Shadowing Practice: Yoga For Tight Hamstrings & Lower Back | Yoga With Adriene - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hello, dear friends, Welcome to Yoga with Adriene!
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I'm Adriene, this is sweet Benji.
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And today we have a Ten Minute Yoga for Tight Hamstrings.
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So we're going to jump right in.
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Come on down to the ground.
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Find yourself a seat.
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And you can sit up on a blanket or a block or some towels.
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Get a little lift in the hips if that helps you begin in this position.
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We'll sit up nice and tall, and although we are focusing on tight hamstrings today, we always take a second to tune in and really approach this time as valuable, beneficial time to reconnect with ourselves.
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Taking a holistic approach, considering the whole body, all parts of the self.
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So let's begin by softening our gaze or closing down the eyes just for a moment.
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Allow your shoulders to relax and allow yourself to be here for this, these ten minutes.
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It's going to go by quick.
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So give yourself whatever permission you may need to just be present for this short session.
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Good. We've arrived.
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Take a deep breath in through the nose.
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And out through the nose or mouth.
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And one more time.
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In through the nose.
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And as you exhale out through the nose or mouth, see if you can relax your shoulders.
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Drop them down away from your ears.
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Maybe just a little bit more.
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Beautiful. On your next breath, let's use that inhalation to come out of our seat and move to a tabletop position.
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Continue to breathe here with as much awareness as you can muster.
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And really, that just means paying attention to the breath, not...
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not allowing it to just go on automatic.
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From your tabletop position.
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We'll move with the breath.
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Inhale to drop the belly, open the chest, look forward.
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Exhale to round through the spine, chin to chest.
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Really finding this big stretch in the low back one more time.
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Inhale drop the belly.
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Open the chest.
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Exhale round through the spine.
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Feel this stretch in the back body.
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Draw your navel up to your spine.
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Nice. Now inhale back to tabletop position.
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Extend just your right leg out.
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Curl your right toes under.
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Extend through your right heel.
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So you're really feeling that stretch in the Achilles in the ankle, the calf back of the knee and the hamstring.
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And then with an awareness of the crown of your head reaching forward so the head's not just dropped here, begin to rock a little front and back.
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Peek at me anytime if you need to.
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Nice. And then we'll take that right foot and step it all the way up to the top of our mat.
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Feel free to use your right hand to help guide it up, and we'll come into a low lunge here by walking the left knee back just a bit and aiming to get that front knee stacked over the front ankle.
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Inhale to look forward.
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Exhale. Stay here and relax the shoulders.
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Good. Inhale look forward.
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On your exhale shift your hips back.
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Flex your right toes towards your face.
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And breathe here in this stretch soft bend or generous bend in that right knee.
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So we don't want to lock out the knee here.
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We want to find that bend in the knee so that we can target the hamstring with a little more specificity.
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You continue to notice your breath, breathe with awareness.
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And then rolling through that right foot, we'll plant the palms.
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And we're going to step back to downward facing dog.
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So you can move slowly mindfully we'll send the hips up high, melt the heart down ground through the knuckles and the fingertips.
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And then here, just take a couple moments to peddle out through the feet.
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Breathe. And then when you are ready, step the left foot forward into your lunge.
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Lower the right knee.
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Walk it back just a bit.
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Find your footing.
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Find your foundation and then inhale.
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Open the chest.
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Look forward.
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Stay for the exhale as you relax your shoulders down.
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Inhale in again and exhale to send the hips back.
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Now flexing your left toes towards your face.
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Big stretch here. Stay with it. Breathe.
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Gentle bend in the left knee.
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Giving the busy mind maybe a little break.
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And staying with the sensation here on your mat.
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Roll through that left foot.
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Plant the palms.
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Step it back to downward facing dog.
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Peddle it out. Three breaths here.
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Nice slow, smooth, steady breathing.
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After the third breath, we'll come up onto the tippy tip tip toes.
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I don't know if that was necessary.
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Could have just said tippy toes, but tippy tip tip.
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Ground through the index finger and thumb, imagine lifting a little bit more from your hip creases, maybe getting a little more melt in the heart.
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Maybe not. Inhale in again and then exhale.
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Let the heels get heavy.
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Drop them down. It's okay.
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They don't need to touch the mat.
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Beautiful. Then slowly and with control come back to all fours.
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Tabletop position.
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Curl the left toes under.
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Extend the left toes out and we'll give it a rock here.
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Beautiful. Come back to tabletop position.
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Swing the legs to one side.
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Any side. We'll come through to a seat.
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You can sit up on a prop if it feels right here.
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Bend the knees.
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Take the hands behind the thighs.
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Inhale. Lift your chest.
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Exhale slowly.
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Bring your heart forward and we'll begin to melt into a seated forward fold variation so you can stay here breathing.
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You can begin to extend through the heels.
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Breathing. You might grab the shins, the ankles or the feet.
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Maybe taking a bind by bringing the index finger and thumb to the big toe, index finger, middle finger and thumb.
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So I'll quiet down here and allow you to take three to five breaths here in this posture, I recommend softening your gaze or closing the eyes.
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Breathing with the sensation.
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And when you're ready in your own time, we can slowly release this and come to lie flat on our backs, knees bent, feet planted firmly on the earth.
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Get centered on your mat.
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And when you're ready on your inhale, send just the right leg up.
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Flex the right foot.
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Interlace the fingertips behind the right thigh.
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Stay here. Breathing can also use a strap or a little towel here to help give you a little support in and connecting with this.
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Leg up stretch like so.
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Or if you want to take it a little bit deeper, we can climb all the way up towards the ankle or take the bind even here.
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So everybody's going to be different.
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I recommend keeping a soft bend in that right knee.
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Final option is to extend the left leg, keep some energy through the left foot.
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Everyone use your next exhale to relax your shoulders.
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And then we'll switch.
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Right foot comes down.
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Take your time.
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Left foot goes up and we'll do the same thing on this side.
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Notice how this side might feel a little bit different.
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Stay present.
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This is the last move of our session here together.
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So keep your awareness on your breath and noticing any sensation in the body here.
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Maybe extend that right leg.
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And on your next exhalation, use it to relax your shoulders.
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And then we'll release.
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Hug both knees into the chest.
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Give yourself a big squeeze.
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Maybe rock a little side to side, then slide the hands behind the thighs.
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One last time.
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We'll rock and roll up and down the length of the spine.
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And you are done.
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We did it! Thank you so much for spending this time with me, and for spending this time with yourself, with your body and your breath.
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I will see you next time. Take good care. Namaste.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Yoga For Tight Hamstrings & Lower Back”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: knee, exhale, inhale, breath, toe. This video has 134 sentences and 1321 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:12. The speaker talks at a steady 130 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| breathe verb | /bɹiːð/ | To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases. |
| exhale verb | /ˌɛksˈheɪ̯l/ | To expel air from the lungs through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm, to breathe out. |
| inhale verb | /ɪnˈheɪl/ | To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm. |
| toe noun | /təʊ/ | Each of the five digits on the end of the human foot. |
| bend verb | /bɛnd/ | To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means. |
| relax verb | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | To make something loose. |
| tabletop noun | The flat, horizontal upper surface of a table. | |
| hamstring noun | /ˈhæmstɹɪŋ/ | One of the great tendons situated in each side of the ham, or space back of the knee, and connected with the muscles of the back of the thigh. |
| spine noun | /spaɪn/ | A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and… |
| ankle noun | /ˈæŋ.kəl/ | The skeletal joint which connects the foot with the leg; the uppermost portion of the foot and lowermost portion of the leg, which contain this skeletal joint. |
| tippy adjective | /ˈtɪpi/ | Of tea, having a large amount of tips, or leaf buds. |
| thigh noun | /θaɪ/ | The upper leg of a human, between the hip and the knee. |
| flex verb | /flɛks/ | To bend something. |
| heel noun | /hil/ | The rear part of the foot, where it joins the leg. |
| sensation noun | /sɛnˈseɪʃən/ | A physical feeling or perception from something that comes into contact with the body; something sensed. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| close down verb | /kləʊzˈdaʊn/ | To stop trading as a business. |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. | |
| go up verb | To move upwards. | |
| roll up verb | To dominate by accumulating; to become dominant by accumulating. | |
| sit up verb | To assume a sitting position from a position lying down. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- We'll move with the breath.
- I don't know if that was necessary.
- We'll come through to a seat.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain | may need · might grab · might feel |
| Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction | We'll sit · We'll move · we'll take |
| Future with “going to” be going to + verb — a plan or something you can see coming | we're going to jump · It's going to go · we're going to step |
| Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary | need to just be · need to touch |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 25 contractions and reduced forms, such as we'll, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, thigh /θaɪ/, thumb /ˈθʌm/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: sensation /sɛnˈseɪʃən/, exhalation /ˌɛkshəˈleɪ̯ʃən/, inhalation /ˌɪnhəˈleɪʃən/, shin /ʃɪn/, variation /ˌvɛəɹiˈeɪʃn̩/
- Long words — get the stress right: exhalation /ˌɛkshəˈleɪ̯ʃən/, inhalation /ˌɪnhəˈleɪʃən/, specificity /spɛsɪˈfɪsɪti/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like breathe, exhale, inhale.
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.