– Hello, everyone, and welcome to Move,
your 30 day yoga journey. I'm Adriene, and
this is sweet Benji, and we are so glad you're here. I mean, I think I
can speak for him, but I am so glad
that you are here. You made it, this
is the spot to be. The hardest part is showing up. So hop into something
comfy for Day 1. (soft upbeat music) Alright, and here we are. Come on down to the ground. We're gonna begin in a
nice comfortable seat. You can sit up on a
little pillow, blanket, towel, block if you like,
to lift the hips. We're looking to find
length in the spine here. So nothing too crazy, but you might find right away that it feels really
easy to slip into this comfortable seat, or that it feels kind
of challenging already, and just know that whatever
you're landing here with is good, it's all good.
The most
important thing is that we show up. And so here we are. Take your time
getting settled in. Just any little small
movements that feel good, because as you're ready, I'm going to invite all
of us to come to stillness. Just do your best to
sit up nice and tall. And you can allow
your hands here to start just to rest gently on
the knees or the thighs. And we're just
gonna take a little bit of a slow moment here,
a still moment before we get moving to notice what it feels like to show up for ourselves,
to be here today. Thank you so much for
saying yes to this journey, and for your commitment to showing up for yourself. Start to gently
notice your breath. And if you feel comfortable,
you can close your eyes here.
You may notice just
how hard it is to be still. And you may notice
that your breath is short, maybe even a little shallow, and just see if
you can slowly begin to invite that breath to
have a little more depth, perhaps by
elongating the inhale, and lengthening the exhale. Again, just taking a moment to notice what it feels
like as you show up here today. Because we're really
here gathered to move in a way that feels true. To start to
deepen our relationship, or continue to
deepen our relationship with that sensation of moving in a purposeful way, moving with intention, and creating this relationship
with the brain and the body that feels supportive. So you're moving in a way
on the mat and off the mat that feels like
you're working for yourself rather than against.
And of course,
I'm so honored to be here with you to support you, and move with you
through this journey. Relax your shoulders, tuck your chin slightly. Now draw your navel
in and up just a bit to encourage more
length in the spine, perhaps a gentle
lift in your heart. And we'll get into the how
a little bit later this week, but just notice how you
bring the palms together here. So I'll invite you to
bring the palms together. And palm to palm, again,
we lift the chest up as you take a deep breath in.
And now a nice and
active breath as you exhale, really dropping the shoulders
down away from the ears. Gently bow your
head to your heart. Feel this stretch in
the back of the neck. Again, eyes closed here,
maybe just a soft gaze. And just take a moment
here to set a little intention. Maybe you finish
the sentence, "I am here, "because…" Or maybe you quietly repeat
the affirmation to yourself.
"I am here, "because that is enough." Take a deep breath in. Get a nice active
breath out here. And then we'll keep
that nice deep breath going. That's yours to play with. Remember, the breath
always comes first. Let the movement
come from the breath. You can open your eyes
if you haven't already. We'll release the hands, bring them to the
tops of the knees, and we're gonna inhale,
smooth the heart forward. Just moving in a
gentle circle here. Exhale, take the chest back. Inhale, come forward. Exhale, come back. Inhale, come forward. Exhale, come back. Now reverse your circle. Inhale, come forward. Exhale, come back. Continue to notice how you
feel here on your mat today. So maybe letting go
of any expectations for how this should feel,
or how this is supposed to go.
And also letting go of any
previous experiences maybe. Sometimes we come to the mat
thinking we know what we need, and we forget to
be really present with the current sensation. So this presence will
help us in kind of looking at how the brain and the
body speak with one another, and just how hardwired
some of our patterns are. Okay, bring the
head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis. We're gonna take
the hands forward. Hi, Benji. And come into Tabletop Position. Spread the fingertips wide. Your wrists are
underneath your shoulders. And then we might even
turn the wrists and the hands just a little
bit out externally so the elbow creases are
pointing a little bit forward. Benji is already super Zen,
he's really (chuckles) chill today. Press into the tops of the feet. Your knees are
underneath your hip points, and let's go right into it. Drop the belly, inhale,
open the chest, look forward. Press into your knuckles.
Good, exhale. Press into the tops of the
feet, round through the spine. Chin to chest, navel
draws up towards the spine. We round. Good, and inhale, drop
the belly, open the chest. Look forward,
claw through the fingertips, and exhale, round through. Now start to really
sync up with your breath, and find a pace
that feels good for you. So maybe today it feels
good to move really slow. Maybe you start
to find a bit of a rhythm with your breath. And then on your next inhale, bring it back to a
nice neutral spine. We're gonna take
the left fingertips, left palm, and just turn
them out, and then maybe in. You might stop at out
if you're like, "Okay, "that's enough for me,
that's a good enough stretch." Otherwise, we'll
work in time to bring the fingertips in
towards the left knee. And then nice and easy, we're gonna take a
gentle circle one way, and then the other. Remember to always peek
at me when you need to, but know that I am here putting
a lot of love and intention into guiding you with
the sound of my voice, so you don't have to have your
eyeballs glued to the screen.
And then release the left hand, and we'll do the same
thing with the right hand, turning the right fingertips
to the right edge of the mat. Can stop there, or maybe all the way in
towards your right knee, and then nice and easy. Keep breathing
here as we move gently in a small circle one way. And then the other, just
stretching through the palm, the fingers, the wrists, and the arms. Good, then we'll release that. Come back to that
nice Tabletop Position. So draw your navel
up to your spine here to lengthen the low back.
Then if the head is dropped,
no problem. Imagine a string
pulling you forward, so that your neck
is nice and long. And if you've been
practicing for a long time, you can always refine this, and this sensibility
of kind of knowing when the crown to tail is
integrated and connected. And it's okay to honor, in fact, it's more than, okay, you should honor the
natural curvatures of the spine, but we're just creating
this attention and awareness of the spine. It's gonna help us
move throughout the whole asana practice in a
way that feels safe and stable. It'll also probably
improve your posture just after a couple days. So we're drawing the navel in. We're lengthening
through the neck. And then just to play with
this Tabletop Position a bit, this is optional, but
we'll curl the toes under, inhale in, and exhale, exaggerate that lift
of the navel to the spine as you lift your knees, and hover here,
hovering Tabletop. Breathe deep, inhaling in.
And exhaling out. Again, inhaling in,
filling the lungs with air. And exhaling out. You might start to
shake here rigorously, even one more breath cycle. You got this,
stick with it, inhale in. And exhale, release the knees. Keep the toes curled under. You're gonna sit
back onto the heels, and we're just gonna
interlace the fingertips here, and nice and easy, create a little wave,
just a little wrist relief. I want you to know some
of these things right away, so that you know they're
available to you any time when you need to take a break, or when you just need to
practice listening to your body by responding in
a different way, other than maybe
what I am showing, or inviting us
to do on the video.
Alright, give it a good shake. Hands come forward. When you're ready, take a deep breath in,
spread the fingertips. I'm gonna be working
around my Downward Dog's, my actual
Downward Dog's paws here, but when you're ready,
send the hips up high, nice and slow,
Downward Facing Dog. Claw through the fingertips. Bend your knees. We're gonna pedal it
out here nice and slow, stretching through the feet. The ankles,
breathe deep, the calves. Get a nice stretch
through the backs of the knees. Find support by clawing
through your fingertips, taking pressure
out of the wrists, as we continue to
pedal it out here, stretching through
the hamstrings. Breathe deep, maybe hips
move a little side to side. You feel it through the hips, and the strong glute muscles that are only
gonna get stronger, as we move here
together on this journey. Then draw your navel in and up. Feel that lengthening
through the low back. So we're not dumping our
front body to the ground here in this Downward Dog.
Quite the contrary. We're finding support
through the front body, by connecting
through those core muscles, hugging those low ribs in,
keeping the chest nice and wide.
So the hands are nice and
wide to assist you with that. And then just come into
stillness in the low body, and take a second here
to gently move the head. Maybe nodding the head a
little yes, and a little no, so that you can check in, and notice if you're
holding the neck up. Now bring
everything to stillness, and let the breath move you. We'll take a big
deep inhale in together. And exhale together. Nice, then from here,
bend your knees. Listen carefully,
draw your navel up. And we're gonna walk this
puppy out to a Plank on Day 1.
Walk it out to a Plank, lower your knees here
for your Plank if you like. Otherwise, keep them lifted, and really reach the heels towards the back
edge of the mat. Good, inhale in here,
look forward. Exhale, bend your elbows. Try to keep them
hugging into your side body as you lower down. It's okay if you
belly flop here, especially in the first week. And then drag the hands
in line with the shoulders, press into the tops of the feet, press down
through your pubic bone.
So we're basically
finding our foundation here as we squeeze the elbows. Nice gentle lift here
as you inhale, Cobra. Now keep the skin
of the face soft. Use your foundation here,
this gentle back bend. So press into the earth, and then breathe
into your belly, and feel the movement
that that breath creates. Here we go, inhale. And then use the exhale to
guide it back down. Awesome. Curl the toes under,
press up to all fours, and then send it back. We're gonna bring
the toes together, send the hips back
towards the heels, Child's Pose. I want you to make
sure you know this one. This is a great place to come to when you want to slow it down, and take a moment maybe
to just be with your breath, or be with your emotion. You can come here at
any time, I love this. This is like a little
love cave in my mind. Press into the tops of the feet,
press into the hands.
Let's bring it back up
to that Tabletop Position. Every time we come
to this neutral spine, you get an opportunity to kind
of reset, and find your core. Find that integrity
of the crown of the head reaching forward,
the awareness of the tailbone, and then let's lift it
up to Plank, or Half Plank, and then back up
to Downward Dog. Beautiful, inhale,
lots of love in. You're here, we're doing this,
hardest part is over. Exhale lots of love out. Great, nice
foundation in the hands here, pressing through
the fingertips, the knuckles. We're gonna anchor
through the left heel strong. As you inhale,
lift the right leg up high. Three-Legged Dog. Good, bend your right knee. Stack your right
hip over your left hip by opening your right knee up, and towards the
ceiling or the sky. Good, then we'll work to square
the shoulders here in time. But just for today,
you can explore here.
Just feeling it out. Maybe this is the first
time you've ever done this Three-Legged Dog,
opening up like this. Breathe deep, remember
the breath is your anchor. Good, now we'll
straighten the right leg out, Three-Legged Dog. Take a deep breath in,
lift your right heel just a bit. Activate the glute,
and then slowly, steadily, we're gonna sweep the right foot all the way up and
forward into a lunge. Lower your left
knee to the ground. Loop the shoulders
forward, up and back. And if you like, you can
keep the fingertips on the ground if this is
really intense for you, maybe this is the first
time your body has done this in a long time, or maybe
ever in your adult life.
So stay nice and low, honor that beautiful moment
that you're here for today. But there is an option to
pull the right hip crease back and inhale, lift the
hands together, heart lifts up. And then maybe we roll the
shoulders back again, everybody. Maybe we take the
chin to the chest, and then lift
the chin to the sky. Good, slowly release. We'll all come
back together here. We'll lift the back knee, and on a big inhale, you're gonna press away from
the mat with your left hand, as you reach your right
fingertips up towards the sky. Big twist. Inhale,
pull the right hip crease back, reach the left heel towards
the front edge of the mat. Front knee is over
the front ankle here.
You got this, big breath
into all four sides of the torso. Good, wiggle the
right fingertips. And then on your exhale, slowly guide the right
hand back down to the ground. Good, lower the left knee. Then we're gonna
straighten the right leg, pull the right hip crease back. Inhale in, and then exhale, bend your right knee. Find this
beautiful stretch here. Feel the connection
from the foot, to the ankle, to the knee, to the hip.
Nice, and then we'll
roll it all the way through. Lift the back knee. Step the right toes back, and then send the hips up high,
Downward Facing Dog, good. Inhale, anchor
through the right heel. Lift the left leg up high. Three-legged dog. Press into both palms evenly. When you're ready,
bend the left knee. Stack the hips. Feel that big stretch,
press away from your yoga mat. So you're pushing
away from the earth. And if you're shaking here,
you're trembling, you're getting discouraged. This is what we're here for,
checking in, building strength. Find that presence, let your breath
serve as your willpower. You got this. And then
straighten the left leg. You got this. Inhale, lift the
left heel up just a bit.
Activate the glute, good, and then
slowly sweeping it forward. Lowering the right knee. Front knee is pretty much
always over this front ankle. So careful not to go too far. There are instances
maybe later on the practice where we can do that, but mostly for this journey,
we're gonna be here. Alright. And then you're
staying nice and low. Maybe you're walking
that right knee back if you need a
bigger stretch here, an option to bring
the palms together. Find your core muscles here, lifting up from the
pelvic floor maybe. You got this. Alright, dropping
the chin to the chest. Strong legs,
strong legs, strong base, building everything
from the ground up. And then looking up,
chin to sky, you got this. Honoring the breath, so if you stop breathing due to something
that I've cued, maybe you take a step back,
and find your breath again. Relax your shoulders. Take a deep breath in, and slowly release the
hands back to the mat. Here comes our twist.
So lift the right knee,
reach the right heel back, pull the left hip crease back, press away from your yoga
mat with your right hand, and then inhale,
left fingertips to the sky, front knee over front ankle,
strong legs here. Breathe into your belly. Big twist here. Lengthening through the neck, so the right ear is not dropped. We are remembering that length, that integrity in the spine. Inhale, reach the left fingertips,
wiggle them, and then exhale, slow
and steady guide it back. Awesome, right knee
comes to the ground.
We'll straighten
through the left leg. You can even peel
your left hip crease back with your left thumb, just to get a feel, and then bend your left knee,
and breathe here. A couple breaths. So the movement
and the experience is really coming
from the breath, right? It's a little bit challenging to catch up with the things
I love the most about yoga, if you're layering
the breath in last. So try to start
with the breath here, especially on Day 1. And if you've been
practicing for a bit, this is a great
opportunity to refine, to kind of come back and
find more depth of breath as you initiate movements,
and soften, of course. Okay, here we go,
rolling through. Back knee lifts,
plant the palms. Step the left
foot back, Plank pose. Inhale in, exhale,
Downward Facing Dog. Now let's move with the breath. Inhale, lift the
right leg up high. Exhale, bring it forward. Lower the back knee down, and inhale, reach both
fingertips forward, up and back. Beautiful. Big breath in here. Exhale to bring it back down.
Pull the right hip crease back. Straighten the front leg. As you inhale, look forward. Exhale, bring it
back to your lunge. Good, plant the palms. Step it right back
to Downward Facing Dog. Sorry, Benji. Inhale, lift the
left leg up high. Exhale, step that
left foot forward. Lower the right knee. Here we go, squeeze the inner
thighs towards the midline. As you inhale, sweep the
fingertips up toward the sky. And exhale, bring it down. Send the hips back,
straighten the front leg. Inhale, look forward. And exhale, rolling
through the left foot. Excellent, plant the palms. Step it back to Plank. Inhale in, exhale,
lower to the ground. Inhale for your Cobra,
nice and slow. And exhale, release. Beautiful, all right. From here, you're just
gonna come on to your elbows. Shift your hips to one side, and we're gonna
roll onto our backs.
Yay. When you get there,
hug your knees into your chest, and then rock
gently side to side, as you maybe snuggle
your shoulder blades down and underneath you. And if you're like,
what does that mean? Just create a little space between your
shoulders and your ears. Alright, then
find stillness here. You can hold onto the
knees here or the shins, or even hold on
to your pant leg. So find what feels good. And then take a deep breath in, and on an exhale,
just lift the head, the neck, the shoulders up. So you're in your version here. Squeezing, feeling that
contraction in the core muscles. Tomorrow, we will
fire them up a bit more, but don't be afraid. And then slowly release that. We're gonna walk the feet,
bring them down, just walk them to the
outer edge of your mat, and just windshield
wiper the knees one way, and then the other.
And then you can
allow the knees to come in, just kind of knock together,
so you can rest your legs. They can touch, or you
can extend the legs out long. So your choice, or you can even bring the
soles of the feet together for to end in a little
Reclined Cobbler's Pose. So find a shape that feels great for
you to end in today.
And I would like
to invite all of us to bring our
hands onto our bodies, so bring your right
hand to your belly, and your left
hand to your heart. And close your eyes, and right away,
take a deep breath in, feel how that
inhale can move you, and it can change you. And same with exhale. Feel how it can move you, and how it can transform you. Continue to feel your
breath here for just a moment. Maybe inviting in some gratitude really for you. You're here. We've already begun. Day 1 is practically
in the books. I almost said that like I
had an accent, in the books. I don't know what accent, but… It's such an honor, and a privilege,
and a pleasure to embark on this journey with you. Have a lot of
fun things in store. The hardest part
is getting here. So keep that in mind.
Be kind to yourself. And please, with all the love, keep showing up. Take a deep breath in. And as you exhale, sigh
it out through the mouth. And we'll bring the
palms together if you like. Bring the thumbs
right up to the forehead. Right up to this area. Where we see things,
and just keep an open mind. As you move
throughout the rest of your day. Thank you again. I'll see you here tomorrow. 'Til then, one last breath,
inhale, lots of love in. And lots of love out. On the invitation,
if you like to whisper, thank you or Namaste. (soft upbeat music).