- What's up everyone?
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene and today we're
learning one of my favorite

poses in the
whole entire world,

legs up the wall.

So we're gonna kick our
feet up and absorb the amazing

benefits of this
fantastic yoga pose.

And to do that I'm gonna 
take you right over here

to the yoga corner.

This is the yoga corner's debut.

We haven't done yoga
over here yet I don't think.

So to get started
I want to say this.

I stayed in my street
clothes for this one on purpose

because this is a posture that
you can do almost anywhere

and it's really lovely
especially if you're on the go,

on the road,
in an airport even.

Some airports
have yoga rooms now.

First thing you do when you

get to your hotel
after a day of travels.

This is great hotel yoga.

After a long day at a
festival or an event.

This is a great way
to kick your feet up.

You can do this in your bed.

You can do this
against any clean wall.

And I'm gonna go ahead and use
the yoga mat and blanket here.

But just want to say you don't

need fancy yoga
stuff to do this one, okay.

So I've laid out my mat here.
I have a blanket.

If you don't have
a blanket, it's okay.

You can use a pillow from your
hotel bed or your bed at home

or you don't
actually need this,

but it's just a nice little

support for the
lower back and sacrum.

So with the
blanket or the pillow,

I'm gonna take it and then
I just leave a little bit of

butt room as I so
professionally call it.

A little bit of butt room from

the wall to 
the blanket or the pillow.

And naturally, I'm going
to gracefully come in here and

sneak my butt into the
space that I left for it.

Magically my blanket 
or my pillow

will come to
support my lower back,

but you might
need some adjustments.

So those are also
really fun and graceful.

They look like this.

And so what I'm doing is

I'm allowing my pelvis
to have this awesome tilt,

tailbone down towards the ground

in this little space here, 
this little nook.

I don't know if
you can see this.

Really allowing the weight of
my legs and the hip sockets to

drop down into this beautiful
little nook I've created for

it whilst still
supporting the lower back.

This feels amazing.

I'm already in heaven,
heaven, heaven.

Now I do remember the first
time I came into this posture

really feeling

like a lot going on here.

For one, I couldn't
straighten my legs all the way.

So if your
knees are bent, no prob.

This is great.

And if, you know, the blood is
flowing the opposite direction

for the first time in a long
time, it might be quite intense.

So that said,
you can take breaks

by bringing
the knees nice and wide,

soles of the feet together.

And of course,
nice long smooth deep breaths.

We can still practice this
without a pillow or a blanket.

It's just nice to have
that lower back support

and it's a little more
restorative this way.

From here, I can rest the hands
gently on the belly or the ribs.

If you're wanting a more

restorative practice
maybe for your spirit,

your heart,
maybe hands on the chest,

shoulders relaxed,
elbows nice and wide.

If it's hot outside,
you're wanting to cool down

your body and
calm the nervous system,

interlace the fingertips,

open the elbows nice and wide
and we maybe use the thumbs

here extended to massage the
neck and the back of the head.

So there's lots of options.

We can also simply rest
the arms gently at our sides.

So we have lots of options here.

As the blood flows in
the opposite direction,

we breathe deep,
nice natural long breaths.

So we breathe consciously,
but we keep it nice and natural.

What I mean by that is we don't

need to do an Ujjayi breath
here or Kapalabhati or anything.

We just let the rhythm flow.

Mindful breaths.

And that's that.

Beautiful Viparita Karani.

One of my favorite
poses for when I travel.

Also, you know, 
we have a couple

wonderful festivals 
here in Austin, Texas.

This is the place to go
after a long day at the fest.

And this is where my friends

and I and my loved
ones go after a long day,

you know,
in boots or in heels.

We kicked our legs up
like this after a trip,

day trip to Disneyland.

So the whole
family can get involved.

Again, take breaks when you
need to, bending the knees.

This is a nice restorative

variation here of
legs up the wall.

Just take a little break.

And then when you're ready,
back up you go.

In time you can get this nice
stretch of the hamstrings as

you straighten the legs but
in due time you don't need to

push that here we can
keep the knees nice and soft.

To come out of the posture,
we, of course,

release, 
hug the knees into the chest

and melt on over to one side.

And then I'll use the
palms to press back up.

If you have a pillow or a
blanket you might sit on it

now and we'll just take a
moment to come to cross-legged.

And notice how we feel.

So sit up nice and tall.

We come to Sukhasana
here for just a moment.

And notice how you feel.

It's so awesome to have
these powerful tools of yoga.

You don't need anything fancy.

You don't need 
any fancy wall, you know.

Again, I'm in my street clothes.

Two colors of denim.
Just to show you, you know,

you can do this on the go
and keep it in your tool belt,

your natural healing tool belt.

I love you guys. Leave
questions or comments below.

I'd love to hear about your
experience with this pose in

particular as it is
one of my favorites.

Let us know your story,

how this pose has benefited you

if you're
already a practitioner.

And I'll see you next week,

free yoga videos 
every Wednesday.

We complete the ritual by

drawing the palms together
and bowing to one another.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)