Prana - Day 1

Hello everyone and welcome to Prana, your seven day yoga journey. I'm Adriene and this is sweet Benji and we're super glad, excited and overjoyed that you're here. The hardest part is showing up. So you're already here, the hardest part is over. Let's hop into something comfy for Day 1. Alright, let's begin in a comfortable seat. Take your time coming down to the ground. And today and throughout this series, always use props when you need them. You can bring a blanket, a block, a pillow. In this case, sometimes it's nice to start by sitting up on a little blanket or block or pillow to lift the hips. Just remembering that you are in charge. You are the leader of your practice. I'm honored to help guide you. Listen to your body. This whole series truly is about aligning with the wisdom of your body. So as we take our time, so no rushing here, no hurrying. But as we take a moment here to get settled in, perhaps you allow your eyes to close or your gaze to soften. And as we begin here together, yes, just slowing down. I want to acknowledge how difficult that can be. So simply allow yourself this time, today and throughout this series to listen to your body. Notice where your mind is at on any given day and connect with your heart, your emotional body too. That's the beauty of yoga is we focus and embrace the whole shebang as you're ready. See if you can make some adjustments here. They could be very small, they could be big. To sit up a little taller, to find length in your spine. Maybe that means lifting the heart, the chest a little, just a little. Maybe it means relaxing the shoulders and any tension around the shoulders, just a little. Softening the jaw perhaps. And then I'll invite us all to use our creative mind, our imagination to see this line of our spine from the crown of the head all the way down to the tip of the tailbone. And as you're ready, gently begin to deepen your breath just in your own time, in your own way. No technique, nothing fancy, nothing rigid, just noticing your breath, listening and responding. We'll just keep this conversation with the breath going throughout our whole practice today. So allow it to evolve, to grow and change. And anytime you forget about your conscious breath, it's really part of the game. It's definitely part of the practice, it's going to happen. So it's all good. Let the practice be about coming back to noticing your breath and just bringing more awareness to the way in which you're breathing in the postures. Alrighty, let's bring the palms together. Hands at the heart center, Anjuli Mudra. Take a second here to gently bow the head. You might feel some nice length in the back of the neck here. And just an opportunity, take it or leave it, to set a little intention for yourself as we embark on this prana journey. And just notice what comes up. Usually, you know, the first thing is a good thing to go with, just trust whatever came up. And then we'll take a deep inhale in together and an exhale out together to release the hands, to open the eyes, and we're gonna slowly transition to all four. So take your time. We'll meet in Tabletop Position. Alright, and away we go. Let's spread the fingertips, wrists underneath the shoulders, knees underneath the hips. Extend the crown of the head forward, tailbone back, so you're creating this long line in the spine again. Now gently hug your low ribs in, and best you can, draw your low abs in and together, just so you feel a little connection there. Inhale in here, think extension. Then with your breath, so on your exhale, send the hips back, heart melts down, forehead relaxes down towards the earth, doesn't have to touch the ground. On your next breath in, drag your hands back, your heart forward, return to that extension. And let's flow here, exhale, send it back. Adjust the hands as you need to, marrying the breath to the movement, the movement to the breath. Navel drawing in and up, so the whole time we have this soft but active sensation in the center of the body. A little contraction of the abs. The next time your hips go back, stay there for a breath or two. You can bring the knees a little wider if it feels good. Reach the fingertips forward, really softening through the sternum, the chest, opening up through the shoulders here. Stay here, breathing deeply, or option to walk the hands over to the left side of your mat. Maybe placing your right hand on top of your left, pulling back with the right hip crease to feel a nice, long, generous stretch through your right side body. See if you can breathe a little deeper here, feeling perhaps your inhale move your torso. And then on an exhale, we'll walk it through center and take it to the other side. Hands spill off the right edge of the mat. I think it's fun and it feels good to think about really pulling my left hip crease back here, feeling that stretch in the left side body. And again, take a nice, wide, lateral breath. Imagine breathing into all four sides of your torso and you feel your torso rise on the inhale a little bit here and fall on the exhale. Lovely, walk it back to center. Let's bring the heart back up, return to all fours. You can always pad the knees when we're working on them, right? Listen to your body. It's always helpful to cushion anything that's feeling a little too hard. Is that the first hey-oh of the series? Maybe. Let's walk the fingertips out towards, left fingertips out towards the left edge, right fingertips out towards the right edge. This is the first bus stop. You might stay here, rocking front to back, finding some circular motions. To take it a little further, we'll take the fingertips in towards the body, continuing with that external rotation. And we're here. So you have options, front to back, circular direction, stretching through the hands, the wrists, the forearms. I absolutely know how hard it can be to do weight-bearing moves on the hands, so we're gonna take good care of you here. How's your breath? Lovely, then slow release, one hand at a time. Walk the fingertips and the hands forward, spread the fingers wide, curl the toes under. And as you're ready, peel the tailbone up high, Downward Facing Dog. Take a deep breath in here. Think about the heart melting towards the thighs. Then bend your knees and think about your hip creases lifting up towards the heavens. Then find whatever movement here feels good. I recommend taking it slow, keeping it soft and inquisitive. What does it feel like to be curious as you move? Soft bend in the elbows here, my friends, grounding through the index finger and thumb, stretching through the fascia of the feet, the Achilles maybe, the calves as you bend your knees. And then we'll step to the center of the mat, feet hip-width apart, take your time, no rush. We're gonna take a couple of loving breaths here in our standing Extended Forward Fold, Uttanasana. Take a nice wide stance, feet hip-width apart or slightly wider than hip-width apart. Bend your knees a little or a lot and ground through all four corners of your feet. We find a centering breath here, so whatever that means to you. Maybe slowing it down, lengthening your inhalations, lengthening the exhales. Find any soft, easy movement here that feels good. Maybe clasping opposite elbow, rocking slowly, gently side to side. You might nod the head a little yes and no. I like to sometimes open and close my jaw, move the tongue around in my mouth. One more breath here, you got it, stay with it. And we'll slowly, slowly reach the hands all the way up to the waistline. Draw the shoulder blades together, elbows back, bend your knees generously and rise up to standing. Think about leading with your heart here, your chest, so that when you stand all the way up tall, the chest is nice and open. Again, the elbows are reaching back. We're grounded through the feet. And we'll take a deep breath in here and exhale to release the arms, palms face forward. Just take a second here to ground through the feet, lift up through the chest. Notice how you feel. Then on your next inhale, we'll sweep the arms all the way up towards the sky, big full body stretch here. And then exhale, lower them down, that's it. Marrying the breath to the movement, the movement to the breath, that's key here. Now the next time you bring your hands down, bring them to your heart on the exhale. Palms pressing against the chest. Inhale to reach up. Exhale, hands come to the heart. Sinking the breath up with the movement. The movement to the breath. Beautiful, let it go. Shake the hands a little bit. Interlace the fingertips behind the back. Let's open up through the chest and the pecs here a little more. So you can square off through the wrist if the chest is pretty tight. To take it a step further, we're going to eventually maybe work to bring the palms together. Now find a little connection back at your core. Maybe drawing up through the pelvic floor a little, in just above the navel. Take a deep breath in here. Stand up nice and tall. And release, awesome. Right foot forward here, left foot back, and just slightly turned up. Let's take a second here to find Warrior I. So bend the front knee, inhale, reach the fingertips all the way up towards the sky just so you have a nice, strong foundation. So think about hugging the inner thighs in as you draw energy up from the pelvic floor. And think about always rooting down through the ball joint of that big toe. Virabhadrasana I. And it doesn't have to be a huge stance here, okay? Not today, just nice and strong, stable. Great, then we'll release the hands all the way down on our sides, straighten through the front leg, and we're gonna flow here as well. So inhale, arms reach up, we bend the front knee. Baby heart, chest lifts. Exhale, float the fingertips down. Inhale, bend the knee, reach the arms up. Strong back leg here. Exhale, float it down. So synchronizing the breath and the movement, maintaining the whole time this connection with your core center. Now the next time you exhale, bring hands to heart just like we did before. Inhale, moving with your breath, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Two more, moving with your breath. Lovely, then let that go, come back to center. Shake it out. Let's take it to the opposite side. So step the left foot forward, find your Warrior I on this side. Back toes are turned out, navel draws in and up. Arms reach, shoulders relaxed. Feel the power, the rootedness of the back foot here. Press into the outer edge of your right foot, press into the ball joint of your left big toe. Great, then we'll release, and we'll flow with the breath. Inhale, bend the front knee, reach up. Exhale, float it down. So now listening to the sound of your breath and seeing if you can really find that synchronization and make this a whole body experience, whatever that means to you. On your next exhale, take hands to heart. And then we'll release, step it back to center, shake it out. We're gonna widen the stance just a little bit and start to rock our center a little left to right. Noodle arms here, start to swing a little with this movement, little or a lot. I call this knocking on heaven's door. Your hands might start to hit your body or your booty. It's my favorite part. So just roll with it. And maybe picking up the pace a little bit. Shifting your weight back and forth. Your feet will move. Soft bend in the knees. There you go, you got it. We're here for three, two, and one. Let it go. Reach the arms all the way up towards the ceiling. Wiggle the fingertips as we come all the way back into a Forward Fold. Inhale, halfway lift, long neck here. Navel draws in and up. Exhale to soften and fold everything. We're gonna come back to all fours. Take a breath in, Tabletop. On the exhale, draw your navel up towards your spine with a shh sound. Actually, let's give it one more try just in case you missed it the first time. Inhale here. Exhale, shh. Really feeling that contraction in the belly. And then we'll swing the legs to one side, any side, and come through to a seat. Knees bent. Hands are gonna come behind the thighs here or you can also grab onto the outer edges of the shins, the calves. Find a position here where you can loop the shoulders forward, up, and back, lift your chest. Inhale in. Lift one leg, just one leg, don't panic. And then lower it. Inhale in, lean back, and lift the other leg. Then lower it. Inhale in, loop the shoulders, lean back just a little more. You don't need to go super low unless you want to. Then we're gonna lift both legs and we're gonna use that image, or you can even do it, of the navel drawing in and up. Going shh, finding that contraction to lift the legs here just in a little day one boat variation. It is a variation so you can always make it your own here on day one and all the days. Maybe straightening one leg, then the other. But keep this length in the side body that we've created, this lift in the heart, the chest, and just bringing some heat, some agni, to the center of our body here for three, two, one, release it. Come on down to the ground, hug both knees into the chest. Then send the feet to the earth, preparing for Satubandhasana, Bridge Pose. We're gonna move with the breath here just like we've been doing. So find grounding through the feet, bring the palms to the earth, snuggle the shoulder blades under the heart space. Toes pointing forward. On the inhale, slowly begin to tuck the tailbone and roll up through the spine, lifting the hips and lifting the arms as you breathe in. Arms are gonna reach up and overhead. This is the top of your inhale, pause here, and then exhale, take it all the way back down. And I love to really reach my arms up high to get a little extra massage on the spine. And I won't cue this so you can really work at your own pace, listening to your body, finding what feels good, trying to sync up with your breath. After your next one, release it, hug the knees into the chest. Let's take a twist to close out here. So knees melt to the right, left arm extends out wide or to cactus arms. Right hand can also extend, or I like to bring my right hand to the top of my left thigh and just gently guide it into the twist. You can close your eyes here. Inhale, lots of love in. Exhale, lots of love out. One more just like that. Noticing the sensations in your body. And then in your own time, melting it back through center and taking it to the other side. As you're ready, slowly bring it back to center. If there's any last stretch or movement or breath that your body is yearning for, tend to that now, listen to your body. And then we'll extend the legs out long. When you're ready, allow the hands to rest gently at your side. Tuck the chin slightly to lengthen the back of the neck and we'll just take a deep, full breath in here together and a slow, long exhale out together. And as we exhale, we invite the body to just chill, to relax, to let go for just but a moment here. Closing the eyes if that feels all right for you today. Softening the jaw. I like to call this a flash of surrender. Taking just one more quiet moment here for yourself. And then slowly bringing some movement back to your bod. Wiggle the fingertips, wiggle your toes, rotate the wrists. Rotate your ankles, this is a good one. Rotate your ankles here. And then you can bat the eyelashes open if you haven't already. Bring the palms together. We're gonna rub them together. Day one in the sack, in the books. Thank you so much for joining me. I look forward to going on this journey with you. Each day will be different. Thank you for doing the hardest part which is showing up. We'll take the thumbs down to the third eye just between the brow points. Take one last breath in here. And we'll exhale to close. Namaste.