30 Minute Stability and Yoga Exercise | Herbalife Nutrition

Hi everybody, welcome to your yoga practice. This is Kayleen with Herbal Life Nutrition. So who doesn't have back problems? About 80% of us do. So we're gonna work a little bit today on not just stretching, stretching, stretching, which is sometimes what we feel like we need when we have tenderness or soreness in the body, but we're gonna work a little bit on stabilizing as well, which is really helpful for creating congruency within the SI joint specifically, and then that translating up the rest of the spine. So let's get started lying down on our backs. So let's first start in Supta Baddha Konasana, joining the soles of the feet together. Let your knees butterfly open. And let's just move fluidly through a few rounds of Cat-Cow here. All right, so as you inhale, let's just start right away. Tip the pelvis forward, create a little arch in your lower back. Notice how that feels. Keeping the legs wide, as you exhale, start to imagine that there's a little wheel on your pelvis. Curl the tailbone up towards the sky, almost so much that your low back flattens. Let's do it again. Inhale, tip the pelvis forward and down, so much so that you create that little river that can run underneath the lower back. And exhale, go in the opposite direction. Exhale, exhale, exhale. Try to imagine zipping pubic bone to navel, so create that little connection to Mula Bandha, pelvic floor, root. Inhale. One more. Creating a little space in the lower back. Let the belly out. And then exhale, zip low belly to spine. Try to flatten out. Okay, here. Let's join the soles of the feet down to the ground. Join the knees together, and then just separate your feet about hip-width distance apart. And let's ground into the feet here. And on your inhale, just take your arms straight up to the sky. Okay, now, ideally, you would have a little bit of space in the lower back. However, if you are having tenderness there today, just flatten the lower back, so much so that the back bottom ribs connect to the earth. So pay attention to what feels best for you. Let's inhale, lift the knees up one at a time to tabletop. And then from here, imagine that your spine and your pelvis were fixed, and the arms and legs were mobile, which they can be. So let's start with just reaching the right arm up and overhead on your inhale. Nothing else changes in the shoulder girdle. And notice as you raise that right arm overhead how you have to engage through the lower abdominals just a little bit deeper. Let's bring that right hand back up to the sky, and then do it on over to the other side. Inhale, left arm reaches up and back. And notice at what point when you're reaching that left arm back, do you lose that connection to your bottom ribs? If you're kind of flailing in the lower back, try just maybe raising that left arm a little higher so you can keep that upper abdominal support, hugging in. Draw that left arm back up to the sky. Now let's try with the legs. Just tap the right toes forward, down to the ground, inhale. Notice if the pelvis is getting a little wonky. And just start to hug low belly to spine again. And exhale, draw that right foot back up. Second side. Inhale, left leg reaches forward, down. Just a little tap. Exhale, hug left knee up to center. Okay, now let's try it contralaterally. So as you inhale, we're gonna reach that right foot down and left arm up and above overhead. Now only go as low as you can, you guys, to where you're able to maintain stability in the pelvis, the spine, and the shoulder girdle once again. Exhale, come back to center. Inhale, let's take it over to the other side. Left toes tap, right arm reaches up and overhead. Only as low as you can go so that you can maintain stability through your pelvis and your spine. Exhale, come back. One more time. Inhale, right toes tap, left arm reaches overhead. Tap, tap, tap aroo. Exhale, come back through center. And last side. Inhale, left toes tap, right arm reaches up. Exhale, come back through center. Nice. Now let's hug knees to chest here. Take a little rock and roll forward and back, forward and back. And just use this as a little Little bit of play time. It's nice to have fun as an adult, right? Gotta get it where you can. And also start to notice as you're rocking and rolling, woo, that stability that you're creating through your core. Try to keep belly hugging the spine. And then when you gain enough momentum, let's cross over the shins, cross over the ankles, and find your way onto all fours. Come into tabletop, hands and knees. Okay, so remember when you were lying down on the ground just a moment ago? Try to keep your head level with your shoulders, with your pelvis. I like to imagine I had a PVC pipe all the way along the length of my spine. Maintaining that length in the spine, let's try doing what we were doing lying down on the ground. Hug the bottom ribs in, hug your low belly in, and let's first start just by extending the right arm forward. Inhale, easy does it, hey? Come right back to center, exhale. And then left arm reaches forward, inhale. Exhale, back to center, no big deal, right? Inhale, right leg reaches up and back. Try extending the leg straight. Now, sometimes this is where I start to run into a little bit of issue. Try lifting that right leg high, high, high, high, high, so high that you notice your low belly just collapse. So how far can you reach your right leg both back and up to where you're able to maintain that lift through the lower belly? Take an inhale there, and then let's set that right knee back down. Second side, inhale, left leg back, and then just go for it, woohoo! Kick that left leg up to the sky, so much so where you feel the back contracting. Maybe there's a part of you that's like, oh. And then lower that left foot down enough to where you're able to maintain that lift through the low belly and through the bottom ribs. Exhale, back to center. Now let's keep that stable. Inhale, right leg this time, left arm. Extend on the diagonal without changing anything in the head, neck, and shoulders. Come back to center, exhale. Second side, left leg, right arm, inhale. And exhale, back to center. You got one more, inhale, right leg, left arm. See how far back, how high up you can lift the arm, lift the leg. Exhale, back to center. Recommit to your belly lifting. Here we go, inhale, left leg, right arm. Exhale, back to center. Nicely done. From here, let's keep the hands as they are, squaring off the wrists with the top edge of the mat. Tuck your toes. Inhale, keep the knees bent and start to pike the hips up to the sky. Now with your knees bent here, a lot of the times when we have low back tension, it can come from the hamstrings, maybe being a little too tight, pulling the pelvis into that deep posterior tilt. So what I want you to try to do here is with the knees bent, see how high you can lift through the inner thighs so that you have that natural curve in the lower belly. Now with your curve in the lower back, try lifting up your lower belly to support that movement. Knees can stay bent the entire time. Now keeping the pelvis as it is, see how far back now on your inhale, you can start to work your hamstrings. If I just explode my legs back and my tailbone tucks and I lose that form, keep the knees bent, that's okay. Just means the hamstrings are tight. Doesn't mean you're a bad person. Stay with it here. Inhale, and then flirt with how far back you can extend the legs without changing anything else. One more breath. All right, now let's go ahead and walk the hands back, back, back towards the toes. When you get to the back of the mat, let's actually grab a hold of a block. Hopefully you have a block, a book, dictionary somewhere nearby. Start to wedge that block between your inner thighs. Find a nice flat back when you get there. Inhale, and then bring your hands to your outer hips as you exhale. Maybe use that as a reminder to squeeze your outer thighs in. And from there, slowly start to rise all the way up to standing. Exhale when you get to the top. One thing I want you to pay attention to here is how do you stand? We all have kind of a default mode. Maybe you kind of remember back to who you were in high school, right? I remember I was like this person. I was so awkward, afraid of being so tall. So, unfortunately, but now, you know, we learn from those kind of ways of standing. So from here, start to find, does my tailbone tack forward? Am I kind of dumping into my lower back? Or can I, right where my block is, bend my knees and start to roll my inner thighs back so that I'm able to maintain that curve? Now keep that curve of the lower back and then squeeze the block again as you exhale so you find balance in the pelvis, right? Hold on to that. Let's take the arms down by our side. Inhale, half Surya Namaskar A. We'll circle the arms out wide and up to the sky. Take a big breath in. Now try to keep the pelvis and the spine as one. Bend your knees as much as you need to. Flat back, forward fold on the exhale, right? Try not to tuck your tailbone and round your spine. Keep it flat. Inhale, halfway lift. You can bring your hands to your outer shins if you like. And then exhale to your forward fold, either hands to the ground or grab ahold of the back of your calves. Let's do that one more time. Press down through your feet. Find a nice flat back as you inhale. Extend the arms as you reach up. Maybe gaze up. And then bring the hands together to prayer. And then what's your default again? Come back to that balance between the inner thighs rolling back and the low belly hugging. Okay, this time let's circle the arms out wide and up. Inhale. Flat back, forward fold on the exhale. All right, find your nice flat back halfway lift. Inhale. All right, and then recrawl back into downward facing dog. Exhale. So we've been here before, but now we've just added a block, okay? So keep squeezing onto the block and let's inhale, shift forward to plank, right? And notice here, do the same habitual posture show up that you had while you were standing here in down dog? Right, sometimes if you tended to kind of tuck the tailbone, your pelvis might be hanging down. You might be straining in the lower back. So if that's the case, try rolling that block up to the sky. So much so that the pelvis lifts about shoulder height, then anchor the tailbone down towards your heels. Take another breath, just two legs working together as one. Inhale. Exhale, lower all the way down to the ground. Use your knees if you need to. Bend your elbows, hug them in tight like a little grasshopper, and then slide your feet straight back. Now try to imagine that same little wheel on your pelvis. Anchor the tailbone down towards your heels and inhale, start to coil the chest up. Only come high enough to where you feel a nice satisfying stretch in the upper back, not in the lower back. Traction the front of the mat back to the back of the mat. Lengthen your spine and then lower down slow. Exhale. Good, let's tuck the toes. Inhale, lift the thighs. Recommit to anchoring tailbone down towards your heels. Squeeze that block and exhale, come back to plank. Take an inhale and plank. And then let's lead with the inner thighs, rolling up to go back. Exhale, downward facing dog. And take a breath. Maybe a lot of this is just new information. Take what works today and just leave the rest. One thing to focus on. Maybe it's the tip of the pelvis forward. Maybe it's the core work, hugging, stabilizing low belly up in it. One more breath. All right, let's re-walk the hands back to the feet. You've been here before. Find a nice flat back halfway lift. Inhale. Hands to hips on the exhale. This time we're gonna bend the knees so it's like you're sitting in a chair and not like a bar stool, right? A chair, maybe like a toddler chair. Sit as far back as you can with the roots of your thighs. Then remember squeezing your thighs in. Try to find that hug so your low belly lifts off of your thighs. Let's try reaching the arms overhead here on your inhale. See how far back you can work the arms so that you find a nice back bend in the upper back. Reconnect to zipping tailbone down, low belly in and up. One more breath. Squeeze that block like crazy and then exhale, press and rise up to standing. Hands together to prayer. All right, now let's find balance with one leg at a time. So I'm gonna line up my two blocks, one in front of the other. And at first I'm just actually gonna start on my left foot. Right, and I just use two blocks because I have a bigger foot. If one foot fits on one block, great. So let's stand on the block with let's say the left foot to start. All right, now as we're coming onto the block, notice your tendencies. One of my teacher calls this the sassy hip. Notice if the pelvis kind of swings off to the side and my right foot is kind of just hanging out in space. So try to get the pelvis level side to side by firming that left thigh up into the midline and zipping that right foot up so much so that that right foot hovers off of the ground. Okay, let's try that again twice more. Inhale, try hovering that right foot so much so that that left hip sneaks off to the side. And then exhale, squeeze that left outer thigh in, zip that right thigh up. One more, inhale, left foot sneaks, left hip reaches off to the side, and exhale, pull it into the midline. Now keep your core stable and let's just start to draw some little circles around on the mat, just warming up that hip socket. So you're circumducting that thigh bone in the hip socket, which is creating that nice synovial fluid in the joint. Really, really healthy thing. Stabilizing through the inner groin, outer groin, front of the hip, back of the hip. All right, and then change circles. Changing directions. This is like the quickest way to warm up your hips and to fatigue. So let's stay with it, one more round. Inhale, notice the strength and stability you're creating through the sole of the foot. All right, when you feel balanced here, let's stay with it on the exhale. All right, now let's try hugging that left knee up towards the chest. Inhale, only lift that right knee as high up as you can to where you're able to maintain length through the lower belly. So if I'm down here, no worries. If I'm all the way up to my chest, cool. Try not to let the tailbone tuck underneath you. Let's take another breath. Now, can you keep your knee this high and extend your right leg? Maybe that means you need to hold on to the back of the thigh. Maybe that means you can bring your hands together to prayer. Maybe that's arms reach overhead. Let's take an inhale here. Recommit to stabilizing the left thigh in, zipping the right side lower belly in and up. And then exhale, we're gonna come back through Tadasana. Hover that right foot up, and now let's tip forward just halfway. Take an inhale. Try to keep the pelvis aligned with the spine. Tip the pelvis over that left thigh as that right leg reaches up and back behind you. Let's take another breath here. Feel all those little intricate muscles in the sole of that left foot working like crazy. And then exhale. We'll take a giant step back. Bend deeply into your left knee. Stabilize the left outer thigh in. Step way back to the back of the mat. Maybe it doesn't look that graceful. Some days you really feel the world is spinning, right? Let's take another breath. Find a steady gaze in front of you, something that's not moving. Bend that front knee down. All right, now as you exhale, let's try to lower that back knee down, down, down to the ground. Now you're gonna be feeling a deep stretch in the front of the hip flexors. This is where imbalances are gonna show up more often than anywhere else. Notice how the pelvis likes to swing off to the left. Can you first pull the root of that left thigh bone back so you feel balanced in the pelvis side side, and then try lowering that left thigh bone down, lifting that right thigh bone up so that the pelvis again is level with the spine, right? Keeping that throughout the whole class as we just do different things with the legs and the arms. If you can maintain this, you stay here. If you want, you can hover that back knee up for a little bit more strength. Let's take another breath. Maybe you're somewhere in between. Find that connection to low belly and lower back. And exhale. Okay, if you had your back knee down, lift it up. Here we go. Let's inhale, start to come up. Same way we came into it. We're gonna tip forward with the pelvis over that left thigh. Hug that left outer thigh into the midline. Lift the low belly in and up, and then inhale. When you're ready, come right back to where you started. Third warrior. You can keep your hands to hips, hands to prayer, arms reach overhead. Take an inhale. So from warrior three, slowly rise back up to standing. Come back to Tadasana where you started, hovering that right foot. And then exhale, come off of the blocks. Shimmy, shake it out. Hold down, do what you need to do. And let's try it on over to the other side. Here we go. Taking the right foot onto the block. Now you know what's coming up. That's either a really good thing because you know what you're up against or a really bad thing depending on how you see it. So just notice your perspective that you're having. Wipe the slate clean. Here we go. So we're gonna start by hovering that left foot up off of the mat, right? And maybe you just start off with that lax hip again. Just let that right hip sneak off. Let your left foot tap down. And just kind of notice, this is a common posture that we all take throughout the day at some point in our life. And let's see if we can stabilize the pelvis again just by stabilizing that outer right thigh in. Hug the outer right thigh deeper into the hip socket so much so that that left foot just hovers. Complement that left foot hovering by engaging through the left side of the body. Let's do that again twice more. Inhale, this time just keep that left foot hovering. Of course, if you need to use the ground, you can. Let that right hip sneak off. And then exhale, hug the outer right thigh in as you lift the left thigh higher up. One more. Inhale, right foot. Right outer thigh sweeps off to the side. Left foot hovers. And then exhale, come back to center. Okay, now this is little tiny circles. Make those little tiny circles with that left foot. This could be as small or as big as you'd like. Notice that dynamic movement. This is where we get into that functional movement. You want these legs and the pelvis to be able to be stable, but also mobile. This is helpful for all sorts of activities. Walking, running, let's change directions. Living. Let's just find that sense of center through your core as you stabilize. Once you feel a little bit of heat, a little bit of warmth, stability through that whole sole of the foot, outer right thigh, let's pause there through center. Inhale, let's hug that left knee up to the chest. All right, remember, you don't need to go super high, especially if it's gonna throw you way off balance. Compromise, maybe somewhere in between, not your deepest and not your kind of most lazy position. Practicing that moderation. All right, can you keep that left knee high and just extend that left leg straight? Maybe that means you need to hold on to the back of the thigh. Maybe you bring your hands together to prayer. Reconnect to your standing thigh. Push that right thigh back so that you can lift the pelvis and the spine up. Let's take a big breath in. Okay, here we go. We're gonna pass through Tadasana. Keep that left leg hovering. Just tip forward, timber, like a tree falling, and pause halfway. Notice what's happening in that back leg. It's not just hovering off into never-never land, right? It's lifted. Maybe that left foot is just an inch off the floor. That's okay. Just keep lifting that left leg up. Imagine the left leg is lifted from deep within the lower belly. So you got one more breath in you. Take an inhale. Okay, now see how slowly you can come back. Bend the right knee. Step way back to the back of the mat with that left leg. And we landed. Notice if the left hip is just sneaking off because it's like, all right, uncle, I give in. Hug that right outer thigh into the midline. Recommit to lifting lower belly up. And then if you can, let's slowly lower that back knee down, down, down. Right, if your knees are sensitive, grab padding. No worries, we got a blanket here if you need something. Maybe a pillow. It's totally fine. All right, once you get that left knee down, notice how it highlights the imbalances. Notice where you're imbalanced. Is my right side waist shorter than my left? Is my right hip further forward than my left? Can we bring our pelvis back to center with the rest of the spine? That's a good question. But then how do we do that? So if the right hip is further forward than the left and you're kind of off in the transverse plane, try sucking the root of the right thigh back so that that left outer hip can wrap forward. All right, solve that problem. Now is my pelvis tipped laterally on its side? Try to descend the root of the right thigh down and think pulling the left thigh up. Let's take another breath wherever you are. You can bring hands to prayer, hands to hips. You can even hover that left knee. It's a little bit more work, but that's okay. You're only here for another breath. See how far you can extend that left leg back if that left knee is lifted without collapsing in the lower back. Maintain that strength through your core. Take an inhale. Reconnect to what's touching the earth. It's touching your blocks as you exhale. All right, now we're gonna tip forward. Take an inhale here. And then we're gonna launch. Come back to warrior three on your exhale, hovering that left foot. Feel the strength you created in the stability of the right thigh. Hug it into the midline and lift your low belly in and up. Let's slowly come right back up to where we started. Inhale, hovering that left foot into dasana. And then exhale, release. Shimmy and shake it on out. Do what you need to in between sides. Here we go. Malasana squat, come on down. So swivel the toes out, heels in. If you need to, your heels are hovering. Maybe your low back is a little tender. Just use your blocks. Use them however you need to, right? I think that we need to be squatting a lot more than we are in our culture. Some people eat like this, have conversation like this. So let's see if we can bring a little bit more stability here. Getting some mobility through the inner thighs. Feel the external rotation in the outer thighs, hugging, supporting you. Just unraveling a little bit of that stability work. Take another breath. Maybe you use your elbows against the inner thighs to open. And then exhale, release. Hands to the ground. Lift the thighs, shimmy and shake it on out. All right, let's make our way all the way down to seated. So I'm just gonna ditch my blocks. I'm gonna take my blanket and use my blanket as support underneath the back of my pelvis again. All right, sometimes I see people in seated postures and maybe they just need to sit on something a little higher so their knees can relax a little lower than their hips, right? Let again, the pelvis and the spine be the most important part. Let's find Sukhasana, easy seat, which is not so easy when your hips are tight. So find something that helps you so that this becomes a little more easeful. Little different than crisscross applesauce. Crisscross applesauce is where the ankles are stacked. Walk the feet apart so that the shins are stacked. Let's take an easy twist to the right. Let's take the right arm diagonally back and the left arm outside the left thigh. Now use that right hand as a way of tipping your pelvis further forward so you feel more aligned with the rest of your spine. Let's use that left hand as a way of revolving the belly, revolving the ribs, revolving the chest, maybe even looking back. Take an inhale. As you exhale, start to ground. Maybe you feel your heartbeat increase. Maybe you feel the mind kind of prepping, scanning. Maybe you start to receive the messages of the sympathetic nervous system, a little stimulated, a little worked. Can we observe that with our parasympathetic? So with a state that's open, receptive, relaxed, ready to learn. Take an inhale. See if we can slow the exhale down just a little bit, calming that heartbeat, calming the mind. Gaze forward, unravel the spine, inhale. And then just notice which shin is in front, extend the legs and change the cross of the shins so the opposite shin is in front. Remember walking the feet apart. I kind of imagine whenever I'm creating a little fire at the camp, campfire. And then once you find your seat, let's take the twist on over to the other side. Left arm back, right arm to the outside of the left thigh. Use that back left hand as a way of tipping the pelvis further forward again. Create that little curve in the lower back. Find that ripple effect through the rest of the spine. Inhale. And then just use that right hand as a way of revolving belly, revolving ribs, maybe even gazing off to the left. One more breath, settling in. All right, let's gaze forward on your next inhale. And gently unwind the spine as you exhale. So let's just square off. Extend both legs straight out in front of you. Maybe you would take that seat again if that was helpful. Let's just finish up here with both legs doing the same thing at the same rate. If you have the tight hamstrings again and you feel like you're pitched back, just bend your knees so that you can pitch further forward. Let's take the arms up on an inhale. Maybe you start with the knees bent. Exhale, hinge and fold forward. Right, and maybe that's the limit of the length of your hamstrings at this moment in time. Honor where you're at. Practice honesty here. And if that's the limit, stay there. If your body's like, okay, I feel relaxed, a little bit more open, then try sliding one heel a little further away at a time. Every inhale, just observing where am I at? Can I maintain integrity in my awareness and in my breath? If I'm pushing it, if I'm forcing it, if I'm straining, then what's the point? Maybe we're training ourself to pay attention to something that's not helpful. Use this practice as a way of expanding that space and that place where we can pay attention in a calm and relaxed way. One more inhale. Just fold down on the exhale. Release whatever grip you have on the feet. Start to roll the spine on up, inhaling. And then let's scooch forward and just come all the way down onto your back as you exhale. Maybe you use the blanket for your head and neck support. I find if my back's feeling a little tender, you know what feels the best? It's actually just letting my feet rest wide, my knees knocking in, so there's no strain, no pull there on my lower back. If you want, you can even wrap your arms around one another, coming into constructive rest like you're giving yourself a big hug. Maybe that's what this practice is, giving our body some love. Even saying thank you, body, all the hard work that it does, carrying us through our intentions of life. Take a big breath here. Feel the effort that it took to sustain this heightened state of awareness, this focus. Maybe a little bit of a demanding practice. And just let it all go with a goodbye exhale. Notice which arm is on top, which arm is underneath. Spread the arms out, inhale. And change the cross of the arms, exhale. This may be where you wanna settle today, to rest and just simply digest. Take time here, letting your body, your mind settle, assimilate the energy of the practice. Come into the day just a little bit more supported, maybe a little bit more aware of how we hold ourselves, how we carry ourselves through the world. When you're ready to move on with the rest of the day, just start by taking a little fuller inhale. Just notice how relaxed, maybe how settled you've become. Let's carry that with us as we unravel the arms. One at a time, hug the knees into the chest. It's a little rock side side. And when you're ready, find a side, roll on over. Use your top free hand and press on up. Let's find our way up to a comfortable seat, both eyes closed, coming up in a way that feels dignified, feels connected with not just ourself, but maybe who this practice allows us to be. And maybe not just for ourself, but for others. Let's bring the hands together in front of your hearts, humbly bowing in gratitude. Namaste.