WEBVTT

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- Hey, everyone, and 
welcome to Yoga With Adriene.

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I'm Adriene, and 
today we're gonna continue

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our Foundations of Yoga series

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with Uttanasana, also 
known as the Forward Fold.

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Very soothing, 
grounding, awesome pose,

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so hop on the mat and 
let's swan dive right in.

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(upbeat music)

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For Uttanasana, 
the Forward Fold,

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we're going to 
start in our Mountain Pose

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which we did a 
video for last week,

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so you can refer to that video

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to get the 
foundations of Mountain Pose.

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So I'll quickly just go through my

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checklists, if you will,

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here as I lift and lengthen

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up through the 
crown of the head,

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spread my weight evenly

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between all four 
corners of the feet.

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Lifting the 
toes helps with that.

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Tucking my pelvis in 
to meet my pelvic bone,

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and then finding that 
natural lift in the heart

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as my shoulder blades squeeze

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in and together and down.

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Chin parallel to the earth.

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For beginner's Forward Fold,

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I would recommend 
taking your paws to your waist

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and maybe even hooking your
thumbs behind your waistline.

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In fact, I'll 
turn to the side here

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just so we can demonstrate
this a little more clearly.

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I'm tucking my pelvis in,
drawing my navel in,

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stacking the spine,

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and coming to this,
like, Superhero Pose.

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In kids' yoga we call this,
like, Wonder Woman or Superman.

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Shoulder blades 
squeezing together,

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I'm gonna inhale, extend
through the crown of the head.

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Now, as I dive 
into my Forward Fold,

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I'm gonna keep 
pressing into my heels.

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I'm gonna keep 
drawing this energy up

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through the arches of my 
feet just like I establish

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in Mountain Pose so I 
have an active body lifting.

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So I'm grounded 
through my heels,

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but I'm lifting and 
lengthening up towards the sky.

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Just energetically,

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subtle body 
lifting, lengthening.

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Okay, here we go.

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I inhale, lifting 
through the crown of the head.

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As I exhale, I'm gonna slowly,

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keeping this 
nice lift in my heart

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and a nice, straight spine,
I'm gonna move forward.

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The tops of my 
thighs are drawing up,

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kneecaps drawing up,

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navel drawing in.

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I begin to shine my sit bones
towards the wall behind me,

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and I'm squeezing my 
shoulder blades together,

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moving nice and slow 
so I can really be honest

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about what this journey is like.

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It's a tough thing sometimes
in yoga to really witness

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what the body is 
actually experiencing

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and what your body might
actually be experiencing

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right now is a 
screaming in the hammies.

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That's okay.

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The hammies need some love.

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They need more 
love than we give them.

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So we'll soften 
through the knees.

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In fact, bend your knees as
generously as you need to,

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and, in time, 
we'll get to a point

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where we can 
straighten the legs.

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So I'm here about halfway,

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extending through 
the crown of the head,

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bending my knees if I need to,

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bending them as 
generously as I need to,

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and I'll begin to melt down,

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belly to the tops of the thighs.

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And then once the weight 
of my head releases down,

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I'll draw my 
fingertips either to the mat,

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to the earth, 
palms to the shins,

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or maybe even I grab my elbows

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and rock them a 
little side to side.

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If this is a little bit of a
balancing challenge for you,

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I recommend taking the feet

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and stepping 
them hip width apart,

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just like we talked 
about in the Tadasana video.

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So here I am in my Forward Fold,

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bending my knees if I need to,

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really shining my sit 
bones up towards the sky so,

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if I had a tail,

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it'd be shooting straight up
towards the heavens right now.

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I'll grab my elbows,

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rock a little side to 
side if that feels good.

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Uttanasana is about letting the
weight of the body hang over

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and then being with the breath.

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So we have other 
versions of this pose

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that are a little more active,

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that really draw the nose to
the knees and all this stuff.

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Here we're just going 
to practice as beginners,

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or even as non-beginners,

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just creating a 
little space in the hammies,

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and then using the breath.

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I cannot stress this 
enough how important it is

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to take nice, solid, 
sweet, deep breaths here

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because that's where I'm gonna
really create some movement,

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some space, this liquid spine

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as we like to sometimes call it.

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And that's where it 
becomes fun to play with, too,

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where, instead of just 
holding in a painful posture,

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we're moving and kind of 
grooving with the breath.

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This is kind of an 
awkward place to be talking.

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So I'm gonna stop 
talking for a second

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and come into the pose 
so that I can really release

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the weight of my 
head completely and fully.

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Drawing my navel 
up towards my spine,

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I hang forward, Uttanasana.

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Bending the knees as 
generously as we need to,

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and sometimes pulsing 
here bending the knees.

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Straightening is good.

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Creating a little bit of space.

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Again, shaking the head yes, no,

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and using that 
breath to find a little bit

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of lengthening as you inhale,

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and then releasing 
on the exhale, Fold.

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Perhaps a little 
more length as I inhale,

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then Folding on the exhale.

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To come up, I'm gonna 
bring my hands to my waistline,

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hooking the thumbs behind,

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and same thing,
I'm gonna press into my heels,

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draw my 
shoulder blades together,

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elbows behind me 
as I lift and lengthen

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up through the 
crown of the head.

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Heart lifts.

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I use my thumbs 
actively here to remind me

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to tuck my pelvis in,

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and nice and slow,

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sending breath all the way
through the backs of the legs.

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I begin to scoop my tailbone in,

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find that lift in the heart.

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I have this 
awesome tingly sensation

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going all the way 
down to my toes right now.

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Feel good.

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And I come back to 
Mountain Pose, Tadasana.

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I can take couple 
breaths here and dive back in.

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I do want to say one thing.

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I don't know if I 
have time to say this,

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but I'm gonna try to 
sneak it in really fast.

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Often when I'm in Forward Fold,

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I think about 
the backs of the legs

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as two pieces 
of saltwater taffy.

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And I know that sounds 
kind of cheesy, but it works.

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It works for me for some reason.

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If you were to imagine these
muscles from your sit bones

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all the way to your 
heels being like two pieces

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of saltwater taffy, if we
were gonna share that taffy,

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you wouldn't be 
able to just grab one end

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and me grab the 
other and us walk away

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and break.

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That would be very painful.

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But rather we have to 
think of these muscles

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like that piece of candy,
that saltwater taffy.

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We're going to, 
in order to share it,

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we're gonna have to 
create a little bit of space.

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We're gonna have to move it

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a little bit, breathe with it,


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laugh a little bit, you know,
take our time creating space,

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melding that taffy 
so that eventually,

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we break off with that treat
and we feel good and walk away.

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Maybe that's a 
little far out there,

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but you know what I'm saying is

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you can't just dive 
into the Forward Fold

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and expect the magic to happen.

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You have to be with the breath.

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You have to look at 
what's really going on

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in the backs of the legs,

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and then, of course, 
Find What Feels Good.

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Okay, so that was 
Uttanasana, a Forward Fold.

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I hope you enjoy 
trying the posture.

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If you have any 
questions or comments,

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please, please leave 
them in the comment box below.

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I'd love to hear from you.

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Also make sure you 
subscribe to my channel

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and like the Facebook page
so you don't miss anything,

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and we'll see you next time.

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Thanks so much.

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Namaste.

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(upbeat music)