elbows, and press the palms actively
left to right here.
Lift the sternum, the chest all the way up to the thumbs.
See if you can grow a little bit taller in the spine.
And we'll take a deep inhalation in together.
Here we go. Breathe in.
Nice, long full breath.
And pause at the top.
Hold your breath.
And then exhale, slow release out.
Empty, empty, empty.
Twice more like that.
Big inhale, keep pressing the palms together.
You're gonna breathe into the belly.
Feel the ribcage expand as you breathe in, in, in.
Pause here, shoulders relaxed, retain the breath for a beat.
And then slow exhale to release.
And one last time, breathing in deeply through the nose.
Feel the ribcage expand.
Pause at the top.
Skin of the face relaxed.
And this time as you exhale, release the air,
draw the navel in towards the spine,
feel that activation of the core as you breathe out.
Lovely.
Bat the eyelashes open.
You can relax the arms, maybe take the hands
for a couple wrist circles here.
Hopefully that made sense. And then let's come
on down to our backs.
Come to lie down, hug the knees into the chest.
Give yourself a big hug here for a moment.
Feel the connection of your body on the mat
or on the earth.
And let's take another deep breath in together.
(chuckles)
And a long breath out together.
We were almost in sync with Benji's breathing,
but not quite.
Just trailing behind.
As always with me and Benji, he leads the way.
Okay, we're gonna just keep one knee in, any knee,
and send one leg out, just for a little stretch.
Breathe in, and then switch.
Breathe in.
And then we're gonna switch again.
Now we're gonna keep switching, but we're gonna slow it down,
and we're gonna really pay attention to two things.
One, the placement of our spine.
So actually, let's go ahead and do this.
Bend both knees, bring the soles of the feet to the mat.
Bring your hands to the hip points.
And you’re just gonna rock the pelvis a little bit
back and forth.
And you can maybe bring your thumbs to the low belly.
And just, as you tilt the pelvis back and forth,
notice when those low abs turn on.
And then we're gonna come to a little bit of a neutral spine.
So, sacrum's on the mat.
Low ribs are hugging down, and you can kind of feel those
low abs turn on.
And then just really drive that navel down
to enhance the engagement
of the transverse abdominis.
Alright.
Great.
Now we're gonna return to hugging one knee in,
and extending one leg out, but we're gonna try to maintain
this core connection.
You can stay with the head down here as
we begin to move back and forth.
Or, for a little more of a challenge, you can start to
lift the head, the neck, the shoulders.
And find a little breath pattern here.
You can point the toes or flex the feet,
just a nice conscious footing.
So we're actually doing this in the neutral spine.
So there's a little space between your low back,
but the sacrum and the low ribs are on the earth.
Tuck the chin slightly, keep the shoulders relaxed.
There's no tension in the neck muscles here.
So if there is, maybe you start to work
with the head down here.
So if you start to feel this in the front of the hip creases,
let's check back in with the core,
and maybe you life the legs a little higher.
So you're not going straight out, but more at a diagonal.
I'm starting to feel that warmth,
that fire in the belly.
I hope you are.
We're here for three,
two,
and one.
Beautiful.
Release everything.
Let's bring the feet back to the mat, knees up.
We're gonna come into a Bridge here,
so snuggle the shoulder blades underneath your heart space.
Palms press down to the earth.
We're just gonna start with a slow, slow lift up.
So, focus today is on the abs, right?
So nice and slow, you're gonna start with the
tailbone lifting, press into the feet.
And we're gonna pause here in this imprint position
with the low back flush with the mat.
Now, lift from the pelvic floor, draw your navel down and in.
Hug the low ribs in towards your body,
so you feel that tight core.
And then from there, we're gonna keep the tight core today,
and we're gonna lift the hips up slowly,
pressing one vertebra into the mat at a time.
No need to go too high because you're trying to maintain
that core engagement today.
So once you reach your top, then slowly soften through
the chest, and start to melt it down, seeing if you can
maintain that core connection the whole way
until you come all the way back to neutral.
Alright, let's go again, nice and slow.
Again, focus on the core engagement.
Starting with the tailbone lifting, we come in through
that flush low back position.
This is a great place to get everything turned on.
Wink, wink.
Lifting up through the pelvic floor, drawing the navel down,
pressing the low ribs in towards your body,
and then continuing to lift nice and slow.
Keep the shoulders relaxed,
skin of the face and jaw relaxed.
Once you meet your highest edge, no need to go
too high today, then we'll start to melt it back down.
And then we're just gonna take one more, a little bit faster now
on our own, just moving through that sequence
with the core engagement.
Don't forget to breathe.
Beautiful.
When you come down, no need to rush.
We're gonna interlace the fingertips,
bring them behind the head,
cradling the back of the head and drawing the chin
into the chest.
So there are times where I cue a space
between the chin and the chest.
Today...not today. (chuckles) Not today, folks.
There are times where I cue elbows wide.
Today we're going to tuck the chin into the chest,
and keep the elbows slightly tucked in.
So instead of here, which I cue a lot, we're here.
And the difference really is here, we're kind of working
the rectus abdominis.
And here, we're creating a different shape in
our foundation to really engage that deep core of those
muscles of the pelvic floor, the low abdominals,
and the transverse.
So tuck the chin, elbows hug in.
We want to really, really lift up.
So the shoulders are lifting, and we're pressing
into the low ribs.
Now draw your pelvic floor up and in.
Engage those low abs by drawing the navel down.
And then again, reinforce the hugging of the low ribs in.
Wee-woo!
So you don't have to do a lot of crunches.
You already start to feel it here.
If you feel okay here, we're gonna lift
the shins parallel to the ceiling.
If that's a little too much today because you're working
these deeper muscles in perhaps a new way in your body,
you can still do these moves with the feet down.
So we're just adding a little challenge by lifting the knees.
Alright. Inhale to lower slowly.
Exhale to lift.
But as you lift, it's not really happening from the shoulders.
It's happening as we reinforce this core connection of pelvic
lifting up and in, navel down, and low ribs in.
Alright. Inhale to lower, slow exhale to lift.
Inhale to lower, slow exhale to lift.
Inhale to lower.
Exhale to lift.
Low ribs in.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift.
Let's keep it going.
Navel to spine as you lift.
Three more.
On the third one, lift and hold.
If your knees are lifted, extend your right leg out,
and bring it back in.
Left leg out, and bring it back in.
Right leg out, and bring it back in.
You got this. Last one.
Left toes out, and bring it back in.
Take a rest.
Let everything go.
Breathe in deeply.
And exhale completely.
Round two.
Let's go. We got this.
Interlace the fingertips, bring them behind the head.
Again, find your placement of hugging those low ribs
down and in.
Chin to chest, and elbows tucking in slightly.
Shoulders relaxed.
So before you even lift the feet,
or think of lifting the feet, let's engage,
lifting up through the pelvic floor.
We call this Mula Bandha in yoga.
Navel draws in and down.
Uddiyana Bandha in yoga.
And then hug the low ribs in to lift your shoulders up
a little bit higher. Woo!
Alright, option to do this with the feet down.
I'll demo that this time, but you can always lift
the feet back up.
So we're gonna cross over.
Inhale in.
Exhale.
Left shoulder towards left thigh.
Now, keep both hips evenly on the mat.
You're gonna really start to feel that right oblique here.
Breathe in.
Hold.
Breathe out.
Hold. Good. Now inhale, come through center.
Keep the shoulders lifted, lifted, lifted.
And let's take it to the other side.
So rather than, like, the bicycle crunch
that we've done many times before,
we're taking the right shoulder
to the top of the left thigh.
And we're keeping that right hip heavy, heavy on the mat.
Hold.
Good. On your next inhale, come back to center.
Take it to the other side.
So crossing back and forth now with your breath.
Keeping the shoulders lifted.
It's slow, it's controlled.
And if you see the muscles of your belly coming up,
see if you can maintain that navel drawing in.
Of course, option to lift the knees.
It's quite difficult here.
As you slowly move back and forth, again, keeping those
hip points down is a little bit harder
with the knees lifted.
Alright. Let's do one more on each side.
It doesn't have to be big.
And then release, take a rest.
Woo-wee!
Alright. Round three.
Interlace the fingertips, bring them behind the head,
find your beautiful little neck cradle.
Inhale in.
Exhale, tuck the chin.
Lift the head, the neck, the shoulders.
Navel draws down.
Inhale in again.
Exhale to reinforce low ribs to the mat.
We're gonna lift the knees up, shins to hover.
Good. Inhale in.
On the exhale, you're gonna create a little sound that's
gonna help you maintain that navel to spine connection
as you drop the right toes down.
Then lift them up.
Breathe in. Exhale, left foot.
Lift them up.
Breathe in. Exhale, right toes down.
And switch.
And each time you make that sound,
you're reinforcing the navel down to the spine.
Shoulders are relaxed.
Muscles of the neck are relaxed.
Slow and with control is good.
In these last few rounds, let's see if we can all lift
a little bit higher.
One more to each side.
And release.
Oh man, so my new obsession, of course,
has been this deep core work,
and it is so cool
because it requires such an incredible
amount of your attention that I just think is
so, so wonderful,
and can be challenging.
Okay, guess what?
This is the last round.
Woo!
Confetti!
You're gonna bring the hands underneath
the sacrum this time,
and legs up towards the sky.
So I've worked long and hard to straighten these legs here.
These hammies (chuckles) always seem to shrink.
So if your knees are bent here, that's all good.
No need to force or press
to create a straight leg shape.
Just feel it out.
So to start, we're gonna flex the feet as if you were
holding a yoga block on your feet
or kind of pressing into a wall.
And you're gonna inhale in,
and if this is hurting your hands,
you can just bring your hands right by your bum
onto the earth.
Then you're gonna inhale in, exhale, navel draws down
again, and we're just going to lift the soles of the feet up.
Up, up, up, up,
shoulders relaxed.
Up, up, hug those low ribs into your body.
Up, up, up,
up, up, up, pressing in the palms.
Very small movement.
Up, up, up.
So we're not just moving from the legs, we're really keeping
that active engagement in the core for five.
You got this.
Four, three,
two, and one.
Beautiful. Stay here.
We're gonna scissor the legs, point the toes now.
Right leg drops down.
It comes up. Left leg drops down.
And we alternate.
If it's starting to get fussy in the low back,
just keep this scissor really small.
It's slow and controlled,
but maybe it is small and controlled.
And maybe if we're feeling any tightness in the hips,
we start to just give it a little turnout.
Little Pilates inspo here.
Alright.
And then last bit of this round is you can stay exactly where
you are here, or we can lift the head, the neck,
the shoulders, palms up towards the sky,
and continue here at the scissors lifted for
ten, nine,
eight, seven.
Slow ten. (chuckles)
Six, five,
four, three.
You got it. Stick with it, lift it a little higher.
Two, and one.
Hug the knees into the chest.
Give it a good squeeze.
Take a deep breath in.
I can smell those lilies on the table.
It’s so nice.
And then exhale, let it go.
We're gonna do a little twist here,
so just bring the arms to the side.
Any side.
Hug the knees into the chest.
Twist to one side.
And then the other.
And then we'll come back to center,
and just bring the soles of the feet together.
Knees wide.
Maybe bring the hands to the belly.
Take a deep breath in.
And a long breath out.
And on this next inhale,
really fill the belly.
Stretch.
And soften.
Exhale.
Let it go.
Good. Now bring the hands to the outer edges of the legs.
We're gonna come into Happy Baby, so grab the outer edges
of the feet or the inner arches.
Kicking the soles of the feet up towards the sky
for a breath or two.
You can find some soft, easy movement here.
And then release one foot down.
And send one foot up towards the sky
for a hamstring stretch.
You can keep this foundation leg bent, or you can straighten
it for a little bit of a deeper stretch.
Breathe.
And then slowly switch
to the other side.
Great. And then both feet down,
we're just gonna windshield wiper
the legs a little one way.
And then the other.
You can start to close your eyes a bit here.
Soften your gaze.
And then we'll keep the left foot down,
kick the right foot up
for a little figure four, a little Reclined Pigeon.
So you'll thread the needle here, interlace the fingertips
behind your left hamstring,
your left thigh.
And then squeeze the legs up towards your chest.
Breathe.
And when you're ready, release and switch.
Second side.
Listening to the sound of your breath here.
Noticing how you feel.
And then release both feet.
We're gonna extend the legs out long.
Inhale, full body stretch.
Send the fingertips all the way up and overhead.
Exhale, you're gonna send the fingertips up towards the sky.
Navel draws down.
And we're gonna do a slow roll up,
fingertips towards the toes.
So if you need to use your hands, you can.
Otherwise we're gonna roll up all the way through seated
and into a Forward Fold with bent knees.
Again, use those hands if you need to.
And then maybe there's one day
where you're doing this practice, and
you notice a different sensation in the core.
So it does take some time, awareness, and conditioning.
But you got this.
I love that we're all here, showing up to build strength
from the inside out.
Feel a nice stretch in the back here.
Breathe in.
And long breath out.
Alright. Set yourself up for a final resting posture.
I'm gonna grab my bolster here.
Although it looks like Benji's maybe using it.
Okay, no.
You can use a blanket or a towel.
Maybe you don't need anything at all, nada,
you just start to find your Shavasana
by coming back down to the ground
and spreading your feet as wide as the mat,
your arms, same, nice and spacious.
When you get there, take a deep breath in.
When you're all set up.
And as you exhale, just see how fast you can surrender.
Letting go of all the weight in the body,
just surrendering it to the earth.
Close your eyes.
And then allow your breath to just flow
nice and easy, naturally.
Take a moment here to rest.
Relaxing through the feet.
The ankles.
Letting go through the calves and the shins.
The knees, and the backs of the knees.
The thighs, the hamstrings,
the quadriceps, the femur bones.
All the way to the hips.
Let your hips be heavy.
Let the bowl of the pelvis be soft, so we're not gripping
or holding anywhere around the hips of the pelvis here,
but softening.
And relaxing through the belly.
At last.
Relaxing through the mid back, the ribcage.
And through the sternum, the chest, and the upper back.
Make sure you're not gripping or holding in the shoulders.
Relax your shoulders.
The arms, the wrists,
and the whole hand softening.
Heavy.
Part the lips, soften through the jaw to relax the muscles
of the neck and the face.
And finally, allow your head to be heavy in the earth,
taking
a breath or two here to just be,
to allow the brain and the body
to receive the restorative benefit
of this practice as well.
Great, then as you're ready,
you can keep the eyes closed here.
We're just gonna slowly rock the head a little
side to side, ear to ear,
gaining a little stretch in the neck,
and a little massage on the back of the head.
Start to gently deepen your breath.
You can start to open the eyes as you bring some movement
back to the body, fingers, toes.
Maybe take one more big full body stretch.
Thank you so much for joining me on the mat today,
and every other day.
I hope to see you again soon, maybe tomorrow.
Let's bring the palms together in prayer.
Thumbs right up to that third eye to the forehead today.
Just take a deep breath in to close the practice.
Give thanks for this time with yourself,
caring for yourself.
And exhale.
Thanks, everyone.
Take good care.
(upbeat music)