Hey everyone, welcome to 30 Days of Yoga with
Adriene. I’m Adriene, and it’s Day 28. I hope you’re feeling great. But if you’re not,
this yoga is sure going to help. So let’s hop to it. Okay, today we’re going to begin standing
at the head of your mats. Take a second to just loop the shoulders a couple times. Draw
a couple of circles with the nose. Close your eyes. Find your footing. Find your breath,
and just move in a way that feels good for you here before we dive into our sun salutation
today or a variation of that. So you can get as freaky as you want here. You can go full-on
Martha Graham on me or you can just keep it chill. But check in with the spine. Spread
awareness through all four corners of your feet. Find that sweet breath. And then when you’re ready, we’re going to
inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up. Stay there as you pull the thumbs back, dial
the pinkies forward, drop down through the shoulders. Big breath in, big breath out.
Awesome! Let’s have some fun today. Inhale, slowly carving a line with the nose. Look
up. Maybe slight back bend here, maybe not. As you exhale reel it in and send it down
into your forward fold. The same thing here. Move it in a way that feels good, so find
what feels good here, stretching it out, connecting with your breath, taking some spa-like breaths,
massaging the body with the moment, with your breath. And then we’ll inhale. Lift up to
that flat back, kind of unraveling through the spine today. Keep it soft and explorative.
Find the wonder, the joy. Let’s not turn into yoga robots just yet, or ever really. But
no need to do it now. We’ve made it this far, Day 28. And then we’ll exhale, release. And then we’ll
plant the palms and step or hop it back to plank position. Take a couple of seconds here
to paddle out through the legs. Press away from the earth. Find that buoyancy. Imagine
a big physical ball or a big ball here, so we’re not sinking the hips down. We’re finding
that sit-bone to heel connection. And now let’s go ahead, everyone, lower the knees,
then the chest as you pull the elbows back. And then the chin, and then inhale soft, rise
up to cobra. Take a second here to work out the kinks. Be mindful, pressing the palms
and inhale. Open your heart and exhale, release. Curl the toes under, press up to all fours
or plank. Take a deep breath in, and on your exhale, my friends, downward dog. Paddle it
out here, explore. In yoga, we have an opportunity to connect to a sense of wonder that’s kind
of childlike. Remember when we were kids and we used to use this same pose. We used to
do this, and this, and this. So for me, I really like to think of that, that wonder,
that childlike wonder which we’re going to play with today. And I encourage you to remember
in your downward dogs to come, the downward dogs to come. Taking this slow walk, back
up to the front edge, and together we’ll land forward fold. Inhale. Find a sense of place, so no rigidity.
Find a little bit of a wave maybe in the spine today as you come to that flat back. And then
exhale, release. We work with repetition. Inhale all the way up towards the sky. But
we do it so that we can find new things in explore. And on your exhale, come back down
to the heart. Maybe do a little dance here, find a little sense of wonder play, and if
you’re finding a bit of resistance or a lot of resistance to that, then you’re normal.
It’s totally normal. But that’s fine here, to guide you and invite
you to a little bit of play. So paddle the feet, and let’s kind of soften it up. We’ve
been doing this for 28 days. So let’s find a little bit of ourselves in this, a little
of your own identity. Make it your own. And eventually we’ll be able to do that without
any resistance, hopefully. And here we go, inhale, reach it up. Maybe
the fingertips kiss together, maybe clap it together, whatever you’re feeling. Inhale,
find an extension. Keep that extension as you exhale. Bend the knees softly, and forward
fold, extended forward fold into asana. Inhale, lifting up halfway. And exhale, fold. Plant
the palms, separate hop it back to plank. Remember that playfulness, that buoyancy here.
So smile. Maybe move a little side to side here. Maybe your body’s tired. So you come
to the knees and even sneak in a little cat/cow. So you got it. One more breath, wherever you
are, my friends. And then together we’ll lower the knees to
the ground. This time, keep the pelvis rocking up towards the sky as you lower the chest.
We come to this pose, chin. And then knees, chest, chin is what we call this. And then
we’re going to slide underneath the fence here, slithering through to our cobra. Deep
breath in, and exhale to downward-facing dog. Find a playfulness here as you drop the left
heel and slide the right leg up high. We’re going to draw a couple circles with the right
knee, and play here one way and then the other. And then we’ll step that right foot all the
way up and into our runner’s lunge. Feel free to lower that back knee. In fact, everyone
lower that back knee for a breath or two. And find your alignment. Find your action.
And eventually we’ll loop the shoulders and let the heart radiate forward. Breathe deep.
Great. Plant the palms. Slide the right toes back
to plank. Maybe take a vinyasa here, your version; anything at all. Or just send it
straight up and back, downward-facing dog. So what do you want to do? Listen to your
body. Let’s play here, dropping the right heel. Slide the left leg up, eventually bending
that left knee into taking it for a little ride. Circles, breathing deep, noticing how
that affects my hands, my shoulders, my ribcage. And then we’ll step that left leg all the
way up into our lunge. Lower that right knee for a couple breaths. As you stretch it out,
connect to your breath, the sense of play, a sense of freedom and wonder here as we kind
of peel off the old layers of paint, and find what feels good. Eventually working up the kinks to where we
can loop the shoulders, lift that back knee, and the heart’s going to radiate forward.
So we’re coming out of this turtle shell literally, physically. And then we’ll rock the back foot
up to meet the front. Take your time. Together we’ll meet forward fold. Interlace the fingertips behind the calves.
Bend the elbows left to right. Draw your nose up towards your navel. We’ll take three full
breaths here. Belly on the tops of the thighs, bending elbows left to right. You can play
with pulsing here, straightening and bending the legs to go a little deeper into the hemmies.
And then we’ll break free. Inhale, halfway lift, and exhale soften and bow. Inhale. Reach
it all the way up, fingertips kiss up overhead, or palms clap together. And then we’re going
to send it all the way back down. Awesome. Inhale, halfway lift, flat back. And exhale,
shimmy down. This time let’s hop it back to plank. Let’s
see what happens. Shifting forward, lowering all the way, knees, chest, and chin, or taking
chaturanga to upward-facing dog. We take a deep breath in. Wherever you are, smile, even
if it’s just an inner smile, then exhale. Make your transition in down dog, so it could
be to all fours. It could be coming to a Holo Plank. It could be HI Plank, or maybe you
come up with your own way. Great. We’re going to drop the right heels, slide
the left leg up and the left knee. This time open up all the way, stacking the left hip
over the right. Just be conscious that I’m not dumping all of my weight into my right
shoulder here. Keeping it nice and square. Opening up through the left-side body. You
can straighten that leg. You can bend. You can come up onto the left fingertips. Breathe,
breathe, breathe. And then we’ll drop it and repeat the same thing on the other side. Drop the left heel, inhale, lift the right
leg high, stacking the hips, coming onto the fingertips, looking underneath. So this might
be a lot of work for the arms, so breathe, breathe, breathe deep into the belly. Connect
it to your core, your center. And then we’ll release back down. Great. Lower the knees, and send it back to Child’s
pose. Awesome work, my friends. Find your breath. Soften through the fingertips. Let
it go. Great. Slowly press into the tops of the feet. Knees are together here as we roll
it up. Fingertips stay pointing towards the front edge as I plant the palms. I’m going
to open the chest, draw the knees down. Breathe into the front of the hip creases. Find your
foundation here as you press all ten knuckles, and then lift the heart up towards the sky. If the knees do not allow me to do this, then
I can do this in cross legged, same thing, drawing the tops of the thighs down, opening
up through the chest. I’m finding extension through the crown of the head. Open your throat,
chakra. What do you want to say in the next 30 days from now? What needs to be said? What
commitments shall we make after this 30-day experience? What will we take with us? Press
into all ten fingerprints, one more breath here. And then slowly come up onto the fingertips.
Lift head over heart, heart over pelvis. Stack, and then we’ll send it all back up into our
downward-facing dog. Now you hear? Sit-bones up high towards the sky. I said
be playful. At least it’s working, okay. I can feel it. And then we’re just going to
go for a nice slow walk up towards the front edge. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, shimmy
down. Inhale all the way up. Fingertips kiss, clap, interlace above the head, whatever you
like. And then we’ll send it back down. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, slide it down.
Step or hop it back to plank. And you choose your vinyasa here. So knees-chest-chin, belly
to cobra, or shifting your weight forward, creating a little more strength in the body,
maybe with an upward-facing dog. And you can send it directly back, or if you want another
challenge, you can come back to this hovering plank. And then back up to plank, and then
downward-facing dog. Feel like that’s crazy, then skip it. Okay, so now I’m going to have a little fun
by flipping my dog. You might watch this prep just for starters if you’re new. And you might
just save this for a rainy day. So I’m going to walk my toes towards the left-side of the
mat. And I’m going to walk my right hand to the center. But I’m pretty much in the narrow
downward dog here on the left side of my mat. Then I’m going to pivot on the ball joint
of my right big toe. I’m going to turn my right toes towards the back edge as I slide,
almost creating a semi-circle with my left toes out. And just like in Bridge pose, or
Wheel, my toes go out and they lift my hip point up towards the sky. Lift my right ribcage,
pressing up and out on my right palm. And then I’m going to send my left fingertips
all the way up. Hip points forward, heart open. We call this
Flip Dog, opening the heart, the chest, sending that extension out through the crown of the
head. Breathe deep here, lift your hips. And then on an exhale, open that shoulder, rounding
it all the way around to come back to your downward-facing dog. Great. Send the sit-bones high up in the sky, take
a rest here. You can also lower the knees, and take a rest in child’s pose. So decide
what you’re resting pose is today, whether it’s staying in downward-facing dog or coming
into balasana. We’ll take three full, beautiful, playful, wondrous breaths in whatever resting
pose you choose. After the third breath, make your way to down
dog where we’ll meet our friends. And then we’re going to play in a little foot dog on
the other side. So I’m going to walk my toes towards the right-side of my mat. And then
I’m going to bring the left hand to the center of my mat. So again, I’m kind of in a narrow
dog on the right side of my mat. If you have a wall next to you or a bench, like me, you
can always do this on the same side of your mat. Yeah, that’s right. So I’m going this way,
so I don’t have a problem. But it’s still a good note. It doesn’t have to quite be like
that. I just think it’s nice whenever I’m teaching public classes I do it like this
just so that you’re going onto your mat more, and less onto your neighbor’s. But you know,
it’s all good. It’s all gravy, baby. Here to go, pressing into the left big toe,
just kind staying grounded there a minute. Create this semi-circle, as I press up and
out of my left palm. Right toes are going to draw a circle out as I turn both toes towards
the back edge. Now I can even use my right hand like I did with my left to scoop the
left side body up, lift my hip points up toward the sky. Having fun here, sending hip points
up, knees that way. Right fingertips reach forward as I extend. Again, knees towards
the front edge. I lift up, press up out of my foundation. Open my heart, shine. You might
find different variations here too, but for now, let’s keep the toes pointing forward
if we’re new to the practice. Again, to come out of the pose a minute, inhale and exhale,
right fingertips all the way around, opening up the shoulder on my transition back down.
And slowly I come back to my downward-facing dog. Center yourself on the mat. Everyone take
a deep, full, wondrous breath in, and a long breath out. Awesome work, my friends. Slowly
lower to the knees, and we’ll send it back this time swimming the fingertips all the
way around. Come onto your right ear and rest. Child’s pose, shoulders relaxed. You might
find a gentle sway here. You might wiggle the fingers. And turn your head to the other
side, again nice gentle rock that feels good. Then slowly I’ll draw the chin just in turn
and roll it up. Shifting gently to your side, coming to go more crossing legs, cow legs.
So I’m going to keep one heel in. Let’s do the left heel and keep it simple; left heel
in, right leg on top. It doesn’t really matter which one you do first though. So one leg under, one leg over, basically.
We draw the heels in towards the centerline. Eventually I might get to a place where I
can stack the knees, but if they’re very askew, that’s okay. Be in the moment. Breathe. You
might lift the hips up on a bolster, block blanket, towel. Inhale, palms come to the
arches of the feet and we lift up through the center channel. Stay here, or exhale,
forward front. See if you can keep the sit-bones rooted down. Inhale in, exhale, unravel. Great. Take a moment here to just maybe find a little
hugging in the knees, whether the soles of the feet are on the ground or you’re lifting
up in a balance. And then we’ll switch, opposite foot. The right heel comes underneath, the
left leg goes up and over and we take it out on the other side. Don’t rush it. It’s a . You might lift the
hips and then the hands will come to the soles of the feet. And once again we find that lift
as we hug and we lift up through the center channel. And maybe we just stay here, because
we feel it in the hips. Got a little send out, or to go a little deeper, for a deeper
stretch. Move forward fold, keeping the sit-bones rooted, we round down. Notice I’m not completely going on the shoulders.
I’m keeping a nice integrity here, just supporting myself in this stretch, in the release. Press
into the sit-bones. Hook the chin to the chest, unravel. Once again, we’ll hug the knees into
the chest, either finding a little balance here or bringing the soles of the feet to
the ground. Slide your hands behind your thighs, and let’s roll it all the way to flat-back
dog. Hug the knees into the chest. Take a reclined
twist, and then begin to ask yourself, “What do I want after this?” Straight dish shavasana,
maybe drawing some circles with the knees, stabilizing my sacrum, maybe a couple of full-body
stretches, maybe ten pushups before I rest in corpse pose. Maybe some hip openers. So
ask yourself what do you want, take care of your body, and then choreograph your way to
your final and most precious posture, shavasana. Be playful here. You might even pause the
video, or finish it out and then play a song and add onto your yoga practice. So keeping
a sense of wonder on the mat today, and you can take this off the mat and into the rest
of your day today. That’s really nice. So I am heading into shavasana here. I wish
you the best. Have a wondrous playful day. Remember that childlike wonder as you go through
your every day, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Take care. Namaste. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vljYUYebZtY
