Yoga For Your Calves (and Ankles)

Transcript

- Hello everyone.
Welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and this,
of course, is sweet Benji. And welcome to the new digs. Today we have Yoga
for Calves for you. This is a full practice so hop into something comfy
and let's get started. (upbeat music) Okie doke, let's begin
today in Extended Child's Pose. So come on down to the ground. We'll come through all fours. Bring the knees wide. Just in your own time,
get settled in here as you send the hips back and
the arms forward. And of course, if this is not a good
starting position for you, listen to your body,
find what feels good. Maybe you begin in a
nice cross-legged seat. And right away,
let's start to just drop into this moment by
noticing the breath. You know the drill. Take a second to lovingly just
notice where your energy's at. Just a reminder,
one of the things I love about this type of home practice or
daily practice wherever you're practicing from is
it's all connected. So while we'll
focus on the calves today, this is an opportunity for you
to check in with your energy. Check in with the status, the status of
your mental health, your emotional being, all that jazz. Start to deepen the
breath as you're ready. And I'll just take a
couple breaths here with you, quieting my voice so we can check in with how we're feeling. Nice. And then press
into your foundation, that which is
touching the earth, and let's come forward slowly, mindfully, lovingly
into a Tabletop Position. If you started in
a cross-legged seat, come meet me here. I wanna thank Benji
for joining us today. Little sweetheart. Wrists underneath the shoulders,
knees underneath the hips. So we're gonna ease in today but I am gonna invite you
to bring a little energy, bring a little love and
intention into the movement so you can get the
most out of this session. Drop the belly, open the chest. Inhale, lift the chin slightly. Then exhale,
round through the spine. Gripping, pressing down
through the fingertips. Navel draws up
into a Cat Stretch. Keep it going, nice and slow. Moving with your breath. Inhale, drop the belly. And then exhale,
round through the spine. Gather up your abs. (laughs) It's a funny sentence
but truly, lift up. And then one more time. And then slowly bring
the spine back to neutral. We're gonna walk the hands
just a couple inches forward. And then inhale,
breathe into your belly here. Exhale, draw the navel
and the abs all the way up. And we're gonna curl
the right toes under, just the right toes and
extend that right leg out. Now we're gonna create
a little sawing effect, forward and back. Obviously starting to get into the calf muscle but
also the foot, the ankle. And just notice if you're starting to roll that
right foot in or maybe out. And see if you can find an
evenness through the toesies. Careful not to lock
out your elbows here. Careful not to
disregard your beautiful neck. So if it's hanging here, see if you can find extension
through the crown of the head. Always looking to find that integrity in the
spine in the yoga practice. Whatever that means to you,
it'll continue to develop and evolve and change and
that's why I love yoga. Alright, bring that
right knee back in. Now you're gonna curl both toes and just take a
second to get off the wrists, particularly if you're not used to spending a lot
of time on your hands. Stick with it though. And then we'll come back
and repeat on the other side. Walk the hands out a bit. Press into the
top of the right foot. Keep the left toes curled under. And find this
gentle movement here. Another thing
you might notice here is if all of your weight is starting to fall to
the right side of your mat, start to activate
through your center, your core muscles, and all the muscles in the back
body and around the spinal cord to find that
middle ground here. AKA really press
into your left palm. Alright, now bring
that left knee in. Take a second. You're not gonna
curl the toes this time. Just take a second
to send the hips back, reach the fingertips forward. Tent the palms which means
you put an imaginary tent pole in the center of the palm and
you press into the fingertips. Reach the wrists forward. Stretch stretch stretch. And then we're picking up
the energy here a little bit. We're gonna come
back to all fours. Curl the right toes under. And then send
them all the way out. Then you're gonna
draw a little semi-circle. So the right toes
go all the way to spill off the
left side of the mat. You can turn your gaze
to look at your right heel. And then breathe deep here. Press away from your yoga mat. Feel that stretch from the right ear all the way to
the right shoulder, right hip, and the outer edge
of the right ankle. Then listen carefully. We're gonna
lift that right heel and slowly drag it all
the way back to the center line. Inhale, look forward. Exhale, knee to nose. Gather up the abs. Inhale, look forward. Soft bend in the elbows. Exhale with control,
knee to nose. Last time, inhale, extend. Exhale, abs draw up. Press into your
left foot for stability. Press press press. And then release. Second side, curl the left toes. Send them out. Then draw a circle,
semi-circle, excuse me, around to spill
off the right edge. You can take your gaze to
look at your left foot here. Breathe. Press away from the yoga mat. Feel that big stretch. And then slow and with control, stay connected
to your core here as you lift the left heel,
draw it back slowly to center. Level the hips best you can. Hug those low ribs up and in just a bit to get a
little more core stability. Then we'll inhale, look forward. Exhale, rounding the spine. Knee to nose. Inhale, look forward. Slow and steady here. Exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, look forward.
Last time. Pressing into both palms evenly. Exhale, squeeze and lift. Stay here for a breath.
Squeeze and lift. Press into your right foot. And then release.
Awesome. Send the hips back.
Walk the fingertips forward. This time we're gonna bring
the palms together and bring the palms up and behind the
back of the head or the neck. Breathe in. Breathe out. Release the hands
back and guess what? It's Plank Pose time. Soften through the elbows. Send the left leg out.
Send the right leg out. You got this.
We got this. You can always lower
your knees at any time but since we are
focusing on the calves today, I encourage you to give
it the old college try. Reach those heels back. Maybe even a good adjustment could just be doing one
at a time until you lift. Excuse me, one at a time meaning one knee at a time
until you're ready to lift both. And then it's a hold but
it's never really a hold in yoga because you're always moving
with the cycle of the breath. So just make sure
you're breathing. Neck is nice and long. Maybe lifting the hips
just an inch up if they're sinking low here. Feeling the muscles of the
lower abdominal wall turn on. You're here for three. Reach the heels back for two. And one, awesome.
Lower the knees. If you need to take a
little break on the wrists, you have lots of
options here now. And then when you're ready,
Downward Facing Dog. Take your time. Hips reach up high. Palms press firmly
into the ground and let's of course
bring the awareness here today, especially to the lower body. So start to
slowly pedal the knees. Bending one knee as you
straighten the opposite leg. And continuing
that nice and slow. And then same
thing as we did before, just notice if you're starting
to kind of turn out in the feet or inward, prone in. See if you can move
evenly through the toes. Building strength
and stamina here in the upper body
as you work the lower body. Lovely, now drop both heels. You got this, inhale. Press firmly into the hands as
you lift the right leg up high. Point the toes, flex the toes. Twice more,
point the toes, flex the toes. There goes my ankle (chuckles)
and point the toes. Flex the toes, drop the
left heel a little more. Nice, and then slowly bring
that right foot all the way up. If it doesn't
make it to the top, you can always guide, guide,
guide it there with your hands. Alright, and then from here,
a Crescent Lunge. Keep the back
knee on the ground. We're gonna sweep
the right fingertip. We're gonna
sweep both fingertips, excuse me, forward,
up and back. Pressing into all four
corners of the right foot. Back toes are
curled under for today. Breathing deep, inhale in. Exhale, rain it down. Go ahead and
wiggle the fingertips. Then tent the palms and we're gonna send the
right hip crease back, straightening
through the right knee. Flex your right toes
towards your face. Breathing deep here, really pulling that
right hip crease back and keeping a
soft bend in the right knee. Then listen carefully, from here we're
gonna kind of tick-tock. Not kind of, we are going
to tick-tock this right foot. So you're gonna slowly,
slowly, with care, open the toes to the right. And then slowly,
slowly, with care, turn them inward. Again, to the right. And in. And one last time, to the right. And in. Roll through the front foot,
come forward. One more time, Crescent Lunge. Inhale, reach for the sky. Big breath in. Your exhale takes you down. Plant the palms,
step it back to Plank Pose. So left knee lifts and
we're in our second hold. Moving with the breath, breathe. Reach, reach,
reach the heels back. Lift the hips up an inch. Lengthen through the neck. Inhale in again. Exhale, hips up high and
back, Downward Facing Dog. Reconnect with your breath here. Lots of weight in the heels. It's okay, they don't have to come close to
touching the earth. I'm sorry that everyone
got so caught up in that, but that's no problem. It's not even a real goal of mine for my heels to
touch the earth anymore. So when you're ready,
press into both palms evenly. Inhale, lift the
left leg up high. Find that equanimity,
find that balance. Hug, muscle to bone. Find the midline and we're gonna
point the left toes and flex. Point and flex. Really dropping down
through that right heel. One more time, point and flex. Yes, and then slowly bring
it all the way up and through. Right knee comes to the earth. Keep the back toes curled under for this one and
when you're ready, we'll sweep the arms up,
Crescent Lunge. Big breath in, lift your chest. Maybe your gaze goes up. Squeeze the inner thighs to the center line for stability
if you're feeling off balance. And then wiggle the fingertips,
let's rain it down. Fingertips come to the mat. We pull the
left hip crease back. Benji takes a little scratch,
maybe you do too. And then here we go. And I don't wanna take too much time talking about it but
this is a pose where I very much notice I'm always
kind of turned out. So just letting your toes really
give you some information, some feedback. And then of course,
we'll play with that by tick-tocking the foot
and you can really feel the sensation, of course, of
coming out and coming in and this will be
different for everyone. Self study of yoga. Ooh. If you're not already
taking the left toes out and dialing them in three times. Really slow please,
nice and mindful. Woo. That was a lot
for me on the left side. Roll through that left foot. One more Crescent
Lunge with the breath. Inhale, sweep the arms up. Big breath. Exhale, rain it down. Plant the palms,
step the left toes back. Your last Plank Hold. We got this, breathing deep. Finding maybe perhaps an opportunity here to
soften the skin of the face. To tap into a focus that you maybe haven't really
tapped into today as of yet. Drawing your attention inward. Feeling that shake, that breath. You're here for three. Two, one, hips up high and back. Downward Facing Dog. Take a nice cleansing breath or big breath
that serves you here. And then an Adriene favorite,
a Yoga With Adriene favorite, instead of hopping
or just stepping up, we're gonna criss-cross step. I love this for waking
up the fascia of the foot, the ankle, all the way up through the calf, of course,
and the back of the knee. So you're gonna slowly
criss-cross step one leg over the other 'til you
hit the top of your mat. And let's go feet
hip width apart here. And you're gonna
stay in the Forward Fold. So start to relax your head,
your neck. I love a Forward Fold. It's a great
opportunity to let go of anything you've been
hanging on to that just may not be providing anything of good use. Yes. Then slowly left fingertips are gonna come to the
center of the mat. Nice and slow,
you're gonna bring the right fingertips all
the way across the chest, straightening through
the right leg as you reach
the right arm up. Left knee bends slowly. And then you're gonna switch and you're gonna use
your low abs to support this. Bend the right knee,
straighten the left leg, woo. And then release it and
we'll take it to the other side. Right fingertips
replace the left. Start with the left leg
straight, right knee bent. As you reach the
left fingertips up, this should be the one you have
potentially more movement in, flexibility in. And then you gotta
gather those low abs, let me tell you,
to make this switch. So left knee bends slightly,
doesn't have to be a big move, right leg, straighten. And then we release. Release everything,
come back into the Forward Fold. Take a deep breath here, inhale. And exhale. Nice. Plant the palms,
step one foot back, then the other,
send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Alright, press into
the palms from here. We're gonna soften the knees. We're gonna go into a
little bit of a Wild Thing Pose. So if you need to peek at me, this is your first time doing
Wild Thing, please do. We're gonna start with
the softness in the knees. Feet and ankles and
calves are all prepped here. We're gonna
slowly dial the toes, all of them,
towards the left, heels to the right. And then we're gonna
lift this left arm up, step the left foot back and
come into a little back bend here as you
straighten the right leg. And you can reach the arm all the way up towards the sky or
maybe all the way up overhead, lifting the hips. Breathing deep here. Inhale in for Wild Thing. Exhale, use those low abs to
help draw you back to center. Take a break in
between if you need to, Child's Pose or
Downward Facing Dog. But as soon as you're ready, we'll take it
to the other side. Dialing the toes to the right,
heels to the left. And then we slowly
lift the right arm up, right foot steps back. I'm gonna step differently since I'm trying to
stay on my mat here, but you will
spill off your mat. For the shape, inhale,
lifting the chest, opening through the front body. Wherever you are, take
one last deep full breath in. Exhale, connect to
center to come back. Yes, Downward Facing Dog. Nice work, way to
try something new. Inhale in here. Exhale to lower
the knees to the mat. Cross the ankles behind you
or swing the legs to one side, any side and come through for our final pose which
is Paschimottanasana, a seated Forward Fold. If this is not your jam, option two could be to get, to lay on your back and do this here. But I'm gonna stay seated. So maybe you move the
fleshy part of the buttocks aside. You can work with heels,
hip width apart or together. We'll just take a deep breath
to reach fingertips to the sky. Exhale, think up and over
with those low abs they draw up as you come all the
way into the fold. Slight or
generous bend in the knees. And same thing here, just notice toes are
coming in or headed out, see if we can use the toes to give us feedback of what's
happening all through the legs. And then I'll quiet down for a
second and allow you to breathe. And just take a moment of quiet for yourself
here in this stretch. And then slowly
release the stretch. Roll the spine up. And we'll cross the ankles and come to a comfortable seat which maybe some
of you started in. And as you come into
your comfortable seat, you can close the eyes. Maybe you bring the palms
together at the heart space. You just notice how you feel
from the crown of the head all the way to the
soles of the feet. Way to take some
time to check in with your bod but also your whole being. I love sharing
practice with you. Thank you so
much for being here. Hope to see you again soon. Let's inhale, bring the thumbs
up to the forehead here, the third eye space, take a final deep
collective breath in together. Here we go, inhale. And exhale, option to bow
to close out the sesh. Namaste. Thanks everyone.
See you next time. (upbeat music)