Yoga learning Yoga For When You're Angry > Yoga

 

- What's up my friends?
Welcome to Yoga with Adriene.
I'm Adriene and today we have
yoga for when you're angry or pissed off
when you feel disrespected,
when communication wires get crossed
and you know, shit hits the fan.
I have your back.
Let's hop on the mat and get started.

- Alright, my friends, so we're going to
begin in an extended child's pose.
Knees nice and wide.
Big toes kissing.
And heart melting to the earth.
Walk the palms out nice and slow.
If this isn't comfortable for you,
then you might just start this first beat
in a comfortable posture, any choice,
cross legged or on the
knees or even in a chair.
We're just going to take a second
to kind of acknowledge how we feel
and connect with the breath.
So, I'm going to do it
in extended child's pose.
This shape, total surrender shape, right?
So, come into a surrender shape,
whatever it is for you.
And I'll start by not showing my underwear
on YouTube, although that
could change your mood.
Okay, sorry, excuse me.
Forehead melts to the earth.
Heart melts down in extended child's pose.
A little humor can always help too,
in all honesty.
And then take a second
to notice your breath,
and you know, we begin yoga practice a lot
by saying, well I never do this,
but there's this idea that
we're supposed to be able to
clear our mind, let go of our thoughts.
And while that, yes, is the intention,
perhaps on a day like today,
a moment like now, that is difficult.
There's also this common thought
that, you know, the yogis, that's
those of us, us folks trying to
fight the good, conscious fight,
are, you know, always happy and
without anger or fear or jealousy
or any of those things that, of course,
we are with, we are all with those things
because that is life and our nature,
human nature.
So, today in your surrender shape,
wherever you are, even if you're
just staring at the video,
take a deep breath in and
just acknowledge how you feel.
Whatever's going on, acknowledge it,
notice it.
(deep breathing)
- And the idea is that we're not trying to
hide anything in the yoga practice
or check out, but rather check in
and wrastle with our feelings and
learn how to maybe deal with it
in a way that is constructive
instead of destructive.
So, take a note of that, and give thanks
because already you're doing
something constructive.
So, there's no judgement
if you get pissed off
and you go punch your pillow or
you know, do whatever it is you do.
But you can give thanks and maybe
release a little bit of tension
knowing that man, you're
doing something awesome
right here, right now,
even if you don't do this whole video.
(deep breathing)
- And we'll begin to deepen the breath
as a way of acknowledging our feelings,
acknowledging ourself,
and a way of smiling, giving thanks
for this moment that we're
giving something new a try.
(deep breathing)
- Then, slowly, we'll come from this
extended child's pose to the belly,
or if you're in a seated posture,
go ahead and come on to your belly.
Oh yeah.
And then we'll draw the elbows underneath
the shoulders, press into the palms
in a kind of classic yoga shape here,
just to kind of focus us in the moment.
We'll press into the tops of the feet,
come to a sphinx pose, loop the shoulders,
press into the palms, and
see if you can really, really
press into the earth with
everything that's touching.
So, maybe engaging the tops of the feet
so that the knees lift a little bit here.
Maybe pressing into elbows so we can find
length through the torso and spine.
If you really want to go for the gold,
press into all ten knuckles strong,
imagine tearing your yoga mat
in half cause you're so angry,
but here we are doing something
constructive, aware.
Pressing down all ten toenails.
Ooo, I hate when yoga teacher
say toenails in class,
and I just did it.
Not really, I don't really hate it,
but it's just funny.
And then one more breath.
So, really pressing into that pinky toe
is what I wanted to say.
One more deep breath
here, good, good, good,
and then release.
Oh my gosh, yes, to my all time favorite.
Palms stuck together for a
little pillow action here.
So, take a look at the video,
and then when you feel like you have it,
come to this radical yoga posture.
If you have a pillow handy
or anything at all, you can even use it.
So, if you have a nice pillow,
you can grab the pillow like this.
I have this little thing here.
Lay my brain here.
So, but it's not necessary.
Shake the hips a little left to right.
And find what feels good in this moment.
Then we'll bring the two big toes in,
and splay the heels out wide.
See if this feels good for you.
For some, it can feel quite comforting.
And, if not, let the toes open wide,
and see if this feels good for you.
Toes out, so for me, my hips
don't play like that.
Homey, don't play like that in my hips,
but if for you they do, you
might want to come here.
See, I think of everything.
And then, if neither one of those,
maybe it's just straight out.
So, we have in, we have out,
and we have straight kind of in line.
Just find a place where you
can relax in the lower body.
If you have props, if you have blocks,
you can even bring the arms up on blocks
and the head down to a block here.
So, we're preparing for a crocodile breath
as we call it.
And there are many ways to do crocodile.
But today we're going to
keep it really simple.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
Relax through the hips, the
legs, the ankles, the feet.
You can close your eyes here,
and relax best you can through the neck.
So, it's why it's helpful
to kind of get comfortable
and adjusted in a way that you can
relax through the neck, the shoulders,
the arms, the elbows.
Relax your jaw, soften
through the skin of the face.
So, if you're clenching the eyebrows,
relax my friend, soften.
And then I'm noticing for some reason
I'm clenching my right butt cheek,
so I'm going to soften that.
So you just kind of need to
do a full body scan here,
and really, you owe it
to yourself to do that.
Letting go in any place where you
might be clenching or holding tight.
Then back to the breath.
(deep breathing)
- In crocodile breath,
essentially we're using
gravity to play with this relaxation,
this integration of the breath
all the way down to the lower belly.
So, as you breathe in through the nose,
see if you can allow the breath
to expand in the abdomen,
and with the support of the earth here,
you can really feel where it goes.
And kind of where it's getting stuck.
This is tricky at first,
and you might want to give up right away.
I encourage you to stick with it.
Play with your breath.
Seeing if you can use the inhale
through the nostrils to expand
the abdominal wall, the
abdomen, the lower belly.
(deep breathing)
- You can feel those muscles.
As you breathe in, you can feel them
dropping, pressing into the earth.
(deep breathing)
- Then bring your
awareness to the rib cage,
just adding another layer here.
On your next inhale, see if you can
expand through the ribs even more.
Again, feeling the abdomen, but also now
expanding through the rib cage.
Play with that inhale.
Play with the way in which your ribs
maybe press into the earth as you
breathe in deeply.
(deep breathing)
- Now, stick with it, stick with it.
And bring your awareness
to your lower back body.
Inhale, see if you can stretch
the skin of the lower back.
Relaxing through the glutes.
So, there's a lot to play with here.
(deep breathing)
- Keeping playing as you inhale.
This time, see if you can
take an inhale so long
that just when you feel like you've taken
in all the air, you take
in a little bit more,
little sip more.
Then hold at the top,
and slow and controlled exhale.
(deep breathing)
- Couple more times just like that.
(deep breathing)
- And on your next exhale,
see if you can kind of just push out
all the air, and then at the end,
push out a little more.
(deep breathing)
- Awesome, then slowly, nice and slow.
Totally zenned out by
that crocodile breath.
Whoa, lift the head.
Draw the palms underneath
the shoulders for support.
Curl the toes under.
Come to all fours.
One and one only downward facing dog here,
as you slowly lift the hips.
As you lift the hips up high,
take a deep breath in, bend the knees.
As you exhale, drop the
heels, melt your heart back.
Inhale, bend the knees.
Press away from the earth.
Exhale, drop the heels, let it go.
Shake the head a little yes, a little no.
And then, slowly lower onto the knees.
Swing the legs to one side, any side.
And come to lie flat on your back.
Allow the legs to extend out long.
Get comfortable here, arms
resting gently at your sides.
Then crawl the shoulder
blades underneath you here
so that your chest can
really open and relax.
Just kind of neutrally, naturally.
So, it's all connected right.
You'd be surprised sometimes
how the more we kind of hold things in
and tighten up, that manifests
in the body, as we know.
So, take a second to really
crawl the shoulder blades underneath you,
open to the chest, imagine
a little sand bag here,
little sand bag here.
Maybe windshield wiper the feet.
Then, I wasn't going to do this,
but I'm going to do it anyway.
I'm just feeling brave.
I wanted to do this, but then I got shy,
and now I'm going to do it in the moment.
My teacher used to do this
with us, and it really helps,
but it's also really silly and kind of,
I mean I used to think it was so stupid.
So, we're going to laugh,
and we're going to do
it for up to 30 seconds.
We'll see how far you can get.
So, you come into a
little corpse pose here,
and you're just going to start laughing.
Ready? Go.

- And eventually, your fake laughing
leads you to really laughing at yourself.

- Keep it going.
Connecting to the same muscles
that you did in crocodile breath.

- And then, let it rest.
I'm so embarrassed.
I'm like getting high,
but it's so great.
I'm glad I didn't skip that.

- And then sigh it out, let it go.
It's great when you do that with
a big group of people too cause
you do get lost in it.
Your Judgy-McJudgerson mind just
escapes you faster than you would think.
Okay, clench the fists together.
Clench hard, squeeze the
toes, engage the legs.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
Lift your heart.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze.
Clenching, clenching, clenching the jaw,
the face, squeeze everything,
clench your fists.
Take a deep breath in.
And then exhale, let everything soften.
Let everything go.
Close your eyes.
Let your breath return
to it's natural rhythm.
It's natural ebb and flow.
Mindfulness.
Total winner in my book.
Blanket your body in a soft white light.
Take a second to do absolutely nothing.
Whatever works for you.
Hopefully this video has guided you
to a place where you
feel a little bit better.
Acknowledged.
Connected.
And in control.
A little bit of yoga goes a long way.
I commend you, I applaud you,
I laugh with you, I am so proud of you
and me for at least trying
to use mindfulness and the tools of yoga
to live in a conscious, happy way.
Understanding that we
still get pissed off,
and ticked off, and angry.
It's part of being human, being awesome.
So hopefully you feel
a little more balanced,
a little more blissed out.
Stay here as long as time allows,
and when you rise up,
see if you can let some of that
energy that wasn't serving you,
see if you can let some of that shit go.
Leave it on your mat.
Peace everyone.
Namaste.