- Hey, everyone, and
welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene, and today, we
have an awesome heart chakra for beginners practice. This is an amazing little
diddy for anyone who's wanting to open up not so much
here or here, but right here. Hop into something
comfy, and let's get started. (upbeat music) Alright, party people, let's begin in a
nice comfortable seat. Sit up nice and tall, Sukhasana. So this practice is
gonna move a little swift, but that's all the more
reason for you to really just drop the baggage, drop
whatever you're arriving with, and let's see if we
can kinda empty our cup so we could fill it up
with a little conscious love. Close your eyes, and
just use the sound of my voice to guide you here as
you sit up nice and tall. Trust me, trust yourself,
trust the video. And begin to lift your
heart space or your sternum, just to lift the
chest a little bit higher. And then notice
how the body reacts to that lift in the heart. Maybe you changed the
positioning of your arms. Maybe you deepened your breath. Maybe you notice you're clenching your jaw
or your glutes. And then come to stillness here and take a deep breath in, head over heart,
heart over pelvis, spine nice and long. And then exhale out. And then inhale,
big sip of breath. And exhale to
relax the shoulders and arrive here in this moment. And your next inhale, slowly
draw the hands to the heart, Anjali Mudra, and then you
decide what feels more awesome, activated elbows
pressing left to right or just a soft prayer position. So you get to decide
based on how you feel today, so really present with
your current narrative, current sensation. Keep breathing and just keep
noticing where you're at today. And then inhale lift
the heart a little higher and then keep it lifted. As you exhale, bow
the head toward the heart. So you start to get a nice
stretch in the back of the neck. See if you can activate
your shoulder blades, bring them together,
keep the, excuse me, I really zenned
out there, sorry, the upper body kind of
activated and the chest lifted. And again, getting
that nice big stretch through the back of the head,
the neck, the shoulders. And then just breathe here,
enjoying the stretch. Or if you'd like to
add a little extra love, set a little intention
here for yourself. What do you wanna
get out of this practice? Why are you here? What's going on? ♪ What's going on ♪ And then a lot of you
have heard me say this before, but what if your
breath were your spirit. So when we think of
the breath as spirit, Benji knows what's up, it
kind of takes the hard task of breathing deep in
yoga out, and it just makes it a little nicer, I think,
a nicer way to think about moving with your breath,
tapping into your breath, move with your spirit,
tap into your spirit. This is your me time, right? Awesome. Then slowly lift the head,
head over heart, heart over pelvis. Open the eyes if
they are not open already, bat the eyelashes. And then we're
gonna slowly come forward. Lead with your heart.
So send your fingertips forward, but let your heart lead the way. So heart's gonna go forward. We're gonna keep the heart open, chest open as we
come to all fours. You're gonna back the truck
up a little, walk the wrists underneath the shoulders,
knees underneath the hip points, and then the whole while long. So big heart openers are great, but you can keep this
awareness of heart to space, heart chakra without
the big, big gestures and with these subtle
body gestures as well. So we're gonna
start here on all fours. Draw the navel up to
lengthen through the lower back. And then if the upper
back body is collapsing, see if you can send the
shoulder blades left to right, press out of your yoga mat. And again, we open up
through the chest the heart. Send your gaze slightly forward. We're gonna curl the toes under. Inhale, lift the knees,
exhale, lower the knees. See if you can keep the
heart lifted the whole time, chest open and wide. Inhale, lift the knees,
claw through the fingertips, exhale, lower. One more time. Inhale, lift, sliding a little
fire, and exhale, lower. Awesome. Pressing into the tops
of the feet, and here we go. Drop the belly down low,
open the chest, exhale round through,
navel draws up, big rainbow in the spine,
claw through the fingertips. And then heart chakra today,
so how you move is everything. It totally affects how you feel, the sensation,
the feedback you receive. So Cat-Cow is
what we've established. But see if you can do it from
your heart with your spirit. Move with your breath. And if you're like, "I have
no idea what the hell "that means, Adriene,"
then think about what kind of
flavor feels good today. Oh, my God. Think about
what rasa feels good, hard edges, really structured movement. Or maybe for you today, it'd
be nice to break free of that a little bit and find soft
more sensual even movement. I'm going there. Or just, you know,
come of the railroad tracks, stretch muscles that are tight. So everyone speaks a
different language, right? And I'm obviously
not gonna speak everyone's language
on the money every time. So I'm speaking to a
lot of different people, a wide audience. So I think it's really important and a really good
opportunity for you to find the vocabulary
that works for you. So you have the
structure of cat-cow. See if you can make it your own. And really, this is what
heart chakra is all about too, creating an intimate experience. And that intimate
experience starts with the self. So a lot of
times, we look to others to have an intimate
experience, but really, the ultimate intimacy is the
one that you create right here. Alright, send it back now. We're gonna curl the toes under, send the hips back, and
walk the fingertips forward. Then drop the elbows
first and then the chest. Feel this nice lengthening
through the side body. We start to open up
to the chest, the heart, just a little
Anahatasana variation here, heart to earth pose, but
we're keeping the bone down, just getting a nice stretch
to the soles of the feet. Awesome. Take one more breath here. If you want, you
can lift the wrist, get a little deeper stretch
in the shoulders, the chest. And then here we go. Again, lead with your heart. So you're gonna tug
the hands back slowly, press in to the elbows. You're gonna lead with the
heart, lead with the heart, come all the way
forward onto your belly. So hips drop, we press in
to the tops of the feet. Then walk your elbows right
underneath your shoulders. Keep tugging a little
energy back with the hands. And then we start to open
up through the chest here, long puppy belly, long torso, mindfulness through
the toes, through the feet. Sphinx pose, inhale,
lift your heart, exhale, just hug the lower
ribs just a hair here. Let's try that again. Inhale, open the chest, and exhale, hug the lower ribs. So the thing is when
we're working with chakras or if you're not
really into chakras and you're just
thinking about energy, a healthy flow of energy,
you wanna think of the spine as this nice, clear pathway
for the energy to flow. So if you're
clenching in the neck here, can that energy
flow to your crown. So tuck the chin
slightly and breathing deep, also getting a nice
little wake-up call, toning the biceps,
the shoulders, the upper back body. Beautiful. Then keep the hands where they
are, elbows where they are. Forms are parallel, okay, so
they're not coming in or out. So check your hands first. Check your foundation,
then curl the toes under. Try to keep your heart and
chest open for all of this. Inhale, smile, and then exhale. Press into your,
claw through the fingertips, press with your hands,
press in your elbows, and lift the hips up high so you're not really
digging in your knees. You're moving from your center
of gravity, from your core. Then this time, we're
gonna come to Anahatasana with the bum up, and
we're gonna lift the hip creases and get a deeper
stretch as you lean back. So we also call
this Puppy posture. If the forehead can come to the
ground, go ahead and let it. Breathe deep,
big, heart opener here. So again, it doesn't always
have to be Wheel Pose or Camel. And if you are
interested in Wheel or Camel, those poses you can find, a little deeper heart openers, in the seven-day chakra series. I think this is
important too, find it in the subtle
body movement as well. Breathe here, one more,
inhale and exhale, one more cycle of breath. Great. Then hug
the lower ribs in. From your center, from
your core, start to lift up, walk the hands
underneath the shoulders, and knees
underneath the hip points. Great. Now we're gonna
bring the big toes together. We're gonna take the right hand, actually, let's bring
the knees as wide as the mat. We're gonna take the right
hand and we're gonna reach it all the way towards
the sky and then exhale. Find a little
vinyasa, a little flow as you send it under
the bridge of the left arm. Breathe out here, and
then inhale, reach for the sky, exhale, thread the needle. And then once you get
an idea of the structure, you can really make it your own. You can curl the toes under, maybe bring the knees back
underneath your hip points. Maybe you keep
them nice and wide, moving in a nice
slow and steady pace. And again, see
what flavor feels best, if we're focusing on the
heart space today, a rigid, kinda structured, get 'er
done movement, or can we find a little softness, dare I say a little femininity. And then we'll
bring it back to center, and we'll take it to the
other side and same thing, opening up through
the chest as you inhale, and then finding an
exhale as you thread the needle. Moving, letting your
heart lead the way, moving from a place of connect, so whatever that means to you. Yeah, noticing how
this side is different, whoo, right side, left side. And then just a
reminder that we all have masculine and
feminine in us, this movement. So in case anyone was like,
"Oh, I don't know how to do "that type of movement,"
we all have that type of energy. And really, chakra work,
even if you don't believe in chakras, any energy
work is about balancing those two energetic qualities,
masculine and feminine, the sun and the moon,
the light, the dark. Come back to center. Let's bring the
knees underneath us. And we're gonna
curl the toes under and just send it
up to a nice Down Dog. You're doing great. Take a deep breath in here. And as you exhale,
bend your knees, bring your belly to
the top of your thighs, melt your heart back. Oh, yeah. And then let any sounds
that wanna come out here, if any, just in case,
let them come out. Maybe it's a sigh. Maybe it's a mmm. Maybe it's a,
"Curse you, Adriene." Just whatever comes out here, I want you to see
if you can let it. And if it is a little emotional,
I got your back. Breathe deep. You'll be surprised. When we really move in
a way that is connected to the energetic body,
to the feelings we carry in our emotional body as well, you'd be surprised
what comes out. Alright, take one
more breath in here. You're doing awesome. And then exhale, slowly
bring the knees together, and then send the
hips back, fingertips reach toward the toes for a
traditional Child's Pose. Now if traditional Child's Pose
is just not your jam, you can maybe do a meditation
sit or any other situation where you can
just rest your heart and your soul for a second. And then take a second to listen
to the sound of your breath and to really soften
the upper back body. So your heart space isn't just
in the center of your chest but also, consider it in the
center of the back body, right behind, the figurative
heart space, I should say. Close your eyes, notice where you're
gripping and you're holding. Inhale lots of love in, and exhale lots of love out. Maybe you're just now finally
dropping into the practice. That's awesome.
Welcome to the club. It takes forever sometimes. Sometimes it takes years,
seven years, 10 years. You're doing great. Inhale lots of love in,
close your eyes. Exhale, let everything go. Lovely, and reach
the fingertips forward, come back to all fours. You're gonna bring the hips up
high to Downward Facing Dog. Take your time. Hips up high, heart melts back. Again, keep clawing
through the fingertips. And then when you're
ready, you're gonna inhale and lift the right leg up
high nice and slow. Exhale, squeeze, everything
in towards the center. So you're gonna shift forward,
upper body's in plank, knee towards the nose, rounding through figurative
heart space lifts up here. Breathe deep. Sweet, and then
step the right foot up and lower the left knee down,
front knee over front ankle. Take your time,
gather your bearings, squeeze inner
thighs to the midline. And then when you're ready, reach the fingertips
forward, up, and back. So go ahead and really
press into that front foot. Come up out of the pose, and then you can sink
back in, find your Crescent. Yogi's choice, back toes
can stay curled under, or I like to press
on the top of the foot. It really gives me a little
root foundation to lift up from. And then we're here. Lift your heart,
lengthen tailbone down. And then take responsibility
for your vibe here. The pose is one thing, but how you exist in
the pose is everything. And so many of us have
come to this shape before, but see how can you support
your heart space, your spirit. Breathe deep, maybe wrap
the shoulder blades around. Lift up through the sternum,
core strengthening. So navel draws in and up. That's that third chakra
supporting your heart space. And then maybe if
you're feeling brave, you carve a line
with the nose and look up, sink a little deeper
into the hips, breathe in. Great, then exhale. Rain the fingertips
down nice and easy. Left hand comes to the earth,
and back knee can stay down or you can curl the
toes under and lift. We're just gonna take a
nice easy twist to the right. Reach the right
fingertips up, one breath here. Inhale, lift the hips up high, and then exhale,
soften, release everything down. Beautiful. Check it out. Press into the palms. We're gonna slowly go
back to that Three-Legged Dog. So lift the back knee, inhale. Right leg goes all the
way up, Three-Legged Dog, exhale and lower
it down, second side. Anchor the right heel, inhale, lift the left leg up high,
breathe deep. Here we go,
exhale, knee to nose. Carve a line with the left knee. Look forward, got into it.
Knee to nose. Lift your heart
space up, up, up, up. Claw through the fingertips. Great, then step
it all the way up. Gently lower
the right knee down. You're doing awesome.
Stick with me. Breathe deep,
front knee over front ankle. Then squeeze
everything to the midline, and when you're
ready, here we go. Reaching fingertips
forward, up, and back. So again, a lot of times, we just kind of
come into the pose. We wanna nail the pose,
and I still do that sometimes. I still catch myself so, not trying to
call anyone out here, just like we have to
kind of ask ourselves, "Why am I doing this movement? "What am I figuring out? "What am I learning
in this shape?" So you don't
have to hold the pose. Take your time getting there. And then within it, how can I support my
heart space even more here? And then you know
what the funny thing is when you start working that way, that's when the pose
starts to really blossom. When you start to feel like,
"Oh, I'm not fitting myself "into this shape but rather, "letting it unfold and
really come out of me." Breathe deep, lift the chest. Maybe you look up. Maybe you
discover something new. Maybe take WuTang, and
then release everything down. Back knee stays lowered
or lift it, yogi's choice. Big twist to the left,
inhale, reach of the sky, open your chest, lift your hips, and then exhale,
bring it down. Awesome. Claw
through the fingertips. Here we go. Left leg up high,
Three-Legged Dog. Breathe in, take
pressure out of the wrists, and then exhale,
left foot to the ground. Awesome. Inhale, lift the hips up high.
Exhale, bend the knees, belly towards the
thighs, breathe out, maybe a
lion's breath, tongue out. One more time,
big inhale, drop the heels, and then exhale,
belly toward the thighs, bend the knees,
let something go. Fabulous. Slowly lower to the knees. We're gonna swing
the legs to one side. We're gonna come all
the way on to our backs. Nice and slow, breathe
deep, in your transition. Walk the heels
up towards your bum. So feet flat on the ground, knees are in line
with the hip points. You're gonna use the earth here. So press the palms into
the ground, and here we go. Big inhale to lift the
hips up high, nice and slow. Send your shins forward. You can walk the shoulder blades underneath your heart
space here, breathing deep. Again, shins forward. And then notice if you
kinda stop at where you think I've hit my
appropriate edge in the pose, and then that's when
the pose really begins. So maybe you
interlace the fingertips. See if you can
find that support. So stay really active and
gracious within this shape. Engage the inner thighs, and
gracious for the experience as you lift the chest
or the heart to the chin, and then the chin to the sky. One more time with that action, chest to the chin,
and chin to the sky. It should feel awesome. Big breath. And on an exhale,
slowly release the hands, and then slowly, ooh, just saw a big
hawk fly, release the back. And then you're gonna
take your feet together, soles of the feet
together and knees wide. Bring your left hand
to your heart and your right
hand to your belly. Close your eyes and listen
to the sound of your breath. Notice where your
thoughts have gone and return to the
sound of your breath. And then press into the feet. Bring your knees all the way up. Hug the knees into the chest. Inhale in, and exhale. Lift the nose up. Bring it toward the knees. It doesn't have to come close,
just the intention of toward. You might grab the feet, you
might hold on to the knees, anything in between. And then when you're
ready, slowly release. Extend one leg
out then the other and allow your arms to come
gently down at your sides. So in the new chakra
series on the membership, we end every practice
in the meditation pose so that you can
sit and meditate. So if that's
something that interests you, you might check that out. Snuggle the shoulder blades
underneath your heart space. And we're gonna bring the index
finger to the thumb today, a soft little connection
of index finger and thumb. Snuggle your shoulder blades
underneath your heart space one last time, and then
this is a heart opener here. Deep breath in, exhale to relax everything. Stay here for as
long as time allows. Slowly, you'll
come to a fetal position and press your way up
to a nice meditation seat. Or if you have to boogie,
have an amazing day, see if you can keep your
heart lifted and supported with grace and ease
for the rest of your day. Thanks for sharing your
time and your energy with me and all the other people
practicing around the world. You guys are my heroes. Namaste. (upbeat music)
