Hello everyone, and welcome to Yoga with Adriene. I am Adriene, and today we’re going to continue
our Yoga for Weight Loss series with a core check in. So let’s hop on the mat! Okay, so we’re going to begin on all fours. I can take a second here to do a couple of
cat cows which we have a video for and I actually recommend just doing a couple, maybe a lot
of cat cows to check in with the spine. I have already done my cat cows for today,
so I am ready to rock and roll. So we’ll do a little one of the cat cow on
the spine. Then I am going to check in with my table
top position which is wrists directly underneath the shoulders, knees directly underneath the
hip points, and I am going to press up and out of my foundation. So spread the palms nice and wide. Press into the tops of the feet, and even
begin to spread the toes. So whatever that means to you. Sometimes I like to imagine pressing my pinky
toe down, and even if that little baby pinky toe, little baby pinky toe, doesn’t make it
to the ground, at least I am spreading awareness through all edges of the feet. So you can see here right away instead of
collapsing into my bones here, I am pressing up and out of my base, my foundation, spreading
my awareness through the palms, pressing into the tops of the feet, inhaling, extend through
the crown of the head, keep your gaze straight down. So a lot of times we associate this integration
with this all fours posture. Let’s keep it straight down today. Nice, long neck integrating from the crown
of the head to the tip of the tailbone, so we’re not letting the neck hang low, and we’re
not crunching it ahead, but nice and straight, letting the back of the neck get a little
sunshine, okay? Inhale in. As you exhale, press on the tops of the feet,
lift the knees. Nothing big here just a little hover. Already my inner fire, that ognee, that fire,
is little up burning here. Tops of the shoulders drawing away from the
ears, long, beautiful neck. Inhale in, exhale, rest, come down, and you
might have already just noticed a little shake in the body, a little piranha moving there. That’s what I am talking about my friends,
waking up, not just the abdominal wall, the six pack, the cores, but the full core integrating
full body experience. Two more times like this, inhale in, exhale,
psheeeeww, just let the knees hover, and really this isn’t about mastering a pose, this is
about just checking in because when you lift those knees even just half an inch for half
a second, you’re going to understand what I am talking about. If we’re collapsing into the bones, it’s going
to be painful. We have to empower ourselves, press up and
out of the base. Then we’ll release the knees back down, check
in. We can even send it back for an extended child’s
pose, and then we come back up for the third time just checking in; inhaling, extend through
the crown of the head, exhale, press on the tops of the feet. Pshhheeew. Lift up. Whatever, just check in. And again if you feel that shake here, smile,
breath, keep the skin of the face nice and soft. And then we relax back down, psheeew. Again, we can send it back to extended child’s
pose just to alleviate a little pressure off the hands and the wrists. We’ll just check in with the breath. [breath] And then we’ll take a nice, sweet
breath in and transition back to all fours. Okay, ready for our cat cow variations. Pressing up and out of my foundation, my table
top position, I am going to again check in with that sensation that I had here when the
knees were lifted, pressing up and out of the earth. So no collapsing. I think I’ve said that a million times now,
okay, so hopefully no one is collapsing, but I just don’t want your joints to have that
undue pressure. So I am pressing in at the tops of the feet,
pressing up and out of the palms. I am going to inhale. First, I am going to extend my left toes out. Psheeew. Now my weight is going to want shift to the
right side of the body, but I am going to try to keep it even. So my midline still in line with the spine
of my mat. Toes facing down here. You can press into the heel. You can point the toes a couple of time, but
I want the top of the thigh bone to be parallel to the earth. Pressing up and out of the palms, taking some
of that weight out of my wrists, I am going to inhale in, and slowly draw my right fingertips
towards the front of the room. So now I have a little yoga for brain here. My right fingertips are extending out as my
left toes, my left leg is extending long. Inhale, pull the right shoulder into socket
here, nice and gentle, lots of space between the ears and shoulders. I can spread my fingers, spread my toes, just
for a little awareness. Inhale in, draw your navel towards your spine,
level out, pffeeeeeww, breath. One more nice, long breath here, hang with
me, and then on an exhale gently with ease. So we don’t just collapse. We got this. We got control. We are in charge as we relax back down. Shifting the weight to the opposite side. Now, here we go. Inhale, we’re jumping right in to both limbs
this time. Left fingertips and right toes extend. Pressing into the top of that back foot strong,
pressing up and out of my right palm, I lift from there. So I am not just cranking my limbs up, and
then letting the body follow. Core integration here. Extending from the crown of the head, leveling
that right hip here, reaching the fingertips forward, and then pulling that shoulder in. Psheeeew. Inhale, lifting the heart of the belly up. Pressing up and out of the foundation rather
than collapsing into my bones. We hold here for a couple of breaths. Rather than giving you a number of breaths
to hold here. I just want you to breathe. Just breathe. Just believe. Inhale in. Exhale, I’ll float it down, and then I’ll
take a rest by bringing the two big toes together widening the knees as wide as the mat, extended
child’s pose. Inhale, look up, smile, and exhale, send it
back. Again, rather than giving you a number count
of breaths here, take a rest. Just breathe, enjoy. We can turn the palms face up. We can bring the palms together and up and
overhead. This is nice. I can rock my belly, my rib cage side to side,
hips checking in, and again, let your mind be at ease. Don’t worry about doing it right or wrong,
but just take a rest. Psheeeew. When you feel satisfied with your rest. Hopefully you didn’t fall asleep, but if you
did, rest well. When you get up we’ll inhale, come back up
to all fours, and now we’re going to go into a flow bringing a little more into the abdominal
wall, pressing up and out of my tabletop position. Here I go. Inhale, extending the left toes and the right
fingertips out. Nice and long, reaching front to back. Integrating full core though here, so I am
still drawing up through my navel just as I did in my balancing posture, but this time
I am going to inhale, draw a line with my nose forward, and exhale, integrating nose
all the way towards the navel, bringing the right fingertips and the left knee in towards
center as I round the spine. I am pressing up and out of my foundation
here as I draw everything in and up towards my center, almost said towards my core, but
we’re talking about full body core here. Then inhale, extending it out, long, nice
and slow, don’t rush, holding everything in to the midline here. Extend and exhale, nose to knee, rounding
it in with control with breath pressing up and out of your foundation. Draw the navel up towards the spine, nose
to knee, round, round, round, and inhale, extend. [breath] Exhale, floating in. Psheeeew. No number count today, just moving with the
breath. So you find your groove, stella, and psseeeew,
when you feel satisfied on this side, we’ll inhale, extend. On your last one, I recommend holding for
one breath. Taking a full breath cycle here, ahhhhh, integrating,
fully body experience, and then on the exhale coming back to tabletop. You can send it back, extended child’s pose
here for a rest, but we’re going to go straight into the other side here. So shifting my weight. Mind, and body working together here with
the breath. Here we go. Inhale, extending left fingertips and right
toes this time. So I am working in opposition here. I can take a second here to integrate that
shoulder, that hip, my navel, pressing up and out of my foundation. Again, the tendency is going to let go of
the hand here and the foot. Use that Mother Earth, plug in. Send it up and out, and when you’re ready,
moving into the flow, inhale, and exhale. Lots of space, psshhhheeeeeeeeeeeew. Inhale, lots of space. When I say lots of space I mean we’re moving
in an integrated way. So my nose is kind of following my fingertips
here, but nothing is crunching. I am doing everything with an awareness, ahhhhhhhhh,
[breath] No number count today on my last one. Whenever I feel satisfied, I’ll hold for one
breath cycle here. Psheeeeeewww, inhale in, and on an exhale
back to all fours. Kiss those two big toes together. Moi! It’s Valentine’s Day, but we can kiss any
day. Any day is love day, right? Spread the knees wide, and then send it back,
rest. Extended child’s pose, and on, bowing to the
beloved. Playing a little piano here, mmmmm, and breathe. [breath] All right, so that was a great check
in with the core. We can repeat this sequence another time on
each side or two more times on each side, as many times as you want. We can also use this as a warmup for a longer
sequence such as our Yoga for Weight Loss: Reuniting with Your Core video which is a
little bit longer. So you can do it’s on, repeat, or use it as
a warmup for a longer practice. If you have any questions or comments, please
them in the box below. Also, be sure to visit the website and sign
up for the Yoga with Adriene newsletter because we have lots of exciting things coming up,
and I would love for you to be a part of it. So happy love day everyone! How does that look? Hope you have a good one, and hope you enjoyed
the practice. See you next time. Video source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a83LhW_CX4g
