- What's up party people?

And welcome to 
Yoga With Adriene.

I'm Adriene and this is Benji
and today we have an awesome

practice for the hips 
and the lower back body.

So hop into something 
comfy and let's get started.

(upbeat music)

Alrighty my friends, let's
begin seated in your yoga mat

with the legs 
out in front of ya.

You're gonna lift your knees,
place your feet on the ground,

try to aim your 
toes pointing forward.

Just to start to send some
awareness towards your feet.

And then you're 
gonna take your hands

and you're gonna 
touch your booty.

So we're gonna move fleshy part
of the buttocks to the side so

that you can feel this grounding
down through your sits bones.

And if you don't feel it,
that's okay.

Just would be to each his own.

Moving the buttocks 
just so you feel grounded.

So we have our feet grounded

and then we have 
the sits bones grounded.

And then just notice if the
knees are coming in or out.

See if you can 
align knees with ankles,

so you have two 
slides going down.

Awesome, so we have 
a swift practice today.

Swift is and not long so

we're gonna jump 
right in with the breath.

Bring your hands 
to your hamstrings.

Just behind the 
back to the thighs here.

You're gonna 
keep your feet rooted,

loop your shoulders, 
start to lift your heart up.

Now, there is

the likely chance
that you've picked this video

because you're experiencing some
tension or some tightness in the

lower back or hips so see if you
can send awareness and breath,

whatever that means to you,
right down to that lower back

right away here 
as you breathe in.

And breathe out.

Then in your next breath in,
sit up a little taller,

breathe in and then breathe out
you're gonna slowly send your

heart forward, chest forward.

You're gonna drape over 
the tops of your thighs.

Now you might clasp 
opposite elbow here.

Notice if the knees are 
wanting to come in or out.

See if you can keep these two
nice straight lines from the

knees to the ankles, 
toes pointing forward and

then yep, you guessed it.

Some of you are 
probably already there,

you're gonna relax 
the weight of the head over

and still continue 
with the breath.

Ah, should feel really good.

Notice where you might be 
holding or clenching in

the neck, the traps, 
the shoulder area.

The skin on 
the forehead, the jaw,

keep awareness in the toes.

So keep that connection of the
sits bones and your feet just

kind of grounding 
you into the moment.

Take a moment to 
close your eyes here.

Just feel the power of
your breath, that wave.

Notice how it can 
stretch as you breathe in

and soften as you breathe out.

And again, 
if you haven't already,

go ahead and close your 
eyes just for moment here,

go inward.

I love this shape.

Doesn't always have 
to be a fancy yoga pose.

Just uniting breath and body.

Sweet, take one more deep breath

in your own private
little love cave here.

Nice, now release the hands,

press the palms 
firmly into the earth.

Stay connected to everything

that is touching 
the ground here,

your foundation as 
you tuck the chin,

start to lean back, way back,
and slowly roll it up.

Awesome, take a 
deep breath in here.

Head over heart, 
heart over pelvis.

And then as you exhale,

hands are gonna 
come to behind the thighs.

You're gonna lift the toes up,
dig into the heels and if you're

experiencing any pain or 
discomfort in lower back,

you're just gonna stay here.

If you're here for more of the
release and preventative care

then you're gonna lean back
and lift the shins and toes up

parallel to the ceiling.

Just connecting to 
little core stability here.

So we're here or we're 
here and we're breathing deep.

Jumping right in.

Thank you so much for sharing
your time and energy with me and

with the Yoga 
With Adriene community.

You made a great choice.

Take one more breath,
you got it.

Awesome, then we're 
gonna slowly release,

feet back to the ground.

Then you're gonna 
send the left leg out long.

You're gonna hug 
the right knee in,

squeeze as you send

your sternum up 
towards the sky.

Flex your left toes, take a deep
breath in and then on an exhale,

you're gonna slowly bring 
your right hand behind you

and you're not 
gonna twist to look back.

You're just gonna 
twist to look to the right.

So the right side of your mat,
not all the way back.

Just gentle and easy here.

Big breath, squeeze and lift.

Great, then you're 
gonna come back to center.

We're gonna bring the 
right knee out this time.

And then we're gonna 
lift the right fingertips

all the way up towards the sky.

Left fingertips 
brace behind you.

Then you're gonna think up
and over as you reach the

left fingertips to either 
grab the outer, sorry,

right fingertips to grab
the outer edge of your left foot

or your left shin 
or your left thigh.

So you could be here,
here or here.

Now actively draw the 
top of the right thigh,

that meaty quad muscle,
and your thigh bone,

the femur, down towards 
the earth as you inhale,

lift your chest.

Lots of awareness.

100% full body awareness.

Take a deep breath in.

And then exhale, 
you're gonna release your hand

and then we're just gonna take 
the hands to the earth,

the shin or the foot and you're
gonna come all the way flat,

belly towards the thigh.

Just intention not you 
have to come all the way flat.

Head to knee pose, 
take one more breath here.

Big cycle of breath in and out.

Breathing into that lower back
body and then slowly release.

Don't push anything.

Just let it kind of be 
where it's at today.

And you're gonna guide 
the right knee all the way up.

And we'll just do a switcheroo.

Send the right leg down,
I'm not gonna lie guys,

I'm on a little bit of 
a cold medicine. Okay?

Just got to keep it real.

Right leg goes out,
left leg comes in.

Nothing better than a little
at-home yoga to tend to the body

so I'm all good, don't worry.

Not that you were worried.
(laughs)

Squeeze and lift so
find this foundation first.

Nice and tall, 
hug that left knee in.

And then again, we're 
not going all the way back.

Today, we're just 
going to the left.

So you'll bring the 
left fingertips behind.

This is to help us resist the

urge of cranking 
all the way back,

creating stability 
and finding length today.

Big breath here, 
breathe into your belly.

Nice, and then slowly 
we'll come back to center.

We're gonna open 
the left knee out.

Beautiful, then 
left fingertips reach up.

Got it right this time.

Right fingertips come back to
anchor you and then you're gonna

think up and over as you reach
towards the outer edge of

the right thigh, 
outer edge of the right shin,

or all the way over to 
outer edge of that right foot.

And you're of course 
gonna feel that great,

long lengthy release 
in the lower back body.

And you know what 
makes it even better?

You bringing 
conscious breath to the par-tay.

So soften your gaze.

Breathe deep.

Let your left thigh bone,
left quad get really heavy here.

So we're actively 
drawing down as we lift

and lengthen over the right leg.

Awesome, then slowly release.

Frame your right leg with your
hands and then you'll decide

what feels best here.
Maybe grabbing the shin.

Maybe one day the foot,
maybe you're just here.

Baby steps

and we'll slowly 
fall into our version

of head to knee pose, 
Janu Sirsasan.

Hey buddy.

Breathing deep.

Then slowly press 
into your foundation to

roll up and look what Benji did.
(laughs)

He loves to sit on top
of people or on top of things.

You think you're a lap dog.

Okay, from here,

from here we're
gonna pull the right foot in to

meet the left, Baddha Konasana

but we're gonna give 
ourself a lot of space today.

So if you're used to kind of
zipping up to the center line,

awesome for you, my loves but

we're gonna give 
ourself a little space.

You're gonna create a diamond
shape by bringing the heels out.

Then hands are gonna hold 
on to the shins or the ankles

so shins if you seem to 
be rounding forward.

If you have that length already
here then you can go ahead and

go for the ankle and find a
little rotation in the pelvis.

Okay, inhale, 
sit up nice and tall.

Exhale, bend the elbows.

You're just gonna slowly shift
forward so that you're looking

just beyond the toes.

Maybe looking into a pond,
seeing your reflection.

And then we'll come 
all the way back up.

And then back again, 
navel draws in and up,

create space, coming forward,
bend the elbows.

And then come back up and
then this is the last time we're

gonna hold there, and you
might find that the option is

available to allow the elbows to
press the tops of the thighs out

a little bit and 
maybe open the toes.

So we're breathing deep.

Tops of the thighs 
actively anchoring down.

Ooh, yeah.

This is a good one, tuck 
the chin a little bit here.

Find length.

Nice, and then release.

Bring the hands 
to the outer edges

of the thighs or the knees.

You're gonna bring the knees
together and then we're gonna

send the legs out long.

If the legs are a bit tight,
lower back, hamstrings

a bit tight, just go ahead 
and keep a nice generous

bend in the knees by 
digging into the heels.

If you're able to straighten the
legs let's go ahead and send the

toes up towards the sky and keep
nice and active in the toes.

Check it out, left fingertips 
are gonna go back.

You're gonna slowly 
reach all the way up and over,

touch your right toes.

Then come all the way back up.

Left fingertips, I did it again.

Right fingertips 
are gonna go back,

think up and over, 
touch your left toes.

Again, you can bend the 
knees here for this flow.

Inhale to reach up and over.

It's like you're 
swimming here, big stroke.

And then come back and 
then all the way up and over.

And you're gonna keep doing this
and see if you can find a nice

breath to sync up with.

And this is definitely one where
I like to remind you to not

worry about what it 
looks like but how it feels.

Explore the sensations

as you move with your breath.

We'll go ahead and even it out.

And then the next time you're in
your Forward Fold with the knees

bent or with the legs straight,
with a micro-bend,

you're gonna go 
ahead and hang out there,

Paschimottanasana.

I love to bend my 
knees in Paschimottanasana.

When I was younger, I really
tried to get that peanut butter

and jelly sandwich but I think
I was straining my muscles a bit

more then now I know that
I would have wanted. (laughs)

Whoever's doing
the captions on this video,

good luck with that one.
No, just kidding.

Basically, bend your knees.

Because we're not just
trying to get loose hamstrings.

It's all connected, right?

It's all tied in 
to one moving part.

So we want to integrate.

I'll stop talking for a second
and I'll allow you to listen to

the sound of your breath as you

allow the weight 
of the head to relax.

And then take one more 
breath in your private,

beautiful, 
therapeutic love cave.

And then slowly grounding
through your foundation to tuck

the chin and roll 
it all the way up.

Okay, so how you get here will
be a little bit different for

everyone but I'm gonna 
guide you to bend both knees

and bring the feet 
flat to the earth.

Okay, so we're in this bit of an
awkward pose to start but we're

gonna use our fingertips,
we're gonna turn the toes out.

This is very important.

Turn your toes out, bring 
your fingertips behind you,

then here we go, lift 
up from your pelvic floor,

connect to your core and 
you're gonna slowly come forward

into a Froggy Pose.

Knees are gonna trace the toes.

A big hip opener here.

Find soft, easy movement here.

Notice if you got a little bit
frustrated there, that's okay.

That's why we're 
here to create space

one lovely at-home 
yoga practice at a time.

It's all good.

So create a 
little movement here.

You can stay in the Froggy Pose
or you might widen your feet

just a bit more, 
drop your heels back

and come into 
this low yogi squat.

A little Malasana variation.

So you know your body best,
you are the expert.

So you can stay in 
the Froggy or come here.

Big full, deep breaths no matter
what variation you're choosing.

Again, try to think of 
the body as one moving part.

It's kind of why I've selected
this little dance today so that

we're not just going 
isolating hip stretch.

Isolating back stretch.

Even though this is 
really great for the lower body.

All of it, take one more breath.

Maybe lean back 
wherever you are.

Sit up nice and tall.

Yes, and then release 
we're gonna lift the heels

if you're in the squat.

You're gonna 
walk the toes back in.

Knees are gonna 
go forward, toes forward.

Come to the center of your mat.

And again, if you're 
feeling sluggish today,

just remember this 
time is so awesome.

You get to kick your
shoes off and do yoga, right?

You're not at work, yet.

Okay, then from here 
toes pointing forward,

fingertips on the 
earth to support us,

we're gonna slowly 
drop the head down,

drop the heels and 
send the hips up high

so you're in a 
Standing Forward Fold.

Allow the blood 
to flush to the head.

You can claps the elbows, 
rock a little side to side.

Now you have gravity 
working for you here.

So you might be able to

straighten the 
legs just a bit more.

But careful not to lock them.

And then really, oh, 
take this time to release.

Have you been holding on to or
carrying around something heavy

that needs to be shed?

No matter how big or how small,
can you take a really conscious

moment here to let go?

Choose to release something

that maybe is 
just no longer needed.

Maybe that's just tension 
in the neck and shoulders

or tightness in the hips.

That's where we 
store it all anyway.

Oh yeah.

If the arms are clasped,

go ahead and 
release the hands down.

Now you're gonna walk your
feet as wide as your yoga mat.

Once again, turn the toes out.

Inhale, use your 
fingertips on the ground

and exhale to support you.

Exhale, slowly drop your center
back down into your Froggy or

into your yogi squat.

Take a deep breath in here,
smile, life is good.

Then exhale, you're gonna
bring the fingertips behind you.

We're gonna come all
the way back sitting, seated.

Awesome, send the legs out long.

Sit up nice and tall.

Beautiful Dandasana.

Toes up towards the sky,
breathing deep.

Close your eyes, center.

Nice and then 
press into your hands,

dig into your heels.

You're gonna lift your hips up.

Send 'em towards 
the front of your mat

and come all 
the way to your back.

When you get there, 
take a deep breath in.

The deepest breath you've
taken all day and as you exhale,

hug your navel into your spine

and hug the knees 
up towards the chest.

That's right, find 
what feels good here.

Give yourself a big hug.

Roll around one 
way and then the other.

Let any sounds of gestures that
want to come out of the body,

(laughs) let them come out.

Sigh of relief or release.

Great, then you're gonna lower
your left foot to the ground.

And you're gonna cross your
right leg over your left leg.

Now check it out, use the
hands to press into the earth,

you're gonna shift your hips
over towards your right side of

your mat, and then slowly just
allow your legs to fall towards

the left side of your mat.

Now, if you're 
experiencing any stress

or tension in the lower back,

you're gonna skip this and
you're gonna come into

maybe a more gentler twist.

Make it an easy reclined twist.

Knees just stacked 
on top of each other.

Otherwise we're in 
the Garudasana legs-ish,

Eagle Legs, breathing deep.

Soft fingertips.

Send your breath downward.

And then anchor 
through your foundation

to come all the way back up.

Right foot comes to the earth as
you re-center the spine and then

left leg's gonna cross over.

We're gonna use our 
foundation to lift the hips up.

Press down through the earth,
lift the hips up,

send the hips to the 
left side of the mat.

And then let this just 
fall easy to the right.

No pushing or forcing.

Mmmm.

And we're 
breathing into the belly.

You can close 
your eyes on this one.

And then slowly press 
into your foundation to come

all the way back up to center.

Take your hands, 
bring them to your kneecaps.

You might have to 
peek at me for this one.

We're gonna 
stabilize a little bit,

neutralize the spine by
bringing the palms to the knees.

You're gonna scoop 
the tailbone up first

so that it's nice and 
flush with the mat.

This should feel yummy and
it requires you to be active.

So you're gonna 
scoop the tailbone up,

draw the navel down.

So there's no space between.

Breathe deep here, 
try to soften through your feet.

And then if this
just feels amazing,

you're just gonna stay here.

Otherwise, we're gonna release

and now slowly 
allow the pelvis to tilt,

the lower back to lift up.

Just the opposite 
of what we were doing.

And again, you'll know if it's
right for you to stay with your

lower back flush with the mat.

And if you do take the tilt, 
you might come right on

to that SI joint, 
right on to the sacrum.

Nice and easy.

Soft in the feet,
soft in the jaw.

Great, and then nice and slow,
scoop the tailbone up.

Hug the knees into the chest.

Nice work, you're 
gonna reach around.

We're gonna end 
with a Happy Baby.

So you're gonna grab 
the outer edges of the feet

or the inner arches.

I'll let yogi's 
choice rule here.

And then you're gonna 
kick one leg then the other,

soles of the feet actively
kicking towards the sky.

And now actively 
reach your tailbone towards

the front edge of your mat.

Try to lift up 
the lower back here.

Breathe deep.

If you want to some 
soft easy movement here,

please do.

(sighs)

One more big breath in and out.

And then we'll release.

Awesome. Feet come 
to the ground.

You're gonna windshield wiper
the legs one way and then the

other to extend the 
legs all the way out.

Great, bring you
left hand to your heart

and your right 
hand to your belly.

We'll take a final breath here
to just allow the nutrients

of our practice to settle in.

Go ahead and close your 
eyes when you land here.

Feel the warmth of your hands.

Inhale, lots of love in.

And exhale, lots of love out.

Nice work today.

Go ahead and 
leave behind anything

that's not working for you, 
not serving you.

You can just leave it 
on the yoga mat.

It'll evaporate and transform
into something new for someone.

So just a little opportunity
to release and leave behind

whatever wasn't working so
that you can plant new seeds,

find new joy and 
rock your best self.

I want to rock 
with you all night.

(hums)

Go ahead and
bring your palms together.

Tap into a little inner smile.

Take a deep breath in and we
finish by quietly whispering

Namaste.

(upbeat music)