Yoga for Weight Loss | Balance Practice | Yoga With Adriene

– What's up everyone, welcome to Yoga With Adriene, I'm Adriene. Today we have a nice,
full practice for you. This is part of our Yoga
For Weight Loss series. Definitely gonna work the
core, open up the hips, find what feels good in
the neck and shoulders, strengthen legs. You name it, we got it on the mat today. So, let's get started. (mellow fingerpicking guitar) Alright my friends, so
today we're going to begin lying flat on our backs. Take a second to get
situated, get settled in. (deep exhale) And then with a great deep breath in we're going to reach the
fingertips up and overhead, so nothing fancy here, just full body stretch
as you take a breath in (deep inhale) and a long breath out,
pointing and flexing the feet, maybe spreading the toes, spreading the fingertips,
rotating the ankles, the wrists.

Notice, or remember, a little reminder that it's all connected, so as you flex the feet you find this sitbone to heel connection. As you point the toes you might notice what happens to the tops of the legs, the hip creases (deep inhale). Then we'll float the fingertips down (deep exhale) and hug the knees into the chest. Scoop the tailbone up and
wrap you arms around the shins and you know what to do here, just take a couple breaths
to find what feels good, rocking gently side to side, you might peel the nose
up towards the knees, keep your shoulders relaxed.

You might point the toes,
you might flex the feet, so just nice consciousness
throughout the entire body. (exhale) (deep inhale) And we continue to deepen
the breath (deep exhale) and just notice how you
feel today. (inhale) If you feel a little
tired or a little weary or you're maybe not sure
if you have it in you to do this video (deep inhale) just stay focused on your breath. Let's take one moment at a time, we'll let just things unravel, we'll let one thing
lead to the next, here. (deep breathing) opening
our minds and our hearts to a new experience here. And we'll keep the right
knee hugging into the chest, keep the shoulders relaxed
as you send your left foot up high towards the sky. Again, you can't point and flex here, you might rotate the toes a
little in and out. (exhale) So, we're letting the blood flow in the opposite direction here, really maybe imagining
that right hip socket kind of dropping down
with each breath out.

And we squeeze the right
knee in towards the heart. Take a deep breath in, on an exhale, on your exhale, so follow your breath, be true to your breath. Slowly lower the left heel down. And we begin to connect what for me, and I think for most we can
agree our hatha yoga's all about which is this balancing
of two opposing forces. So if you're like, "Say what?" Basically we're letting the
physical practice kind of embody or imbue the
principles of yoga here, so what that means is I'm
pushing through my left foot. I'm really firming down
through the left thighbone as I pull up through the right knee.

So I find a little ease
or I seek a little grace as I press and pull, push and pull. Again, playing with
these two opposing forces throughout today's practice. And you might throw yourself
off balance, you might fall. And that's okay that's why
we practice. (exhaling) One more deep breath
in here, (deep inhale) then on your exhale take your right knee over
towards the left side of your mat and find a nice open twist here. We can open up through the right arm, we can soften through the toes now. You might use your left
palm to gently pet the outer edge of your right
thigh or your right leg.

And you might use your exhale
to gently melt the heart open, relax the right shoulder
down, down towards the earth. Now close your eyes here,
trust that life is good and find your breath. (breathes deeply)
(birds chirping) The birds are chirping super
loud here today, it's so nice. (deep inhale) So you
might notice the sounds around your practice space today, you might notice the
quality of air in the room as you begin to settle in. Gently melting back to
center whenever you arrive, take your time as we switch. Left knee hugs in and right leg goes up high towards the sky.

So again, just a couple
moments breathing here to let the blood flow in
the opposite direction, to spread awareness throughout
the sole of the foot, and just squeeze the left knee in without clenching the
shoulders or the neck. (deep breathing) If the leg doesn't straighten, if you have a nice bent
right knee, no prob. In time we'll be able to
straighten that, no prob.

So be where you're at today
with nice full deep breaths. And on your next exhale,
follow your breath, be true to yourself as you lower
the right heel down slowly. You might close your eyes for this move, imagining what's happening
in that right hip socket. (deep exhale) And as the weight of
that right leg releases down to the earth (exhale)
should feel really nice, we begin to again connect to this idea of finding balance or ease,
maybe even a little bit of grace in between this push and pull,
these two opposing forces so I'm pressing through
my right heel strong guys, flexing the right toes up toward the sky. I'm firming down through the
top of that right thigh bone. Shoulders are relaxed as
I squeeze the left knee in towards the heart, I might even find a little movement here if that feels good.

Maybe drawing (exhale)
nice little line from the shoulder to the heart with
my left knee (deep exhale). (deep inhale) And then on a big breath out I'll take the left knee
over towards the right side of the room, or my mat, and
I'll find this nice open twist, relaxing through the hands and
feet as I open up. (exhale) (deep exhale) Now close your eyes here and trust as you breathe into the
lower belly. (deep inhale) Nice long, sweeping breaths
up and down the spine (deep exhale) (deep breathing)
(birds chirping) Then gently, we'll release back to center. Hug both knees into the chest, cross the right ankle over the left, we'll grab the outer
edges of the feet like so. Maybe take a moment here to find a little spaciousness
in the lower back. If it feels right you might
bend the elbows left to right. And, if you're like, "Girl,
I can't even reach my feet," no problem, just reach here, (inhales), breathe breathe breathe,
maybe you grab the big toes, or your pants. That would be like this, yeah.

Then wherever you are,
take one more breath, deep breath in (inhale) and then exhale, choose to let something go (deep exhale). We're gonna rock front to back now, anchoring a little bit of awareness now in our core, naval to spine. You might get a nice, spinal massage, nice back massage out of this (exhale). And this will, of course, look
and feel a little different for everyone. In time you might come to
enjoy this playful rocking, but maybe today one or two
is just enough for you. After you've had enough
we'll come up to a nice, cross-legged position,
getting situated here, doing whatever you have to do to find
a nice, beautiful Sukhasana.

For me it's itching my nose,
excuse me, Austin allergies. Tuck the chin into the chest, and roll up through the spine, lift and lengthen throughout
the crown of the head, nice awareness in the belly here. If you're familiar with the Mula Bandha or the Uddiyana Bandha. Half my viewers just went,
"Ugh, what!?" (laughs) If you're familiar with those locks, you might begin to play with those. If you're not, consider this: energy, lifting up from your pelvic floor. "Say what?" Just, play with it. So rather than just sitting up collapsing and channeling third grade, you know, when you're asked to sit up tall. See if you can like cultivate
something a little bit deeper.

So, again if you're new to the practice and this is stressing you
out, all this yoga talk, don't let it. You're better than that,
you don't need that. Just play. What if I were to close
my eyes and imagine lifting up from my pelvic floor. Energetically lifting up
through the center channel, the Sushumna, the center
channel, lifting up. The crown of the head lifts and lengthens. (inhale) My heart lifts… collarbones long, chest open. The shoulder blades draw
together, elbows tag a little bit of weight down. Naval draws in just slightly, I kind of dial my outer rib cage, my lower rib cage in a
little bit, maybe (exhale). And if all this Mula-Bandha-Uddiyana-Bandha
energy, lifting is a little odd for you
and a little too much, just close your eyes for
a moment and think about places where you can lift and lengthen. And think about places
where you can ground. Maybe even the tops of
the thighs grounding down. (deep breathing) Then return to your breath as you draw the palms
together at your heart, take a quiet moment here, my
friends to set an intention.

This can be anything you like. It could be "find what
feels good" for the next, however-many minutes. This could be one word, it could be reconnecting
to a new year's resolution, a personal goal. Maybe it's just a feeling, an essence. So just take a moment to
connect to something positive that will serve you,
right here, right now. (breathing deeply) When you feel like you have it, go ahead and repeat it to yourself, just kind of honoring the power of word, the power of thought (inhale). Continue to breathe deeply, fully. Gently bow the head to the hands, really stretching the
back of the neck here feeling this nice stretch
in the back of the neck as we bow our head to our hearts. Mind intelligence to
the body intelligence, just kind of conferring
those intentions…

Considering them already done, already so as you take a deep breath in, we connect together (deep inhale) and then on an exhale we release. Open your eyes and open your palms. Take a look down at your
hands literally, hang with me. Take a look at the lines of your hands, spread the fingertips wide. Notice the spaciousness
between each finger. Then we're gonna take this
awareness of the hands and just notice what it channels. I see some ink from yesterday… such an artist! Just kidding (laughs), it's marker from a label from the fridge. I see my mother here, you might see someone in
your family, my grandmother. Just notice what it brings up. And then we're gonna take this awareness, whether you connect it
to something or not, and we're going to take this
awareness with the hands and come onto all fours.

So, nice and easy, coming
to a table-top position. Again, connecting one moment to the next and letting it unravel. So really letting things evolve here. So we take that moment with our hands down with us to all fours. No yoga-robots here, so we're
pressing away from the earth and we're pressing into
the tops of the feet. We're drawing the shoulders back and we come to a nice table-top position. So just check in with the lower back, if you feel like you may be
dipping down a little bit you might consider hugging
the outer ribs up and in and drawing your navel
up towards your spine. Then check in with your neck, maybe you're looking at the video or maybe just we forgot to remember that the neck is a nice, beautiful
extension of the spine and so we remember that
by sending the gaze maybe straight down, and
imagining a little teacup, or a little whiskey shot being placed on the back
of the neck (laughs).

Stay here, playing with the
integrity of tabletop position. If you want to challenge
yourself a little bit you can press into your foundation
and lift the knees, let them hover here for just
a breath or two (inhales). Nice, strong breath here (exhales). We welcome a little heat to
the body, a little tremble. We're not collapsed here, but
we're pressing into the earth, and then we'll lower the
knees, curl the toes under, and walk the palms forward. Inhale, look forward, drop the belly, and exhale, send it back. We come into this kind of
extended child's pose variation, but I'm gonna swing a little
bit, stretching the shoulders, arms actively reaching towards
the front edge of the mat. I can relax the forehead down, maybe it kisses the mat, maybe it doesn't.

I'm gonna take two more full breaths here. I'm stretching my feet,
I'm reaching the fingertips towards the front edge, and I'm breathing into the armpit, chest, the upper back body. (deep exhale) (deep inhale) Great, then I'll slowly
draw my navel to my spine, come back to all fours, find
your tabletop position again, wrists underneath the shoulders, knees directly underneath the hips. My friends, notice what's
happening with your toes, maybe they've come in here, maybe they're splaying out. See if you can get a nice line here from the knee to
ankle, ankle to toe bones. So nice right angle. Here we go, tabletop position. Inhale in, on an exhale,
maybe again you practice lifting the knees.

So I'm just checking in
with this line of the spine, drawing my navel up (exhale)
one more breath here. Shoulders draw back… and then I'll exhale release, cat-cow, let the floodgates open
here, find your breath. (deep breathing) So for cat-cow I'm moving with my breath, maybe inhaling, dropping the belly, opening the heart forward. And then on an exhale,
starting at the tailbone, connecting all the
muscles of the front body as I find this beautiful arc in this line. Take your eyes off the video
and trust yourself here as you maybe close your
eyes and go inward. Moving with your breath, slowing it down. And then when you get bored
of this cat-cow my friends, go ahead and be a little rebel, and veer off the railroad tracks. We might shake the hips
a little left to right. If it feels available to you,
you might even rock forward, maybe send it back to
where we were (exhales). So we're working in a little
evolving cat-cow, here. Checking out how you feel today, stretching any tight places,
sore spots (exhales). If you haven't been on
your hands in a while, or you're totally new
to yoga and you're like, "What in the world!? My
wrists are killing me," then you might take this moment to come up and give the
wrists a little love, little rotation, maybe even reaching the arms up as you do that so the blood can flow in
the opposite direction.

So take a little freestyle moment here to find what feels good, and connect to a little spinal flex. (deep breathing) Then we're gonna take the organic energy, and the good vibes of this movement, and for some it'll be a little
bit hard, 'cause it's hard. Sometimes we just wanna
be told what to do so… go with the flow. We're gonna take this kind
of seaweed-like movement and we're gonna curl the toes under, and we're gonna send it
to downward facing dog with the same kind of energy. So no rigidity, basically (inhales). We're gonna get into a little flow later, but we're really wanting to kind of start with a soft, easy breezy stretching. Full breath (exhale). Being really kind to
our bodies we check in.

So in down dog we pedal the feet, we press away from the
earth, we don't collapse in we melt the heart back, then the knees, as generously as you need (exhales). Then once again hugging the
outer ribs in just a hair here, drawing the shoulders away from the ears, you might imagine your biceps rotating towards the front of your mat. And the tops of the thighs
spiraling towards the back. Take one more deep breath in
here my friends (inhales), and then on an exhale we're
gonna go for a nice, slow walk up towards the front edge of your mat. Together we'll land in forward fold. Take a nice, wide stance
here to start (exhale), bend the knees generously,
stretching the lower back body. And we let the weight
of the head and the arms and the shoulders go. (deep breath) You might shake the head "yes, no" here, you might grab the elbows,
rock a little side to side. Find what feels good, maybe connecting to an Ujjayi breath now,
that victorious breath, audible breath. (breathing deeply) And we'll take one more
breath wherever you are.

(deep breath) Then on your next inhale, slowly lift up to a flat back position. So, for this shape the palms can be on the tops of the thighs, the tops of the shins or
even fingertips on the earth. And you can mix and match this
throughout our flow today. Deep breath in, inhale wherever
you are, nice, beautiful line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone (inhales). And then follow your breath down, so wait for your exhale, let's get used to moving with the breath as we (exhales) come back to that forward fold.

Great smile, remember your intention, press into all four corners of the feet, bend your knees, tuck
your chin into your chest, and slowly roll up to Mountain. Stay connected to your
breath as you lift the heart, lengthen through the crown of the head. We'll just take a couple
moments here on your own to loop the shoulders. You might fix your pants, fix
your hair, itch your nose, whatever you need to
do, kind of go through all those wiggle moments. Draw circles with the nose,
did I already say that?, checking in with the neck.

And take as much time as you need to, so just use myself in the
video as a guide, here today, but take as much time as you need to to really move from a real place. Again, if your wrists are
tight you might take a second to veer off and massage your wrists at any time during the practice. And whenever you feel ready
again, take your time, you'll come to a nice Mountain
Pose with the palms open. We allow the armpit
chest to really lift here as if someone were lifting
us up from a shoulder strap. And then, as we begin to lift the heart, the tailbone's gonna want to peel towards the back edge of your mat, so we're gonna lengthen the tailbone down, you might find soft knees
to help you with this.

And we're gonna imagine
the hip points shining up towards the sky, North. So we kind of go from
here, just to exaggerate, to tops of the thighs spiraling and tailbone lengthening down. And these two hip points
getting a little sunlight. If you're like, "I didn't
get that," let it go. Another day, maybe another year from now. Deep breath in (inhale) and
long breath out (exhale). On your next inhale, we're
gonna sweep the fingertips up and overhead just getting used to working with the breath, here. Fingertips kiss up and
overhead, and on an exhale we float them back down,
palms open towards the front. (exhale) Move with your breath,
inhale, reaching up. Taking up space, spreading
the fingertips (inhale).

And exhale back down. Now begin to integrate the neck, so you might trace your fingertips with your peripheral vision, or maybe just move your
nose with your thumbs. So, really integrating the neck
here, careful not to crunch as the fingertips come
down we breathe out. And chin to chest. Just a couple more rounds
on your own (inhale). Getting used to moving with the breath.

(deep breathing) And on your next inhale, we'll reach up, palms will come together up and overhead, and then on an exhale we'll
bend the elbows, open the heart as you float it down to forward fold. Inhale, halfway lift, just like
we did before, your version. (inhale) And on your breath
out, take it back down, forward fold. Inhale, sweep the
fingertips left to right, reach up towards the sky,
full breath (inhale), and exhale hands to heart, soft bend in the knees,
not locked (exhale). Awesome, here we go, inhale,
reach the fingertips up. Palms come together up and
overhead, and now on an exhale we open our hearts (exhale) and
send it forward, Utt?n?sana.

Inhale, halfway lift, long beautiful neck, take a deep breath in (inhale). Use your exhale to slide
it back down (exhale). Awesome. Bend your knees, this time plant the palms and we're gonna step the right toes followed by the left toes back to plank. Don't panic. Top of a push-up here, we
press away from the earth. We fill three full breaths
here, so how you fill them is entirely up to you. Holding, clenching
waiting, hips dipping down is not a good idea. So, become alive here, just like you did in this hovering cat or
that tabletop position.

If you need to lower
the knees, no problem, fill your three breaths here,
pressing away from the earth, drawing the navel up towards the spine. Everyone, make sure that
your shoulder blades aren't collapsing here but
we spread the shoulder blades left to right, and lift the heart. One more breath (inhale)
about three breaths here and then we'll all lower the knees, draw them to the center
of the mat, lift the toes. You can cross the ankles here
just for fun for style points, careful not to let the hips dip here. Keeping that integrity
from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone. Deep breath in, look forward (inhale), open your throat chakra (laughs), draw the shoulders away from the earth, hug the elbows into the side
body and slowly lower down. Gaze is forward, nice and slow. Belly comes to the earth,
we release our feet down, press into the pubic bone
and on a big breath in lift up baby cobra. So careful not to push it up too hard, let's keep it nice and low, here.

We have plenty of Catura?ga opportunities
and Viny?sa opportunities so let's do a little
back strengthening here. Pulling the elbows back,
pressing into our foundation you might close your eyes now and reconnect with your breath. (deep breath) Tuck your chin into your
chest just slightly (inhale) and then on a breath out, we'll release. So we have two options
during the practice today, one is to curl the toes
under from this place. For more strengthening
practice, we'll press back up to that top of a pushup, and then send it to downward facing dog. If you're working on strength building and you prefer not to do that, you wanna go a little slower, a
little softer then we will always move from here to all fours, curl the toes under, and
then peel up from the tail. So we have lots of options together we'll meet in
downward facing dog.

When you're there, take
a deep breath in (inhale) and then let a big exhale out
through your mouth (exhale), bend the knees, slowly look forward, repeat the slow walk that we did before, or hop up towards the
front edge of your mat. Inhale, halfway lift, your version and exhale, softly release, back down. Inhale, sweep the fingertips
all the way up and overhead, full body stretch, press
into your feet, and exhale hands to heart. Alright so we're gonna
add on a little bit now, dancing in the moves. If you need to take a break at any point you can come to a nice
extended child's pose, or come back to standing in
Mountain to watch the video and find your breath, and just
be where you are today, okay? Here we go, inhale, sweep the
fingertips up and overhead, full body stretch. Exhale, diving forward,
follow your breath (exhale). Inhale, halfway lift (inhale)
exhale, forward fold. Inhale, plant the palms,
step or hop it back to plank. Fill three breaths here. (deep breathing) After three breaths we take a Viny?sa.

So we can repeat what we did before, lowering the knees down, practicing Catura?ga here, or maybe we stay up on the toes, shift our weight forward, hug the elbows into the side body, and lower down, Catura?ga
to upward facing dog. So we have lots of options
here, we can mix and match. Follow your breath, inhale
in, and on an exhale send it back, downward facing dog. (exhale) Melt your heart back,
press away from the earth. Pressing into all ten knuckles firmly. Great, now we're gonna drop the left heel and on an inhale slide
the right leg up high. We're gonna fill three breaths here, how you fill them is entirely up to you. So you might have a tendency to kind of wait or need to see the video but, your body knows what to do here, we know the downward dog shape.

We might stack the hips, we might work on squaring them right away, we might have our left
heel high up in the sky so we're just working on anchoring down through that left heel. After your three breaths (inhale) slowly bend your right knee and squeeze it up and in towards
your heart, gaze's forward, so no nose-to-knee here today we're drawing the shoulders away
from the ears, looking forward and then we'll step that right
foot up into our lunge, whew! Good work everyone. Slowly lower the left knee
down, inhale, look forward. Stack front knee over front ankle and then exhale, send it back (exhale). Inhale, come forward,
and now it's all you, so we're gonna play a
little bit here in low lunge or runner's lunge. Maybe pulling the right hip crease back, maybe widening your stance. Stretching the muscles of the legs, noticing how they're attached
(laughs) to the torso. You might lift that
back knee here (exhale), or you might keep it
nice and low (inhale). After a couple breaths,
everyone loop the shoulders, let your heart radiate forward,
extension through the spine, take a deep breath in
(inhale) and on an exhale we'll plant the palms,
slide the right toes back, plank pose.

Deep breath in, on an exhale,
choose your own Viny?sa here, lowering down to the
belly, coming up to cobra, or Catura?ga to upward facing dog. Take a deep breath in, smile, and then exhale, downward facing dog. Deep breath in (inhale), long
breath out (deep exhale). Now drop the right heel this time, inhale, slide the left leg up high. Three breaths my friends,
to fill (inhale). Be true to your breath (deep exhale). Stacking the hips, pointing
and flexing the feet, maybe you work on anchoring
that right heel down. Pressing into both palms evenly (inhale). After three breaths, three-ish breaths, we'll squeeze the left
knee in towards the heart, gaze comes forward, hold
here, take a deep breath in, and then exhale, left foot comes down.

Go ahead and lower the back knee, we come to a nice low lunge. Inhale, look forward (inhale), and exhale, send it back (exhale). And now we have a little
room to play here, so you might rock front and back, you might come to a nice,
low lunge or runner's lunge and breathe here with the
knee lifted (deep breath). Find what feels good here,
stretching any sore spots. Connecting. (deep breathing) And then with the knee lowered or lifted, together we'll loop the
shoulders, inhale, look forward, let your heart radiate forward. And exhale, once again planting the palms, we'll slide the left toes
back and take our Viny?sa. Follow your breath (deep breath). Together we'll meet, downward
facing dog (deep exhale). Awesome, deep breath in (inhale),
long breath out (exhale). Bend the knees generously, belly comes to the tops of the thighs, tops of the shoulders rotate down, away from the ears so
there's lots of space here. Then we'll inhale, look forward, exhale, hop it up towards the front edge. Inhale, halfway lift and
exhale, forward fold. Inhale, spread the fingertips, sweep the hands all the way up.

Reach for the sky, and
exhale, hands to heart, tuck your pelvis. Just take a moment here
to notice how you feel. Observe your breath. Remember your intention. Find that lift in the heart. Then we'll find soft knees again and inhale, sweep the
fingertips up (inhale), on an exhale diving forward (exhale). Inhale, halfway lift (inhale) and exhale, forward fold (exhale). Bend the knees, step or this
time you can hop the feet back to plank. Inhale, shifting the weight
forward, Catura?ga practice, hugging the elbows in
we slowly lower down. Cobra, or upward facing dog
(inhale) take a deep breath in and on an exhale to
downward facing dog we go. This time walk the big
toes to the center line, and we anchor down through the left heel. Inhale, slide the right leg up, this time square the right hips, so you might turn the right
toes down towards the ground, and flex the right foot strong.

Press into both palms evenly,
take a deep breath in (inhale) and then on an exhale we'll
slowly, nice and slow, bend that right knee,
hugging in towards the heart once again as the gaze moves forward. Inhale, exhale, step the right foot up. Now check it out, here we go,
we're gonna walk the left toes all the way up, lifting
the left foot up here. Now I take a nice, slow entrance
into this standing split, and I want you to just,
kind of forget what you know about standing split shape.

Work on the sensations here,
so I press on all four corners of the right foot. I really keep a soft bend in my right knee as I stretch to the right leg. I'm gonna pull my right
hip crease up and back, as I stay alive through my left foot. So how high you get that
foot up is no matter, in fact we wanna dial the left toes down, and really flex through
the left foot, as if you're pressing into the ball
joint of that big toe. If you have blocks, or if you
have a chair, you can lift it (laughs) lift the earth up to you so you can work on this here. If you're wanting to
go a little bit further and play with balance you
might walk the fingertips in line with your foot. (exhale) Maybe even
wrapping around the leg. Take a deep breath in wherever you are, really bright through the legs,
press into that left heel. (deep inhale) Then on an exhale,
anchor, navel to spine here as you slowly bend that right leg and release the left toes down. Strong breath in here as we
bend the front knee and inhale.

Lift the fingertips up and overhead. High lunge. So we're hugging energy into the mid line. Great, bend your left knee here, lengthen tailbone down,
just like we did before and allow the hip points here,
to get a little sunlight. So I'm going from here,
to bending the left knee, really scooping the
tailbone under and letting those hip points shine up. Strong high lunge here you might
straighten the back leg in. Again take a deep breath in
(inhale) and then exhale, bend the elbows, thumbs
are gonna spread back towards the back edge of your
mat, spread your fingertips, inhale lift your heart, tuck the pelvis, and exhale, bend the elbows (deep exhale). Inhale, fingertips kiss
up and overhead (inhale) and exhale, bend the elbows (exhale). Awesome, let's do one
more, inhale (inhale), exhale (exhale). Excuse me, my voice broke there (laughs).

And then we gently release. Plant the left palm
next to the right foot. Feel free to lower your back knee. On a nice sweeping breath I'm gonna reach my right
fingertips all the way up towards the sky, coming into a twist. Again, back knee can be lowered. Take a deep breath in here,
pull your right hip crease back, careful not to collapse into
your foundation but press away. (inhale) And then on an exhale release. Great, plant the palms,
slide the right toes back, and take a Viny?sa. You might take a break here instead. Find your own bliss here today, choose your own adventure,
and stick with your breath. (deep breath) Together we'll meet downward
facing dog (deep exhale). Deep breath in (inhale), long
breath out (deep exhale). Bring the two big toes together, this time anchoring down strong
through the right heel. Inhale, slide the left
leg up high (inhale). Take a moment to square
the hips, maybe notice what's happening with the shoulders, if you're dumping all your
weight into your right shoulder drop the left shoulder down.

Inhale in, squeeze the
left knee all the way in towards the heart as you
exhale out, gaze is forward. (sharp exhale) Then we'll step the
left up into our lunge. Great, here we go, with
fingertips on the mat, I'm gonna soften the right knee and
step the right foot up, standing split. Now again, especially for
our practice here today, just forget what you know
about standing split, that shape here, right?, we're gonna work on
sensation rather than shape. So, pressing into my foundation strong, staying soft in that left knee, engaged.

I'm gonna lift my right
leg up high (deep breath). Nice awareness in the
shoulders, right toes dial down and I'm gonna really press into the ball joint of my big toe. Spread the toes (exhale) breathe. Maybe you'll walk the
fingertips in, maybe not, maybe again you're on two blocks here, kind of like two stilts. So we're making do,
finding what feels good in the challenge (exhale). And the thing about balancing
postures is you do sometimes throw yourself off balance, right? We practice dealing
with that, too (exhale), and if you fall, I'll catch ya.

One more breath here (inhale), on an exhale anchor navel to spine, soften through that standing
leg, send the right toes back, and with one bold sweeping breath in we reach the fingertips up high, high lunge. Also known as crescent lunge,
we pull the thumbs back and we do a little housekeeping, here. So especially in your
home practice, right, it's yours to explore
and yours to tend to.

So when you're in a fast
paced Viny?sa class, hopefully you're still
doing the same, but, you know, you kind of go to
class to move with others, breathe with others. So here you have a chance to tend to it. Bend the back knee, lengthen tailbone down,
scoop the tailbone down so you can lift those hip
points up towards the sky. Then you might straighten
that back knee (exhale) breathing deep. Inhale, looking up, we
might begin to maybe integrate the neck on
this move as we exhale, bend the elbows, chin to
chest this time (exhale). Inhale, challenging our
balance with the gaze. Reaching up, looking up.

And exhale, bending the elbows. If that's too unstable for you you can just keep your
eyes focused on one thing. (deep breath) Working slowly but surely (deep breath) towards a place of more
balance and stability and ease. One more, inhale (inhale) and
exhale, bending the elbows (exhale) Great, inhale, reach
it up, exhale, release. We find our twist on the other
side, right palm comes down, we can lower that back knee if we need to. And inhale, sweeping the left
fingertips up towards the sky. Pull the shoulders away from the ears. Press away from the earth (exhale). One full breath (inhale) and then on an exhale we release, awesome. Plant the palms, slide the left toes back and take your Viny?sa. (deep breathing) We're gonna take three breaths in child's pose or downward facing dog. So you can choose your
own resting posture here, coming into an extended child's pose or resting in downward facing dog.

Feel your three breaths here,
nice long smooth deep breaths. See if you can extend the inhale, extend the exhale, nice and long. (deep breathing) If you're in extended child's
pose, slowly make your way back up to downward facing dog where we'll take a deep breath in (inhale) and on an exhale bend
the knees, look forward and hop towards the
front edge of your mat. Inhale, halfway life (inhale), exhale, soften and release down. Inhale, sweep the arms up and
overhead, full body stretch (inhale) and exhale back down
we go, forward fold (exhale).

Inhale, lifting up, flat back (inhale), exhale, Utt?n?sana. Plant the palms, step
or hop the feet back, take a deep breath in (inhale). Exhale, shifting forward,
lower down cobra, or upward facing dog. After your heart opener
take a deep breath in and on an exhale down dog (exhale). From here we'll walk
the big toes together, drop the left heel down, again inhale, slide the right leg up high. Exhale bend the right knee,
squeeze it in towards the heart, gaze is forward, open your throat. Step the right foot up. Then immediately we go into
the standing split practice. (inhale) So this time (exhale) pulling the right crease back, this time you might begin to wrap the right hand around the calf. Maybe the left (exhale),
and maybe you're like, "Girl, mm-mm, 'nother day." "'Nother year, dude." Breathe, press into your left foot strong. (deep breathing) And then we'll soften the standing leg, connect to your core as you
send the left toes back. Inhale, sweep the arms up and over head, nice strong crescent lunge (inhale) and then exhale all the way back down.

Take your twist, inhale, right fingertips reach up towards the sky. We press down through that right big toe, so make sure your right
knee's not coming out here. And then exhale, down we go. Slide the right toes back, and Viny?sa. (deep breathing) In downward dog we'll drop
the right heel and inhale, lift the left leg up high (inhale). Deep breath in, exhale,
bend the left knee, squeeze up and in towards
your heart, gaze is forward. Then we'll step the left foot up. In your own time find
the softness of buoyancy, as you practice here, standing splits. Right toes down, left hip crease
pulls up and back (exhale).

Connect to your center,
your core, and we play here. (inhale) And it might
be here ya'll, no prob. (deep breathing) So, one thing I want to say
that I would absolutely say if I was teaching public class
is if your right butt cheek is stacked over your left
butt cheek, then we're kind of going into more of
a half moon situation here. So dial your right toes down to the earth, drop your right butt cheek,
and breathe into the sensation.

(deep exhale) One more breath (inhale),
then connect to your core as you exhale, soften through
the standing leg (exhale). Right toes back, inhale, whew! High lunge. (deep breath) On an exhale releasing
down we find our twist. Right palm to the earth,
inhale, open up (inhale) and exhale back down. Take your Viny?sa and then together we'll meet
in child's pose, everyone. (deep breathing) Take three breaths here,
fingertips sweep, swim towards the toes and we rest
the shoulders, the head down. (deep breath) Take a rest. And slowly we'll reach the fingertips up towards the front
edge and take your time, enjoy the transition as
you come back to all fours.

Inhale lots of love in, and
on an exhale send it back, downward facing dog (inhale). Awesome work my friends, stick with it. We inhale, look forward, and exhale, hop towards the front edge. Inhale, flat back, draw the
shoulder blades together, (inhale) and exhale bow. Inhale, sweep the fingertips
up, reach towards the sky, and hang with me, exhale, enjoy this move, back down we go (exhale). Inhale, halfway lift (inhale),
exhale, forward fold. Plant the palms, step it back. Viny?sa, Catura?ga to up dog.

Or, lowering all the way down to cobra. Together we'll meet in
downward facing dog, where we'll walk the two big
toes together once again, and drop the left heel down strong. Inhale, lift the right leg up (inhale), exhale, squeeze the right
knee in towards your heart, gaze is forward. Step the right foot up,
pivot on the back foot, and slowly we'll rise up for
a little grounding moment here in warrior one. Super strong warrior
one, tend to it (exhale) (inhale) and when you're
ready inhale, arms up high. (exhale) Deep breath in here. Now, check it out. This isn't your momma's
balancing practice, here, so you might have thought
we're gonna do a bunch of tree pose and stuff,
but we're not, yay. We're gonna anchor navel to spine here, hug the outer ribs in. I'm gonna slowly pivot on the
back foot, I'm here (inhale), and then on an exhale (exhale) I'm gonna turn towards
the right side of the mat, sending my right fingertips
towards the back, and also pulling gently, right hip crease towards the backage of your mat.

So I'm coming into a
twist here, remember this, tailbone lengthening down, hip points high up towards the sky. So yours might be here
today, no prob (exhale). Breathe (inhale) then we're
gonna turn the right thumb down, reach towards the outer
edge of your left thigh, and inhale, left fingertips up high. So, you can see what's going on here, I'm dropping the right thumb down, and I'm reaching the left
fingertips up towards the sky. Inhale in, then think about
moving from your center, dialing from your center,
your navel or your heart.

I'm gonna open up to warrior
two on an exhale (exhale), pivoting on the back foot (inhale). Awesome, inhale, reach forward
and exhale, reverse warrior, sink deep into that front leg. Inhale in, and exhale all the
way back down to your lunge. Awesome, plant the palms, and
take a Viny?sa, or skip it! (deep breathing) Together we'll meet,
downward facing dog (inhale). Deep breath in (inhale) and
lion's breath this time, long breath out (fierce exhale). Drop the right heel, inhale,
slide the left leg up high. Exhale bend the left knee,
squeeze it in towards your heart, gaze is forward, super strong. Step the left foot up,
pivot on the back foot. Ground for a moment here
in Vira one, warrior one. These pants are wack-a-doodle, today. Reaching fingertips up high,
take a deep breath in (inhale) then on an exhale, connect
to your center (exhale) full body experience as
we pivot on the back foot and find our twist (exhale).

So this'll be a little bit
different for everyone (exhale). Tend to it, deep breath in (inhale). Now we'll send the left thumb down now to the outer edge of that right thigh. Reach the right fingertips up and overhead and breathe deep. Hug energy into the mid line, inner thighs squeeze in
towards the mid line (exhale). Deep breath in. And then on an exhale enjoy this move, we're going to pivot on the back foot, dial the heart in the center around, come out to your warrior two.

Awesome, inhale, reach
forward, up and back, take it into reverse warrior. Inhale in and exhale all the
way back down to your Viny?sa. Feel free to skip it! (deep breathing) From downward facing dog, we will repeat, dropping the left heel, here we go. Inhale, lift the right leg up high. Stick with it my friends. Squeezing the right knee
in towards the heart, gaze is forward, you got it. Step the right foot up,
take a moment here to ground in warrior one as you inhale,
reach the fingertips up. And exhale, pivot on the back foot. Open up towards the right. Right fingertips back as you
open your heart to your twist. Then right thumb down as
we lift the left fingertips up and overhead. Stretch, and then enjoy
this unraveling as we– ooh, I just saw a cardinal! There's a cardinal right
there, that's cool. Inhale in, exhale, warrior two, that was cool, there's
a cardinal behind me. Pull the pinkies back, strong Vira two.

Inhale, reach forward up and back. Reverse warrior. And then exhale all the
way back down we go. Viny?sa. (deep breathing) Last side, from downward facing
dog we drop the right heel. Inhale, slide the left leg up high. Exhale, squeeze the left
knee in towards your heart. Then step it up into your lunge. Warrior one. Deep breath in. Exhale, pivot on the back
foot, connect to your core as you open up into your
twist (sharp exhale). Inhale, left thumb comes down as you reach the right fingertips up and overhead. Stretch, breathe. And then enjoy this unraveling,
out we go to warrior two, pivoting on the outer
edge of that back foot, nice and strong.

Remember, lengthening the
tailbone down (exhale). Inhale, reach forward up and back. Peaceful warrior, reverse warrior. And then exhale all the
way back down we go. Last chance for a Viny?sa,
feel free to skip it. (deep breathing) And then on an exhale,
back to downward facing dog for three final breaths (deep breath). In through the nose, maybe
out through the mouth if you're feeling really hot. (deep breathing) And then slowly we'll lower
to the knees, awesome. Sweep the toes to the
right side of your mat, come to a nice, cross-legged position. Just like we did before. Take a moment to rotate out
the wrists if you need to, (exhale) catch your breath.

Then we'll flip the palms up and inhale, sit up nice and tall. Close your eyes (deep
exhale) and let something go. (cardinals chirping) Just notice how you feel. (soft exhale) And then we'll take it
into a nice, gentle twist. So right fingertips walk behind, left palm comes to the
top of the right knee. This is the journey, here,
tucking the chin into the chest, and rolling up tall. Taking a deep breath in as
you do so and then exhale, imagining your heart
moving towards the right. So careful not to muscle this, right? Use this pattern of
inhaling, rolling up…

And exhaling, journeying into the twist. Inhaling, rolling up (long inhale) and exhale, we journey into the twist. Soft in the neck (deep exhale). (inhale) Take one more breath,
wherever you are (inhale) and then use your exhale to switch. Right palm comes to the left knee, left fingertips behind. Careful not to crank it up,
but let's move with the breath, inhale, rolling up (inhale). Head over heart, heart over
pelvis here, and exhale. Maybe it's a physical journey, but maybe it's just imagining
yourself twisting, turning. Maybe it's an energetic thing. So play here, this is so valuable
for the body (breathing), for the mind, for the
spirit as well (exhale).

(deep breathing) Take one more breath, wherever you are, and then exhale, we'll
release back to center. Awesome work, my friends. Send the legs out long. Press into the heels, then send the fingertips out in front, and then turn the fingertips down so you're really pressing
through the palm here, this should be a nice
stretch for the wrists and the tops of the arms. Kind of come into this zombie
or this thriller move here, and we connect to our core, the tops of the thighbones firm down, and we get a little booty
massage here as we roll down. At least for me, I
cracked my tailbone once, many moons ago, ugh, terrible. And so this is always a nice move for me. Who would have thought I
would ever do this again. (exhale) So grateful
for the healing process, take a full body stretch when you land. Deep breath in (inhale) and exhale, I don't care who's in your
practice space or near you, go ahead and sigh it out (loud exhale).

Bend the elbows, we come to football, goalpost arms here, cactus arms. And you take a nice
moment here to just chill and relax (exhale), to
notice how you feel. Notice how your yoga mat, and
this moment, this channel, this community, your breath
literally has your back. Your yoga mat has your
back in this moment. It's pretty cheesy, but it's pretty cool. From here we have a couple of options. If you're short on time, or you
just need to get boogie-ing, go ahead and make your
way to Shavasana here. Otherwise we'll bring
the soles of the feet up towards the sky, grab the inner arches or the outer arches and take a happy baby. Play with this tilt of
the pelvis, so you might, instead of imagining the
tailbone going up towards the sky you might imagine it peeling towards the front edge of your mat.

Creating a little bit of
space in the lower back body. And then you can find
what feels good here, rocking a little back and forth. Maybe stretching one leg, then the other. Itching your foot, popping your toes, whatever feels awesome. (deep breath) Keep the shoulders relaxed, let your breath begin to soften and the body begins to cool down. (inhale) Then we'll gently release, soles of the feet are
gonna come to the mat and we're gonna windshield wiper the knees over towards the right side of the mat, just letting them fall naturally. Hands can rest wherever
they naturally lie. Then you might just stay here, for a little bit deeper of
a stretch you might gently lift your right foot and
bring your right heel or your right ankle to
the top of your left leg, just letting gravity do the work here, so nice, soft, easy (exhale) stretch here. (inhale) You can begin to
relax your jaw (exhale), soften the skin, maybe
even close the eyes.

(deep breath) Inhale in, release. And on an exhale, we'll
slowly shift the knees towards the left. This might feel awesome just right here, you might not even need
this extra little move, but if you do gently
lifting the left leg up, crossing the left heel on
top of the right thigh, and again softening through
the fingers, the jaw (sigh). If that sigh felt awesome you
might let a sigh out here. (deep inhale) (deep sigh) Letting it go. (cardinals chirping) Awesome, then we'll release,
take a deep breath in (inhale), long breath out (exhale). Interlace the fingertips,
bring them behind the head, elbows left to right. Inhale, send both legs up towards the sky, scoop your tailbone. Inhale in, exhale, lift your head, your
neck, your shoulders up. Breathe here, one last
connect to the core (exhale).

For more here you could begin
to scissor the legs (exhale). Keep the elbows nice and wide. Then send your gaze up and away, so up and behind you, so that you are really taking any unnecessary tension out of the neck. Couple more breaths here,
you got it (exhale). (deep breathing) And then we release everything down. Awesome. Hug the knees into the chest, crawl your shoulder blades
underneath you, oh yeah. Deep squeeze here, big
hug, take a deep breath in (deep inhale), and then on an exhale, Shavasana (deep exhale). Sending the legs out long. Traditionally, we let the legs splay out, we let the arms rest gently at our sides, but you can break it up here, you can be a rebel if you want to bring
the hands on the belly. Maybe have a pillow or something handy to cover the eyes or pillow the head.

Set yourself up for a
moment of relaxation, a moment of letting go, of stillness, and a moment of surrender. (cardinals chirping) We all are very busy. We spin a lot of plates, we
have a lot of things to do, things to manage,
emotions to wrassle with, to deal with. But it's pretty freakin'
awesome that you took this time to work it out on your mat. So what's 60 seconds
longer here in Shavasana? Give yourself permission here
to do absolutely nothing.

To allow the mind and the
body and the heart to absorb the nutrients of your practice. Stay here for a minute at least, or if time allows stay here longer. I'll bid you farewell here,
by bringing my palms together and saying "namaste." Thank you for sharing
your practice with me… thank you. (mellow fingerpicking guitar).

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