yoga sequence for beginners

- hey everyone, welcometo yoga with adriene. i'm adriene, and we're in the park today with a gentle yoga sequence for you. this practice is great if you just have a little bit of time, and you want to have a little bitof yoga go a long way. there's no vinyasa flows in this, guys, so it's pretty good on the wrists. and it's really great for beginners

who are growing their practice and want to spend a littlemore time on the foundations and kind of low to the ground, building our practice fromthe ground up. alright? embrace the sights and soundsof the park with me today, and let's get started (calm guitar music) alright, so today we're going to begin in a nice, comfortable,cross-legged position.

feel free to lift yourhips up high on a blanket, a block, a pillow, and the way to kind ofspot if you want to do that is if you feel like your back, your spine is kind of pulling you back. and you need a little lift in the hips so you can sit up nice and tall and allow the legs to fall down. so just kind of take asecond, again, no rush today.

nice gentle practice. to observe what's goingon in the lower body, how it's connected to the lower back body, and then allow that information to travel up yonder. so take your time and then when you arrive go ahead and find a gentle lift in the heart center, the chest.

opening up through the front body here. lifting. then on your next breath, takea big breath in and inhale, we're gonna loop the shouldersforward, up, and back. nice big circle. and again, inhale, reachthe shoulders forward, and up and back. and then one more time. big circle in the shoulders.

then allow the hands to rest gently wherever they naturally lie. close your eyes, trust. and begin to deepen yourbreath, notice your breath. if you're familiar with the ujjayi breath, maybe you play a littlebit with that here. maybe you just finallytake the deepest breath you've taken in all day. and nice cleansing exhale

out through the mouth, perhaps. couple more here. and just taking in howyou feel, in this moment. i'm taking in my surroundings. there's this light drizzle. there's all this hubhub around me. so just take in whereyou are now, literally. begin to deepen the breath. bringing some fresh oxygen,

some fresh flow into your body and expanding your awareness, listening to the sounds, noticing the quality of air in the room. take one more breath here and we'll begin to dropthe chin to the chest. keep the shoulders drawing back, just stretching throughthe back of the head. i'm gonna bring the hands gently

to the back of the neck here,the atlas, you can interlace and then i'm not going to pull or tug i'm just going to have a funlittle dance with gravity today so chin to chest, lettingthe weight of the arms gently melt down, breathing deep. one more breath here. then roll up tall through the spine. lengthen through theneck as you lift the head and we're just goingto stretch the fingers

high up towards the sky, big, big stretch here,spread your fingertips, reach reach reach, take a deep breath in and then exhale, bendthe elbows slight back then here as you lift your heart, ground down throughthe tops of the thighs. thumbs go back, pinkies forward. big breath in, big breathout sends you to all fours. awesome. move nice and slow,

enjoy each transitionin and out of things. this time is for youso enjoy your practice. spread the palms super wide, knees underneath the hip points, wrists directly underneath the shoulders so again, no rush today, take you time and then when you arrivewe're just going to shift the hips a little left and right. just checking it out, noticing

if the toes are coming in or splaying out. see if you can find twoparallel lines here, toes pointing straight back. mmm, smells like incense, there must be something naturally out here that smells good. then we'll bring the hips back to center. everyone bend your elbows and then press away from your yoga mat

as you find length through the neck. so you can take a second tolook at the video of course and then when you feel likeyou've got your bearings send your gaze straight down remembering that the neck is a nice long extension of the spine. deep breaths here, superimportant to breathe, it's not easy but nice conscious breaths it's why we're here and it'swhat supports the practice.

so gentle rocks now, front to back, just stretching through the arms, noticing if you're reallyheavy on your hands if you can find that resistance pressing away from your yoga mat creating a nice long line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone. cool. then keep the knees where they are.

bring the right hand tothe center and inhale. left fingertips up towards the sky. now you might not make itall the way here at first, in fact, you might be here or even here depending on the tightness in the body so just be where you are here today. knee to your edge as you inhale, exhale, release. inhale, open.

moving with the breath, exhale, release. maybe left fingertips come underneath and we inhale, open. exhale, release and onemore time. you got it. inhale, press away from your yoga mat. grow nice and tall, long in the neck and exhale, release. great. switch. left hand to the center line.

again, super importantnot to collapse here. keep that length, that space, and that broadness in the upper body and when you're ready, inhale, reach the right arm up. just see how far you can go on this side. and then exhale, release. inhale. exhale.

keep it going. inhale, nice awareness throughthe fingertips here. notice if the toes again arecoming in or splaying out, nice conscious footing. inhale, lift. open, exhale, soften back to center. let's do one more. inhale, lift, stretch, lengthen. exhale, release. awesome.

puppy posture, adriene'sall-time favorite, drop the elbows rightunderneath the shoulders. find this tilt in the pelvis that feels so good to do in public place. free yourself. press into the base of the palms here and then without bringingthe knees in or out i'm going to walk themback, nice straight line. so i create kind of aslip-n-slide in the spine here.

i rock the pelvis up towards the sky and maybe the forehead comes to the mat. three nice long full deepbreaths here, my friends, stretching through the shoulders finding space and length in the side body and again, this beautifultilt in the pelvis. find what feels good here, one more deep breath, you got it. and press into all ten knuckles,

begin to look forwardnice and slow, my friends. nice and easy, i'm goingto come on to the belly. oh yeah. great, toes still pointing straight out. nice conscious footing. press into the tops of the feet, press into the pubic bone and let's grow tall from here. sphinx pose.

so take a second to just notice the bones. press in all ten knuckles. and as if you were tryingto tear your yoga mat in half left to right,really engaged foundation. and don't stop there, keep breathing. nice long smooth deep breaths. if you notice that you're clenching in the brows or in the jaw, soften, find a sense of calm here as you engage.

pressing into the elbows again, pressing into the pubic bone. just a little advanced tip here. it's just careful, notice if you're clenching in your buttocks, see if you can soften through the buttocks while still engaging the earth. okay, couple more breaths here. i invite you to close your eyes,

see this beautiful line from the crown of the headto the tip of the tailbone. arms are working hard here,yes, but we're engaged, alignment great and beautiful. one more breath. and we use the exhaleto release everything. oh yeah. palms underneath the shoulders, we curl the toes under, we press back up to all fours,

walk the knees underneath the hip points, find your alignment again, how fast can we get there, so we're not rushing butwe are bringing our tension always to the foundation,working from the ground up so that when we're in the pose we can find what feelsgood and feel alive. cat cow, here we go. chin to chest, navel draws up,

press into your foundation, then inhale, drop the belly, stretching through the front body, heart radiates forward. exhale, curling up through the tailbone, traveling up the spine til the crown of the head has to release. and then inhaling, opposite direction. alright, i invite youto close your eyes here.

trust, couple more. moving with your breath. awesome. we'll come back to center. awesome work everyone. walk the palms slightly forward. draw the shoulders away from the ears. curl the toes under and then send the hips up high,downward facing dog. begin to peddle through the feet,

stretch through the legs, press into all ten knuckles firmly especially the index finger and thumb. not going to be here long. breathe deep, you've got it. your first inversion of the day or maybe of your whole life. keep breathing. and then we'll come back to all fours.

great. sit back on the heels and flip the palms up, take a rest. find a lift in the heart. if sitting on the kneesis not available to you just go side saddle. and just letting the bloodflow, opposite direction. sticking with your breath today. awesome. then we'llcome back to all fours. feel free to give a littlerotating of the wrists here

if that feels good. then i'm going to send my rightleg out long when i arrive, turn the toes down, workat squaring the hips, this is something we doa lot in our practice especially these kind of flowy practices. so here's a nice low place to practice squaring the hips, droppingthe right butt cheek in line with the left. press away from youryoga mat, one more breath

then we'll slowly hug the right knee all the way up and in for a lunge. take your time getting there, no rush. left knee stays on the earth today. we press into the top of the left foot and we become light on the fingertips. so you might widen yourstance a little here, you might pull the right hip crease back, stack front knee over that front ankle

and then everyone inhale, lift your heart. exhale, plant the palms,come back to all fours and we're going to switch,sending the left toes out. same thing here, work onleveling that left buttock. notice what's going on in your palms. are you collapsing all yourweight into the right palm? can we shift to the left to find that hugging of the lower ribs up and then we'll send the leftknee up and in to our lunge.

stay on the right kneehere, find your alignment, lots of mindfulness of thefingertips and toes today. find your breath as you stretch and lengthen up through the crown. light on the fingertips here,we'll take one more breath. awesome. then plant the palms, we're going to step the left toes back, lift the left knee, lift the right knee, come to a plank position, press away

from your yoga mat here, don't panic, spike your heels toward the back edge, create one nice long line from the crown of the headall the way to the heels so we might play with that by walking the two big toes together. one more breath here, you got it. then exhale, lower the knees, send the hips back, child's pose.

we can swim the fingertipsall the way around to the back edge of themat and take a rest. enjoy, again, that littlerelationship with gravitiy here as the shoulders round forward, we breathe into the back body. just do your best, nice conscious breaths. and slowly we'll reach thefingertips towards the front, slowly lift the head,the heart, the shoulders, all the way back up to all fours.

awesome. walk the knees out underneath the hip points once again. and we'll spread thefingertips super wide, curl the toes under and liftup, downward facing dog. deep breath in. long breath out. man, it smells so good out here. great, and we'll slowlylower back to the knees. so, if you're new to the practice

and you want to play withstrengthening the wrists and stuff we have a lot of options here. of course we have the fists,we have fists and thumbs, but really guys, the mainthing is just awareness. you might be rolling on theouter edges of your hands here, see if you can press intothe index finger and thumb and then just notice what'sgoing on in the shoulders, it's all connected, soif you're collapsing all your weight in here it's going to

start hurting the wristsso lift your heart, create space betweenthe ears and shoulders, let's keep going, inhale, right toes out, level the hips, deep breath in, exhale, squeeze the right knee all the way up and in towards your heart. step it up into your lunge. okay, this time we're goingto turn the right toes out just a little bit and comeup on to the left fingertips.

okay, if you want a little more, this is supposed to be a gentle practice, but if you want a little more you can lift that back knee and maybe just lift it for abreath or two to experiment. okay, here we go. inhale, i'm going to open up throughthe right fingertips, breathe, breathe, breathe. keep breathing here,

see if you can create a slide back in a lift in the heart here,lift your chin, inhale, exhale, back to center. awesome. slowly sending the hips back, maybe walking the rightheel in just a hair. nice. runner's stretch here, flex the right toes up towards the sky, we'renot going to be here long so take one more deepbreath in, exhale, bow, nose towards the knee, and we'llroll through the right foot

come back to all fours. yay, so find your tabletopposition, deep breath in, long breath out, inhale, send the left toes out, level the hips, work to play here, just notice where your weight is going. hug the lower ribs in andwe'll squeeze the left knee up and in towards the heart. step it up into yourlunge and same thing here.

maybe you lift that backfoot just for a hair or maybe not, don't lift yourback foot, your back knee. and then here we go, coming on to the right fingertips this time. just so i'm not crashing in, but just to help us work on that and then maybe turning the left toes out as i inhale, open leftfingertips towards the sky. so this option here toplay, to lift the chin

to find a little backfin here, do your best. stick with your breath. and inhale in, using exhaleto bring it back to center. walk the left heel in andwe'll send the hips back, flexing the left toes up towards the sky. inhale, find length, exhale, nose to knee. inhale, rolling through the foot. awesome everyone. plant the palms. left knee comes back to meet the right.

we walk the knees together, we tuck the pelvis in, we cometo a little half plank here. as you inhale gaze forward, exhale lower all the way onto the belly. release the seat down, inhale, cobra. exhale and release. curl the toes under, lift up, extending childs pose this time, knees nice and wide,

heart melts to the earth. close your eyes. think about why you showedup on your mat today. and slowly press into the fingertips, come back to all fours,walk the knees to center, side saddle, legs to oneside, come onto your seat. this cross-legged position here, right hand to left knee,left fingertips behind. inhale, lift and lengthen, exhale, twist.

careful not to musclethrough anything here. keep it nice and soft and easy. inhale, lift and lengthen,moving with the breath. exhale, twist, close your eyes for one last breath cycle here. and then we'll do the samething on the other side. left palm to right knee,right fingertips behind. three breaths in your own time. maybe close your eyes already here.

inhaling as you lift upthrough the center channel, and exhaling, using that exhale to twist. gently release, back to center, and we're going to cometo lie flat on our backs. and then inhale, reachthe arms all the way up and overhead, full body stretch here, last leg of our practicehere. make it count. stick with your breath. one more inhaling, maybe press into the heels

and then exhale, hugthe knees into the chest one at a time, wrap thearms around the shins, tailbone scoops up and the lower back becomes super flush with the mat. it should feel reallygood, nice and supportive. and a simple twist, inhaling, squeezing the right knee up and in towards your heart, exhale, send the left leg out long.

enjoy the stretch here for one big breath. and then use your exhale totake it over into the twist, right leg goes to the left and we open right arm to the right. you can hook the right foot here behind the left thigh,breathe deeply, my friends. so good for the body. use your exhale to come back to center. squeeze the right kneein and then we switch.

left knee up, right leg out. connect to your breath, inhale, exhale, guiding the leftknee over towards the right opening up through theleft arm here. breathe. nourishing the systems. filling the lungs as you inhale in, and then use the exhale to come back to center, nice and easy. sole of the left foot to the ground,

we're going to lift the right knee, sole of the right foot to the ground. i'm going to walk my heelsin towards my fingertips here and then gently crawl the shoulder blades, kind of shimmy them underneath the chest. press into the palms firmly. inhale, begin to slowlylift the hip points up. this is your back bend for today. just experimenting, itcould stay nice and low

coming into bridge as we press in all four corners of the feet, toes stay pointing forward. little bit of energybetween the thighs, heyo! and then we slowlycontinue the journey up. breathe deep here. hip bones reaching energetically towards the backs of the knees. last but not least, my friends,

we lift the chest andthen we lift the chin. again, lift the chest, and lift the chin. one more breath. liftthe chest, lift the chin and then slow controlled movements as we release everything back down. awesome, everyone. happy baby as we reach towards the outer edges of the feet, you can also grab the big toes here

or the end of your pantaloons. take a second, soles of thefeet go up towards the sky, close your eyes andimagine yourself as a baby. alright, we've all been there. a little child-like energy, just notice how it makes you feel, find a nice deep breath here, find any movement that feels good whether it's straightening one leg out,

you may bring one heel in, or maybe just gently rocking side to side. cool. then we'll gently release. keep the soles of thefeet reaching together, knees wide, supdavadakanasa in here, lower back lifts up andthe hands come to rest gently on the rib cage. close your eyes, again a little dance with gravity here opens the hips.

you're going to use your breath to... well, i was going to say to nurture, but to energize, to fill with gratitude. you use your breath to serve you, to calm you, to focus you. so we'll end today withsome conscious breath. maybe you practice belly breathing, inhaling belly lifts, naval rises. exhale, it falls.

maybe you just honor and listen to the naturalrhythm of your breath today. that natural ebb and flow. close the eyes, softenthrough the jaw, relax. and the mantra i like to share here and that i like to practice is allow, release, and let go. so you can say thatquietly to yourself here. allow, release, and let go.

and gently open up through the arms, palms up towards the sky. gently slide the right leg out long, followed by the left. take a second here towindshield wiper the toes, a little back and forth, back and forth. and we'll take one finalbreath in together. inhale in, exhale, letit out through the mouth. if time allows, stay herefor a couple minutes.

and if you have to boogie,let's take one final moment here to give thanks for your body and yourbreath, for your practice. thanks for showing up today, everyone. lots of love. namaste.