Prana - Day 2

What's up everyone? Welcome to Prana, your seven day yoga journey. I'm Adriene, this is sleepy Benji and it's Day 2. Hop into something comfy and let's get started. Alrighty, let's begin in a comfortable seat. Take your time getting settled in. But as you arrive here today, you can allow the hands to rest gently on the tops of the knees or the thighs. Jumping right in, we'll lift the heart, lift the sternum. Soften your gaze or close down the eyelids here. Let's take a second to tune in to exactly how we are feeling today. Now shift your awareness to your front body. So the front side of your body and see if you can energetically lift the front side of your body. Specifically the front side of your torso and the spine. Lift it up. Now shift your awareness to your back body. And yep, you guessed it. See if you can imagine or feel energetically the back body grounding down. So we have this upward current of energy through the front body and then we have this grounding downward flow through the back body. And for today, just imagine that somewhere in between those two currents of energy is you. The ups and the downs. Opposite directions. An expansion but also a stability. Begin to gently deepen your breath. And then we'll bat the eyelashes open and today we're gonna take the fingertips out left to right to this Texas T. Ooh, that was my elbow. For those of you who don't know, I live in Texas. Texas is my home state. Austin, Texas so I love to bring the Texas T into it. Think about lifting more through the front body but specifically through this area in the armpit chest region. So if we're collapsed here, it could help to think of like two suspenders lifting you up. Find that lift through the front body, that grounding through the back body. On your next inhale, reach a little bit wider. Exhale, bring the hands to the heart. Inhale, expand, moving with your breath. Exhale, hands to heart. Inhale, reach. Exhale, hands to heart. Feeling the warmth of your palms on your heart center. So I do know it can be hard to sit up tall. The more you practice, the more opportunity you'll have to build strength in these stabilizing muscles that will help you find this upright position with more ease. So just take care of your body. Sit up on blankets when you need to. Take breaks when you need to. Alright, if you want to get serious with me, let's take three more but really see if you can elongate your inhalation and your exhalation and let your movement be aligned with that breath. So a complete marriage. And after your last one, let it go. Shake the hands, open and close the jaw. Let's take a little twist. Left hand to the right knee. Right fingertips behind you for support. Lift up through your chest. Take a deep breath in. Exhale, slow journey into the twist. Opening up through the right chest. Feeling that rotation in the mid-back. Lovely, come back to center. Take it to the other side. Right hand on left knee, left fingertips behind. Inhale to sit up nice and tall. Exhale to journey into your twist. Pay attention to the sensations in your body. Awesome, come back to center. Left hand comes to the earth or left fingertips. Right fingertips are going to reach all the way up high. Find length in the side body here and then let's tip it over into a nice big stretch. Pull your thumb back, pinky forward. Think about rotating your chest or your heart up towards the sky. Keep your right hip heavy. Breathe in, breathe out. Take one more breath. Maybe lean back a hair and then switch. Come all the way up through center and take it to the other side. Then come all the way back up to center and let's bring it forward onto all fours. Cat-Cow, drop the belly on your inhale. Around the spine on your exhale. An invitation here to tap into an audible breath. If it feels right in your body today, maybe bringing a gentle Ujjayi breath. Finding that ocean sound as you inhale in. And exhale out. On your next inhale, walk your hands forward. Shift your shoulders over your wrists. Coming onto the knees here we can lift the toes, optional, cross the ankles, optional, or you can just keep the tops of the feet on the ground. Coming into a bit of a half plank here. Draw your low abdominals in as if you were cinching them in towards center. Hug your low ribs in. So if the low ribs are splaying here, we're almost like coming into a Cobra already. So hug your low ribs in. We just want to actively engage the abdominal wall in some way. Thinking about energy here, we're drawing the navel in and up, remembering this line from the crown all the way to the tip of the tailbone. So if the neck is hanging here, maybe extend the crown of the head forward. Send your gaze out in front of you and find that length in the spine considering the neck. An extension of that, yes. The arms are starting maybe to feel a little tremble here. Deep breath in. Long breath out. Stay here or you're welcome to stay here or we can lift one knee by curling the toes under and then the other. Breathing deep, nice full deep breaths. Inhale in, exhale, lower all the way to the belly. Some of you are like, what? You didn't say there was a static hold on day two. Drag the hands in line with the ribcage. Squeeze the elbows into the side body. So you have lots of space between your ears and shoulders here. Press into the tops of the feet firmly. Press into the pubic bone gently and then everyone, best you can, think a subtle body here. We're going to draw the navel in and up here so you have a little activation. Inhale, press into the hands, press into your foundation. Baby Cobra. Lift the chest. Exhale, forehead kisses the mat. Again, inhale, press into your foundation, lift up, Cobra. And release. One more, inhale, we rise up. Exhale, release, beautiful. Curl the toes under. Press up to all fours or Plank, it's your choice. Listen to your body. And then we'll send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog. Take a couple breaths here to listen and respond. How's your body feeling today? How's your energy? How's your mood? Maybe taking your dog for a little walk by pedaling the feet out, maybe something's been on your mind, just been causing a little bit of stress or anxiety and you can choose to put it, take it off the mat, put it to the side for now. You can always pick it up later. And when you're ready on your next inhale, anchor through your left heel so you feel a deep stretch in your left calf before you inhale. Imagine you're sliding your right foot against a wall. So you're really pushing your right foot out, not just hoisting it up. Three-legged Dog. Inhale in here. Exhale, shift your weight forward, bend your right knee, hug it into your chest. Inhale, kick it out. Exhale, shift it forward. One more time, inhale, kick it out. Exhale, shift it forward. And then step it all the way up into a nice low lunge. Lower your back knee. Breathe. On your next inhale, open up through the chest. Send your gaze forward. Maybe the fingertips reach forward, up and back. You can also just stay here working, letting your heart energy radiate forward, opening up through the collarbones. Everyone, pull your right hip crease back just a hair. Press into the ball joint of your right big toe. Inhale in deeply here. Exhale to release. Stay here, we're gonna go back up. Ready, here we go. Inhale, reach all the way up. Exhale, hands to the heart. Palms on the heart center. So strong footing here, come up out of it if you feel like you're dumping into your front foot. Find that core connection. We're gonna inhale, extend the arms wide. Exhale, hands to heart. Inhale, extend the arms wide. Exhale, hands to heart. One more time, marrying the breath to the movement. The movement to the breath. And then release. Let's take a little break on that front foot. Pull the right hip crease back. Straighten through your right leg. Inhale in here in this runner's stretch. And then exhale, take it forward. Plant the palms, step it back, Downward Facing Dog. Inhale in deeply here. Exhale completely. Remember, this is time for you. So allowing those distractions to be noticed. Anything that's been bothering you and then maybe just kindly, politely putting them to the side for now during your yoga practice. So we can get our energy right. So we can be conscious of the ripple that we're putting out into the world. Anchor the right heel down. Feel that generous stretch in your right calf. Inhale, slide the left leg up against an imaginary wall. Press into both palms evenly. Find your center. On your next exhale, shift your weight forward, knee to chest. Inhale, kick it back. With your breath, exhale, glide it forward. Inhale, kick it back. Find the core connection last time, shifting forward. And then stepping your left foot up, lowering your right knee. My view here is just so precious, Benji's. Such a little darling guy. Front knee over front ankle. Light on the fingertips, just find a second. Take a moment here to find your footing, literally. And then when you're ready, loop the shoulders back, open up the chest. You could just work here. Or we might send the fingertips up and back, Crescent Lunge. Hug the low ribs in. Breathe. And then slowly release, pause. And we'll take it up one last time. Here we go, inhale, reach the arms all the way up. Exhale, hands to your heart. Feel your own touch, the comfort of your own touch here. Squeezing your thighs together for more stability. Find that lift up through the pelvic floor when you're ready. Inhale, open the arms wide. Exhale, hands to heart. Low body's stable. Inhale, open. Moving with your breath. I know it takes a lot of focus to work this way. But you got this, marrying the action to the breath, the breath to the action. Nice, one more. And then let it go. Let's take a counter stretch here, straightening that front leg. Nice, and then we'll slowly come back to the lunge. Plant the palms, step it back to your half plank, either on the knees here, shifting forward or to full plank. You got this. One more hold, but we're always moving here with our breath. Hug the low ribs in. Press away, actively press away from the yoga mat, bringing more sensation into your core muscles. Extend through the crown of the head. Nice, long neck, you got this. You're here for five, you totally have this. Four, three, two, one. Lower all the way to the belly, awesome work. Three Cobras with your breath. Inhale, we rise up. Exhale, we soften and release. Two more just like that. Nice, after your third one, check this fancy move out. You're going to shimmy a little bit over towards the left side of your mat, like so. As if you were gonna share your mat with a pal, which you are sharing your mat with a pal. It's this pal, yourself. And then you're just gonna kind of do like a barrel roll all the way, a gentle barrel roll, all the way around. So you're coming to lie flat on your back. And when you get there, extend your legs out long to start. And just take a second here to get centered on the mat. Good, then keep the left leg where it is, just activate it. So imagine you're standing on that left leg, so flex your left toes. And we'll bring the right knee up into the chest. Squeeze it up and in. Breathe here. Stay here just breathing, or if you'd like to peel the head, the neck, the shoulders up, we can. Finding a belly breath or two here, if you can. If the head is lifted, go ahead and gently lower it, and we're gonna switch. Extending the right leg, flexing the right foot, and then when you're ready, lifting the left knee up and in. Squeeze that left knee up in towards your chest, in towards your left armpit and chest area. And again, just stay here. Listen to your body, what you need today. Maybe you can lift your head, but when you listen to your body, you're actually like, you know what, it would actually feel more balancing for me, so just have my whole spine supported. On your next breath, bring your right knee up to join your left knee, and we'll hug both knees into the chest. Find some intuitive movement here, so rocking a little gently side to side. You might take the palms to the knees and gently draw circles one way, and then the other. And then to close, we're gonna shake the limbs a little bit, so you're just gonna start by shaking your feet out, and then bring the hands and the arms into it, and then allow this to gain a little speed and intensity. Part the lips, relax your jaw, and then honestly, for five seconds, give me five, just get a little crazy with it. For five, four, three, I can't help but smile, two, and one, release, let it all go, Shavasana. Can softly gaze past your nose or close the eyes, whatever feels more comfortable for you today. Allow the hands to rest gently at your sides, or if it feels nicer, for whatever reason today, to have your hands somewhere on your body, play with that. Take a quiet moment for yourself here, relaxing everything, and perhaps just reflecting on your experience here in this Day 2 practice. And you can always pause the video at the end and return to this shape and be here a little longer if your time allows, but if you're ready, let's wiggle the fingertips, the toes, rotate the ankles, the wrists, move the tongue around in the mouth. Day 2, in the books. So Day 3 is potentially when people are like, oh my God, it's sidetracked and busy, so my darling friends, I urge you, stay committed. Day 3, we're gonna bring a little bit of new vocabulary in and a little new breath technique, and keep building on this fun ride together. Let's bring the palms together, thumbs to the brow point whenever you're ready. Inhale lots of love in, and exhale lots of love out to close this practice. Thank you, take good care, namaste.