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TRUE – Day 11 – SOFTEN | Yoga With Adriene

– Hey everyone welcome to True, your 30 day yoga journey. It’s day 11 and it’s heaven. It’s the day that we officially stop pushing and forcing and learn to soften. Let’s get started. (lighthearted music) Hey, hey, hey, alright. Let’s begin seated today. You’re gonna bring your
left heel in to start. And your right heel in to follow. And you can lift your hips up on a blanket or block if you need a little lift as always. And as always, just take your time getting settled in even if that ever means pausing the video to get sorted. So you really want to get in the habit of setting yourself up for greatness. Meaning setting yourself up to really make the most of your practice. And as you begin to get settled in here, think of our theme today, our thread soften. See if you can find places, or maybe it’s not a specific place, but it’s just energetically
you need to chill and soften and relax. Let’s start to do that now by taking a nice, big inhale in. And a long exhale out. Let’s return to this idea to extending the exhalation. So inhale in. And lengthening the exhale out. Cool one more time. Awesome. Left hand to the earth. Right fingertips to the sky. Big inhale to reach up. Exhale. Inhale to reach up. And exhale sink and softening. One more time. Inhale to reach up. And exhale. Back through center. Take it on to the other side. Inhale the reach up. Exhale to soften. Inhale to reach up. Exhale to soften. And one more time. Inhale. Exhale. Awesome. Come on back to center. Now we’re going to walk the fingertips forward now. Forward forward. And you’re going to come on to
the palms or the forms here. Now I’ll start to activate the tops of the thighs down so we have this action in the legs. And we start to open up
through the right hip. And then you’re just gonna
find soft, easy movement here. So you can sway on the forms, you can sway on the palms. It’s too much, you can sway on the fingertips here. Really paying attention to the sensation in that right hip. Alright then use the
palms to press back up. You’re gonna actually
grab your right ankle now. Right foot. And we’re gonna take it and we’re gonna bring the right foot into the left hand and we’re just gonna hold this leg here and rock gently side to side. If you need a little more stability, you can extend the left leg out more. And you’re gonna rock side to side keeping it soft and easy. You should feel awesome after all the amazing work you’ve been doing on your mat lately. And then be sure to take
it front to back here. Nice and active and the feet. And after you’ve taken it a little bit side to side and front to back, we’ll let it cross over the top of the left leg. And if your leg was out, go ahead and bring it back in. Then really important to stay active in the feet here. Soften easy in the upper body. Take one more breath. And then you’re gonna actively okay, pick your foot up and help it out. Yay. And then bring the right heel in, left heel in. We’re gonna do the same
little ditty on the other side starting with the right side. Inhale all the way up and over working in threes. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Focus on the sensation of what’s going on. Great, come back to center. Inhale. Exhale. And the other side, big stretch with your big breath. And exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Keep listening. One more, inhale. And exhale. Awesome, come back through center. I’m gonna take the fingertips to the earth nice and slow. Walking, crawling it forward. Forearms, palms, check it out and then find a soft sway from left to right. So completely stepping away from the rigidity of a structured-formed practice today and really taking advantage of soft easy movement to explore and unlock maybe some parts of the body that need tending to. So cool beans. If you go to a lot of yoga but, if we keep stretching the same muscles, what happens? They get weak. You are weak. That’s an inside joke between a friend of mine and I. Okay. Let’s come on out of it pressing into the palms nice and easy. Stacking up through the spine. Beautiful. And now we’ll grab the left foot with the right hand. Capture it. Active in both legs. And then same thing. You’re gonna cradle the left leg here. And rock a little front to back and side to side. Now if you want a little more stability, extend that right leg. And keep breathing. If this is your first time
cradling your leg baby, whoo. Welcome to the club. And then after you’ve taken a moment to find some movement front to back side to side, you’re gonna cross your left ankle over the top of the right thigh. If your right leg was out, try bringing it back in. And essentially we’re coming into what is known as a fire log pose. But it’s super vital and important that you keep your feet active and your breath strong so here we go. Breathe in deep. And as always, if you’re not able to
come into this shape, you’re gonna breathe deep and navigate your body and space in the best way you know how. That’s really what this is all about. Alright keep the toes active. You’re gonna grab your left foot, actively lift and help it up out of the pose. Cool then we’re gonna release and we’re going to come into all fours. Nice and easy. And you’re gonna move into cat cow. Starting with the traditional structure of inhaling dropping the belly. You’re gonna exhale and you’re rounding into the spine. And then in your own time, you can begin to veer
off the railroad tracks. And find a softness, a fluidity if you will maybe bumping the hips side to side. Maybe go front to back. So a little time to explore. Shine a little light in the dark places. Begin to wake up the body. And in particular, the spine. Great, don’t decide where it ends. So keep it going. And we’re going to meet in a downward dog, but you’re going to take your time getting there and really get there in a way that feels good for you. So if you notice your urge is just to go, okay downward dog, next thing. Just notice that and take your time. What’s the rush? Soft and easy. And when you get there, it doesn’t stop. The exploration continues. Soft, easy movement. You might try picking up one palm and then the other. And then slowly we’ll, just gently with no big
three-legged dog today. We’re just gonna lift the right leg and step it all the way up into a nice low lunge. Then as we’ve done before, you’re just gonna find
soft, easy movements. Sway left to right here. Checking in with your alignment. Your foundation. And then the next time you
shift to your left palm, go ahead and raise your right fingertips high up towards the sky. Deep breath in. Press away from your yoga mat. Inhale and then exhale to release. Fabulous. Inhale. Look forward and exhale. Pull the right hip crease back. Now bring your right hand in towards your left. And you’re gonna call both these hands out as you rock onto your right foot. And now you’re in a low lizard. Amazing, right? Soft easy movement here. Or soft little sway. You gotta keep up with the breath. The soul part of your yoga. That works both ways, soul and sole. Great then inhale the look forward. Check it out. Exhale gonna take the right foot, cross it over towards the
left side of your mat. And then come slowly. Sink slowly into your pigeon. Inhale lift your chest, your heart and exhale soft and then bring it down. Soft sway from side to side. Active toes, active feet. Surf the waves. If you feel a little rigid or stuck or uncomfortable, trust me. Trust yourself. Trust the video. And then slowly press back up nice and easy. Activate through the core. We’re gonna press up. Come back through to all fours. And then same thing. Find a soft easy movement. You can do a little cat cow. And when you’re ready, you’re gonna direct your way all the way up to your downward dog. And again, take this time to explore through a couple breaths. Maybe lifting the palms a couple times. Definitely peddling it out through the feet, the knees and legs. This exploration’s gonna serve our standing practices later. So just relish and enjoy. And nice and easy, we’re gonna bring that
left foot all the way up. You’re gonna lower the back knee. And fine nice, easy movement. Left to right a little sway. And then the next time
you sway to the right, right hand comes down. Back to the left hip crease and slowly reach up towards the sky. Press away from the yoga mat or find that expansion if you’re really good. If you embody it with breath. And then bring it all the way back down. Inhale look forward. Straighten through that front leg. And then bring the left
hand over to the right. And then let’s crawl it forward into our nice, easy lizard. And when I say easy, I’m not trying to say, oh this should be easy for you man. Just encouraging, reminding you to keep it easy. To not create more hardship if you don’t need it. Aint that a good reminder. Alright one more breath. Then let’s cross the left foot over coming into our pigeon. Inhale. And exhale to soften down. Now this time close your eyes and really relish little soft easy movement. Keep the toes active. You’ve probably heard it before, we tend to store a lot of emotion in the body. So pay attention. And then nice and easy when you’re ready. Press into the palms. Bring it on back up. Light a gentle fire in the belly. So you’re moving from a place of connect. And we’re gonna come all the way back to all fours. And then from here, take a little cat cow variation. We’re gonna inhale drop the belly open the chest and exhale. Send the hips back nice and slow. Inhale. Come align with the nose. Move forward. And exhale send it back. Now keep it going moving with your breath. Inhale try to find that wave in the spine. Awesome. And then the next time
you’re in child’s pose, stay there. Get snuggly. Close your eyes. Inhale lots of love in. And exhale lots of love out. Soften the skin of the face. Soften the forehead, the jaw, you got it. Surrendering to that which is beyond your control. You can take a moment here as we wrap up to just feel a deep connection. Maybe consider how many human beings are practicing this together. The diversity among those people. And the power that we rediscover when we take the time to soften and stop fighting. Cool press into the tops of the feet. And slowly rise back up. You can sync back unto the hips. Or you can come to a
nice comfortable seat. Awesome work. Bring the palms together. (gentle music) When you’re ready. Here we go. Big inhale. Thumbs to the third eye. May we always see the truth. Inhale. And exhale to bow. Namaste. (upbeat music)
Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JTyRzegq1k

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