Revolution - Day 7 - Stability Practice

- What's up party people ?

Welcome to 31 Days of Yoga Revolution. I'm Adriene and it's day seven. And we're kicking off week two with a very important practice on stability. So stability or sthira is so important as we navigate the asana branch of yoga

but this definitely bleeds into how we move and relate to others in our daily life. So, hop into something comfy, let's kick some but today. (light music) Alright pals, today we're gonna begin standing


feet hip width apart. So we're gonna be doing a lot of upright, not to be confused with uptight, work today working on stability and grounding and continuing with this awareness of the spine in all of our movement.

So, what better day than on day seven to start with a little knocking on heaven's door to just loosen up and you know, balance it out. So we're gonna start by grounding the feet, soft knees. If you've never done this before, it's super fun

and it's day seven, you know in heaven so I figured it fit. Alright, so soft knees, you're just gonna start by swinging side to side. Your feet are hip width apart here. They do not have to stay rooted down firmly

and you wanna keep the knees soft so basically don't lock out. So we're gonna come to strong Mountain and find all that lovely sthira and stability and steadiness in a second but for now, we're gonna go knocking on heaven's door

so this is a little kundalini exercise that I love. It also just helps you wash off any bad juju and helps you loosen up, get into the moment, let go of anything that's not serving you. So you're gonna let the arms become heavy noodles. That's right, heavy noodles.

And soften through the finger tips and again keep soft knees. And you can even start to massage a little bit on the feet. And then travel up through the pelvis, the lower back,

get a little more of a twist there if it feels good. And then, the kind of traditional practice of this is you let your hands (clap) beat yourself. Everything in moderation, right? No, I'm just kidding. Alright, so hopefully by now you're giving it a whirl

and not just standing there staring at me doing it. But if this is a bit of a challenge for you then embrace it. (exhales) And last but not least, start to deepen your breath. Big inhale brings you in in the moment, tapping that inner smile,

big exhale to let go. Get loose, shake it off. Shake off the day thus far. Again, let go of anything that's not serving you and just kinda clear your cache. Clear the cookies.

So that we can really allow our practice today to fill our cup with nice conscious breath and nice strong and stable awareness to the spine. Alright. Couple more.

Notice if you're looking down, see if you can bring your gaze up for these last few. Mmmm. And back to center. Open the palms, lift your heart and without looking,

bring the feet together. Without looking. So my mentor used to say see feelingly. So feel it out. See feelingly, I love that. I should make a shirt see feelingly.

Loop the shoulders, lift the heart, don't look down, press into your feet and then really starting off with the feet today. So today's practice, we're coming to Mountain Pose here. Today's practice is really about creating strong and stable

awareness in the entire body. And then marrying that with our very first focus of this journey which is ease or sukha. So here we are, week two, we're gonna go a little deeper

by really adding this awareness of sthira. Sanskrit for stability. Also means to establish and here we are week two, we've established now that we're doing this thing together. So drop in, inhale.

And exhale. Without looking inhale, lift all of your toes and try to do this without looking, starting with the pinky toe, place one toe down, one at a time. Starting with the pinky,

pinky down and all the way to the big toe and then do that two more times. If you don't have all your toes, you don't have toes, you're just gonna work on sending awareness through all four corners of your feet. Right, make it your own, make adjustments.

Ah, the beauty of yoga. (exhales) So the yoga asana branch is not meant to limit us at all. In fact, it's supposed to be tools for us to discover our full potential. So, if you ever get stuck or hung up on something

like oh, I can't do that, I don't have that, fabulous. Great opportunity to learn about your body and own who you are. Again, going back to that honor practice, honoring who you are and where you are today.

Alright, after a couple moments to play with the toes and really establish this awareness through all four corners of the feet, squeeze the inner thighs together, squeeze the legs together and imagine that your inner thighs

are pointing towards the back wall or whatever's behind you. Actually, let's exaggerate that, so inner thighs point in, you kind of come to this little motion here that's like,

♫ I love you, ♫ a bushel and a peck. ♫ A little throwback shout out to all my musical theater fans out there. So exaggerate that rotation of the tops of the thighs basically going inward

and then let's take one hand to the belly and one hand to the lower back and slowly draw up through the front body and ground through the back body. Something I've been saying for a while now. So you can think of it as Uddiyana Bandha

and lengthening the tail bone down but I find that really, just the awareness of lifting through the front, I also like to think of it as you know, Kate or Ariel on the rock. (inhales) Never let go.

Lifting through the front body and then grounding through the back body. And it might seem like a generalization there but then you as the individual really make it personal and find stability, rather than trying to just fit the shape, right.

So another way of thinking of it is like taking the hip creases up or grounding the shoulder blades down. So inner thighs go back, heart, front body lifts up, tail bone draws down.

Find places to lift, places to lengthen. So we find this containment and then draw awareness to your center. So we just did all this awesome abdominal work yesterday so now, send awareness here, draw the navel in and up

and feel how we're slowly starting to create a really strong base. So, if a friend and if you're practicing with someone right now, be kind, kind soft fingers. You might even like give them a little push

and they're not gonna fall over. Right? No, they're grounded through their feet, squeezing into the midline, inner thighs have that rotation where they're going back and we find this lift up through the front,

grounding through the back. So for my more imaginative homies, you can imagine that the doors gonna blow open here and a big gust of wind is gonna come through and you will be strong and steady here, soft in the upper body,

nice and grounded through the lower body and all the way up through the midline. Alright, take a deep breath in. Now exhale, hands to heart. (exhale) Lift the sternum to the thumbs, keep finding places to lift and lengthen

and places to ground. So again, now we're starting to marry our ease or that sukha with this idea of stability, support from within. This stable grounding essence that we call sthira. Alright.

(exhale) Hands at the heart. Deep breath in. (inhale) Long breath out. (exhale) On your next deep breath in, slowly feeling that big stretch through the feet,

so don't rush it. Try to lift up from the pelvic floor and slowly, rather than rocking forward, think about lifting up, lift the heels. Lift the sternum, press the palms together for more stability.

Lengthen through the crown, lift, lift, lift, squeeze the legs together, toning the calves and then exhale, lower down with control. Beautiful.

Two more times just like that nice and slow. Deep breath in. (inhale) And then we slowly lift up. So this might seem a little slow but this is really, we're going there, we're going deeper right.

We're not just here for a workout we're trying to build this long lasting practice. And so you could just come up to here, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, working the calves, or we can go a little deeper y'all and really try to create this full body experience.

So just do it one more time wherever you're at. Working to explore stability today. And then we'll come back to Mountain Pose. Alright, swim the finger tips around interlace behind, knuckles draw down and away,

we open the shoulders and stretch the belly, should feel really good after yesterday's practice, lengthen tailbone down. Feel the legs, the lower body, a strong trunk here. So you're holding onto that integrity

as you open up through the chest, stretch the belly and then release. Give yourself a hug. (inhale) Again, feeling the legs so we're working, active in the legs here. So toning the quads, lengthen the tail bone down,

inhale as the elbows lift up and then exhale, release, opposite thumb on top this time, knuckles drawn down and away, keep the lower body strong and stable, nice tree trunk there.

Inhale and exhale, release opposite arm on top. Give yourself a hug. Strong lower body, strong base. Fabulous and release. Hands are gonna come to the waist line,

use your thumbs to draw down through the tail and lift up through the front. Alright, so nice and easy we're gonna bring the right foot forward, left foot back and come into Warrior Two.

So really turn the left toes in, exploring this today and again, same thing as we did in Mountain Pose, see if you can imagine the left inner thigh going in. Upper body lifts as we bend the front knee, back body grounds. I bet you're a little sore,

maybe a little tight so ease into it. Maybe find some soft pulsing sensations here, exploring strength in the lower body. Get situated on my mat. And really connecting through all four corners of the feet. So back inner thigh rolls in, top thigh rolls out.

And we press on all four corners of the front foot, press on all four corners of the back foot, now draw energy up through the left arch and when you're ready take the arms out wide. Front knee over front ankle. (exhale) So we press down onto the earth to rise up,

you hear it all the time right? Root to rise. So play with that here. Strong in the arms, full body experience. And then feel that lift from the pelvic floor travelling all the way up to the spine as you lengthen through the crown of the head.

Keep the left inner thigh engaged. Inhale, straighten the front leg and exhale, bend. Now as you bend, see if you can keep the power of that back leg. Inhale, straighten the front leg.

Exhale, bend. Inhale, straighten. And exhale bend. One more time. Inhale, straighten. (inhales) Exhale, bend. (exhales) Inhale, straighten, Triangle Pose,

bump the hips to the left, reach the right fingertips forward, try to keep length in the whole torso so not just the side body but the front and back too, left toes are turned in and nice and slow today so you can hold onto that stability

and play with this idea of sthira through the spine. This support, this line of the spine as you either bring the right fingertips down, rest gently on the shin or to a block. If you wanna check in with more core today, you can hover

but find that rotation in the shoulders and open your chest. Gaze straight down, straight out if it's okay in the neck or maybe all the way up in time. Take one more breath here. Find length, then exhale soft,

bend that front knee as you come back to Warrior Two. Awesome work. Pull the thumbs back, pinkies back sorry. (laughs) And then straighten that front leg, turn the right toes in, left toes go out. Hands can come to the waist line if you need a little break.

Alright so no rushing here, no vinyasa today. Really exploring the stability in the legs as you turn the right toes in. And left toes out. (exhale) And then if you're sore in your hips, then give a couple breaths here to pulse in and out and play

so you can really feel what's going on today and wake up the muscles that you need to connect. Engage the right inner thigh, allow it to turn in. Pull back with the left hip crease head over heart, heart over pelvis.

So there's a tendency right in a lot of the warrior postures for the spine and the center to lean forward. See if you can draw it all together, find that containment, establish head over heart, heart over pelvis. And really press down into the outer edge

of that right foot. Lift it from the right arch and then maybe we'll take the arms out wide, Warrior Two. Virabhadrasana Two. So just take a couple moments here to play. Feeling it out.

Find a strong base. Hug the lower ribs in. So maybe we're here, hug it in. Find that containment like that corset. Corset, corset. Corset feeling.

What is it? Alright. Inhale. Exhale, relax your shoulders. Inhale, straighten the front leg, lift. Try to keep that connection, that traction in the feet

and that scissor effect as you lift up. And then bending the knee, breathe out this time. Inhale to lift. Exhale, bend, press into the knife edge of that back foot. As you move, can you keep the leg strong the whole time?

In the line of the spine, long and supported by the muscles. In the back body and the front body. Let's do one more. (inhale) And the next time you inhale straighten. Imagine drawing both feet together,

lifting up through the center then send the hips back. Strong legs. When I work in this way, I mean it's like no gust of wind could ever blow me down here. Super grounded, super rooted, pull the pinkies back and take your time here.

Right inner thigh goes in and out towards the back wall, I tug the left hip crease back. I reach, reach, reach, reach, stay long on all four sides of the torso and Triangle Pose. Breathing here, exploring.

Staying grounded through the feet, it's as if you're trying to press away from your yoga mat with your feet. And that's really how we grow this pose too, side note. Into a core-activating posture. When I started practicing, would've never thought

that I wouldn't be leaning on my left hand but now very, I won't say easy, but accessible. One breath more, then soft bend in that front knee as you come back to Warrior Two,

you got this pull the pinkies back. And then slowly straightening that front leg, turn both toes in. Reach behind, interlace, stretch the belly. Lengthen tail bone down and draw navel up and in. So going from here to here.

Find that strong footing. This is super hero pose, here right. Right here I swear, I just got excited. Knuckles drawn down and away as your power posture, feel the power of the legs so maybe close your eyes here

and maybe feel the power of your legs. And then release. (exhales) Bring the feet together. You can hop it together or slowly inch the feet together and prepare for Tree Pose.

So find that nice strong base here, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. Then find that lift up through the front body and that grounding through the back body. Then without shifting your weight to your left hip, see if you can slowly,

as if you were trying to not move your hips at all, in fact go ahead and put your hands on the waistline. So don't move your hips and all and slowly lift the right knee up. Fabulous. From there we can grab the right ankle,

either hike that right heel up towards the midline or maybe below the knee or keep your toes on the ground for a little more stability. And then hands can stay on the waistline here. Or maybe you bring hands to heart center. Now here, super important,

the meeting of the two opposing forces. So pressing to the outer edge of your right foot and squeeze the left inner thigh, squeezing towards the midline and then from the power of the left inner thigh and the right foot,

lift up through your spine a little taller, a little more and then maybe reach the fingertips up towards the sky. Thumbs back, pinkies forward, top of the right thigh's rolling out and we're using this idea of push and pull, playing with the two opposing forces to find stability,

to find balance. Which is the ultimate goal. Repeat this or finish the sentence, if you fall. If you fall, don't worry. And then big inhale. To find expansion wherever you are,

big exhale to bring the knee all the way back up. Try to squeeze up towards your heart center and then exhale lower it down with care. Second side. Check it out. So find nice strong base.

And without moving the hips slowly lift left knee up. So I'm already hugging into the midline here. Then find your Tree Pose on this side, play, hold onto your focus, your drishti. And I'm gonna play right away with this opposition of pressing the left foot into my right inner thigh

and then squeezing, hugging everything into the midline from my right glute, my right hip, my right inner thigh. Squeezing in. Top of the left thigh rotates out. And what helps me do that is lengthening tailbone down. Again finding that lift up through the front body

and that grounding through the back body. So play with opposition here, find support from within. You're hugging the muscles to the bone here. Staying positive if you fall, if you get a foot cramp,

smile, it's all good. Life is good. Be thankful, be appreciative for this time for yourself. (inhales) The luxury of being able to move in this way and breath in this way.

Maybe you take the arms all the way up. And so we're not coming into this shape to achieve balance but to practice balance. So it's different every day. Again, going back to that honoring. Alright, one more breath.

And then exhale with control. Best you can, standing one legged tadasana. Try to squeeze that left knee up towards your heart center. And then exhale, place it down with tender loving care. Mountain Pose.

Open palms, loop the shoulders one more time, big strong Mountain here as you inhale and exhale. Beautiful. So we're gonna come to dandasana now so come to a nice comfy seat.

Alright, so when you get down to your comfy seat. Move the fleshy part of the buttocks aside which you know, sometimes it's helpful for some bodies and sometimes not. May be one of those antiquated things in yoga but I actually find for today's practice,

just the action of kinda spreading your (laughs) butt cheeks. Day seven (snaps) is helpful because it just brings awareness to the bones that are down there.

So the sits bones, the coccyx, the base of the spine and so from there is where we'll dig into the heels and extend the legs out long so there's this awareness of the base. The home base. If you know what I mean.

And we come into dandasana. So, if you practice yoga with me at all you know I'm obsessed with this line of the spine and I like to refer to it as this stick or the staff. This is Staff Pose that holds us up, danda.

Sanskrit for stick or staff. So, draw a line from the base of the spine all the way up and imagine just like we did yesterday that you're leaning up against a wall and this is a tough posture so you might need to sit up on a blanket or a block

or tent the palms, so put a little tentpole in the center of your palm and lift up on the fingertips. If your arms are able to come down to the ground then really press into your knuckles and find lift and then everyone rotate the shoulders,

so wrap around, draw the shoulder blades together and lift your heart. Firming down from the tops of the thighs, little action point here is to maybe lift the heels and spread the toes, but that's optional. Lift and lengthen,

breathe deep. Awesome, then inhale in, dig into the heels, bend the knees and then exhale, just press into the fingertips and if you're on your fingertips you're not actually going to lift,

well maybe you could but might break your finger. So don't do that on my watch, but if you're on your fingertips just think about lifting up from the pelvic floor and if you're on your hands maybe you do lift up. One more breath, lifting up

and then exhale, release, soften everything in your mind, soften through your pelvic floor, ah, and bring the feet together for Cobbler's Pose. Grab the ankles, knees nice and wide, tops of the thighs rolled down and out and away.

And then we recreate that length up through the spine, leaning back against the wall. So wonderful this practice for your posture, for your poise. Literally, physically, anatomically but also right, the body is a metaphor.

We've talked about this, so if you practice good posture and moving with this stability, this awareness, you know, good poise on your mat, you're gonna be able to move with poise off your mat.

And then people are gonna be like, ♫ Who's that lady? ♫ Who's that lady? ♫ Even if you're a dude, they'll be like, who's that lady? Just kidding, okay. So open up the feet like a book here,

maybe take your thumbs to the arches of your feet and open them up like a book. So really encouraging more of a rotation of the hips and sit up nice and tall again. You know you can always pause the video and sit up on a little blanket or block

but don't quit the video. Come back to me now. We made a commitment and we're in this together. We're all in this together. Cobbler's Pose or Baddha Konasana. Sit up nice and tall

and then we're going to release the hands so you're probably gripping on the feet right now which is great for a little resistance but lift up through the armpit chest, we're gonna bring the palms together and then you're gonna open all your fingers

except for the thumb and the pinky and we're gonna open up to a little Lotus Mudra here. Keep the chest open again lifting up through the armpit chest, you can bring the elbows together as still keeping lifted,

go for it. But if the shoulders are tight, stay here. And we're just gonna be here for a couple breaths. Now there might be some tension in the hip flexors here so soften that best you can. Draw down through the tops of the thighs

and lift your chin just slightly. So remember that you're leaning up against your wall here, take one more breath. Head over heart, heart over pelvis. Woo and then release. Hands are gonna come behind you,

feet are gonna go in front of you and a little windshield wiper action here oh, should feel amazing. That inner rotation now of the hip. A little stretchy stretch of the hip crease, the hip flexor.

A little massage on the booty, maybe even the piriformis and if you need a little more you can pause and do the little cross over we've done before. Alright, awesome work today everyone so today's practice ends in Sukhasana,

a meditation pose and I like to challenge you to sit there for one minute. It's not a time out it's actually a time in. Check in one last minute of togetherness, of stability, of grounding so that you can feel amazing and balanced

and ready for anything. So come into a nice comfortable seat when you're ready and then inhale lots of love in. Just let the hands rest wherever they naturally fall. And exhale, lots of love out. Inhale, lost of love in.

And exhale, lots of love out. And now see if you can find that length and tap into this idea of support from within, this stability, this lift up and this grounding down without forcing it. So add the sukha part, add the softness.

Try to get comfortable in this posture and I'm not saying that you will. So I want to acknowledge, just like easy poses isn't always easy but the goal is to kind of get out or carve out that softness.

Close your eyes. Feel your breath moving. Stick with me, stick with the video. Stick with your commitment to find what feels good. Take a deep breath in. And as you exhale bat the eyelashes open

if they are not open already. And draw the palms together at your heart, ♫ you're beautiful, ♫ I just want you to know, ♫ You're my favorite ♫ Lift the heart up to the thumbs

and go rock the rest of your day or your night. Thank you so much for sharing your time and your energy and this practice with me and all the other people round the world who are participating. We definitely have an opportunity here

to find what feels good, but also remember we're not alone and we're all in this together. So I'll see you tomorrow, day eight. And if you know anything about these programs, day eight is always a yummy one so don't miss it,

show up for yourself. I'll see you on the mat tomorrow. Questions, comments down below. Take good care. Namaste. (light music)

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