- Hey everyone and welcome to
31 Days of Yoga Revolution.
It's day 22,
and today we 
practice being gentle.
Let's get started.
(lively orchestral music)
Hello my sweet friends, 
let's begin in Sukhasana today.
Sit up nice and tall.
And today's practice 
is low to the ground,
so a gentle practice.
But not only is it a 
gentle yoga practice,
just kind of giving 
your body a rest day
and the wrists and the 
arms a bit of relief today,
but it is a gentle 
practice in that we practice
moving in a way in 
which feels kind
and gentle so 
that we practice
or have this even just
tiny bit of 
relationship with being kind
and gentle with ourselves.
We know a little goes 
a long way in that realm.
If you want to be healthy, 
it really starts with
identifying ways in 
which you can be kinder
to yourself and more gentle,
and then you'll 
be able to do that
hopefully with others, you know?
Random acts of kindness for all!
Okay.
So now we got 
that out of the way,
so no Chaturangas today, 
no Downward Dogs even,
we're gonna really come 
into a nice, comfy seat here,
sit up nice and tall.
And we're working 
on our posture today,
but in a kind and loving way,
so hands face down
or palms face up,
whatever feels 
best for you today,
and we'll begin the 
process of tuning in
by closing the eyes.
And starting to 
notice your breath.
Starting with just 
the noticing today,
so just notice where 
your breath is naturally,
and it's kind of a Catch-22,
because just of course
by bringing 
your attention to it,
you might start to 
breathe a little deeper,
which is great.
But just notice.
Notice where you might 
be holding any extra tension
or even adding tension 
as you try to sit up tall,
see if you can identify 
those places and soften.
Then tap into that inner smile.
Lift your heart a little more.
And then when you're 
ready, take a big, conscious,
buoyant breath in.
And as you exhale, 
relax your shoulders down.
Again, a big wash of 
breath as you breathe in.
And relax your 
shoulders as you breathe out.
Great, we're gonna 
come into a hip opener,
so draw the left 
heel into your center,
the right foot comes 
to hug up against it.
We've been here before.
And then you're just 
gonna walk the fingertips out
nice and slow, stretching, 
stretching, stretching,
pulling the hip creases back.
Maybe you come 
onto the forearms here.
And maybe you rest the head.
And then find a little 
sway here if it feels good.
So practice being 
gentle with yourself
and consider how your mind
can support that cause.
So be kind, one of 
the things I've been
thinking about lately is, 
well obviously how powerful
the mind is and how 
powerful the thought is,
but for me personally, 
my personal journey,
what it's like to put 
these practices out on YouTube
and to see my body 
change, and to get feedback,
and just how powerful
and how poignant the practice
of being kind and 
gentle to yourself can be.
Can I get a amen?
Alright, press up, 
nice and easy.
Flip it, reverse it.
Right heel comes in.
Left leg comes in, 
just do your best
to sit up nice and tall.
And then walk it forward.
Maybe you sway gently
side-to-side if it feels good.
And slowly opening the hips.
And if you're 
new to the practice,
your knees might be 
flying up towards the ceiling,
just know that in time with
this slow, conscious work,
especially this kind of find
what feels good approach,
you'll be able to 
open, open, open the hips
and you'll be surprised.
Wonderful, when you're ready,
press the palms back up.
We're gonna 
bring the legs out long
and dig the 
heels into the earth.
And bend the knees slightly.
So nice and slow, 
send your legs out long.
When you get there, 
spread the toes super wide
so you can try to see 
between each one of your toes.
And then when you're ready,
reach your arms up towards
the sky, and then 
exhale, drape your belly
over the tops of your thighs,
and try to grab onto your
ankles or the 
outer edges of your feet.
Now walk your heels 
hip width apart if I didn't
say that already, 
so that you can inhale,
loop the shoulders and 
then exhale, allow the head
to hang between the 
legs here as you breathe.
And then let the 
power of the breath
stretch the back body here.
And you can stay here 
or you're welcome to start
sliding the legs out long, 
but there's no rush.
No rush at all.
I find it actually more
therapeutic to have that
gentle rest of the thighs on 
the belly, so just play here,
couple more breaths.
Let go of any tension 
in the head, the forehead,
excuse me, or in the jaw.
And let go of any added 
tension you might be creating
in this posture, so 
find ways in which you can be
more kind and gentle by 
softening areas of tension,
gripping, holdin' on.
And then we'll release,
Dandasana, fingertips or palms
to your hips or slightly behind.
We'll walk the heels in 
line with the hip points.
Loop the shoulders, 
and we breathe here
creating length from 
the base of the spine
all the way through the crown.
And one more breath, and
if this is simple-d-dimple
for you, then you really 
need to bring the breath,
but for a lot of folks, 
just sitting up here
is really difficult 
with the way in which we
put our body through 
the works in our culture,
in most cultures, not 
every culture, my culture.
So, if this is easy 
for you, you can practice
lifting up through your
center or bring on the breath.
Wonderful.
Then, one more inhale in 
here and on your next exhale
everyone, really 
press into your palms,
lift the hips up 
and drag them down.
We're gonna come to our 
backs, hugging the knees
into the chest.
Move nice and easy, breezy.
Mmmm.
Then give yourself 
a great big hug here.
Move my ponytail.
Gotta move the mic, 
move the ponytail.
Lord.
Give yourself a big hug here
and really feel supported
by your yoga mat.
I know that can 
sound a little cheesy,
but I find it very 
loving to just feel like ah,
I am supported.
So if your energy 
level is high today
and you were hoping for 
a strengthening practice,
you can, of course, tag on
some more conditioning asanas,
but I also just feel 
like it's really nice
to force ourselves 
when we're feeling like,
oh, I gotta get ripped 
or I gotta get swole,
or I gotta get, to 
really remember how important
the rest day is, not just
for the body and the muscles,
but for our 
mental health as well.
So hopefully you've rocked
a little side-to-side here
or you've just enjoyed 
feeling your lower back
support system here.
Tuck your chin into your 
chest and then nice and slow
we're gonna send the left
leg high up towards the sky.
And squeeze the right 
knee in towards your heart.
And what our Hatha Yoga is
all about here, opposition,
finding balance between 
the two opposing forces,
so while we're gonna go 
into a great stretch here,
consider that as you 
squeeze the right knee
in towards your heart, 
and slowly on an exhale,
lower that left heel all 
the way down to the earth.
Feel it out, 
notice that breaking point
where your center has to
engage or your whole body says,
"Yes," in order to balance
out the push and the pull.
I'm gonna center 
myself on my mat.
Breathe.
Left heel comes to the ground.
And then we're just 
gonna rotate the right ankle
one way and then the other.
Left toes up towards the sky,
really firm through 
that left thighbone.
How cool is it 
that we are taking time
out of our day to practice,
to connect to the mind,
the body, and the soul?
It's pretty awesome.
Take your right knee and
slowly move it across your body
over towards the 
left side, supine twist.
If you want, you can shift
your hips a little bit over
to the right to get a 
little deeper stretch,
and we breathe here, turning
maybe onto the right ear,
maybe opening the arms out wide,
or you can keep your 
left hand on the hip.
Definitely find what 
feels good here by breathing
nice, long, smooth deep breaths.
Once again, notice if 
there are any areas in which
you can soften
or let go of any added tension.
Glorious, slowly 
come back to center.
You're gonna hold 
onto your right knee.
So come back to center 
and grab your right knee.
And then you're 
gonna slide the hand behind
the right thigh, 
so the hamstring,
interlace the fingertips, 
keep nice and firm
through your left leg, 
and slowly send
the right leg up high.
Try to flex your right 
toes towards your face.
If that leg doesn't 
straighten, no worries.
Breathe.
To intensify or to go 
deeper, you can of course
grab the calf or 
the ankle or the foot,
but keep a nice foundation
firm through that right hip,
so right hip 
crease pulling down.
Lower back nice 
and snugly on your mat.
Take one more breath.
And then exhale, cross 
the right ankle over the left,
lift your left foot up.
We create that figure four here
and we interlace the 
fingertips, bring them behind
the left thigh, kick your left
foot into an imaginary wall,
and then squeeze your 
legs up towards your heart.
Breathe.
Listen to the 
sound of your breath.
That's the ticket, 
and then send both feet
up towards the sky.
Reach your fingers towards
the outer edges of the feet
and we'll slowly 
lift up, nice and slow.
Scoop the tailbone 
up and lower down.
And inhale,
lift up nice and slow.
Scoop the tailbone up.
And lower down and 
last time, inhale, squeeze,
navel draws down to 
the core of the earth,
tailbone scoops 
up towards the sky.
And exhale, release 
everything, beautiful.
Alright, feet come to the earth.
And when you're ready, 
left knee comes in.
Interlace and squeeze, keep
the shoulders down and relaxed,
heart open, and right 
foot up towards the sky.
Here we go, so we're 
moving in a nice stretch,
feeling our back 
supported by our yoga mat,
but again, we have an 
opportunity to go, ah ha,
I'm practicing 
finding a sense of balance,
a sense of me in 
between the push and the pull,
or in this case the 
squeeze and the press.
When you're ready, on an 
exhale, take that right leg
down and see what happens.
So move nice and slow so 
you can notice that moment
where ah, the abdominal wall
engages the body,
unites.
And if this is too much, 
you're like, Adriene,
then just enjoy the stretch, 
your rest day, homie.
All good, breathe.
Enjoy.
Active through that right leg.
When you're ready, 
guide your left knee over
towards the right.
Maybe you shift the 
hips over towards the center
of your mat just a hair,
and we find that 
supine twist here again.
Breathing deep, maybe you turn
onto your left ear this time.
And then allow your breath
to guide you back to center.
Squeeze the left knee in.
And then slide the hands behind.
Interlace, and 
when you're ready,
slowly draw that left foot up.
We didn't rotate the 
ankle earlier, so go ahead
and do it here, yeah!
Nice and firm 
through that right foot.
Balancing the energy 
of the body, stretching.
Taking this day to restore,
but to continue to tend 
to that mental head space.
(playful exhaling breaths)
Take a deep breath in, 
really flex your left toes
towards your face.
And then we'll release.
Cross the left ankle over 
the top of the right thigh.
Find your figure four 
and when you're ready,
thread the needle, 
kick your right foot
into an imaginary wall, 
and lengthen through
the back of the neck.
Take a couple breaths 
here to really squeeze the legs
up towards your 
head, your heart.
Breathe deep.
Wonderful, take 
a deep breath in.
And then use your 
exhale to unravel.
Send both feet 
up towards the sky,
and this time we'll 
reach to the left side.
So reaching to the left, 
you're really lifting up
through the tail.
Here we go, big inhale.
Exhale, lift.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift to the left side.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift, please 
switch to the right.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift, 
scooping the tailbone up.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift.
Inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift.
One more, inhale, lower.
Exhale, lift.
Fabulous.
Bring the feet together.
Knees open nice and wide.
Take the hands to 
the hip creases here
and then just give 
it a little pawing.
Have you ever seen an 
animal, like a cat or a dog
make their bed?
They do this shit 
all over the place.
(laughs)
So it's like that, 
you're kind of kneading.
Vocab word, kneading 
the tops of the hips here.
Can use your thumbs 
to get down in there too.
Oh yeah, I'm goin' all 
the way up here too, yeah.
Find what feels good.
Alright, and then 
after a little massage,
bring your hands to 
your belly or your ribs.
Tuck your chin into your chest.
Soften your toes, 
so no gripping.
Soften your fingers.
And take an inhale 
in through the nose.
And out through the nose.
Close your eyes, breathe with me
in through the nose, 
regulated breath.
And exhale out through the nose.
Slow release in the hips here,
just moving with the breath.
You don't have to do anything,
just allow, big inhale.
And long exhale.
Sync up with me, big inhale.
Big exhale.
Big inhale.
Long exhale.
And three more times, in.
And out.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Last time, keep your 
eyes closed, breathe in.
And breathe out.
Take your fingers, release them,
bring them to the 
outer edges of your legs.
Press the feet 
together and lift your legs
all the way up and in.
And we'll extend 
the right leg out long.
And the left leg out long.
And then inhale, reach 
all the way up and overhead,
big full body stretch here.
Spread the fingers, 
spread the toes.
Feel your body in the 
earth, see if you can move
your pelvis, your hips here.
Move your shoulders.
Then inhale lots of love in,
start to wake up the body
here a little bit.
In case you got too 
sleepy and you have to go
to work next, I gotta 
cover all my bases here.
If you're goin' to bed, 
then just stay chill.
And exhale lots of love out.
Hands come gently at your sides.
And we take one 
last moment here together
to be still, to surrender, 
and perhaps consider
what it feels like when 
you are kind to yourself.
And gentle with yourself.
And perhaps we consider that
this is a powerful practice,
sometimes maybe more powerful
than I wanna pump you up,
because we are able to be 
kind and gentle with others
and also with the earth.
Thanks so much for sharing 
your time and your energy
and your practice.
Have a wonderful rest 
of your day or evening.
I'll see you tomorrow.
From my heart to yours, namaste.
(lively orchestral music)
