Yoga Release | 25-Minute Yoga Practice

Transcript

Hello everyone. Welcome to Yoga with Adriene! I'm Adriene. This is sweet Benji. And today we have a Yoga Release for you. So one of the things I love about
at home, yoga in particular, is when I step on the mat, I get a chance
to tend to my physical body, but I most certainly get a chance
to tend to my emotional body as well, because through the lens of yoga, they're
very much tied together, as we all know. So we have a little stretchy release
for you to tend to your heart space with your body as well,
because it's all connected. If you have some blocks, bring them
maybe a blanket, bring it. If you don't, don't worry,
you'll be set as it is. Let's get started. All right. Thanks for joining me. Let's begin lying down. Of course. Of course. We must start lying down. So come on down to the ground. Take your time throughout this whole session. Take your time. So I will, I will I'm
honored to guide you, but take your time. Let's not do anything to hurried
or too rushed. If we can help it. So come on down to the ground. Extend your legs long. Extend your arms long, and you can decide
what feels best for your hands. Maybe palms face down or palms turned up towards the sky. Soften your gaze. Or if it feels all right for you, close your eyes
and let's just take a second to draw our attention inward. Maybe doing a little body scan to help focus your mind on this moment. On our practice. Starting with the feet. And when you're doing this body scan,
you don't have to do anything at all. You just are moving and noticing. Taking stock, acknowledging from feet all the way up to the crown. So you'll travel up through your legs. Up through the torso. The hands, the arms, the shoulders. The head in the neck. Now with as best
you can without changing your breath. See if you can bring your attention to your breath without changing it. Just noticing. The quality of your breath. The rhythm. And then you'll notice by just
bringing your awareness to your breath, that may have begun to change the quality
of the breath already. If it did, great, if not great. Let's slowly begin to deepen the inhale. And lengthen your exhale. Again,
that's breathing a little more deeply, fully as you breathe in. And exhaling more fully, making that a long breath out. Then keep this breath going. As you begin to rock your head slowly side to side. Ear to ear. And if and only if. Don't worry. If you don't have it. If you have a block handy,
you might grab it here and bring it underneath your head so that the long edges
just right where they are at. This is just kind of right in line
with the ears, and you might pick up this motion of rocking the head. Side to side, ear to ear, with the block. Either way, whether you have the prop
or not, it's it's all good. Then we'll all bring it back to center. If you have the block,
go ahead and take it out. So we're all back flat on our backs
will bend one knee than the other. Press the palms into the earth, toes
pointing forward, Inhale in, and on
an exhale, press into the hands. Press into the feet and slowly
lift the tailbone up. Slowly, slowly
lifting up into your bridge pose. Once you reach the top of your inhale, use the exhale to slowly melt it back down and repeat. Inhale we lift. And exhale we lower. On this next round,
if you feel comfortable, maybe you close the eyes just tapping into more felt sense of this movement with your breath. Take it a couple
more rounds here on your own. And then after that last round. We'll extend the legs. Reach the arms up and overhead. Take a big, full body. Stretch. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in as you
exhale. Hug the knees into the chest. Bring the hands
to the backs of the thighs. And we're going to start to rock. And roll up
and down the length of the spine. If that feels right in your body,
do it a couple times and then the next time you lift up,
we're going to come all the way up and you might grab your blanket here,
bring it underneath your hips. Soles of the feet
are going to come together and the knees are going to open wide. So this is a great moment where it's like, don't feel like
you have to rush into this. Take your time. Lift the hips up. Find your breath. Cobbler's pose. Hands will come to rest gently on the shins or the ankles. And best you can see if you can find. Lengthen the spine. Here from the crown of the head
to the tip of the tailbone. Inhale in deeply. Exhale. Allow the thighs to draw down
gently towards the earth. Inhale in again. Exhale drop your chin to your chest. Open your eyes and look down at your feet. We're going to. There's an invitation here rather to massage your feet. Massage the arches of your feet
so you don't have to get all crazy here. But just bringing your thumbs
to the arches. And you can do a full foot massage, but at least maybe pressing into the arches, the feet
with the thumbs a couple times here. And then notice just notice how you feel
as you do this. Come back to the awareness of your breath. Then release that. Come back to that lifted heart position. Inhale in. Exhale lean forward. So, we're keeping the space
between our chin and our chest here. We're. So we're not talking. We're leaning forward just a bit. And it's almost as if you were, like,
leaning over the edge of a riverbank and looking into the water tops of the thighs. Draw down here feeling that
deep stretch and inner thigh, of course. Breathe. And then slowly release. Bring it up. We'll extend one leg out long. Let's. Let's all do the same. Like extend the right leg out long and
draw the left heel in towards your body. My hips are staying lifted here. So you can use a little taller
blanket to do that. If not everyone, let's shift our weight. Excuse me. Shift our orientation and our weight
so that your belly and your heart are shining over towards your right toes. So we went from here to here. Then inhale,
reach the arms up and overhead. As you exhale,
think of draping your torso over the top of your right leg. And this is where the blocks can come in
handy. If you have em
why not play with them today? So bringing them to the outer
edges of your shins like so on any level. You. And if you want to come into the more traditional
pose, you might grab the foot or draw your nose your head in towards your knee, breathing deep, focusing on the sensation in your body... today. Let's take two more breaths here in our version of Janu Sirsasana. And then slowly begin to lift the head with the heart. And we'll take it to the other side. So we'll draw the right heel in. Extend the left leg out long. Then shift the hips, the belly, and the heart to shine over
past your left leg. When you're ready, inhale,
reach the arms up. Exhale. We drape the torso over. So we're going for a big stretch here
in so many places. So take your time finding it. Don't feel like you have to get there super fast
and then nail it and hold it really pay attention
to what the sensations of your body. Tell you. Breathe. Soften the skin of the face. Notice the expansion of the rib cage of the low back as you breathe in. And then slowly release. We'll come back up. So now you have an option. You can stay seated on your blanket,
coming into a cross-legged, see. Or you can swap to sit on your block. Another option would be
you can come to kneeling here and come to sit on your block like so. So you have lots of options. Make a choice that works. Good for you. Today we're coming up into a seat
where we can find a tall spine. And once you get there, bring the palms to the tops of the thighs. That's right. And find this upward current of energy
in your front, front body and this grounding
current of energy in your back body. So again, you can be in a cross-legged
seat supported or just on the earth, or we're coming into a little bit
of a Virasana, supported Virasana supported hero
with the block here. Either one is great. We're coming into this awareness of upward
current of energy through the front body, downward
current of energy in the back body, shoulders relax. And just notice if you feel like
you're holding or gripping anywhere, if you might be able to slowly
soften in those areas, and if not, just the awareness of that
I think is good. Then from here we'll slowly, slowly
take a gentle twist to the right. So you can do this in cross-legged
or in the hero variation, just a gentle twist to the right,
looking past your right shoulder, maybe. Breathe in, get long in the spine. Breathe out. And then slowly dial it back through center
and take it to the other side. And again, as you inhale,
think of growing taller through the crown of the head. Exhaling with length. Extending the exhale best you can. Follow your breath. Bring it back to center. Left
hand comes to the earth. Right fingertips
reach up and overhead for a big side body stretch. And then coming through to center. Take it to the other side. Breathe. One more time. To the left. And back to the right. From here, come back to center and we will all come forward
onto all fours. If you have your blocks, bring them
to the front of your mat like so. If you don't, do not worry. Do not worry. Drop the belly, open the chest. Look forward or cow pose. Exhale round the spine, chin
to chest for cat pose. Continue with your breath,
listening to the sound of your inhalation and your exhalation. And on your next inhale, bring it to a tabletop position. Inhale, extend the right leg out long. You can keep the right toes on the ground
or you can lift it here. It just depends on your energy level
today. Inhale look forward. Exhale knee to know. Inhale look forward exhale need and else. Inhale extend and look forward. Exhale knee to nose. And then step that right foot
all the way up into your lunge. And maybe the hands come to the blocks
here just for a little support. Without them it would just look like this. Then inhale shine your heart forward. Lean into that front knee. Front knee still over front ankle. So if you have to walk the back knee back just a bit to find your alignment,
please do inhale. Look forward. Exhale. Send the right hip back
straight through the right leg and draw your nose in towards
your knee rolling through the right foot. Inhale we shift the weight. Heart shines forward and exhale. Send it back. Continuing on for a couple rounds. Leading with your breath. So this is definitely breath-lead yoga. It can be hard to drop into that, but find your rhythm. Each time the mind starts to wander, that's normal,
especially these days. So just use the anchor
of your breath to come back to the present. Sweet. The next time you're forward
into the lunge, we're going to come back to all fours. Nice and easy. And then the same thing on the left side. We will extend the left leg out. Long left heel can lift or those left
toes can stay on the ground here. Either way inhale look forward. Exhale knee to nose. Inhale. Look forward. Extend the left leg and exhale rounded. Inhale extend. Exhale round and inhale extend. Exhale round it. In this time step the left foot
all the way up into your lunge. Here comes our lovely flossing moment. Use the blocks if you have them for. Find your alignment by walking that right knee back
maybe front knee over front ankle. So open the chest, look forward. But also think about your energetic body. Sometimes I like to say
think about your heart radiating forward. It's like lifting up and beyond
just the the shape for the pose. Breathe in here and on the exhale, slow and steady. Take it back. Extending through that left leg, flexing the left foot and then moving with your breath, inhaling to come forward and exhaling. Just slowly, mindfully shift back. Keep it going. Last time. Inhale. Shift it forward. Go ahead and bring the blocks to the side. We'll plant the palms. Come to all fours. Drop the elbows. Forearms come to parallel. And then we walk the knees back. Bringing the heart to the earth. Heart to earth. Pose tailbone up towards the sky. Big stretch here,
so breathe a nice wide 360 breath here. Oh. Opening the shoulders. Opening the heart space. Lovely. Take one more breath here and use your exhale
to bring yourself back up. Hi Benji. Hi sweetheart. And we're going to come through to a seat. Let's just cross cross the ankles here. Take a second to find. Head over heart. Heart over pelvis. Inhale in. Exhale. Take a gentle twist to the right. We've been here before. Inhale in. Come back to center. Take a gentle twist to the left. And slowly come back to center. We're going to come to lie on our back. And we're going to end with,
some Gomukhasana legs. So, generous hip stretch. But if that is not right for you, a great other option
would be to do, figure four. So that is kind of like our reclined pigeon pose
that looks like this. But for the cow legs,
we'll cross the right leg over the top of the left
thigh, like so. So you cross the legs. Right
leg is on top. Inhale and exhale. Gently draw your navel in towards
your spine to lift your knees towards your chest. The palms gently come first
just to the tops of the shins, and take a moment here to just notice
what's happening in your lower back and your hips in the pelvis. And then maybe we take the left hand to the bottom of the right foot, and maybe we kick and take the right hand
to the bottom of the left foot. Keep the feet active here. Breathe deep. Maybe the toes start to lift up towards towards the back
edge of your mat a bit, and maybe not. Your body will tell you. Inhale in. Exhale to release. First
the hands, then the feet to the earth. And then we'll uncross the legs
and take it to the other side. If you're working in figure four,
take it to the other side. This side will be different,
so just pay attention. First noticing, just finding a little bit
of a leveling and hips. Best you can. And then when you're ready. Oh yeah that is different. That is different. Breathe. Palms can come to the shins. They can come to the ankles. Middle finger index
finger and thumb can grab the big toe. So we have lots of
variations here to play with. Breathe, breathe breathe. Inhale in deeply. Stay for the exhale. Inhale in again. Release the hands as you breathe out. Release the feet and extend the legs long. Feel free to bring a prop in here
if you like a blanket. Maybe resting over the hip points. Maybe your blocks come underneath the backs of the knees. Or maybe nothing. Nada. I called this moment a flash of surrender. It's this practice, you know. It's all about practice. Everything we do on our mats, practice for how we move off the mat so we don't always have the, you know, the pristine, calm
setting for shavasana. But can we just take a moment to, quickly and safely, just surrender. Just allow ourselves just a quiet moment
to let the weight of our body go, to let any breath technique go. And just be. Nice and gently once again. Just as we did before. Rocking the head a little side to side. Ear to ear. Wiggling the fingers and the toes. Bring the head back to center. And then when you're ready,
bring the palms together and the thumbs to the third eye. We're going to end with a lion's breath
because of course. So you're going to inhale in deeply
through the nose here and exhale for a lion's breath. Sticking your tongue out. Let's do one more. Just like that. Inhaling. Exhale. Lion's breath. Release. Thank you so much
for sharing your practice with me. Take good care. Namaste.