Yoga learning Yoga For Couch Potatoes > Yoga

 

- What's up, everyone?
Welcome to Yoga with
Adriene, L.A. Edition.
Here I am in Santa Monica,
and I'm wanting to kind of
do a little bit of yoga,
but I'm also wanting to
do a little relaxation,
so I just decided why not combine the two
and do some yoga for couch potatoes?
So for all you couch potatoes
and couch potatas out there,
this one's for you, some simple stretches
to do on your couch.
Let's get started.
(relaxing guitar music)
Okay, so to begin, you can
get comfy on your couch.
Nice, right?
We're going to start nice and reclined.
We'll slowly gain awareness
through the spinal column,
but just take a nice chill spot here.
Depending on your couch, you might be here
or wherever feels good, right?
Or maybe you do want to
sit up tall right away.
So just take a deep breath
in, close your eyes,
(inhales)
and let a long exhale out. (exhales)
Nothing fancy here, just a couple
of nice, deep breaths.
(inhales)
(exhales)
And let's do one more deep breath in
(inhales)
and deep breath out.
(exhales)
Okay, you're done.
No, I'm just kidding.
But sometimes that's all it takes, right?
Just a couple deep breaths in and out.
Okay, so now we are going
to sit up nice and tall.
You're going to go ahead
and come to the edge of your couch here,
and of course every couch is different,
and so is every body.
So make it your own.
Have fun here.
If there's a coffee table there,
and you can't do this,
or maybe you need to slide to the edge,
live on the edge, maybe give it a try.
Okay, we're going to
extend the legs out long.
Really flexing through
the feet here if possible.
Again, you can be watching
your show as you're doing this,
or you could be talking to someone,
and this is just kind of
connecting to the lower body,
finding that sit bone to heel connection.
Careful not to lock the knees even here.
Why?
No, we keep our mindfulness that
we learned through our yoga
practice even here on the couch.
Sit up nice and tall.
Loop the shoulders forward, up, and back
just a couple times here.
So the feet are flexed.
(inhales)
And I'm looping the shoulders,
sitting up nice and tall.
(exhales)
Find a gentle lift in the heart,
just that kind of lift in the sternum
that we often talk about.
And then we'll just take a second here
to check in with the neck.
Whoo!
I wonder if the mic picked up that pop.
Maybe a couple circles.
Again, nothing fancy, not rigid here,
just nice and easy.
And then we're going to take it forward.
So we're going to use the fingertips
or the hands to kind of
crawl down the legs again
to also make sure that
you're not locking out
through the knees, especially
if you have a tendency
to do just that in the joints.
Feet are staying flexed,
I'm slowly sliding down.
I can still be looking
up at my show. (laughs)
And no just kidding.
Let's take a break to
bow the head forward.
So I'm getting a great
hamstring stretch here,
this is a nice stretch in the back body.
Another variation to try
would be to come on to
the soles of the feet,
keep the knees bent and
take your forward fold here,
so it just depends on
the height of your couch
and your situation, and of course
the tightness of the hamstrings.
So that looks like this.
Cool, wherever you are,
you can stop looking at
the video for a second
and just take a couple
deep breaths in and out.
(inhales)
(exhales)
(inhales)
(exhales)
And then we'll slowly roll up
and back onto our couch.
Awesome.
Side body stretch, we just
take it easy over to the side.
Reach.
And through center, reach opposite side.
And then back to center.
Okay, now to the hips
and the hip flexors
eventually and the quads.
So we're going to bring the
soles of the feet to the mat.
Whoa.
Robot!
Not to the mat, to your
rug, to your earth,
to the metaphorical mat.
And we're going to cross the right ankle
over the top of the left thigh,
already feeling it in
my hip here, so nice.
This couch is nice and low,
so I'm already getting
a nice, deep stretch.
I might just stay here and
rotate the ankle one way
and then the other.
This is a great one to remember
your yoga tool belt, because you can do it
in a couch setting or in a chair.
So good.
And then of course you want to take it
a little deeper, you can lean forward.
And then gently release and
switch to the other side.
Left ankle crosses over the right.
Ahh, so nice here.
This is like the perfect
level couch for my hips today.
Rotating that ankle if it feels good,
giving yourself a little massage,
maybe making the person next
to you massage your foot.
Yeah right.
(laughs)
And then if you want to
take it a little bit deeper,
you just lean the heart
forward a little bit.
(inhales)
Take a deep breath in, and
then use an exhale to release.
Awesome.
Last thing.
Are you ready?
We're going to take, let's start with
the left knee this time, we're going to
take the left knee down,
and gently walk the right foot forward.
So this also can be done in a chair,
and depending on the height
of your couch is the benefit.
So for me this is a low couch,
so I'm going to go into more
of the front of the hip crease
like a crescent moon.
If you're on a higher couch,
you can really use
gravity to really open up
through the hip flexors and
get a nice quad stretch,
and just kind of hold on
to the back of your couch like so.
So this is going to look and feel
a little different for everyone.
Just be careful, be mindful of, of course,
the knee and the ankle stacking.
And we take a couple of breaths here.
Lift your heart if you're feeling fine.
And again, if yours doesn't look like this
because of your couch or your body,
you can still find what feels good there.
I've done this on chairs before,
and it's really nice to let the weight
of the leg just drop and
hold on with your upper body.
(inhales)
Cool.
Gently release, and let's
check it out on the other side.
This time right knee down.
And again, if you're lifted up higher,
you're not actually even
putting any weight in your leg.
You're really letting it
just kind of drop down.
It feels really good.
This couch is a little
low for me for that,
so I'm going to go ahead
and walk my knee back
a little bit so I can feel a
nice stretch through the front.
Lift your heart.
(inhales and exhales)
And then we'll come back to center.
Always be mindful when
you're coming back, too.
You never know, right?
You want to be really
mindful of the knees.
And that's it!
Now you're ready for your show
or you're ready to do something.
Hopefully you feel better
about whatever it is
you're going to do next,
because you've just
connected with your body.
Another option after this
is to just take a chill pill
in a little cross-legged position,
or you know, my favorite
pose, couch corpse.
(laughs)
I'm going to trademark that.
So I'm going to go into
some couch corpse here
and wish you a wonderful
rest of your night or day,
and I'll see you next time.
Take care, everyone.
Namaste.
(relaxing guitar music)