- What's up, party people?

Welcome to Yoga With Adriene,
I'm Adriene.

Today we have a video
for the pranayama series.

This is a breath technique
called Shitali or sheet-ah-lee,

that I really love,

and I think it's important to

put this out into the
world and to practice,

especially because

we have this 
growing popularity in yoga,

which is really great and
there's lots of flow and active,

and yoga's a workout,

and we have our yoga for weight
loss series and everything,

but we wanna make 
sure we also balance that

with things like 
pranayama practice,

breath practice,
and this one in particular,

which is super awesome after
you've maybe done a sweaty yoga,

had a good workout,
or maybe you've come home from

a run and you wanna
connect to your spirit

and just kind of
balance things out,

keyword "balance,"
so that you're not left

feeling agitated
and kind of fiery.

So Shitali or sheet-ah-lee,
is a cooling breath,

it's also really awesome 'cause

I like to refer to
it as "taco breath,"

and I love tacos.

But this is in all seriousness

just a great way
to cool off the body,

also the mind,
reduce stress,

take it a notch down,

really great for the
entire nervous system,

really great if you're kind of
pissy or just feeling like

you need something
to connect you

to the greater
good of humanity.

Taco breath is for you,
so let's get started.

(upbeat music)

Okay, so to begin

we're going to come
into a comfortable seat,

I'm coming in to
a little Hero variation

with the block
underneath me for support,

but you can come
into any comfortable seat

where the spine can be
nice and tall and erect.

So that could be in a chair,

it could be cross-legged,

or it could be on
the knees like moi.

So very important though,
all jokes aside,

that we just find this length
in the spine so that we can

lift and lengthen up
through the crown of the head,

the center
channel nice and long.

(snickers) Okay,
and then just take a second to

close your eyes and
notice your breath.

Is it short?

Is it shallow?

Can you deepen it
a little bit here?

And then to begin our
cooling breath here today

we're going to
bring our attention,

our focus to the tongue

and see if we can curl the
edges of the tongue inward

like a taco.

Now, disclaimer, some people
genetically cannot do this.

Right?

I can, I'm a taco tongue gal, 
I can roll the tongue.

But if you can't,

the option or the modification,
the variation would be to just

bring the tongue
between the lips like so.

My dog Benji does
this all the time, he's like...

So we're either rolling the

outer edges of the tongue
inward or we're bringing the

tongue modification just
between the lips like so.

Okay? Now we're gonna be

inhaling with
the tongue as such.

So I inhale
through the taco tongue.

(laughing) I had no idea this

video was gonna
be so fun for me,

it is okay, already.

So I'm gonna inhale in
through the taco tongue,

get serious Adriene!

Like you're sipping
the air up in through a straw.

(giggling) Right,
so just try that.

Advanced studies option here
is to really kind of

pay attention to
the shoulders here,

make sure you're not
sucking in like so,

play with
that abdominal breath

or that belly breath, right?

And actually that
goes for everyone,

just keep the
shoulders nice and relaxed,

wherever you are.

Okay, so just trying 
to inhale again,

and we're really
breaking this sucker down.

Inhaling in with the tongue.

And we're either
in the taco tongue,

or the modification here,
looks like this.

Okay? We'll seal at the top.

So that means
we'll hold the breath,

we'll retain for
just a moment at the top,

holding the breath in,
closing the mouth,

drawing the tongue in,

and then exhaling with control
out through the nostrils.

Okay, so we inhale
through the tongue,

nice cooling breath,

the air hits the
back of the throat,

cools off.

And then we seal, hold,

retain the breath for a moment.

And then exhale out
through the nostrils.

So let's just
try that on our own.

Okay, coming in with the inhale.

Sealing at the top,
holding, shoulders relaxed.

Exhale with control
through the nostrils.

Beautiful. 
Let's try again.

Inhaling.

Pause, hold the top,
retain the breath.

Exhale through the nostrils.

Again.

Awesome,
so now that you have a

little understanding
about how to do it,

we're going to practice
with a five count to inhale,

a beat of two
to hold at the top,

and then we're gonna
aim for five to exhale.

This is just a guide,

this is just something to
kind of give you structure-wise,

to play with.

You can extend that,
you can shorten that,

you can make it your own,

or if you're the type of person
that prefers not to count,

you can just play with the
inhalation and the exhalation,

nice and long and smooth.

Okay, here we go.

Sit up nice and tall,
relax the shoulders.

Maybe close your
eyes for this one.

Take a deep inhale
in through the nose.

And then out
through the nose.

Then we'll inhale and
begin with the tongue.

After five, 
hold at the top for two.

Exhale for five.

Playing with that
structure of inhaling for five.

One, two,

three, four, five.

Retain the breath for two.

Exhale one, two,

three, four,

five,
keep it going,

count in your head.

And as you begin to drop in

with this
beautiful cooling breath,

you'll begin to notice that you
can really find that extension.

So let's just do a couple more

sipping in through that taco
straw for as long as you can,

holding at the top,

and then enjoying the beautiful

ride of the exhale
out into your bliss.

In fact, there are a lot of...

texts, yoga texts,
ancient texts that speak of

this breath as the bliss breath,

or the giver of bliss.

And you totally feel blissed
out and blessed at the end,

I already feel it now.
Okay, so we're just gonna

practice for a couple more
times together and then

I'll let you off and into

the blissful world of 
taco breath on your own,

but let's do a 
couple more together.

Let's do one more.

Awesome, and then
drop your chin to your chest.

Lift the heart,

draw the shoulders down and
then begin to open your eyes.

Take the palms together,
rub them, just to transition.

And then release,
awesome.

Alright my friends,
awesome work.

So put this breath
in your yoga tool belt.

This is one of my
favorite pranayamas,

because I can do it anywhere,
you can do it in traffic,

really great if
you're frustrated in traffic.

This is a really great
breath if you're hungry,

if you're getting
those hunger pains,

you're starting to get a little
angry because you're hungry,

we all know that.
(chuckles)

Some of us know that
more than others, right honey?

(chuckles) 
Just kidding, and

so this is a great thing to
do if you're really hungry or

thirsty and you need to
kind of slow things down,

cool things off.

Really great for stress and just
reducing that fight or flight.

You know?

Great work, let me know what
you think of taco breath down

below, share it
with your friends.

Again, don't worry,

Yoga With Adriene
includes everyone,

if you can't roll your tongue
you can do the modification,

share that with a friend,
and I'll see you next time.

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for goodness sake!

And take good care.

Namaste.

(upbeat music)