Yoga for Anxiety - 20 Minute Practice - Yoga With Adriene

Transcript

- Hello my friends, and
welcome to Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene and today we have a really sweet,
lovely little practice for when you're feeling anxiety. We've all been there, it's very natural in this
crazy world we live in, to be met with feeling
self-anxiousness, feeling down, blue,
nervous, fear, so I find the tools of
yoga, especially at home, a little goes a long
way, are really helpful. So grab a pillow if you like, get into something comfy, and let's help you
find what feels good with this hands-free,
low-to-the-ground, chill practice. Let's get started. (mellow acoustic music) Alright, so let's start sitting on a blanket or a
pillow if you have it. Let's lift the hips up a little. Now we're gonna
bring the left heel in and then the right heel in. We'll bring the hands
to rest gently on the tops of the
knees or the thighs and we'll just take a
second to close the eyes and accept where you are today. So if you've made it this far, you're in good hands. It's a quick video
today, so stick with it, and give yourself permission to just really be
in this moment. So here, you've landed
in this shape maybe on your mat,
maybe just on the ground, and you have
committed to taking a little bit of
time for yourself. See if we can kind of transform
the energy of the body and find support. Stack the head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis, and then just take in the
quality of air of the room, any noises,
any sounds around you. I hear a big airplane overhead, but you might hear
different things depending on where you are. Notice your soundtrack. And just accept it all, take it all in. Great, then draw the hands
together at the heart. (inhales) Take a deep breath in, (exhales) deep breath out. Deep breath in,
sit up nice and tall, (inhales) and exhale,
bowing the head to the hands. Big stretch on
the back of the neck. Big inhale in. And exhale release. Great, so, we've dropped
the pen, we're here. Let's tend into it. We're going to start today
with a little pranayama, a little breath practice. This is one of my faves. We have a whole
video just on it, so if you really like it
or it's too complicated for you and you wanna dive in, you can go check it out, it's called alternate nostril
breathing, or nadi shodhana. And this is a really great breath to just kind of calm
and quell and chill out any frayed nerves, that feeling you have
when you're feeling like (grunts) on the edge of being
depressed and anxious. You can't decide
if you're like feeling really blue or really anxious. You know what I'm talking about. It's great for that. So here we go, we're gonna take whatever your primary hand is. I'm gonna use the right hand and I'm just gonna bring, so we have options here. You can bring the
middle three fingers in, kinda like a hang loose thing and use the thumb and the pinky. You can also use the
thumb and the ring finger. It's whatever works great for you. And again, we're not gonna
really break this down too much. So you can check out that
other video if you need. I'll still try to guide
you and cue you in a way that feels good. So sit up nice and tall
and go ahead and seal the right nostril
with your thumb. Take a deep breath in
through the left nostril. Pause, hold,
retain the breath at the top. We switch,
seal the left nostril, and then exhale
out through the right. (exhaling) Deep inhale in
through the right nostril. Pause, hold,
retain the breath at the top as you seal and
switch or switch and seal. Exhale out through
the left nostril. With practice,
this becomes easier. At first it can be a little
complicated in the brain. Inhale deeply
through the left nostril. (inhales) Retain the breath,
seal and switch. Exhale out through
the right nostril. (exhales) Inhale in through the right. (inhales) Pause. Seal and switch, exhale
out through the left. (exhales) Smooth inhale
in through the left. (inhaling) Pause, switch and seal,
exhale out through the right. (exhaling) Inhale. (inhaling) When you feel like you
have the hang of it, close your eyes,
seal and switch, exhale. (exhales) And I'll stop cuing, just letting you
move with the breath. (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) (inhaling) (exhaling) And even it out. (inhaling) And then after
you've evened it out, bring the hand down,
close the eyes. And let your breath return
back to its natural rhythm. Great, bat the eyelashes
open, game changer. Draw the hands
together at the heart. Inhale in exhale, let it go. (exhales heavily) Fingertips come to the ground. I'm so zoned out. Fingertips come to the ground and we're gonna walk it forward. Forearms might
come to the ground, otherwise just nice
strong hands here. Maybe relax the
weight of the head down, everyone will be a
little different here. Maybe you find a little sway. Send awareness
to your right hip. Try to keep your tailbone,
your coccyx, on your pillow or
down on the ground, so not rolling up. (inhaling) (exhaling) Relax the weight
of the head over. Keep going with this beautiful
long, smooth, even breathing. Alright, then walk
the right hand or the right elbow
to the center. And on a big inhale, open
up through your left arm. It doesn't have to come
all the way up to the sky. If it feels good
to do that, great, but it can just open up here, opening the chest
and pressing into your right hand or
the right forearm. You can also be here. Big breath in, expand,
find expansion and then exhale, left
hand replaces the right, maybe you do the form variation, and we inhale. Find expansion, breathe deep. Open through the
throat chakra here, lengthen through
the crown of the head. One more breath. And then release, use your fingertips to press
you all the way back up, and then we'll switch the legs here. So right heel comes in, palms go together,
deep breath in. Exhale. Find what feels good. Fingertips down,
walking em out. Keep awareness of the coccyx,
the tail, dropping down. This'll look a little
different for everyone. Maybe you're here. Maybe you're here. Maybe you find a little sway. Again, find what
feels good here. Send awareness to your left hip. (inhales and exhales) Nice, smooth, even breathing. (inhales and exhales) Relax the weight
of the head down. (inhales) (exhales) Chilling it out, okay. Now, starting with the
left arm this time, left hand or left elbow
to the center line. We inhale over
through the right wing. Big breaths here. You can be here or here. (exhales) Tops of the thighs
grounding down here, take one more breath,
find expansion. And then exhale, right
hand replaces the left, same thing, we open
up through the left. Awesome work,
release back to center. Press into the fingertips, come all the way back up. We'll send the legs out long. Doing awesome here,
so keep, you know, keep breathing deep here,
stick with your breath, sending the legs out super wide. Doesn't have to be super,
like, Olympic gold splits here, just creating a little bit of space. You should feel pretty stable
in the base of the spine so if you need to lift up on something a little taller,
please do. Tops of the thighs
grounding down here. (exhales) Fingertips come to the
mat, we walk it forward. So the same thing, you
might just stay here, eventually drawing the
chin to the chest (exhales) or you might come all the
way down into the floor. (inhales) (exhales) Nice, even, smooth pranayama. Remember your alternate
nostril breathing here. Take away any stress, tension,
in the neck, the shoulders. Active in the feet
here so you can point the toes if it
feels good or flex. (inhales and exhales) Alright, then check it out. I'm gonna press
up into the palms. Little thread the needle here. So right fingertips
are gonna reach in and underneath the
bridge of the left arm. You're not gonna go all
the way to the ground, just a gentle twist here, keeping that expansion
just like we did here. Big breath in, (inhales) exhale to release. (exhales) Right palm to the earth,
thread the needle. Left fingertips in
and underneath the bridge of the right arm. I'm relaxing, it's working. Inhale. Find expansion.
(exhales) Use an exhale to bring you back. Cool, draw the left heel in. Turn your waistline so
that you're pointed, you're headed
toward your right foot. So there's a shift. Then inhale, reach all the
way up, find the length. And think up and over
as you bow down. Head-to-knee pose here,
janu sirsasana, so the goal is eventually to get that nose to the knee,
the head to the knee, but maybe you're here. Right? Maybe you're here. Wherever you are, draw
the chin into the chest, take a moment to surrender,
breathe deep. (inhales and exhales) Send breath to the lower
back body and awareness. Great, and then draw
the chin to the chest as you slowly roll it up. I can barely talk, it's working. Setting the left leg out. Draw the right heel in,
we're almost done here, you guys doing awesome. Really commit to your breath. Take the hip so that we're
pointed toward that left heel. When you're ready,
soft and easy breezy, reaching it out. (inhales) And then you're taking it forward. (exhales) Close your eyes, listen to your breath. (inhales) (exhales) (inhales) (exhales) Great, inhale in. (inhales) Now you're just
gonna exhale to release. Awesome work. We're just gonna bring the feet in so that we can shift now
to be flat on our back. You can use the pillow
as a pillow for our head. Imagine that. And we're just
gonna get comfy here, feeling our spine
supported here to finish. When you get there, hug
the knees into the chest. Fix your pillow so it feels good. And then give yourself
a great big bear hug. Walk the shoulder blades down. Should feel good,
little massage, perhaps. (inhales and sighs) And then close your
eyes and imagine, imagine your yoga mat rising
up to meet your back body. So often, we talk about, ugh, just spilling all the weight of our body into our yoga mat. Which is great,
but just close your eyes and imagine your mat rising
up to meet your back body. Feel supported here. Trust that all is well, and that, especially
with the tools of yoga, you have the power with your mind and your
body and your breath working together
consciously and lovingly, kindly intently. You have the power to
transform any negativity or anxiousness, bad juju, nervous energy. You have the tools and
the power to transform it to something that feels good. Even if it's just
a moment of peace, let's be real, right? Slowly release the feet
down to the ground, we'll open the knees wide
so the feet come together. Have your pillow here. And then we're just
gonna let the hands rest gently on the fronts
of the hip creases here, should feel nice. Breathing deep.
(exhales) Close your eyes.
(inhales) (exhales) And then, one leg at a time, slowly drawing the toes down, extending long
through both legs. And then, lastly,
opening the fingertips. Palms, arms, out to the sides. Feeling an opening
through the chest, a softness in the belly, and the legs heavy.
(exhales) Take a second to scan
the body and give thanks, a moment of gratitude for you for taking this time
to tend to it. The hardest part is just
showing up for yourself, and you did. So, awesome work. Stay here as long
as time allows. Trust the flow. Namaste. (mellow acoustic music)