- Hey everyone,
welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I'm Adriene and
this is Benji, knucklehead, and today we have a
yoga for tension relief. So it happens whether
it's from emotional or physical stress,
we collection tension and this is a really
cool, calming practice that's gonna help
you relieve some of that and find what feels good. So hop into something
comfy and let's get started. (bright music) Alrighty my friends, let's
begin in a comfortable seat. Go ahead and use your towel
or blanket to sit on here and just lift the hips up. And a great way to gauge is if
you feel like your spine is collapsing, totally normal, go
ahead and lift the hips up so you can find length with a bit
more ease and what this lift does is it gets the hips a
little bit higher than the femur or the thigh bones and the knees
so that you can find that lift with a little less struggle. So I've spent a lot of time on
the ground by now and I'm able to kind of open
up through the hips. Some people are just born
anatomically with more open hips so I really can not stress
enough the importance of lifting the hips up so you can sit
up nice and tall if you need. Since we are addressing
tension and the way in which it accumulates in the body due to
stress either physically or, let's be honest,
mentally or emotionally as well, since we are addressing tension
today I think it's important that we start in a nice
comfortable position and that we already start to direct our
attention or our mind towards what that feels like
or even, you know, observe or notice how hard it is
to get comfortable today, maybe. So take your time, as always,
settling in but really taking this first beat to
notice where you are. Maybe you're practicing
along with Benji and I for preventative care today. Or maybe you have intentionally
selected this video to welcome some
much needed relief. Wherever you are, let's start to gently
close the eyes or soften the gaze and bring
your attention inward. When you're ready,
start to notice your breath, nice and easy. So to me there's
already so much value in what you've already done. Made the decision,
selected the video, pressed play,
set yourself up to observe, to find or work to find
a nice comfortable seat. So today's sequence
is quite simple but there's a lot
of depth in this opportunity that you've
taken for yourself. There's a lot there and as I
always like to say a little goes a long way so just start
off nice and easy by allowing yourself this time to simply notice
and observe the breath. You don't have to do anything. You don't have
to force anything. You certainly don't
have to push any more. But instead,
with the eyes closed, lengthening up
through the crown of the head, grounding down
through the low body, just notice your breath. Great. And try to stay present with whatever's going
on in the moment. Again, some days
it's a struggle to land. And then some days
you land, drop right in, right into that
comfortable seat, into that Sukha.
That Sukhasana. And then you may have observed
already that by just bringing your awareness to the moment and
whatever is honestly going on in the moment, things start
to shift and change and we see that with the breath. So I have not really even guided
you into any technical pranayama yet but you can most likely already
observe that by just bringing your awareness
to the present moment your breath starts to change. So if that's happening for
you, even if it's just like one awesome deep breath, let it. Allow it, allow it to happen. And then whatever observations
you're making here and whatever attention or listening
that's going on with the breath, see if you can keep it going but
we'll just tuck the chin just a hair and lengthen
through the back of the neck. And slowly draw the
hands together at the heart. But keep going,
keep breathing, keep noticing, allowing yourself
to just be present with whatever you've got. Whatever you've
brought to the table. Gently deepening the breath. Just inviting and/or welcoming
a sense of calm to the body. So tension is a
many splendid thing, no. Tension is interesting, right? Because if it's not tended to it can really
accumulate fast, right? And then the body
starts to send us signals that, you know, something isn't right
and that's that's when things can go wrong and
sometimes even terribly wrong. So, just allow yourself this
time and space here to breathe and to notice and welcome a state of calm
back to the body. And if it doesn't happen right
away or if it doesn't happen in this practice just now
that this time is valuable. Signaling the brain
and the body saying it's okay
to take a pause, to be present with the
breath and to find stillness. Then just notice where you might
be gripping or holding here. Maybe in the skin of
the forehead or the jaw. The toes. The shoulders. Energetically even in the body. Just doing a quick scan. And then slowly keep breathing. Keep all your beautiful
observations going as you gently bow
the head to the heart, start to feel a deep stretch
in the back of the neck. Again, soften through the jaw. Soften through the forehead. And with the head bowing down,
see if you can lift up through the center channel,
so up through the plumb line, maybe engaging the
pelvic floor a bit. Then lift up
through the sternum a bit. So you're just sitting up a little bit taller
within this shape. It could be a big gesture.
It could be very subtle. Then start to lift
the corners of your mouth. Take one more
deep breath in here. And as you exhale,
slowly lift the head, bring the hands to
the thighs or the knees. Head over heart,
heart over pelvis here. Great, inhale in. Breathe into your belly. This time as you exhale, see
if you can really listen to the sound of your breath. Maybe, perhaps,
creating a little Ujjayi breath. And see if you
can keep that going. Really anchoring the brain
and the breath together as one. If you're not
familiar with Ujjayi breath, essentially we're taking
the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, creating this soft restriction
in the back of the throat. We have a whole video on Ujjayi
breath so you can find that. I will put it in the description
for you if you're interested. And at the very least
we're just seeing if we can extend the inhale,
extend the exhalation. Starting to bring more pranayama
technique to the practice but not losing that state of calm or that willingness
to welcome the calm. See if you can get an
audible breath going here. You're doin' awesome. And even if you can catch a
couple waves of this Ujjayi breath, you're, I think, bound
to feel almost immediate effects of this breath. It's still so magnificent
to me how quickly pranayama, focused pranayama, can
really change the way we feel. Take one more
cycle of breath here. And then we'll let that go. We're gonna open the palms now, spread the fingertips
super wide open. And then close
into strong fists. Here we go, big inhale to open. Stretch. And then close, strong fists. Open. And last time, close.
Super strong. And then release,
allow the fingertips to now float to the fingertips. Once again, gathering some
energy up through that center plumb line, the midline. You can kind of lift up, little kegel from
the pelvic floor if it helps. Relax the shoulders
down the back body, lift your chest. Inhale, lengthen
through the crown. Neck is nice and long. Exhale slow and steady. First just take
the left elbow forward and the right elbow back. So we're not pushing and you
don't have your fingertips on the ground or really force, you've got to do
the work from within. Using your breath to
find a twist in the spine. Lower body's nice and heavy. Crown is lifted. And then all the
way back through center, right elbow forward,
left elbow back. Keep the heart lifted. Now we're gonna speed it up. Back and forth. You can find a nice rhythm of
breath here that suits you. Smile. Breathe. Back and forth, nice and easy. Head over heart,
heart over pelvis, so don't lean too far forward. And not leaning
way too far back. Nice and stacked
through all of the spine, all of your chakras. All those amazing,
crazy points where all your nerves come together. Great, we're here for three.
Keep going. Two, and on the one release. Palms face up this time. Fingertips float down. Just take a deep breath in,
notice how you feel. And a long breath out. Excellent, let's come
forward on to all fours. Move nice and slow. Move as if you're like
moving through water or nice beautiful air,
thick air. Fog, I mean. Whatever.
Okay, here we go. You can use your towel
or your blanket to pad the knees here if you like. Excuse me, Benji. Sorry, buddy.
Sorry, buddy. Spread the palms, here we go. Inhale to drop the belly,
open the chest. Exhale to round
through the spine, chin to chest. Inhale to open. Exhale to contract. Press into your fingerprints. Press into the tops of the feet. Slow and steady. Inviting a softness
into each gesture. So not pushing.
Not forcing. Biceps and elbow
creases shining forward here. Excellent. And then we'll bring
it back to a nice neutral spine. Bring your knees as
wide as the yoga mat. I'm gonna place my blanket to
the side but you can do whatever you like with yours. Big toes to touch and nice and
slow we're gonna melt the heart into Extended Child's Pose. Reach the fingertips forward. Feel that opening through the
shoulders as your heart melts towards your yoga mat. You can get a little kiss of
the forehead on the ground here. You can even rock the
forehead gently side to side. Here's where you close your eyes
and within the beautiful gentle confines of your own
private little love cave here, choose to let go of
any stress or tension that is in your body but honestly, in your life. We don't even have to
identify it here right now. But sometimes we don't even
realize how strong we're holding on to certain patterns
that bring us stress. That create tension. Inhale lots of love in here. Breathe into your back body. Exhale lots of love out. Beautiful. Press into your foundation,
so connect with the ground, connect with to the earth as
you slowly bring it back up. Walk the knees underneath the
hips and we're gonna walk the hands out again. Eyes at elbows, so elbow
creases towards the front. Biceps towards the front. We'll curl the toes under this
time and lift the hips up high, Downward Facing Dog. Excuse me little doggy. Excuse me, dog.
Excuse me, dog. No animals were harmed
in the making of this video. Okay, bend your knees,
pedal it out. Start to find what feels good. Start to find the
places that are tight. And then send your
awareness and your love and your attention
towards those places. So the more we start
to do this on the mat, particularly in
the asana practice, you can apply this
to all of your asana, the more we start
to do this off the mat. In our life situations, even in
something as simple as changing your pillow, the one sleep
on if you're lucky enough to be able to do that. Or, you know, letting go of
certain friendships that bring tension or stress or bringing a
better communication to those to relieve the stress or
the tension, et cetera. Okay, we're here for three. You're doing great. I'm feeling some tightness
and tension in my calves. I'm pedaling it out. Two, one, slowly
lower back to all fours. This time bring
the knees together, really together, and the
arches of the feet together. You're gonna come
back into Hero Pose. If this is not
good for your knees, just go back to that
comfortable seated posture that you were in before. If you still want to give it a
try but the knees are giving you a little bit of pain in
the front or a little bit of discomfort, take your blanky or
your towel and hike it up right to the backs of the knees. And you can even double roll it
and then come back and see if that feels a little bit better. Okey doke, so here we are. Virasana variation. Stacking through the spine,
lifting through the heart. As you're ready just
take a second to loop the shoulders
forward, up and back. Just feel your shoulder
blades coming together again. As if you're,
I like to say this, pinching a pencil between
your two shoulder blades. For me, the image works. Maybe it doesn't for you but
activating the upper body, not just lifting up
from the heart space. So seeing the body
as one moving part, right? 360. Okay, and from here we'll bring
the fingertips to the sides, lift the corners of the mouth
slightly and on an inhale you're gonna flip the palms up towards
the sky and reach all the way up, up and overhead.
Big breath in. And then exhale, float it down. Inhale, palms up.
This is your vinyasa. Exhale, palms down. Move nice and slow.
Notice if you're rushing here. Inhale, reach it up. Exhale, float it down. See if you can create
a little resistance here. Just even in the air,
this control. Excellent, one more.
Inhale, reach it up. Nice and slow,
spread the fingertips. Find your Ujjayi breath. And exhale, press it down. Excellent.
Fingertips reach down. If they touch the earth, great. If not, just lots of
energy through the fingertips. You're gonna take your right
ear over your right shoulder. Breathe deep. Inhale in. Exhale, pressing your left
hand into an imaginary surface. You're gonna flex the left
fingertips up towards the sky. So you can play around here. Pulling the pinky back or
bringing the thumb forward. You should feel incredible,
incredible sensation and relief in
the left trap here. And you can play
around with this, breathing mindfully
all the way along. And then if you just got
a have a little more here, you can take your right hand, gently rest it on
top of your left ear. Be really mindful. Mmmmm. Woo. And if you're feeling brave, lift your left fingertips up
towards the ceiling. Take a deep breath in. Woo, and then exhale, release. (sighs) Take a second. Lot of energy in the fingertips. And when you're ready,
left ear over left shoulder. So this might be
your stopping point. I definitely feel a nice opening
here from the back of the head, the atlas, all the
way to my low back. Find the depth. But then if you're ready
to take it a step further, start to press your right
hand into an imaginary wall and flex your
right fingertips up. So notice how I'm giving you
that image of really pressing away versus just
flexing the hand. So this also gets into the
forearm and the wrist creating strength in the wrists. And then you can
play around here. Front, back. Side to side. Notice if you've started to hold
your breath when something tight has come along. When the tension gets magnified, can you remember
to breathe deep? The audible breath is helpful. And then take one more
breath cycle here to maybe bring the the left arm up. Maybe play with reaching right
fingertips a little higher. Woo, and then slowly release. Awesome. Draw both
shoulders up to the ears. Big inhale. Exhale, just drop it
down with a sharp exhale. (sighs) Twice more like that.
Inhale. And exhale, sigh it out. (sighs) And on this third one,
surprise yourself. Let out a little sound. If you have a pet
or a friend around, just freak them out on
this last one a little bit. Here we go. Big breath in. Squeeze, squeeze,
squeeze and exhale, let it go. (audibly huffs) Nothing. Okay, if you're
okay on your knees, you can stay here otherwise
we're gonna shift right back to the that comfortable seat. Bring the palms together. Close your eyes. Tuck the chin. Take a deep breath in. And as you exhale,
relax your shoulders. Back to the breath, inhale. Exhale. Long inhale. Long exhale. So always, always, always
remembering the breath is there for you to return to
again and again and again. If you're in Hero,
go ahead and transition now. We're gonna all come
from our seated posture to the ground, nice and slow. Come to lie flat on your back. Stretch the legs out long. Take a deep breath in. Feel supported by the earth. Hands are gonna come down to
the ground and when you're ready we'll bend one knee and then
the other bringing the heels up towards the sits bones. Toes are pointing
forward not out or in. Ground through all
four corners of the feet. Inhale in to
lengthen through the neck. And then exhale, you're gonna
really press into the palms and press into the feet so use your
foundation to start to lift up from the tailbone. Feel this great stretch in the
quads and the front of the hip creases as you lift
up just into a nice, easy Bridge Pose.
Nice and easy. Strong legs here. Palms are actively
pressing into the ground. We lift the chest to the chin and then the chin
up towards the sky. Take a deep breath in. Fill the belly with air. And then exhale
to slowly lower down. Try to lower down nice
and slow and with control. Sweet, then walk
the feet together. Open the knees wide. Bring one hand to the heart
and one hand to your belly. Take the deepest
breath you've taken all day. Here we go, big inhale. Exhale to relax everything. Truly melt the weight of
your body into the earth. Relax every toe, every finger. All the joints getting heavy. All the muscles softening. And your energetic body takes a break. Surrenders. Part the lips gently.
Close your eyes. Just take one
final quiet moment here. For yourself, with yourself. And then slowly
bring your attention back to the breath. Notice the rise and the fall. And we will end today's practice by remembering that whenever we are in doubt or whenever you
feel stuck or tight, full of tension
and in need of relief, whenever you feel like you're
gonna die or you're just not gonna make it, remember the breath is always there. And the breath
always comes first. So if you feel like
you're in an endpoint, start again with the breath. And on that note,
let's bring the palms together. You can stay here
a little bit longer, as long as you need by pausing
the video after this moment. But we'll bring
the palms together, thumbs up to the third eye. And just start to
smile as you breathe here. It's all good. Everything is cyclical and
what's important is that you're taking the time
to care for yourself. Not let that tension just
keep building and building but you're tending to it. So way to go. Remember the
breath always comes first. Take a deep breath in. And a long breath out. And you can keep
the legs where they are. You can slowly start to
bring the knees together. Walk the feet out as
wide as the yoga mat. Let the knees just fall together
and we'll sign off today's practice by whispering, Namaste. (bright music)
