- Hey everyone, welcome
to Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene, and today
we have a practice for your legs, for your gams. This is in response to a request for people wanting practice after they've been
on their feet all day and/or after a long
walk or a hike, or maybe a couple
of days after a run. So this is a yummy
practice to help your tired old legs feel amazing. This is a really great practice any time I think to
just as a little TLC, a little love moment for yourself, connect to your breath and,
you know, take some time for you. Alright, so hop into something comfy and let's get started. (light music) Okey doke my friends,
we're going to begin lying flat on our backs today. So take a second to
get settled in here, lie down and,
for this beginning portion of our practice, I'm
going to try to really guide you with my
voice so you don't have to crank your neck to see the video. So when you get flat on your back, just take a second to get settled in. And bring the hands to the lower belly. Relax the shoulders and elbows down so you're not having
to hold anything here. And then tuck the chin into the chest just slightly so you
can feel a little length in the back of the neck. And then close your eyes. Again, I am inviting
you to just, especially for this first portion, take
your eyes off the video. Trust me, trust yourself,
and just take a couple moments here to close the eyes. And deepen the breath. Inhale, take a gigantic,
enormous big breath in. And as you exhale, just kind of letting go of the day thusfar. And a big breath in through the nose. And now out through the nose. And keep those big
conscious breaths going. Just take a moment here to
check in with your body. We're doing yoga for tired legs, but as we know, the beauty of yoga is that it's all connected. So we're checking in with the full body. And using the breath to just settle the thinking mind a little bit. And to really, you know, take a little bit of time for ourselves. I always say a little goes a long way and that's so true of today's practice. This practice is going
to leave you feeling awesome, feeling good. So your job is to
just simply be present and to breathe deep. Take a couple more
deep breaths here with your eyes closed. See if you can relax
through the shoulders and the arms. See if you can feel your
breath with your hands so feel the belly
rise with your inhale. And fall with your exhale. Relax the legs from the hips
to the ankles to the toes. Last but not least, maybe tap
into a little inner smile. Choose to commit to the
duration of this video. And treat yourself to a
little you time, a little TLC. One more deep breath in here, and then go ahead and let
it exhale through the mouth. Bat the eyelashes, open your eyes, start to wiggle the toes here. And then when
you're ready, we're going to take the hands to the sides. Press the palms
down on the earth. Connect to your center here, so tap into your core as you
draw the navel down and we'll lift one leg all the way up towards the chest and then the other. Great, scoop the tailbone up. Give yourself a big hug here as you wrap the arms around the shins. And continue with the deep breathing. Feel your spine supported
by your yoga mat here and then find any movement
that feels good here, so pointing and
flexing through the feet. Spreading the toes,
you might rock gently side to side. So the body knows, so
let your body talk here and do your best to listen
and to breathe deep. Cool. Now take the hands
towards the inseam of your pant or your inner thigh. And reach to grab your
feet, the arches here. If the hips are too tight for this, you can just do one leg at a time. We're going to bring the thumbs to the arches of the feet and
just take a second here to massage the arches of the
feet, should feel really good. Pressing the arches
of the feet, and then if you want to improvise from here, taking it to the toes. Maybe your feet are
sore from a long walk or a long day or a good hike. Maybe to the Achilles here,
or the ankles. And then all the way
up through the shins and the calves. And then to the knees,
just a little love. The quads and then to
the backs of the thighs your hamstrings,
which are going to get a good amount of love today. Just take a second to rub them or even pat them,
whatever feels good. Cool. The navel draws down, knees
draw up towards the chest. And we open the shoulders
here, open the chest rather so we're not holding here. Sometimes we
don't even realize how much we're holding. We're relaxing the
weight of the shoulders down and finding a little
opening through the chest. Great, keep the
right knee hugging in. Send the left leg out long. Go ahead and let that left
heel come onto the earth. And then just
notice what's going on in the upper back, or
excuse me lower back here. Can you draw the navel down? Scoop the tailbone up. And this might seem really
easy for a lot of people. So to you, I invite you
to tap into the breath. Go that next layer. Play with your pranayama practice. Breathe deep. Great and when you're ready, we're going to slowly peel the nose up towards the knee. And the key word is towards, so we don't have to touch. You don't have to strain here. Finding a little length, staying active in that left leg, that extended leg. Take one more deep breath here, and then exhale, release and switch. Left knee in, right leg extends out. Pay attention to the lower back here. Firm through the top of
the right thigh bone, breathe deep. Open in the chest,
relaxed in the shoulders. Then gently peeling nose up
towards the left knee here. Keeping the shoulders relaxed. Sending awareness
throughout the entire body for today's practice. And really using these
nice long yummy breaths. To really make the most out
of this time on our mat. Gently release. Great, right knee comes
up to join the left. This time we cross the ankles here. Grab the big toe
with the middle finger, index finger and thumb. Those are your peace fingers here, or you can grab the
outer edges of the feet so you have two options here. And taking a second
to bend the elbows. Breathing, breathing deep here, you might rock gently side to side. Great, then option here. To connect to your core,
light a little fire in your belly and rock front to back. Rocking all the way up to seated. Other option is to just
gently rock to one side and press up. So however you want
to come up to seated. Make your way there,
we'll come into a nice cross-legged seat. Sitting up nice and tall. And just three of these. Whenever you're ready, we inhale, squeeze the shoulders up to the ears and exhale, let it go. Inhale, squeeze the
shoulders up to the ears and exhale nice and easy, let it go. And one more time. And exhale, let it go. Awesome, the reason
we do this is because as we work with
the hips and stuff, that information travels
up to the neck, the shoulders, right, and we don't realize that we're tensing up in other areas of the body as we're
focusing on certain parts. So, try to think of it
all as one moving part. Right? Okay. So, from cross-legged position, I'm going to take
both legs out long. And I'm going to try
to keep my heels in line with my hip points here. So instead of zipping
them up together here, I'm going to give
myself a little space. Sit up nice and tall,
feel free to sit up on a blanket or block
here if you need. Palms on the tops of the
thighs here to start. We inhale, lift and
lengthen through the spine. Now try to engage
the tops of the thighs so much that you're
lifting the heels. Ready? Right here for five more
seconds, you got it. Breathe deep. Great and then
gently release the heels. Pull the right
knee all the way up. Right heel comes in. Great, we take the left elbow to the right hip crease. And then we swim
the right fingertips around, finding a twist here. Inhale. Lift and lengthen, exhale, grounding down. Inhale, lift and lengthen,
and then exhale to release. Awesome. Take the right foot,
we're going to grab it with the left hand
here and just open up through the hip here,
very soft and easy. Rocking the baby. Rocking the baby. Front to back and then
gently left to right. Alright, if you're super
open in the hips already and you know it would feel good, you can take the outer
edge of that right foot right to the elbow crease
here and work this way. Just make sure it feels good and that you can still
sit up nice and tall and still keep stability
in the extended leg. Left leg doesn't
have to be straight, just nice and aware all
the way through the toes. Great, then we release. And fold the left
knee all the way up. Left heel comes in. Hook right elbow to left knee. Swim the left fingertips behind. Sit up nice and tall, breathe deep. Remember relaxing
in the shoulders today, lengthening through the crown. Inhale, lift and lengthen,
exhale, grounding down through the shoulder blades. Finding that opposition
here, one more breath. Inhale, and then exhale release. Great, grab your baby. And begin to rock. Checking in with the
hip, spreading awareness. All the way out to the
sole of that right foot. If it feels good, you're welcome to hook the elbow here. Just work mindfully. And then gently release, awesome. Big inhale to reach the arms all the way up. Feel free to bend the knees here, press into the heels and then exhale all the way forward. Go ahead and let
the weight of the head round down and just
take a second here to close your eyes and chill. Breathe deep. If you want to begin to
straighten through the legs you can, but again
whatever feels good. Maybe the legs are super tight. Be gentle, be kind. Take one more
breath here, big inhale. And exhale to release. Awesome, roll all the way up. We'll cross the
right ankle over the left and we'll dive
forward onto all fours. Great, find your tabletop position here, and any little movement
that feels good here you might shake the hips
a little side to side if you want to sneak
in a little catcow you're welcome to. We're going to curl
the right toes under whenever you're ready,
find extension through that right leg. Hold on to your
foundation here strong, might as well. Spreading the hands,
the fingers, pressing into the top of that back foot. Keep an awareness
through the spine as you rock front to back, waking up through the right foot. Stretching through the calf
with the back of the leg. Breathe deep. Great, when you're ready, inhale, lift the right leg all the way up. Lift from your right inner thigh. Keep the right toes pointing down. And then on an exhale,
bend the right knee, step it all the way
up into your lunge. Keep the back knee
lowered, walk it back. Make sure front
knee's over front ankle. Light on the fingertips here, again walk that left
knee back a little bit if it feels good. Then find that opening
through the chest that we had on
our backs in that. Ease in the shoulders,
so we're not here, we're not here. We're creating a little bit of space. And then breathe deep here. You're welcome to
come onto the top of the back foot
if that feels awesome. Otherwise, keep the toes curled. Squeeze the inner thighs together. And here we go. Finding a little lift
from the pelvic floor, connecting to your core,
you got this, bring the palms together,
inhale to lift up. Breathe deep. And then we're just
going to take the palms and bring them to the outer
edge of the right knee here. And then maybe begin to find a twist. Imagine someone
kissing you on the left side of the neck here. You're welcome to bring right hand to the small of the back. Whatever feels good. Great, slowly coming
all the way back down. Your hands are going to come towards the left side of your mat. Coming into a little
lizard variation here. You can lift the back knee. If you're wanting a
little more, or keep it nice and lowered. Other options here to
come to the forearms. You might walk your right
toes out a little bit. Just creating a little more space, you might come all
the way to the forearms for a deeper hip stretch. Wherever you are, take two
more nice full breaths. Beautiful. Now we'll bring the
right hand around so we're framing
the right foot again. Inhale, look forward, and exhale. Pull the hips back,
flex the right toes towards the sky, walk
the fingertips underneath the shoulders and keep the left hip right over that left knee. So there's a tendency
to come all the way back here, but for this, let's stay stacked in the bones. Relaxing the head over
whenever you're ready. Breathe deep. Right toes toward the sky. Great, then rolling
through your right foot. Come back to your low lunge. Plant the palms and
connect to your core a little bit here as you
squeeze the right knee all the way up and come
back to your tabletop. Great big breath in here. Big breath out. Here we go, curling the
left toes on our other side. Stretching through that left foot. We're not collapsing
in the shoulders here. Lots of awareness
through the shoulders, the chest, the neck. See if you can try to
reach back through that left pinky toe. And see if you can
hear your breath. Here we go,
when you're ready, big inhale to lift the left leg all the way up. Lift from your left inner thigh, keep the left toes pointing down. So instead of opening up here, we're keeping and lifting. And big breath in, on
an exhale we squeeze. Left knee up in towards
the heart of the chest, and then step it up into a lunge. Walk the right knee back a bit. Nice stretch here, breathe deep. Careful not to crash into the weight of the fingers. Find a little lightness here. Beautiful. Palms come together,
we connect to our core a little bit here. Finding a lift from the pelvic floor. Imagine this scissor effect here. Really getting a nice stretch
through that right quad. Pull the left hip crease
back and here we go. Up and over with our palms together, Anjali Moudjar, we take
it into a little twist. We can stay here, maybe
begin to turn your gaze past your left shoulder. Finding stability in
the legs, you got this. Keep breathing, maybe left
hand to the lower back. Remember, it's all connected. One more breath here, you got it. Great and then release. Hands come to the
right side of the mat, we come to a
little lizard variation here. Your version,
so listen to your body. Keep listening to the
sound of your breath. Different variations here,
also each side is different. You already know that,
but just a reminder. One more deep breath in. And big exhale out. Great, take the left hand,
bring it around to frame the foot. And when you're ready, send
those hips up and back. This time, left toes up
towards the sky. So strong awareness
through that left foot, walk the fingertips back. Bow the head whenever
you're ready. Get lost in the sound
of the breath here. Great then inhale in. On your next exhale,
roll through that left foot. Plant the palms,
see if you can tap into a little core strength here as you step the left foot all the way back. Left knee comes to join the right. We curl the toes under
and nice and easy, we walk the palms back,
sending the hips back. We come to a
kneeling position here. We're here for
five breaths, you got this. Close your eyes
and breathe deep. Try to press into your pinky toe. Sit up tall. Open the chest, lift your heart. Two more breaths,
count them out. Good. After your last breath here,
come back to all fours. And what we're going
to do here is actually take the left foot back,
and we're just going to cross the right toes,
bring them up and around. Coming to cow legs here. So the right leg is front,
the left leg is behind. And then I use my hands
here to slowly sit back into the posture. This is a really nice way
to get into this pose. I think especially if you're
really tight or tired. So we're coming
from all fours, again bringing the right knee in
front, left knee behind. And then we're using the hands
to slowly come to sit back. You can sit on the
blanket or the block here. We're almost done,
you're doing awesome. Hands come to the arches
of the feet once again, and we sit up nice and tall. Breathe deep. Maybe you take this moment
to check in with the head, the neck. Drawing big circles
with the nose. Maybe you prefer
a deeper hip stretch, so you take this
moment to bow forward. Nose to the knee. Maybe you're tight in the
chest and the shoulders, you want to take
the fingertips behind. Either reverse namaste
or palms interlaced, fingertips interlaced. So definitely make
it your own here. Great and then we'll send the arms all the way forward, come back up to all fours. Take your time,
just unravel and switch. So right knee comes to the center. Left knee comes on top, left toes up and around. And then when you feel like
you've found the foundation of the legs, use the
hands to guide you back. Gomukhasana. Gomukhasana legs, cow legs. It's like this is the head
and these are the ears. If you've ever wondered. If you take a look down,
you can see. I love it. You know me,
I like to use my imagination. That's an understatement. Okay, so nice and tall, and then just tap into the sensations
of what it feels like on this side. Take a variation that
feels good to you, and it could just be here
in stillness, breathing. Slowly. And then just notice
if you're kind of tense in the shoulders here. Take one more big breath
to find relaxation in the shoulders and
lift through the chest. Just playing with that opposition. And then we'll reach the arms forward, spread the palms, come all the way back. Unravel the legs. And we'll drop the belly. Inhale, exhale,
round through the spine. Stay here, really arching the back like a black Halloween cat. A little bit of a tongue twister there. Press into all 10 knuckles. Press into the tops of the feet, one more breath here. And then release
back to neutral, awesome. Take the legs, fling them to one side. Come to lie all the
way down once again. This time bringing the feet together, soles of the feet together. Getting really comfy on your mat. We're going to end in
cobbler's pose here today. Bringing the soles of the feet together and then taking the knees wide. It's nice to bring the
hands to the belly here. Another nice thing if
you've been on a long, hot hike or a steamy hot hike. A hike or a run,
you might take the hands, interlace the fingers behind the head and just let the armpit
chest breathe here. And this is how we're
going to end today. So I encourage you to
at least take five nice long, smooth deep breaths here. After this posture, you might windshield wiper the legs a little bit. You might take
a meditation moment. You might extend the legs out long into chevassin. But I'd like to inspire you to make these decisions on your own and to find what feels good. Ooh, super loud plane. I'll roll with it. So when you're settled
in, close your eyes. And again, your practice
can continue after this video is over. But we'll take one big breath,
one last big breath together. Just connecting us and
all the other people practicing around the world. Acknowledging the
highest in ourselves. And acknowledging the
highest in each other. To that we say
thank you and namaste. (light music)
