- Hello and welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this is sweet Benji and today we have a prenatal yoga practice that's safe for all trimesters. So hop into something comfy. If you have a block or a pillow or a bolster handy, bring it to class but no worries if not. Let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, let's begin in a comfortable seat. Come on down to the ground, take your time getting there and let's sit up on something if that feels good in your body today. I'm sitting up on a block. You can sit up on a block or two or on a bolster. Folded up blanket. Folded up towel. And we'll just begin nice and easy, you can draw the hands to your belly. And close your eyes. We'll take just a moment here to drop in together. Gently start to deepen your breath. Inhaling lots of love in. And exhaling lots of love out. Inhaling lots of love in. And exhaling lots of love out. And a couple more times on your own, sending that loving breath down. Feeling it also on the exhale, move up and out. Send love to baby. Nice, smooth, even breaths. Good, and then gently bat the eyelashes open. You can continue to breathe nice and easy in whatever way feels good, so it doesn't have to be too forced. And just gonna move into some work for the neck and the traps. So you can keep your hands on belly or you can release them to the tops of the thighs and we're just going to tick-tock very slowly. One ear over one shoulder and then move it through center and take it to the other side. Move nice and slow here and try to keep your shoulders actually relaxing down. So only the head is moving here. Finding that stretch. And then slowly drop the chin to the chest here. Draw the shoulder blades together. Right away, just see if you can hug belly in a hair to support your low back here as you drop the chin to the chest and breathe. And now we're gonna draw circles with the nose. So slow and steady wins the race here, drawing circles with the nose. Working out any kinks in the neck. And then reverse the circle. Nice and then bring the head back to center. Reach behind, interlace the fingertips and open up the chest. So there are a couple options here. You can interlace the fingertips, open up the chest. If that's not great for you, you can bring the fingertips to the earth behind you like so. Or if it's available, you can clasp opposite elbow with opposite hand and open up this way. So find what feels good here, opening up the chest. And if you want to find some more neck movement here connecting the two, that could feel nice as well. Breathe. Find a slight lift of the heart, of the sternum. And then we'll slowly release that. You're gonna come forward onto all fours. Go ahead and take your time here but grab that block if you had it or whatever prop you brought, you can just put it to the front of the mat and we'll come to all fours. Spread the fingertips wide, press into the tops of the feet. Inhale, drop the belly, look forward, open up through the chest. And then exhale, hug the belly up and in. Round through the spine gently for a Cat. Inhale, drop the belly, open the chest, extend through the crown of the head. And nice and easy, rounding through the spine. Lovely, then we're gonna inhale, come back to Tabletop Position. Focus on hugging the belly up just a bit to find that support in the low back. Then you're gonna curl your toes under, walk the palms forward just a couple of inches, and then nice and slow with that connection of hugging the belly to spine, we're gonna lift up to Downward Facing Dog. Breathe deep here. Support the low back by just connecting with center. Nice, and then from here, we're gonna slowly walk it all the way up to the top of the mat. Take your time, take your time. If you have that prop there, you can bring your hands to that prop. So we're in a wide-legged Forward Fold. Feet are a little bit wider than hip width apart, toes those pointing forward. If you have a prop you can use it to bring the earth up to you. And then if it feels alright in your body today allow the weight of the head to release. And you might even shake the head a little yes and a little no. Breathe. Then we're gonna ground through all four corners of the feet. We'll slowly bring the hands to the waist. Support the low back by bending the knees generously and we'll rise up slowly to stand. When you get there, you can keep your hands on the waistline if it feels good or you can release them gently at your sides. We're just going to take three deep breaths here. Think about lifting up through the front body, so lifting the sternum. And think about grounding through the back body as you breathe here. Mountain Pose. Draw energy up from the arches of the feet. Just finding your center, relearning center, being present with today's center. Good, and then if you haven't released the arms already, go ahead and release them. Find a soft bend in the knees. We're just going to wake up the body with a little energy here by swinging the arms a little side to side. Feet are really wide here. You can start to bend one knee and then the other today. If that feels good, moving the hips a little left to right. Just creating a softness. If you want maybe some horsie lips here could be nice. (blows through lips) Good, then we're gonna step the feet in just hip width apart so now your heels are right underneath your hip points. And when you're ready, send the arms all the way up to the sky. Exhale, you're gonna step the left foot back so you're in a split stance here with the left heel down. Good, inhale in. Exhale, bend your front knee and you're gonna pivot your left foot out just a bit, so now you're in a Warrior I. Warrior I. Front knee's bent. You can make any little adjustments as you need. If the arms up over the head are too much today, just bring the hands right back down to the waistline or to the belly. So look for, search for the power of that back leg. Really reaching that left heel back, engaging through the left inner thigh. See if you can get those left inner thigh muscles turned on. You should be able to see your right big toe. Front knee's bent, and the glutes are turning on a bit here as we pull the right hip crease back and aim to allow this internal rotation of the back hip here, just a bit guiding forward. Great, then we're gonna take it out to Warrior II from here, so if the arms are up and overhead, you're gonna open out left to right. You might widen your stance here but otherwise you can just keep it short. Maybe hands stay on the waist or the belly here for this one. And this one we have external rotation in both hips of course, breathing deep. Then keep the legs where they are, we're gonna send it into a Reverse Warrior with the front knee bent. So best you can take the right fingertips all the way up to the sky while the front knee stays bent. And then if you wanna take it all the way back, you can, reaching the right fingertips all the way back behind you. Stay strong in that left inner thigh. Nice, then we're gonna slowly bring it all the way back to Warrior I. Back toes turn in. Then we're gonna step up into that front leg, press into the power of that right heel and then bring it all the way back together, feet right underneath the hips. Excellent, release the arms to the waist, and then let's shift to the other side. So you're gonna step the right foot back, split stance to start. Just find the power of the legs, that connection all the way up from the arches of the feet. And reach the arms all the way up and overhead. Bend your front knee, and slowly pivot on your back foot. Adjust your stance as needed. Breathe, relax the shoulders. Virabhadrasana I. So again, find the power of the back leg here in this Warrior sequence. Press into the outer edge of the back foot, engage the right inner thigh. Lift through the front body, ground through the back body. And then we'll open up, Warrior II. Pressing into both heels, lengthening through the crown. Breathe. Sink deep into that front knee. And then we're gonna reverse it. Keep the front knee bent. Keep the right inner thigh active. Find length in the side body, length through the crown of the head. Reach back maybe. And then slowly from center, come back to Warrior I. So make your adjustments, come back to that first Warrior. Then we're gonna press in all four corners of that front foot, dig into that left heel to slide or step the left foot back up. Inhale in to straighten both legs, and exhale, fingertips at your side. That's beautiful. Interlace the fingertips behind you now. Knuckles are gonna go down and away. Widen your stance if you need to here, as we open up through the chest, the pecs. Finding any soft movement in the neck that feels good. Then inhale in. Exhale, bend your knees, release your grip, fingertips go down and forward now for a wide-legged Chair Pose. Gently hug the belly in to lengthen the tailbone and low back just a bit. Good, and then slowly release. Come back into your Forward Fold. If you have a prop there, you can use it. Bring your hands to the prop, or maybe fingertips to the mat, and release. Breathe in. And breathe out. Now from here, slowly inch your toes and heels out just a bit so your feet are now a little bit wider than hip width apart. You're gonna take your right hand to the center of your mat or the center of your prop and inhale as if you were pulling a bow and arrow, slight bend in the knees, you're gonna open up through the chest here, sending the left fingertips all the way up towards the sky. If they don't make it all the way up to the sky, just go wherever feels good as you open up through the chest. So strengthening the back, breathe in. And then breathe out, bring it back to center take it to the other side. Keep the crown of the head extended here. Soft bend in the knees. Lovely. Now slowly bring it back to center. Keep the heels where they are. You're gonna turn the toes out. If you have a prop, you're gonna slide it behind you to become a little seat. If you don't, you're going to use your fingertips. And as we all slowly bend our knees to come into this yogic squat. We might come to sit on our prop. We might come to hover with the palms together elbows pressing into the knees. And if this is not in our body today, we might just start to come to a seat. So if you're hovering above a prop or without a prop, squeeze your legs into your elbows and press your elbows into your legs. You can do this on the prop as well. Actually, everyone engaging the inner thighs just a bit. And then find your breath. Gently lift up from the pelvic floor, find length on an inhale. On an exhale, slowly release. To come out of the pose, you're gonna take one hand back then the other. If you're on a prop, you'll just lift the hips up and come off of it like so. We'll take the prop to the side. And we're gonna scoot back and come back onto all fours here. Benji has taken up some nice real estate here. So come back to all fours. Widen the knees as wide as your mat. Excuse me, buddy. And we're gonna send the hips back for an Extended Child's Pose. You get to choose whether you want to curl the toes under or release them to the earth, so, sorry buddy, choose what feels good here. And then melt your heart. Rest your forehead on the mat or on your block. And breathe. Inhale, lots of love in. Exhale, lots of love out. Inhale to rise back up. If you have a prop there, move it out of the way. You're gonna inhale, reach your right fingertips all the way up towards the sky. Keep the hips facing down. So just the chest is opening up. Exhale, thread the needle. Some love for the upper back body coming in hot. Rest your head on the earth, right ear to the earth and breathe. You can start to soften your gaze or close your eyes here. And then slowly press into the left palm, Press into the tops of the feet to come back to center, and we'll switch. Opening up through the left wing this time as you breathe in. And threading the needle as you breathe out. Hi, buddy. Inhale lots of love in. Exhale lots of love out. Slowly begin to unravel. You have an option here. We can come back to a seated meditation, so you can come to sit on your blanket or your block or we can come to rest on our side using the blanket or block as a pillow. Maybe you have another blanket or a bolster you'd like to bring into the picture. Just gonna come to either rest on one side, maybe bringing a pillow or bolster in between the legs. Benji. (laughs) Thank you, buddy. So we're in a comfortable seat and we're coming to rest on one side. Come into a final resting pose that feels good for you. So it may not be one of these. And we're just gonna come into a little bit of breathwork here. So you can close your eyes, relax your shoulders. If you're seated, maybe you bring both hands to belly. If you're lying down, maybe you bring one hand. And we're gonna inhale for a four count. And then we're gonna exhale for a four count. So a nice even breath and I'll count us out. So here we go. Slow inhale for four, three, two, one. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Relax your body. Inhale for four, three, two, one. Exhale for four, three, two, one. Soften the skin of the face. Inhale, four, three, two, one. Relax your jaw. Exhale, four, three, two, one. Inhale, lots of love in, four, three, two, one. Exhale lots of love out, four, three, two, one. Inhale, four, three, two, one. Final breath out for four, three, two, one. Continue to breathe easy now, just on your own. Taking a couple more moments here to connect. Way to show up today. It's an honor to be here, rooting for you. I'm in your corner. Thank you for sharing this time and energy with me. We'll close the practice by taking one final breath in together. And this time as you exhale, maybe let it go out through the mouth. Great work. Namaste. (upbeat music)