Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Day 2 - Stretch & Soothe - 30 Days of Yoga

What's up, everyone? Welcome to the 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene challenge. I'm Adriene.

And today is day two. Let's get started. All right. So today we're going to begin in extended

child's pose, bringing the knees as wide as your yoga mat, bringing your two big toes

together. I'm using a little blankie to pad my legs. So that's always a nice, comfy option.

All right. Here we go. Walking the fingertips all the way out, nice and slow, easing into

our practice today. We take a deep breath in. And on an exhale, release. Let's keep

some active reach through the arms. We're starting to open up through the side body.

We melt the heart down and let the belly be soft here.

So your pose might look like this and that's okay. In time, we'll be getting the space

to send the sit bones all the way back. So be in the moment. And we'll begin by tuning

into the breath here. So you don't need to look at the video here. You can relax your

forehead on the earth, or on a pillow or a block. We're just going to take a second here

to notice the breath. And you can bring the palms to a little bit wider, like a flying

V if the shoulders are feeling tight. And we take a deep breath of gratitude in, gratitude

for ourselves for showing up on the mat today, taking this time to practice.

Take a second here to connect to your intention or set a new one. It might just be one word,

or a current mantra, or a goal. And then we use some breath to send some energy to that,

just kind of confirming it, the power of word, the power of thought. So deepen your breath

here. You might even begin to connect to an Ujjayi breath.

Then with the eyes closed or the gaze nice and soft, I'll begin to lift my head up, drawing

a line with the nose forward. Moving into a little drunk Cat-Cow, I'm going to spread

my palms and inhale, moving in a circle. Inhale, come forward. You might just walk the knees

in just to here. And then exhale, come around and back through that extended child's pose.

Again we inhale, smooth the heart forward. And get a little freaky here. Start to work

out the kinks. And exhale around and back.

And now in your own time, you can take your gaze off the video, you might even close your

eyes. And we begin to notice any tight spots, stretching it out, reversing your circle,

inhaling as you come forward, and exhaling as you come around and back. Begin to check

in with the hips, the shoulders, even the neck. Sometimes my friends in yoga will come

all the way to the front. So you get to explore. See if you can synchronize the breath with

the movement, and the movement with the breath.

Linger in the places that it feels good to linger in. And also you might find that the

place that feels good to linger in for you, in this little warm up, is here in extended

child's pose. So a couple more rounds, a couple more breaths. Awesome. Then we'll come up

to a tabletop position here, walking the wrists underneath the shoulders, the knees underneath

the hip points. Press into the tops of the feet. And here we go. Inhale, extend the right

toes out. So we're extending through the right leg. Now turn your right toes over towards

the left side of your mat so you can level those hips.

So I go from here, I'm exaggerating, to here. And I draw my lower belly in. Navel draws

up. Beautiful. Now imagine pressing your right foot into an imaginary wall. And don't forget

about your foundation. So we're pressing into all 10 knuckles and really using the top of

that left foot. Now inhale, slide the left fingertips forward. Plug the left shoulder

in and breathe. Navel to spine, rib cage draws in. And we create a full body experience.

Breathe into the back body. Inhale in here and exhale, release, on the breath out. Awesome.

Let's take it to the other side. So checking in. Sending the left toes out and dialing

that left hip down by turning the left toes towards the right side of your mat. Find your

foundation. Notice if you're collapsing into your bones here, kind of like this, see if

you can bring a little integrity, waking up the body. And often, that means you're working

harder. But the more we practice, the easier it'll get. The more ease we'll find and the

softer and sweeter it feels.

Navel draws up. And we can stay here or we can extend the right fingertips out. Plug

that right shoulder in. We're reaching as if we're trying to shake someone's hand here.

And then we're pulling back through that right shoulder. Navel draws up, we hug everything

into the mid-line. Take one more deep, full breath here, and then exhale, release. Awesome.

Cat-Cow, dropping the belly, inhale, heart forward. Find a long neck here, and then exhale,

rounding the spine. You know what to do. Find your breath. Just a couple of rounds here,

warming up the spine, back and forth.

Then we'll come back to tabletop position. Same thing as before. This time, we're going

to pick up the pace and move with a little flow or a little Vinyasa. So I'm going to

extend the right toes out. And as I do that, I'm going to send the left fingertips forward.

Again, I grab that imaginary handshake there and I check in with my joints, pulling the

shoulder in, dropping the right hip down.

Inhale in, you might gaze forward or keep the gaze straight down. So we have lots of

options here depending on how your neck's feeling. On an exhale, reel everything in

nose to knee. Press up out of your foundation and squeeze, squeeze, squeeze everything up.

Inhale, extend. Move nice and slow. Exhale, nose to knee. Press away from the earth. Inhale,

extend. Find your breath. And exhale, nose to knee. One more. Inhale, extend. Spread

your fingertips and toes wide. And exhale. Hug it in towards your heart. Hold it here

for one breath cycle, in and out, working strong, I know, navel up. And then exhale,

release. Awesome.

Switching to the other side. We're going to jump right in. Inhale, left toes out, right

fingertips forward. Find your alignment. Check in with that action. And then when you're

ready, we begin to flow. Inhaling, extend. And exhaling, reeling it in. Inhale, extend.

Find your foundation. If you feel a little wobbly, press into your foundation. Exhale,

hug everything in. Inhale, spread your fingertips, spread your toes. And exhale to the heart,

yes. And one more. Inhale, smile, lighten up a little bit. And exhale to the heart.

Hold here. Squeeze. Press into your foundation. Hug it in, hug it in, hug it in. And then

exhale, we release. Awesome. Good job.

Curl the toes under, walk the fingertips all the way up. Helps if you have a little padding

for the knee here. If you don't, you can grab something now. A towel works great or you

can even double up on the mat. So a little yoga for the feet moment here. So when I first

came here in yoga, I couldn't believe how much it hurt. My feet were not alive and not

awake. And I was just cramming them into shoes. And a lot of my standing postures would bring

foot cramps and genuine foot pain.

So now, I like to integrate a little yoga for the feet here. You just gently rock a

little side to side, seeing if you can press into your pinkie toe. And if this is too much,

you can always use blocks to stabilize you or even a little fingertips. I have this nice

bench here. So one more breath, you got it. And then we'll release, back to all fours.

Come on to the tops of the feet here. On an inhale, we press away. On an exhale we find

that hovering cat. So this is a full body strengthener, but I also think this is great,

just spinal check in. Connecting from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail bone.

Welcome a little heat. If you are wanting a little more heat in your practice, you can

work on this sawing motion back and forth.

If you're new to yoga or the challenge might just stay here, holding on for dear life,

but infusing your breath into each moment. Let's do one more breath, in and out. You

got this. And then we release. Awesome, everyone. So stay on the tops of the feet this time

as we walk the fingertips all the way up and come to the knees. So just notice that the

toes have started to come in or go out. And let's see if we can keep an awareness on the

feet. Nice parallel lines here. And you might start to go into toxic thought world, if you're

feet are all moving. But that's why we're here, to practice and take stock and then

see how it evolves. So no worries if the toes are curling in or going out. Let's just see

what's up.

Okay. From here, a little love for the wrist. We're going to come into this zombie "Thriller"

mode here. And if you can, draw that lower belly in a bit, tuck your tailbone down. So

just a little integrity in the torso. And to check that you can lean back a little bit.

You'll notice if you're like, all in a bunch of pieces o if you can come into one sweet

piece. That's what she said, or he said. It doesn't even make any sense. Okay. Bring your

right thumb to your left palm. So it's coming to the center of the palm here.

And I'm gonna wrap my fingertips around to press my thumb into the hand, and just find

this beautiful stretch throughout the arm. Okay. Nice and easy here. Shoulders are going

to want to come up here because that's what we're used to. So relax them down. One more

breath. And then we switch. Left thumb now to the right palm and I just give it a little

bit of a push. This is great for carpal tunnel. This is awesome, again, if you're at the computer

a lot or use your hands. This is great. Shoulders are relaxing down. Take one more breath. And

then I release. Awesome.

Hands are going to come behind now, fingertips up towards the sky. I bring them to the lower

back, the sacrum area here. And if we're really tight in the shoulders, we might just come

about this far. In time, we'll be able to press the palms to the sacrum. And then this

is where I really press into my feet here, remember my feet and open the chest and the

heart. So to each his own here. Maybe I'm beginning to grow my back bend practice already,

hugging the shoulder blades in, elbows hugging in. I press down through my palms and I keep

the heart lifted. So I'm now collapsing here, but pressing up and away from my foundation.

So we might be at different levels here. We might keep it nice and stacked. Let's take

one more breath. Wherever you are, fill it with air. And exhale, gently release. Awesome.

You might just take a loop of the shoulders here or rotation of the wrists. And then we're

going to dive forward and send the sit bones up to downward facing dog. So curl the toes

under and keep it nice and slow as you come up into our first downward dog of the practice

today. Pedaling it out, melting the heart back, finding your breath. I'm going to move

my blankie to the side now.

And the tops of the shoulders rotate out, the tops of the thighs rotate in. We find

space with each micro movement. Paying attention to the detail here as we listen to our bodies

and deepen the breath. Awesome. Then we're going to bend the knees generously. Carve

a line with the nose, look forward. Repeat the walk up from yesterday or bend your knees

generously, take a deep breath in. And on an exhale, hop the feet up towards the front

of your mat. Together we'll land in our forward fold. Work out the kinks here. Take a couple

of freestyle moments to find what feels good. Sway a little side to side. Keep it soft and

easy, breezy.

Then on your next breath in, let's lift up to that flat back position, full breath in.

And on an exhale, slide it down. Cool. Tuck the chin into the chest, and we roll up to

Tadasana, mountain pose. Draw energy up from the arches of the feet. You might lift your

kneecaps slightly here. And we come into the present mountain pose. So for me, if I could

just connect to Tadasana everyday for 30 days, I'd feel like a total awesome badass.

Take a second here to find your breath. And stand up nice and tall. Open your heart, open

your chest. Lift up from the earth. Then find a softness in the knees, this buoyancy. And

we'll spread the fingertips wide. And on your next big breath in, reach all the way up and

overhead and exhale down through the mid-line. Here we go. Forward fold. Inhale, half way

lift. Long, beautiful neck. And exhale, slide it down. Plant the palms. Step or hop it back

to plank. Don't panic. Nice and soft. As we ease into it here, pedal the feet, you might

bend the knees back and forth. Stretch the feet again. Press into those pinkies. After

you've wiggled it out a little bit, come into a place of stillness, pressing up from the

earth, drawing your navel to your spine, and really trying to avoid this collapse in the

upper back body.

So breathe into the upper back body and see if you can create a balloon shape there, hollow

it out. Holding for one more breath. We got this. And then sending the navel up and back,

downward facing dog. Hip points high up towards the sky, sit bones spread left to right. We

find a little movement and then a little stillness. Bend the knees generously. Inhale, look forward.

Exhale, hop or float the feet up towards the front. You can also repeat that walk that

we did before.

And here we go. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, getting the juices flowing, we forward fold.

Inhale, spread the fingertips. Slowly reach it all the way up. And exhale, back down through

the midline. Forward fold. Nice job, everyone. Inhale, halfway lift here. Keep it soft in

the knees, careful not to lock. And exhale, bow. Step or hop it back to plank. And we

hold here for three breaths.

Notice if the hips or dipping or peeking up, see if we can create one nice, long piece

from the crown of the head all the way to the heels. Then we'll slowly lower the knees,

hug the elbows into the side body. Keep your lower belly drawing in. As you lower down,

elbows back like two little grasshopper legs here. We slide onto the belly. Release the

feet down. And inhale, baby cobra. Exhale, fold. Again, inhale, baby cobra. Pull the

elbows back. Gentle back bend here. Open your heart. Exhale, release.

And one more. Press into your foundation strong. This time, see if you can turn the palms up

for a moment. Just make sure you're not muscling into your cobra here but really bringing integrity

and awareness into the spine. And we gently release, curl the toes under. Remember you

have an option here to press all the way up to plank then send it back to downward dog

or move through the sweet transition of all fours and then peeling it up. So we always

have options. Keep mixing and matching. Deep breath in and long exhale out. Bend the knees

generously. Carve a line with your nose. Look up. Have a little fun here. Inhale in, exhale,

hop it up. Forward fold.

Inhale, halfway lift. Long, beautiful neck. Exhale, soften and bow. This time, bring the

feet together, if you haven't already and keep a little bit of space, about a thumbprint's

worth of space between your heels. Bend your knees generously. Bring your belly to the

tops of your thighs. Now, we're going to swim the fingertips back. Press the palms into

an imaginary floor here as you fly your heart open in an Utkatasana variation here.

So there's going to be this curve in the spine. I'm going to try and dial my lower rib cage

in, draw my navel up. Legs are working hard here, but we're breathing strong, we're relaxing

the shoulders. And imagine someone, imagine me gently pulling your fingertips slightly

away towards the back edge of your mat. So we go from here, to finding this openness.

Take the ease from yesterday's practice and put it into this pesky pose here.

Sit down a little bit lower. Send your weight back to your heels. One more breath. You got

this. In fact, let's reach the fingertips forward for this last breath. Deep breath

in, and then exhale, hallelujah, forward fold. Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, bow, step or

hop now the feet back to plank, yogi's choice. Hold here for just one breath, in and out.

Then lower the knees for Chaturanga practice, or if you're ready, you might shift your weight

forward on your toes. Hug the elbows into the side body and lower down halfway. Inhale

to upward facing dog or repeat the cobra. Take a deep breath in. And on an exhale, back

to downward facing dog we go. Nice, everyone. Deep breath in. And long exhale out. Bend

the knees generously. Belly comes to the tops of the thighs. We look forward, inhale. Exhale,

hop it up.

Inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, bow. Bend the knees generously. Send your weight back to

your heels, sit bones reach towards the back edge of your mat. As we find our flying arms

again and open our hearts, Utkatasana variation, press into an imaginary earth here. So there's

a little resistance. We're not just kind of floppity-flop here, but create that full body

experience. Squeeze the inner thighs together, navel in. One more breath. Imagine me pulling

your pinkies or your fingers back towards the back of your mat. One more breath. And

exhale, release. Awesome.

Inhale, halfway lift. And exhale, bow. Step or hop it back to plank. You got this. Hold.

One breath. Chaturanga practice or Chaturanga. So we're moving through a Vinyasa here that

will be a little different for everyone. And you can mix and match. So if you're new to

the practice, you might lower the knees, hug the elbows into the side body, and inhale,

lift up to cobra. Or you know your Chaturanga top dog option. Together we'll meet in downward

facing dog. Or this time we'll drop the left heel and inhale. Slide the right leg up high.

Take a deep breath in. Press into both palms evenly. Drop your right toes down. Inhale

in. Exhale, squeeze the right knee all the way up in towards your heart.

Inhale, three-legged dog. Exhale, stepping it all the way up and into your low lunge.

Stretch it out here. You might lower that back knee, just like we did yesterday. Looping

the shoulders, working out the kinks. And then when you're ready, we're going to lift

that back knee up. We're going to lift the fingertips and then draw the biceps... biceps,

excuse me, I got excited, up by the ears. High lunge.

Super strong pose here. I'm hugging into the midline. I might soften through that back

knee so I can draw my tailbone down and underneath me. Working hard here. Take one more deep

breath in. And then exhale. Send your right fingertips behind you, left fingertips forward.

I'm going turn to the right. Pull your right hip crease back and breathe here as you sink

a little deeper perhaps. You got it. Take a deep breath in. Exhale out. Inhale, back

to high lunge. Stick with it. And exhale, release. Hallelujah.

So you have an option here. Take a Vinyasa or take a rest in child's pose. So you have

two options. I like lots of options. It keeps you alive and in the moment. Also it keeps

you happy and more likely to stick with it if you're in control. Together we'll meet

in downward facing dog, where we'll drop the right heel and inhale. Slide the left leg

up high. Dial those toes down. Level the hips. Press into both palms evenly. Careful not

to crash into your right shoulder but press into both palms. Here we go. Inhale in. Exhale,

bend that left knee, squeeze it up towards your heart. Breathe in, breathe out. Inhale,

three-legged dog. And exhale, all the way up into your low lunge.

Awesome work, my friends. Stick with it. Take a little explore time here to stretch it out.

You might lower that back knee. Find your breath. Pay attention to your alignment. And

then when you're ready, we'll lift that back knee up, bringing integrity into the center,

into our core, hugging the inner thighs towards the midline. Let the fingertips hover. Deep

breath in. I continue the journey up, biceps by the ears. Check it out. And then I go through

my checklist here. I can soften that right knee a little bit. I can maybe pull the left

hip crease back. Find what feels good to stay curious.

Then we'll inhale in. And on an exhale, make this a slow journey, no need to rush, I'm

going to open out to the left. Left fingertips back, right fingertips forward. You can have

a little style here if you want. Sometimes in these high lunges, I get really serious.

So I encourage you to soften it up. Smile. Keep it easy. One more breath.

And we inhale back to high lunge. Deep breath in. And exhale, release. Awesome. One more

Vinyasa here. Feel free to skip it. Totally skip it if you want. But I encourage you to

give it a go in some variation, knees lowered or lifted. We inhale to upward facing dog

or cobra, and then exhale. Everyone, to child's pose. Swim the fingertips back. Rest your

forehead on the earth. And notice how you feel, observe your breath. Shoulders relaxed.

Press into the tops of the feet, tuck your chin into your chest and we slowly begin to

roll it up. Right palm comes to the outer edge of the left thigh, left fingertips behind,

and we just find a gentle twist here. Lifting the heart, inhale. Exhale, moving into your

twist. Inhale, lift, and lengthen. And exhale, twist. Inhale back to center. And same thing

on the other side.

So general rule of thumb, very joyful rule of thumb in twists is inhale, we find that

energetic lift, that current upwards. And then on the exhale, we ease into the twist.

We inhale, create more space up through the spine. And exhale, we wring it out, like we're

wringing out a dirty rag, kind of getting rid of all the stuff that no longer serves

us, all that dirty water. A wonderful image. One more breath. Inhale, lift up. Exhale,

wring it out. And then slowly, we'll come back to center.

Nice easy transition of the buttocks. We come to all fours. Cross the left ankle over the

right. Use your hands to guide you as you come on through Paschimottanasana. We're going

to send both legs out in front. So you can bring your towel or your blankie back if you

need to lift the hips a little bit. Sometimes it's nice, especially for a seated forward

fold.

Tops of the thighs draw down. In fact, they have this energetic spiral, in and down, as

we pull through the heels, or press through the heels rather, and sit up nice and tall.

Then inhale, reach the arms up and overhead. Big breath in. Exhale, forward fold. Now,

belly doesn't have to come to the thighs. And we don't have to do this Bikram style,

peanut butter and jelly thing here. Unless you want to, which is totally cool. But rather,

think about it just like a nice sweet release in your back. So imagine a big ball here as

you go up and over.

Basically, no problem if there's a lot of space here. You can be here, here, here, here,

here. In time we'll begin to work, and work, and work, and work, and work, and get it maybe

where our nose is closer to our knees. But just be where you are at today. And then when

you arrive, let the weight of the head relax completely over. Breathe into the backs of

the legs. Breathe into the back body.

Awesome. Tuck the chin to the chest. Release your arms and slowly roll it up. Catch the

backs of your thighs with your hands. As you slide the soles of the feet back up, knees

up toward the sky. You can stay on your blankie here if you want, it's no problem. I'm going

to get off mine and I'm going to return to this boat variation. Shins lifted, parallel

to the ceiling, heart open, elbows drawn down, shoulders away from the ears. You might reach

the fingertips forward again or you might stay right here, nice and comfy.

Or you might inhale in, exhale. Send the fingertips out, toes out wide. Inhale, back to center.

Exhale, spread. Inhale, back to center. Exhale, spread the fingertips and toes, lift your

heart. And one more time, inhale. And exhale, burst free. You might hold here for a breath

or two. And you might be like; "ugh, no." Together we'll come back to hands behind the

thighs, and rocking on back. Enjoy this little rock and roll move. You might take a moment

here and plow pose or you might save that for another day. Massaging the spine sweetly,

back and forth we go. And then when you feel satisfied, go ahead and come onto your back.

Hug the knees into the chest. Give yourself a nice big hug. You rock a little gently side

to side, if it feels good. Then slowly release the soles of the feet to the ground. I got

to do this embarrassing inchworm to the center of my mat. And I'm going to extend the right

leg up high. Reclined one-leg pigeon here, crossing right ankle over left thigh, interlace

the fingertips behind your left thigh and squeeze those legs up towards your heart.

Breathe.

Inhale in. Exhale, unravel and switch. Left leg goes up high. Crossing the left ankle

over the right thigh, same thing on this side. Pay attention to how you feel, stay present

in the sensations. Man, a little really goes a long way. It's so good. Yoga is so awesome,

seriously. I'm feeling it in my body like; "Oh yeah, I needed this." One more breath.

On an exhale, we unravel.

Once again, hugging the knees up. Ending with a little Texas-T here, we send the fingertips

left to right. Inhale, scoop the tailbone up. Exhale, melt the knees to one side. It

doesn't matter which side. Inhale to center. And exhale onto my mic pack, to the opposite

side. And then it's all you baby, back and forth here. Try to keep your shoulders on

the ground. And we just stabilize and work it out, twisting back and forth, back and

forth.

And then when you feel satisfied, take your time, but when you feel satisfied come back

to center. Soles of the feet hit the mat with a bit of a thud, just a little reflexology

here. Oh yeah. That felt good. You can do it a couple more times. And then slowly sliding

the legs down. Oh. One at a time. Inhale, reaching the arms up and overhead, full body

stretch. Inhale, lots of love in. And exhale, lots of love out.

Good job, my friends. If there's anything else you'd like to fulfill in your body, do

that now, practice. It's all yours. Otherwise, we're going to guide the body towards Shavasana.

Taking a moment of gratitude for this time on our mat. Get settled in. Close your eyes.

Return your breath back to its natural rhythm. And enjoy this moment of rest. Namaste.