Day 1 – Ease Into It – 30 Days of Yoga
What's up, everyone? Welcome to 30 Days of Yoga with Adriene. I'm Adriene, and I'm super excited. It's day one, y'all. Let's get started. All right, my friends. Today, we're going to begin in a nice, comfortable,
seated posture, sudassana, with one foot in front of the other. So just to stay on the same page, let's draw
the left heel in towards your center, and then the right leg comes in to follow.
You can use a blanket or a block or a pillow. Even a book sometimes is nice to lift the
hips up, if you feel like you're getting trapped in this Mr. Burns posture here. So take a quick second to get settled in in
a nice comfortable seat, one foot in front of the other. Make sure everything's situated, and then
when you're ready, sit up nice and tall. See if you can align your head over your heart,
your heart over your pelvis. You might take your fingers and touch your
booty and move the fleshy part of the buttocks aside. You might fix your hair here. Just do all those little things, so that we
can come to a nice, still place as we begin our challenge. Nice and slow, settling in, easing into it,
and really choosing to stay present.
So I like to call it getting your money's
worth. So we're going to get a workout. We're going to commit to 30 days of practice
together. We're going to stretch the body, tone the
muscles, deepen the breath. But beyond that, we're going to listen. We're really going to use this opportunity
to come into a different type of presence, maybe learn something new about yourself. So today's practice is focused on that.
So you sit up nice and tall. Take a second to close the eyes, relax your
shoulders down, and just notice how you feel. Notice, perhaps, the tendency to want to move
quickly to the next thing. We got 30 days. We can take it nice and slow and really set
ourselves up for a nice experience that feels good. Bring your awareness or your attention to
your breath and just notice it. You might begin to deepen the breath, play
with it here, seeing if you can extend the inhale, make it a little bit longer, and extend
the exhale.
Stick with your breath as we begin to move
the body and shape-shift in and out of different poses. Remember, the breath is energy. You send breath to the tight places. Use the tool of your pranayama or your breath
to stay focused and really be honest with yourself about how you feel each day and each
time you come to the mat. Oh, and also, let's have some fun. Dropping the chin to the chest, we'll begin
to draw circles with the nose, one way and then the other, and then reversing your circle. Back and forth, kind of dropping into this
moment for yourself. Then we'll bring the head back to center stillness
and draw the palms together at the heart.
Deep breath in as you lift the sternum up,
thumbs, hearts coming together. You only have one heart, I guess, heart. We'll take a deep, deep breath in through
the nose here. This time, go ahead and let it out through
the mouth, exhale. Again, just like that, deep breath in thorough
the nostrils. Sit up nice and tall and exhale out through
the mouth. Make some noise. Now we'll interlace the fingertips. Keep breathing deep as you press the palms
forward, shoulders relaxed, drop down, and then we send the palms up and back. Nice and easy organic movement here. The knees are going to want to fly up, and
we're gonna ground down through the tops of the thighs, committing to a full body experience
as you lift and lengthen up through the side body and keep playing with your breath. We teeter-totter back and forth here. Stretch it out. Notice that the shoulders are starting to
rise up. See if you can keep the shoulders relaxed,
heart lifted. Arms may begin to get tired here, especially
if you're new to the practice. Stick with it.
Find ease. Use your breath to keep it together. Just kidding. Inhale, back to center we go. This time, carve a line with your nose all
the way up. So rather than just looking up, kind of crunching
the back of the neck, just really mindful activity as we carve a line with the nose. Look up. One more breath here, and then on an exhale,
we break free. Fingertips rain down. Awesome. Plant the left palm into the earth. Inhale, reach right fingertips up and over
side body stretch. Again, work on creating a full body experience
as we ease into the practice. So for me, that means really paying attention
to, yes, the side body stretch, but also grounding down through the legs and maintaining that
extension through the crown. You might find a little pulse here. You might spiral your heart up towards the
sky. Make it your own here. Deep breath in. Then exhale swiftly up and through center,
and we take it to the other side. Right palm to the earth. Left fingertips reach up and over. Same thing. Stretch it out.
Ease into it. Great. One more breath here. You might spiral your heart up towards the
sky, and then on an exhale, we bring it back to center. From here, we're going to walk the fingertips
behind us. I'm gonna turn to the side so you can see
this. Walking them behind, pinkies might come close
or, again, if the shoulders are really tight, give yourself some space. You can keep it nice and easy today. So I walk the fingertips back. We sit up nice and tall. Imagine lifting up through the armpit, chest
here. So we're lifting up through this area of the
body and opening the heart, the chest.
Close your eyes. Find your breath. When you get bored, or your mind begins to
wander, come back to that sweet inhale. Exhale out through the mouth whenever you
need to let go a little bit or find a little inspiration. Then slowly we'll soften through the elbows
and walk the fingertips all the way around and forward. So nice and easy, we walk the palms forward.
To each his own here. So you might end up here on the palms, really
pressing the sit bones into the earth again. Full body experience, really expanding the
awareness throughout the legs, the hips, making sure I'm still mindful of the shoulders. For me, that awareness is really an act of
self love. I'm considering all parts. Hey-o! First hey-o of the challenge. Okay. So you might stay up here on your palms. You might already be way past me and on the
forearms. If not, this gives you something to look forward
to.
No worries, just be here in the moment. Another option is to maybe send the fingertips
all the way out and begin to relax the weight of the head over. You might find a soft sway back and forth. And again, the sit bones are going to want
to roll up here to compensate. See if you can stay grounded. Maybe a forehead underneath a block . . . Hello. A block underneath the forehead. Maybe even we bubblegum the fists here for
a little support. Breathe into your right hip. Find that breath. Then press into the sit bones. Press up into your palms. We're going to walk the fingertips, spider
fingers, as we say in kids yoga, over towards the right. Don't crank it. Keep it easy. Remember, find ease as we ease into the practice. I brush away dog hair. So professional. Deep breath in here. Keep a nice extension through the crown, breathing
into the left side body, pressing the sit bones back.
Then we walk it through center and take it
to the left. Same thing. So again, those hips are going to want to
come up. We stay pressing into the sit bones, shoulders
relaxed, really mindful through the neck. Deep breath in. Follow your exhale as you unravel back to
center, and then we're going to switch the legs here. So right heel comes in, left leg comes out. We draw the palms together at the heart. Once again, inhale, sternum to thumbs. Exhale. Relax the elbows down. Just notice how your legs feel sometimes. This side can be a little bit different, feel
a little foreign. We'll interlace the fingertips. Sit up nice and tall. Press the palms.
Actually let's interlace the opposite direction
this time, so opposite thumb on top, a little yoga for the brain as we begin. We press the palms. Oh, yeah, that feels weird. Forward, up, and back once again. And same thing, just a little organic movement. Yes, to stretch the side body. Yes, to bring awareness into the spine, but
really to set the tone for our practice and our challenge that you're in charge. It's more than modifying up or down. It's really about listening, being present,
easing into it, being honest. Also, it gives you the freedom to move how
you want to move.
Find what feels good. Inhale. Carve a line with your nose. Look up and exhale. Rain it down. Great. This time, we walk the fingertips together
just like before. This time, we're going to inhale, lift the
heart, and exhale. Draw a line with the nose past the right shoulder. If you've practiced with me before, you know
I love this move. Imagine receiving a little kiss on the neck. This is a little hygiene for the neck and
shoulders. So it might seem like you're not doing a lot,
but we're drawing the shoulder blades down. We're opening the chest, lifting up through
the ribcage, and keeping an extension in the crown of the head. Breathe into the left side of the neck. Then on an exhale, this should feel really
yummy, as you drop the chin into the chest, breathe into the back of the neck.
Oh, yeah. Then take it to the other side. So we find a softness here, even in this shape. We relax the shoulders down. Imagine someone kissing you on this side of
your neck. It's getting steamy in here already. Inhale in, extend, extend, and exhale chin-to-chest
for one more breath. This time, you can really draw your nose to
your navel. Then we lift up through the crown of the head. Take a deep breath in. Smile or turn on that inner smile. Then we release, walking the fingertips forward,
same thing. Palms come to the earth and feel this hip
out. So you might find a gentle sway. Again, coming onto the forearms might be an
option or maybe all the way down, breathing into the outer edge of that left hip, noticing
how the sit bones want to peel up, and the pelvis wants to rock, but we keep it grounded
and strong. Couple more breaths here. Nice, strong awareness throughout the whole
body. You press into the palms to slowly release
and come up. This time, we're going to take the fingertips,
spider fingers all the way to the left.
So again, there is a tendency to want to crank
here and do the yoga pose, and I just ask you, invite you to ease up. We have 30 days. This is our first day. We're going to stretch it out, take a little
stock, get settled in. So nice, gentle twists to the left, and then
we'll release, take it through center and take it to the right. Breathe nice, long, smooth, deep breaths. Then gently release back to center. Also, flip your palms up, sit up nice and
tall. Take a look at your hands. Spread them wide. We're going to commit to a nice, strong awareness
through the hands as we come forward and up into tabletop position.
So take this focus of the hands with you as
we come gently onto all fours. So we draw the wrists underneath the shoulders,
my friends, knees directly underneath the hips. Press into the tops of the feet. Take that focus of the hands with you as you
press away from your mat. So fingers are going to want to do what they
naturally do, and we're going to really expand awareness, building a strong foundation here
on day one. We press away from the earth. Draw the navel up towards the spine. Relax your shoulders, draw them away from
the ears. So really mindful in the head and neck. Tendency here is for the neck to kind of collapse,
but remember, the neck is a nice, long, beautiful extension of your spine. Cool. Take a deep breath in here. Press onto the tops of the feet. Don't panic. We're going to lift the knees, let them hover
just for a second here. I like to do this one to just bring a little
kick-start to our challenge, but also to light a fire in the belly.
Also, when we lift the knees here, we can
really tell if we're collapsing in other places. So find that integrity. One more breath here. You might experience a little shake, a little
tremble. That's prana, the energy moving, definitely
a transformative energy there. So one more breath, and then we release. Cat cow never looked so good. Loop the shoulders, drop the belly. Inhale. Heart radiates forward. On the exhale, I start at the tailbone, turn
it under, curl it under as I rotate the hip points. Find the surrounding of the spine and release
the crown of the head to the earth. Inhale. Keep it nice and slow today. Dropping the belly, tailbone lifts up, heart
opens out.
Moving with the breath, exhale, curing the
tailbone in, traveling up the spine until the crown of the head releases, moving at
your own pace here with your breath, doing a little energetic hygiene, getting the circulation
going. A little spinal flex. Even if we just did cat cow every day for
30 days, we'd be rocking and rolling. So we begin to veer off the beaten path here
if you haven't already, shaking the hips a little left to right, just kind of coming
off those railroad tracks, lingering in any place that feels tight or sore. Might get a little freaky on me and even come
forward. Whoa. This is where we just begin to let loose. Awesome. Then we'll come back to that tabletop position
and drop the elbows where the palms are.
And again, stay aware of the hands here. Fingers are going to want to come in or go
out, especially if the shoulders are tight. So see if you can keep two railroad track
lines here. Pressing the elbows in to the earth, we walk
the knees back and melt the heart. Heart to earth pose, anahata assen. One of my favorites. If the forehead comes to the earth, let it.
Let the pelvis rock up towards the sky. Hey-o. The sit bones shine, spread left to right. We take five nice, long, deep breaths here. Notice if the toes are coming in or going
out. See if you can keep that full body awareness
rocking and rolling. Belly can soften here. Inhale. Fill the back body with air. On an exhale, release your heart. Super awesome for the shoulders. Let's take one more breath here. Then to transition, I'm going to press into
all 10 fingerprints, all 10 knuckles, press into my elbows and slowly slide on through
to the belly. Oh, yeah. Press into the elbows. They're right underneath the shoulders still. Steel. Texas. Still. I press into the pubic bone, press into the
tops of the feet, and I grow nice and tall here in a little sphinx pose. So if you have to do some adjusting to find
length on the side body or in the spine, please do. Self adjustments are the best. We breathe here.
Again, notice if you've lost awareness in
the wrists and hands. Keep that awareness. Press away from your mat with your elbows,
almost as if you're trying to tear your yoga mat in half with your elbows. One more breath. We inhale in and exhale, slowly release. All right. This time, palms are going to come underneath
the shoulders. We curl the toes under, and you know where
I'm headed. Right? Downward -acing dog. So there's two options here. You can come to all fours first and then peel
up through the tail, or there's always the option from this posture to come straight
to plank. So you can cool it, or you can heat it. We always have options here together. We'll meet in our first downward facing dog
of the challenge.
Pedal it out. Check in with your feetsies. Bend the knees, and then don't forget that
awareness of the palms, of the hands, spreading wide. We'll take three more breaths here. So notice if you're just kind of holding,
waiting, like onto the next thing. Try to enjoy your practice. Breathe. Stretch it out. I shouldn't say try to enjoy your practice. How about we say just enjoy your practice.
Now we're going to go for a slow walk up towards
the front edge. Take your time. Again, resist the urge to just task master
here. We're going to slowly walk up towards the
front. Together, we'll meet at the head of the mat
in a nice forward fold. So to each his own here. You might walk the fingertips to one side
and then the other. If you're feeling a little tight in the head
and neck, you might shake the head yes and no. Pay attention to your feet. Toes are pointing forward, feet are hip-width
apart here to start. You might clasp the elbows and rock gently,
left to right. So again, setting the tone for our practice
and really the tone for the challenge that you're in charge. I encourage you to improvise, to keep searching
and exploring. Try to avoid just being the yoga challenge
robot here, but really be yourself and listen to your body.
When you feel satisfied, we'll release the
arms. Press into the feet, nice and strong. Bend the knees generously as you tuck the
chin into the chest, and we begin to roll it up, nice and slow. Take your time. Enjoy every move, every moment. This is our time that we've taken for ourself. So might as well relish.R Relish. Loop the shoulders forward, up, and back when
you arrive. So same thing here, when you get settled in,
try not to fidget with the feet too much, but keep that connection to the earth. Loop the shoulders, draw a couple circles
with the nose, work out the kinks. Oh, yeah. So we continue to deepen the breath. The more we move the body, the more we synchronize
the breath. Inhale. Draw the palms to your heart. Lift your sternum up to your thumbs. Lift the kneecaps. Draw energy up from the arches of the feet. This is our tanasana, our mountain pose here. So we stand up nice and tall. We extend through the crown.
We find this upward current of energy through
the front body. It's like, "Aaaah." Then we find this sweet and almost humble
grounding through the back body. Just balance it out. Then once again, just as we did before, we're
going to interlace. Notice which thumb's on top as we press the
palms forward, up, and back. Again, upward current of energy through the
front, nice grounding through the back body. So we press into the heels. We tuck the pelvis in, shoulder blades in,
together, and down. If you want, if you need a little more side
body lift, we can stretch it out here a couple breaths. Otherwise, we're holding, nice and slow, steady
breath. Carve a line with your nose. Slowly look up. Take a deep breath in.
Press into your thumbs. Up, up, up. Then exhale. Break free. Fingertips interlace behind the tailbone. See if you can put the opposite thumb on top. It's a little yoga for the brain. Sometimes it can throw you for a loop, but
we'll get the hang of it. Then we draw the knuckles down and away as
we open up through the chest. This is awesome if you work at a computer
or, again, you're a little stressed out in the shoulders. Deep breath in. Long breath out. Inhale in and exhale. We break free. Inhale. Reach the arms up. Full body stretch. Exhale. Palms come together as we bend the knees and
take it on down through the midline. Forward fold. From here, we inhale. Lift to a flat back position. Palms on the tops of the thighs or the shins
or fingertips on the mat. So we have three different levels here. You can peek at the video here to see what
this looks like, because we're going to come up to them many times in our 30-day challenge.
We have one, two, and a soft bend in the knees
here for three. So you can mix and match for this flat back
position, bringing lots of integrity into the spine. Wherever you are, take a deep breath in. Inflate and exhale. Use your breath to release it back down. Cool. Fingertips come to the mat. We walk the feet together, and we slide the
right toes back into a low lunge, runner's lunge. So again, we're easing into the practice today. We're also trying to find ease with each breath. So if you're feeling tight in a certain place,
see if you can work a little energy into that place.
So for me, it's the front of my right hip
crease. Stretching. I'm pulling my left hip crease back. You might lower the back knee as I have here
for a couple breaths. You might even find a rocking motion. So just a little play time here in low lunge
or runner's lunge. Notice if you're crashing into your fingertips. See if you can keep it light and easy. Then from here, we'll plant the palms, slide
the left toes back to meet the right. We come into our first plank, or maybe our
second, of our challenge. We begin to find a little movement here, staying
soft and easy, really using the breath to stay focused. So the mind wants to give up in a plank usually
a lot faster than the muscles do. So just stick with it here. One more breath in.
As you exhale out, we'll lower the knees,
hug the elbows into the side body. You can always stay lifted in that push-up
position as we slowly lower down. Elbows pull back. We come to the belly. Release the legs, inhale, and lift up. [inaudible:00:24:46] or cobra. Find your breath and then exhale. We release. The transition I mentioned before, you can
curl the toes up here, come to all fours, then send it up to downward facing dog.
Or for more heat, press back up into that
plank position, then anchor navel to spine as you send it back. Awesome, my friends. Take a deep breath in here in downward dog,
and a deep breath out. Awesome. Now we're going to step the right foot up. Come into our runner's lunge. Same thing here. A little play time. A little exploration as we ease in, stretching
that left hip crease, pulling the right hip crease back. Find a little organic movement. Stay mindful. Listen to your body. Then if the back knee is lifted, we'll lift
it . . . Excuse me. If the back knee is lowered, we'll lift it
back up. Take a deep breath in. Let your heart radiate forward. So we kind of come out of the turtle shell
here. Inhale. On an exhale, softly rock that back foot up
to meet the front. So you can take as many steps as you need. It doesn't have to be this big move. We find our forward fold. Inhale. Halfway lift, your version.
Mix and match. Exhale. Slide it down. Now inhale. Reach the fingertips left to right. Press into your feet, and we're going to reach
all the way up towards the sky. Full body stretch here as we press into all
four corners of the feet. Lift the kneecaps. On an exhale, we bring the hands back to the
heart. Awesome. Soft, buoyant in the knees. We inhale. Reach it up. Full body stretch. Exhale. Hands come down through the midline. Inhale. Halfway lift. Long, beautiful neck. Exhale. Slide it down. Step the right toes back. Come to your runner's lunge. This time, we inhale. Open the heart and chest. You might come up off the fingertips here,
just to check in with your core. Squeeze the inner thighs to the midline, or
you might stay on your fingertips. Then on an exhale, plant the palms. Slide the left toes back to plank.
Repeat the same move that we did before lowering
the knees, or this time, you might shift your weight forward, hug your elbows into your
side body, and slowly lower down. This time, we can either lift up to cobra,
or we can slide up through into upward-facing dog. So lots of options here as we explore our
day one of vinyasa. Navel to spine, we send it back, downward
facing dog. Deep breath in and deep breath out. Step the right foot up, runner's lunge. Same thing here. We inhale. Find the lightness in the fingertips. You might even lift the fingertips up off
the ground. Take a deep breath in. Front knee's stacked over front ankle. Exhale, release. This time, instead of rocking the back foot
up to meet the front, we're going to bring the right toes back to meet the left.
One more time, practicing here with the knees
lowered, or we shift our weight forward, hug the elbows into the side body, and chaturanga
to up-dog. So we have lots of options here. Inhale. Find your heart opener. Then exhale. We'll lower the knees and send the sit bones
back. Child's pose. Nice work, my friends. Find your breath. You might rock a little side to side here,
stimulating that third eye, that point of intuition. We'll take a second here to connect to our
intentions. Connect to your intention of the challenge,
why you're committed to the 30-day practice, why you're here. You might draw the palms together here. Walk the elbows forward and bring them up
overhead, kind of like a little Namaste shark fin. So articulating your intention here for your
practice, relaxing the shoulders, reconnecting to the sound of your breath. Then slowly we'll release the fingertips back
down. Draw the heart up, back to all fours. Then we're going to cross the left ankle over
the right here and very gently. You can use your hands to guide you. Come through into a nice seated posture.
I'm going to center myself on my mat, and
you can too. Drawing the palms behind the knees, I'm going
to inhale in. On an exhale, lift your feet. So we're not going into any certain kind of
boat pose here today. We're just kind of easing into this core strength
and tapping into this full body connection. So you might rotate your ankles one way and
then the other. Also, it is not cheating to hold your legs
up here. I think that's so silly. You can hold a good amount. Look, my arm muscles are working here. See? It's good.
So we're not going into you know a boat pose
here. We're really slowly taking every little intrinsic
muscle along for our 30-day yoga ride and beyond. Okay. So we're here. We can also, if this is a little too much
for you right away, can keep the big toes on the ground. But everyone, lift your heart. See if you can grow taller up through the
sternum.
Then maybe you keep your hands here, or maybe
you reach your fingertips forward. We're going to take a couple breaths here. Just notice where your mind goes, like if
you're like [grunts], or if you can find a little ease. Maybe turn the palms up, soften through the
toes. Belly's working here, but so is the back body. I'm lifting my heart. So I'm not really collapsing here, but keeping
it lifted. Let's do one more deep breath in, and exhale. Hands come back to the thighs. Then this is a fun move. We rock it back. We rock a couple times. So it feels good. Again, you can keep the hands on the backs
of the legs here for a little stability.
We massage the spine back and forth. You know me. I like to keep it playful. So if you feel a little goofy, good. Then we'll release it back to the earth. Oh, yeah. So here, we're going to take a full body stretch
as we wind it down. Again, just easing and settling into the challenge. We inhale, reach the fingertips up overhead. Exhale, interlace the fingertips and create
a little pillow, little neck hammock here. So you can keep the thumbs extended here or
not, but I like to do that and give myself a little massage, a little yogic massage. All right. Then keep the elbows nice and wide. Inhale, draw the knees up toward your heart. Scoop the tailbone up, so that lower back
can become really comfy with your mat. Extend the right leg out long. Inhale in. Exhale. Lift the head, the neck, the shoulders. Kiss right elbow to left knee. Deep breath in. Exhale, switch. Left leg out, kiss left elbow to right knee. We move back and forth here, keeping it really
soft and easy breezy, resisting the urge to clench, to speed up.
We'll do that later. So you can keep it nice and soft. So lower back's going to want to come up,
and I'm going to keep my navel driving down, tailbone scooping up. Okay. Just a couple more here. You totally got this. Breathe. Find your breath. Then we release the soles of the feet to the
ground. Release the arms and slowly extend the legs
out long. Awesome. Take a deep breath in through your nose here
and a long exhale out through the mouth. Nice. Inhale. Draw the right knee up. Squeeze it up in towards your heart. Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Exhale, taking it over towards the left. Twist it out. We can open up through the right arm. We breathe up and down the spine. Really nice, slow, stabilizing twist here
before we head to shavasana. Gently melt it back to center, and we switch.
Squeeze that left knee up towards your heart. When you're ready, find your twist. Oh, yeah. Gently releasing it back to center and preparing
for our final and most precious posture here. Sometimes this can be the most challenging
posture. So again, just try to ease into it. You can pillow the head with a blanket. You can cover up if you're chilly. You can even roll a blanket or towel up behind
the knees to support the lower back. We'll send the arms out wide, palms face up. Inhale. Lift your heart, your chest open. Exhale, release. I can hear the birds chirping outside my window. It's very sweet. Close your eyes. Get all little wiggly movements out of the
body, and then we settle in to the corpse pose, finding stillness here.
Even if you're short on time, find a moment
to just pause and give yourself permission to do absolutely nothing. Just let go. Thank you for sharing your time, your energy,
and your practice. Good job. Namaste..
