Shadowing Practice: Brain + Body Balance | 22-minute Yoga Practice - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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- Hello everyone and welcome to Yoga With Adriene.
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I am Adriene, and today, we have a glorious quick balance for the brain and the body.
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So hop into something comfy and let's get started.
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(upbeat music) Alright, let's begin in a nice comfortable seat.
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Come on down to the ground.
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And as you arrive here, just take a second to relax the shoulders, maybe softly move the head and the neck around.
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Allow your hands to rest on the knees or the tops of the thighs.
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And as you're ready, gently take a deep breath in.
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And we're gonna exhale out through the mouth here.
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Again, inhale in through the nose, deep breath.
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And just exhaling out through the mouth to land here.
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And once more as if we just kind of took a snow globe and we roll out the mat, and we press play, and now we take a deep breath in, and as we exhale, the snowflakes are landing slowly here in this moment.
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You can close your eyes.
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And slowly invite your spine to lengthen, whatever that means for you.
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It could be physically making an adjustment to sit up a little taller, perhaps lifting the chest, getting long in the neck, letting the shoulders drop down, or it can be a little more creative, using your mind's eye or imagination, even, to see the spine.
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This column, or as we call it in yoga, this dunda, the stick or the staff that holds us up.
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You can just kind of imagine it and see it.
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Bringing awareness to this line of the body, the midline.
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Then bring your awareness back to your breath here as you turn just the right hand up, so the left hand's gonna stay down.
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So you have one palm up and one palm face down here as you continue to lengthen up through the spine.
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Then just noticing your breath here.
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And if you're paying attention, you may start to realize or observe that just by bringing your awareness, your attention to something, you invite opportunity for it to transform or shift, so just by bringing your awareness to your breath, it may start to change.
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You may start to breathe a little deeper.
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More conscious breath.
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So if that happens, just allow it to happen, but you don't have to force it.
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Slowly turn the right palm down and turn the left palm up.
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And just noticing the breath here, keeping the spine lengthened.
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And you may notice that certain muscles have to kind of turn on to help with this posture.
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And now, turn your right palm face up, so now both palms are open, ready to receive the gifts of this practice designed for the brain and the body to ultimately cultivate balance.
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And as I always say and I genuinely believe, a little goes a long way.
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So let's get movin'. Bring the palms together.
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Take a deep breath in.
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You can bat the eyelashes open.
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As you exhale, we're gonna come forward onto all fours, nice and slow.
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As you inhale, drop the belly, open the chest.
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(Benji groaning) Whoa, Benji.
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As you exhale, round through the spine, chin to chest, navel draws up.
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Inhale, drop the belly, open your heart.
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And exhale, round through, starting with the tailbone, perhaps, and moving your way, all the way up the spine 'til the crown of the head is the last to release.
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And maybe you slow this down.
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Thinking of the spine today perhaps as an energetic highway.
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So how can you maybe stay open to letting your practice be an exploration of the spine.
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Really thinking about the spine as we move through these postures today.
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Giving that little extra food for thought, little extra love.
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Excellent. Then we'll bring the head back in line with the heart, in line with the tail, and you're looking for one straight line from the crown to the tail here, so if the head is dropping down, go ahead and lift it up, send your gaze straight down.
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We're just gonna take the right toes, curl them under, and then lift the right heel up.
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Good. Left fingertips reach forward, left thumb faces up.
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Inhale in. Exhale, you're gonna bend the left knee, excuse me, bend the left elbow, excuse me, and right knee out to the side.
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Then inhale, extend.
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Turning on the core here, and then exhale, bend again.
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Inhale to extend, peek at me if you need to.
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Exhale, bend the left elbow, bend the right knee.
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Out to the left and right.
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Here we go. Let's do it twice more.
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Even if you only catch one here, it's a good check in balancing the left and the right side of the body.
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Beautiful. Now inhale, extend.
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And exhale, drop it, release it, let it go.
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Alright, curl the left toes under, send the left leg out long, feel that stretch in the foot and the calf, the achilles.
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Good, then send the left heel up, right fingertips forward, right thumb up towards the sky.
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Inhale in, nice and slow, navel draws up so the abdominals are turned on.
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As you exhale, bend the right elbow to the right, left knee to the left.
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Good. Inhale, extend.
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Press into your right foot for stability.
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Exhale, bend.
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Inhale, extend.
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Exhale, bend.
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Inhale, extend.
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Exhale, bend.
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And notice what muscles have to turn on to kind of support the bones here.
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Let's do one more on this side. Here we go.
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Inhale to extend, exhale to let it go.
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Beautiful work.
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You can rotate the wrists here, one and then the other.
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Then we'll plant the palms, spread the fingertips super wide like starfish as you curl the toes under.
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Here we go.
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Big breath in, exhale lifts you up, Downward Facing Dog.
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Bend your knees a bit here, claw through the fingertips, maybe tic-tock the hips a little left to right, feel that lengthening in the side waist.
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And then drop the heels, it's okay if they don't touch the ground, turn the toes inward just a bit and notice how that goes all the way up to the hips here, right?
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So it's all connected, one moving part.
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Good. Then we're gonna draw the navel up.
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Start to shift forward just a bit, just a bit as you slowly shift all the way forward, moving through the spine into a Plank Pose.
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Good. Now send the hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog.
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And again, moving through the spine here, shifting forward, nice and slow, Plank Pose.
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And pressing back, Downward Facing Dog, and once more, navel draws up, up, up.
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Slowly shifting to Plank.
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And then up to Downward Facing Dog.
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Good, take a deep breath in.
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And exhale out through the mouth.
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Beautiful. Step the right foot up, just the right foot, lower the left knee down.
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Take a deep breath in here as you open the chest, look forward.
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Good, then plant the palms, exhale, step it all the way back, Downward Facing Dog.
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Good. inhale, look forward.
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Step the left foot up, just the left foot, as you lower the right knee down.
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Good. Inhale, open your chest, look forward.
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And exhale, plant the palms, step it back, Downward Facing Dog.
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Good, inhale in deeply here.
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And exhale to sigh it out.
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Shake the head a little yes, a little no.
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And then a little like maybe so. Okay. (chuckles) Here we go.
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Stepping one foot, then the other, all the way up to the front of your mat.
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You can take multiple steps.
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Feet are gonna be hip width apart.
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Great. Allow the head to relax here.
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You can clasp the elbows here if it feels good and rock gently side to side.
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Send your awareness to your feet, really grounding firmly, and just pause here to listen to the sweet sound of your breath.
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Bend your knees.
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And when you're ready, release the arms and slowly begin to roll it up with the knees bent generously, so strong, supportive legs here.
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Then we'll rise up here to Mountain Pose, make it a majestic one.
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Why not? Life is short.
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Once again, imagine your spine here.
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Make any little adjustments that feel good here so you can fully embody this pose.
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And then interlace the fingertips behind the back, bend your knees slightly, open up through the chest.
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Inhale in. Exhale, keep this forward motion going, heart comes forward and all the way down into the fold.
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Take a deep breath in and a long breath out.
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And again, a deep breath in, and as you exhale, we'll release the fingertips to the ground.
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Right foot steps back.
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Pardon me, Benji.
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And right knee lowers once again.
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This time, press into the top edge of your right foot as you sweep the fingertips up and over.
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Again, think about the spine here as you squeeze the inner thighs to the midline.
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Don't let that left knee come out, but squeeze in.
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Good. And then we're gonna inhale in, lift the chest, lift the chin.
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Good, and exhale, come all the way back down.
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Pull the left hip crease back and flex your left toes towards your face.
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Now roll through your left foot, come back to that low lunge.
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We're gonna lift the right knee up, bring the left fingertips over to the right fingertips, and now listen carefully, you're gonna bend your right knee, you're gonna take your center back in space, we're gonna pivot on the feet, use your fingertips along the right edge of your mat to turn all the way to face the back edge of your mat, and then lower your left knee and you're back in that low lunge.
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Deep breath in.
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Sweep the fingertips all the way up and overhead.
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Good, lift your chest up, lift your chin up.
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Breathe, breathe, breathe.
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Squeeze the inner thighs together and then exhale, let it go. Awesome.
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Pull the right hip crease back.
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If this is weird, that's all good.
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We're changing it up for the brain.
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Flex your right toes towards your face.
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This is nice too 'cause I get to pet Benji once or twice, or three times, or four times, or five times.
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Okay, here we go.
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Rolling through the right foot, we're gonna go back the way we came.
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Lift the left knee, bend the knees, we're definitely opening up the hips here, so breathe deep as you make your way all the way back to the front edge of your mat, back knee stays lifted, we plant those palms, fingertips spread as we step the left toes back.
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Strong Plank here.
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Inhale in. Puff up through your upper back body, feel your abdominals turn on, reach the heels back, way back, and the crown of the head reaches forward.
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Good, inhale in, shift forward just a bit.
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As you exhale, slowly lower all the way down to the belly.
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Now we're gonna find a little undulation here (clicks tongue) in the spine.
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So inhale, lift it up.
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Exhale, lower it down.
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Now just play here on your own.
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Every body will be different.
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Find a little aesthetic here as you explore.
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If the spine feels stiff like one piece, just keep it small.
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Catch a wave, press into the pubic bone for stability, press into the tops of the feet, and definitely ride the wave of your breath.
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So inhale to lift, elbows squeeze in to support.
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And exhale to cascade down.
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Do one more. Come on, here we go.
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Nice and exhale to release, curl the toes under, press up to Plank.
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Quietly whisper to yourself "I am strong" 'cause you are, we are, hips up high and back, Downward Facing Dog.
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Inhale in deeply.
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And exhale completely.
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On your next breath in, step your right foot all the way up, lower the left knee to the ground, press into the top of your back foot as you inhale, sweep the arms up and overhead.
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Lift the chest up, chin up.
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Deep breath in.
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Good. Exhale, rain it down.
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Straighten that front leg, right hip crease pull back, right toes towards the face.
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Good, then rolling through the right foot, lift your back knee up.
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We're gonna take it to the left edge now, so opening up through the hips as the fingertips trace the left edge of your mat.
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We turn all the way to the back, lower the right knee.
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Good, and when you're ready, inhale, sweep the arms up overhead, Crescent Lunge here, lifting chest up, chin up, shoulders down.
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Good, then slowly releasing, fingertips back down to the mat.
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Pull the left hip crease back, breathe deep here. Big stretch, big breath.
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And then rolling through the left foot.
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We'll lift the right knee.
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We're gonna walk it all the way now just to center, so you're gonna dial your toes in, hands are on the left edge of your mat here, and we're now in a standing wide-legged Forward Fold.
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Again, bring those toes in just a bit.
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Hands are on the earth, or fingertips on the earth, or if you like, you can bring a prop of some sort to lift the earth up to you if that's helpful.
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We're breathing deep here.
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Some action points.
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You can draw energy up from the arches of the feet to support you here.
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We can draw the navel up to meet the spine.
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Instead of just dumping through the front body, really hug everything up to meet your spine.
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Maybe you work to bring the palms to the earth, or maybe work to bring the forearms someday.
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Inhale in wherever you are.
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And exhale, let's make our way back to the top of the mat.
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So we're gonna turn to the lunge, step the right foot back, Plank Pose.
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Inhale in, exhale to lower.
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Just one big wave here.
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Inhale, lift up, Cobra.
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Then exhale to bring it all the way back down.
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Curl the toes under.
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Inhale, press up to Plank.
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Exhale, Downward Facing Dog.
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Inhale in again.
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And exhale to release.
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Great. We're gonna walk the hands and feet to the center of the mat now.
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And then from here, nice hip width apart in the feet, nice wide stance.
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We're gonna bring the hands to the waistline, bend your knees and slowly rise up.
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Beautiful. Take a second here in this kind of superhero posture.
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Just feel your own energy, your own vibration.
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Your vibration is your currency, so it's so important to take this time to check in and to cultivate your own presence, really, and in a really true and honest way.
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So on that note, I can think of no better ending to this practice than to really awaken to our true nature by practicing a little somatic movement that I like to call Knocking On Heaven's Doors.
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So you wanna make sure the feet are at least hip width apart. If you've never done this before and you're like looking at me, (chuckles) I get it, I get it.
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Soft bend in the knees.
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Keep the note of paying attention to the spine here, just using your imagination, but also your awareness of the physicality, where it's all coming from, and you're gonna start to, as I've been doing, rock a little left to right and allow the dead weight of your arms to sway.
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Your eyes kind of trace the center line, the navel and the eyes and neck all moving together.
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And then you can start to really pick up the pace.
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If you're feeling silly or sassy, maybe you give your own booty a little smack.
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Why not? Again, we're not locked in the knees here.
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Alright, so I'm gonna pipe down for a bit and allow you to really tune in to the sound of your breath here.
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When the brain, the mind wants to kind of give up, see what happens if you stay, stay awhile.
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Stay with it.
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And stay with it for five, four, three, breathe, two, and on the one, just slow it down nice and easy.
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Bring the feet underneath the hips and stand here in Mountain Pose.
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Just notice how you feel, close your eyes or soften your gaze.
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And just take a second here to scan your body.
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Notice how you feel.
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Using this practice to really embody in truths and philosophy that feel right for you, right?
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You know, the philosophy of yoga is so beautiful, but it's so lovely to show up on the mat because you can kind of see what reveals itself as valuable or beneficial for you that day.
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Draw the hands together.
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We're gonna take three breaths to close.
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If you're wanting a little more after this, I suggest alternate nostril breathing.
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And if you're interested in practicing that with me, there is a video practice for that.
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Walk your feet underneath you.
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See if you can not look at the ground while you bring your feet together.
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The ground is there.
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And here we go.
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Inhaling in deeply.
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And exhaling out the nose or the mouth, your choice.
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And again, deep breath in.
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And long breath out.
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This final one, let it just be a really loving, just vibrant, just feel good breath.
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Inhale in deeply.
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And exhale, let it go.
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Thank you so much for joining me, and Benji, for this practice today.
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I look forward to seeing you again soon.
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Take good care.
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Namaste. (upbeat music)
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Why This Yoga Video Is Great for English Speaking Practice
This 22-minute yoga video is a hidden gem for English learners. The dialogue is conversational, slow-paced, and packed with everyday phrases—perfect for practicing pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm. Adriene’s warm, encouraging tone makes it easy to follow, while the mix of instruction and casual asides (like her interaction with Benji) mirrors real-life speech. It’s not just about learning words; it’s about understanding how English flows in a natural, unscripted setting. Plus, the focus on movement keeps you engaged, making it easier to stay focused on the language.
Breaking Down Natural English Phrases
Let’s look at a few lines that sound authentic and why they work: - “Hop into something comfy and let's get started.” The phrase “hop into” is a casual, friendly way to say “put on,” and “comfy” is a common abbreviation for “comfortable.” This shows how native speakers shorten words in relaxed contexts. - “Just take a second to relax the shoulders, maybe softly move the head and the neck around.” The use of “just take a second” and “maybe” makes the instruction feel gentle, not bossy. It’s a great example of how to soften language in everyday communication. - “A little goes a long way.” This is a popular idiom meaning small efforts can have big results. Learning such phrases helps you sound more fluent and connected to the culture. - “Whoa, Benji.” This quick, unplanned exclamation shows how native speakers react spontaneously. It’s a reminder that real speech isn’t always perfectly structured.
A Simple Shadowing Routine for This Video
Use the shadowing technique to practice with this video—here’s how:
- Watch the video once to understand the content and flow.
- Play a 5-second clip, pause, and repeat it out loud, mimicking Adriene’s tone, speed, and stress. Focus on matching her rhythm, especially in phrases like “inhale in through the nose, deep breath.”
- Record yourself shadowing. Compare your recording to the video—note where your pronunciation or intonation differs. A shadowing site or app can help with this, but even a phone works.
- Gradually increase the clip length to 10-15 seconds. Pay attention to casual phrases like “let's get movin'” (short for “moving”) to master conversational shortcuts.
- Once you’re comfortable, try shadow speech—speaking along with the video in real time. This trains your brain to process and produce English quickly, improving fluency.
Learning English with YouTube videos like this one makes practice fun and practical. The key is consistency—even 5 minutes a day with the shadowspeak method will help you sound more natural over time. So grab your mat, hit play, and turn your yoga session into a language learning win!
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.