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Shadowing practice: Yoga For Complete Beginners - 20 Minute Home Yoga Workout!

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  1. Hey everyone and welcome to Yoga with Adriene.0:00
  2. I am Adriene and I'm super excited because today we have a sequence for the complete beginner.0:02
  3. So if you're new to yoga or you've been curious about yoga practice and all its wonderful beautiful benefits, this is a great sequence for you.0:07
  4. You don't need any blocks, you don't need any blankets.0:15
  5. All you need is your body and an open mind.0:17
  6. If you are new to yoga, you can get the full video on our website at www .youtube .com .au Okay my friends and my new friends, we're going to0:29
  7. begin in a cross -legged position.0:39
  8. We call this Sukhasana or the easy pose, the pose of ease.0:41
  9. Take a second here to check in with the breath by maybe looping the shoulders a couple times forward, up and back.0:45
  10. Inhale, looping forward.0:52
  11. Exhale, grounding down and back.0:55
  12. Just finding a little organic movement here.1:01
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  1. And then maybe checking in with the neck by just maybe moving one ear over one shoulder.1:05
  2. And then we'll go forward chin to chest, shaking the head, yes.1:11
  3. And now no.1:20
  4. Okay coming back to center, we'll bring the head over the heart, the heart over the pelvis.1:25
  5. So take a second to maybe close your eyes or soften the gaze so you can just go inward a little bit here.1:30
  6. As we find alignment, head over heart, heart over pelvis.1:34
  7. We lift the sternum, lift the chest and then again ground down through the elbows here on the exhale.1:38
  8. Find a nice space between the ears and the shoulders.1:45
  9. And we just kind of come into the moment with a little integrity, whatever that means to you.1:48
  10. For me it means body awareness, mind awareness, noticing where my thoughts are and coming back to that body awareness.1:53
  11. And then see if you can begin to deepen your breath here.2:01
  12. Nice long inhale in and a nice long juicy exhale out.2:03
  13. Keep that going, nice long inhalation.2:10
  14. And a nice long extended exhale out.2:16
  15. Draw your palms together at the heart.2:21
  16. Take a deep breath in.2:23
  17. Each time we come here, this is a great little beginner's tip.2:24
  18. Each time we come to this mudra, we call it angeli mudra, you can think about lifting your sternum or your heart up to your chest.2:27
  19. So often when we get a little bit tired and we will in our practice, we can have this little reminder to loop the shoulders and lift the sternum to2:33
  20. the thumbs.2:40
  21. Each time we come to this hands at the heart or this prayer position, angeli mudra.2:40
  22. So practice that now.2:47
  23. Inhale, lift your sternum up to your thumbs.2:48
  24. Draw your lower belly or navel in to meet your spine.2:51
  25. So again we're just coming into this active body but with a sense of ease.2:54
  26. This is going to be the wonderful tool for beginning a yoga practice, just kind of finding the balance between active body, strength, engaging qualities, and then also a softness,2:59
  27. an ease, a lightness, a calmness if you will.3:12
  28. Finding a place where those two can dance and be together is what our yoga is all about.3:16
  29. Interlace the fingertips, follow your breath as you inhale, press the palms forward, up and back.3:21
  30. Nice and easy here as we climb up the side body, climb up the spine, and on your next exhale, release the fingertips down.3:29
  31. Nothing fancy here, just checking with the body, checking with the breath.3:37
  32. Inhale again, forward, up and back.3:41
  33. On your exhale, fingertips release with elegance, with ease, opening the shoulders, opening the chest, checking with the side body.3:44
  34. One more here as we ground down through the tops of the thighs, deep breath, and exhale, release.3:51
  35. Great, take your right palm to your left knee, sit up nice and tall.4:00
  36. Send your left fingertips behind the tailbone here as you inhale, lift up, lift your heart, exhale, journey towards the left, find a gentle twist here, navel draws in towards4:04
  37. the spine.4:15
  38. And we remember that we come to the mat to have an experience in our body.4:17
  39. So don't crank yourself into the posture.4:22
  40. Have the experience of gently moving into the twist, maybe closing the eyes here for one last breath.4:25
  41. We gently release back to center and take it to the other side.4:35
  42. Left palms to right knee, sit up nice and tall.4:38
  43. This time I'm going to turn to the side so you can see my spine here.4:41
  44. The tendency is going to be to round forward.4:43
  45. We spend a lot of time here all the time.4:45
  46. So no worries.4:47
  47. And in time we're going to begin to lengthen tailbone down, lower back becomes nice and long, heart lifts, shoulder blades ground down, and we find our twist.4:49
  48. So what I'm trying to say here is don't sacrifice this lift in the heart and this length in the spine for a deeper twist.5:00
  49. Ouch, this is wrong, y 'all.5:07
  50. It's just wrong.5:09
  51. So find what feels right, what feels good.5:10
  52. So it might mean that you don't go all the way far back at first, but keep a nice mindful twist here.5:14
  53. Using that exhale to journey a little deeper, even if it's just energetically and then gently releasing back to center.5:21
  54. Great.5:31
  55. Take a second here, one more time to interlace the fingertips of the heart.5:32
  56. Inhale, palms reach forward, up and back, long puppy belly we stretch here, lift it up high, and then exhale, release fingertips to the mat.5:35
  57. Side body stretch, nice and easy.5:43
  58. Keep grounding through the legs here so the legs aren't just limp here.5:46
  59. They're nice and active.5:50
  60. Tops of the thighs drawing down.5:52
  61. Great.5:54
  62. Plant your left palm or left fingertips.5:54
  63. Yogi's choice, beginner's Yogi's choice.5:57
  64. So press into the palms or the fingertips and then send the right fingertips up, think up, up, up, up and then go over.5:59
  65. Careful not to just go over, trying to mimic and also know that you may have seen before.6:06
  66. Have an experience.6:09
  67. Inhale, reach it up, keep this lift in the heart and then exhale, side body stretch.6:10
  68. Now here we're not going to hold, but we're going to kind of set the tone for our yoga practice and our yoga journey by finding a little self -expression,6:16
  69. finding a little movement here.6:24
  70. You might sway up and down, front and back.6:25
  71. You might close your eyes, you might stretch your mouth, you might wiggle the fingertips, draw the shoulders away from the ears, take a deep breath in and exhale swiftly6:28
  72. through center and to the other side, creating space in the body, connecting to the breath.6:38
  73. Remember there's no right or wrong here.6:46
  74. It's great.6:48
  75. It just kind of takes the edge off.6:49
  76. We're going to learn some basics.6:51
  77. We're going to focus on alignment, but really it's about that self -expression.6:52
  78. So find a moment or two here to find a little movement.6:56
  79. And then swiftly we come back to center and we're going to take the palms and dive forward onto all fours.7:02
  80. Okay, so I'm going to align wrists underneath the shoulders and knees directly underneath the hip points.7:09
  81. I'm pressing into the tops of my feet here, toes are pointing straight back and my palms are spread super wide, my friends, super duper wide, spreading the palms like7:17
  82. star fish.7:26
  83. Now the most important thing I can teach you at this moment is to connect with this upward current of energy, whatever this means to you.7:28
  84. And that means not collapsing into the bones here, but pressing up and out of the earth.7:33
  85. Okay, so that means connecting to every part of the foundation, all parts of the body that's pressing into the mat.7:38
  86. And then remembering to find that integrity head and the heart, heart of the pelvis, but maybe creating a nice tabletop position here.7:46
  87. And so we're not sitting up straight anymore.7:54
  88. We've moved our center of gravity, but I can still work with that alignment, head, heart and pelvis in line.7:55
  89. Notice how I'm drawing my shoulders away from the ears.8:01
  90. And I'm remembering that my head, this neck is an extension of the spine.8:03
  91. So I'm not hanging out here.8:07
  92. I'm not crunching here, but I'm going ahead and taking the gaze down for now and finding a nice, long, beautiful neck.8:09
  93. Great.8:17
  94. You might feel a little bit of pressure in the arms and the wrist here.8:18
  95. Keep pressing up and out of the palms so that we can begin to build strength rather than collapse into the bones.8:21
  96. Okay, from here, one more breath.8:30
  97. I'm going to exhale.8:33
  98. On your next inhale, loop the shoulders, drop the belly, tailbone tilts up towards the sky as I look forward.8:36
  99. Little cat cow here, long neck.8:42
  100. Take your time.8:45
  101. No rush.8:46
  102. On the exhale, I start at my tailbone.8:48
  103. I travel up the spine, walking up the spine until the crown of the head is the last thing to release.8:50
  104. Take a breath cycle here in and out, letting the weight of the head go, navels drawing up towards the spine.8:57
  105. I'm pressing into the tops of the feet here.9:04
  106. I'm pressing up and out of the palms.9:06
  107. Deep breath in, inhale, looping the shoulders.9:08
  108. Heart radiates forward.9:13
  109. Then on the exhale, tucking the tail, drawing the navel up, closing the eyes to really have an experience here.9:16
  110. We call this spinal flex or cat cow.9:24
  111. And one more, inhale.9:26
  112. Pressing into all 10 knuckles, exhale, curling the tailbone in, starting there, traveling up the spine, chin to chest, crown of the head releases.9:30
  113. And then we inhale back to tabletop position.9:41
  114. Curl your toes, walk your fingertips back, a little yoga for the feet, a little beginner's feet moment here.9:44
  115. So for some, this is no biggie, no biggie.9:50
  116. For others, your feet are, your dogs are barking at you right now.9:53
  117. So you might just stay here.9:56
  118. Others might walk the palms all the way up, find that lift in the heart, deep breath in, press into your pinky toes.9:58
  119. This is a great opportunity to roll the wrists out.10:03
  120. Stay connecting to that breath.10:08
  121. Don't worry about how to breathe here.10:09
  122. Just continue to play with the breath, deepen the breath.10:11
  123. Then we'll come back to all fours.10:16
  124. Come on to the tops of the feet again.10:18
  125. Inhale, extend the right toes out long.10:20
  126. Go ahead and bring the right toes to the earth.10:22
  127. We're just going to take a couple seconds here to breathe into the back of that right leg.10:24
  128. Breathe into the calf.10:28
  129. Notice I'm not collapsing into my shoulders here, but I'm maintaining that lift so that slowly I can begin to build that strength in the arms and just that energetic10:30
  130. body, that lift we call it, has to bond to the hand to earth connection, this upward current of energy.10:39
  131. Great.10:44
  132. Notice how I'm rocking a little bit back and forth here, just finding that sit bone to heal connection.10:45
  133. I'm working at drawing my navel up towards my spine, kind of knitting the lower ribcage in and keeping the neck nice and long.10:49
  134. Then release back to tabletop position and take it to the other side, curling the left toes under now, stretching out the back of that leg, the calf, while still10:57
  135. maintaining a nice line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail.11:07
  136. Breathe.11:13
  137. And then we'll bring it back to tabletop position.11:14
  138. Great.11:17
  139. Curl the toes under, walk your palms out, and then slowly we're going to walk the knees back here.11:17
  140. Elbows are going to drop in line with the shoulders and in line with the wrists.11:25
  141. Then my pelvis is going to tilt up as my forehead maybe comes to the mat here and heart melts down towards the knees.11:29
  142. Now if your shoulders are having a wake up call right now, maybe you pulse in and out of it a couple times.11:37
  143. We call this anahata asana or heart to earth pose.11:42
  144. This is like a puppy posture here.11:45
  145. Like a half downward dog.11:48
  146. Take a couple breaths to your sway a little from side to side.11:51
  147. My shoulders are actually pretty tight.11:55
  148. A little sore from practice yesterday, so I'm finding a little bit of movement.11:57
  149. I'm never sitting in any sharp pain ever, but using my breath as a tool to move beyond the pain and find some movement.12:01
  150. Again, notice how the elbows, they're going to want to come out here.12:11
  151. See if you can keep them in line with the wrist and the shoulders.12:14
  152. One more breath here, heart to earth, pelvis tilting up towards the sky, and then I'll begin to curl the toes, inflate at the heart, inhale, lift the heart, press12:17
  153. into the palms, and then slowly, one leg at a time, nice and slow, I'm going to lift the sit bones up, dropping the left heel, then the right, and12:28
  154. come into our first downward dog together.12:38
  155. Now palms pressing like starfish into the earth, keeping that upward energy, that upward current up through the palms, through the arms, so I'm not collapsing my weight here.12:41
  156. I'm finding this nice length in the spine, and notice how I have really yet to straighten both my legs yet.12:51
  157. So don't worry about what you think downward dog is supposed to look like, but at my beginner's tip, and this is great for all yogis, we kind of always12:58
  158. try to inspire each other in the yoga world to come back to the beginner's mind, and I think downward dog's a great place to kind of check in with13:06
  159. that beginner's mind.13:13
  160. By first maybe finding a little movement, pedaling the feet, drawing the shoulder blades in and together, take a deep breath in, and then exhale, come back to the knees,13:14
  161. and walking the fingertips back up for a little rest.13:25
  162. Loop the shoulders, maybe a couple circles at the wrist, and we dive in for more.13:29
  163. Here we go, palms to the earth, belly to the tops of the thighs this time, slowly, slowly building to a nice still dog, where we take a second here13:36
  164. to be with the breath.13:46
  165. Now tops of the shoulders are drawing away from the ears, my two big toes are turned in just slightly, sit bones shining up towards the sky.13:48
  166. I knit my lower rib cage together, I press up and out of my palms, I make sure my head is nice and loose, not holding in the neck.13:57
  167. Tops of the thighs have the sweet inner spiral going in towards the back of the mat.14:05
  168. I take a nice deep breath in through the nose, and exhale out through the mouth.14:10
  169. It's allergy season here in Austin.14:18
  170. Inhale in through the nose, and exhale out through the mouth.14:20
  171. Bend your knees generously, go for a little walk slowly up towards the front edge of your mat, come onto the fingertips when you need to, and together we'll land14:26
  172. in a forward fold, feet hip width apart, knees bent as generously as you need, and we let it all hang.14:34
  173. Breathe, breathing into the lower back, Uttanasana here, we might grab the elbows and rock a little side to side, then releasing the arms, bringing them to the waistline here,14:42
  174. perhaps using the thumbs here to kind of hook behind the back as I loop the shoulders, press in all four corners of the feet, and slowly rise up.14:53
  175. Coming into kind of a superhero pose here as I loop the shoulders, find that lift in the chest, and I'm actually going to move to the front here so15:02
  176. you can see me a little bit better.15:10
  177. So I'm coming into a mountain pose, we call this Tadasana, with the feet hip width apart, toes are pointing forward, and really this is about connecting to the earth,15:11
  178. feeling strong.15:20
  179. We practice this here so that later on when we come into all these kind of other fun crazy poses, we've practiced again that upward current of motion while also15:22
  180. grounding down.15:30
  181. So for now, just check in with the feet, spreading awareness through all four corners of the feet, perhaps drawing energy up through the arches of the feet, maybe even15:32
  182. lifting the kneecaps, toning the quads, just kind of bringing a little active energy into the body, as once again we draw the palms together at the heart, and aha,15:41
  183. lift the sternum to the thumbs.15:51
  184. Tuck your pelvis in everyone, and again close your eyes, find that head over heart, heart over pelvis, this time pelvis over heels, or the center of the heels.15:53
  185. Interlace the fingertips, soften the knees, find a little buoyancy here as we inhale, reach forward, up, and back.16:03
  186. Nice tall stretch here, and then exhale releasing the fingertips down, just like we did when we were seated, opening the chest, inhale, soft knees, reaching forward, up and back,16:11
  187. tailbone lengthens down, tuck your pelvis, and exhale, opening the shoulders, fingertips might move a little bit here, maybe checking in with the neck this time, inhale, forward, up and16:24
  188. back, lengthening the tailbone down, exhale.16:37
  189. Oh awesome, take a second here to draw a couple circles with your nose, check in with the neck.16:43
  190. Often we think in yoga, you know, we have to be in these crazy pretzel shapes, but really for me each day yoga really begins with this movement, this gesture,16:50
  191. drawing circles one way and then the checking with my neck, grounding down through my shoulders and elbows and fingertips.17:00
  192. Feels good.17:09
  193. Okay, take a second, soft knees to bend the knees, and then reach the fingertips up, volcano pose.17:10
  194. I'm lifting my toes here just to press into all four corners of my feet, I'm tucking my pelvis in.17:16
  195. The arms might get tired right away here with practice, you'll notice this gets easier.17:21
  196. Pull the thumbs back, find a flying V if you feel like this, like no space, find some space, release the toes back down if you haven't already and breathe,17:25
  197. spread the fingertips and celebration of you and your new yoga practice.17:33
  198. Then take the right hand and grab the left wrist, again just like we did before in the side body stretch, think up and over, so rather than just to17:38
  199. the side, youch, think up, length, length, length and then over.17:46
  200. This will look a little different for everyone, again you can find a little self -expression here as you maybe sway a little back and forth.17:51
  201. Then we'll come back to center, I know arms might be getting tired here, hang with me, grab the opposite wrist, think up and over as you breathe into the17:58
  202. stretch.18:06
  203. Round down through your feet, remember that sit bone to heel connection, tuck your pelvis and then we come back to volcano pose for one breath as we inhale, look18:11
  204. up by drawing a line with the nose up and then exhale back down at the heart, palms to the sternum as we lift it up.18:19
  205. Awesome, bring the hands to the waistline.18:30
  206. So we're going to take the right foot forward and the left foot back.18:33
  207. I'm wanting to get to a place, I'm not going to spend too much time on all the fine details because I'm wanting just to just get a taste for18:39
  208. things.18:45
  209. So right toes are going to point forward, left toes are going to point towards the front left corner of the mat and I'm going to make sure that I'm18:45
  210. on two planes rather than one tight rope, like two skis, I have lots of space, like maybe hit point apart.18:52
  211. Take your right thumb, pull your right hit point back, then see if you can tuck your pelvis and do this thing we've been working on where we align head19:00
  212. over heart, heart over pelvis.19:06
  213. Now the tendency is that the pelvis is going to want to spill back, hey oh, but I'm going to lengthen the tailbone down, tuck my pelvis and find integrity19:08
  214. in the torso, kind of lighting that fire in my belly too.19:15
  215. Great, hands on the waistline here as I loop the shoulders and breathe.19:20
  216. Back heel is on the earth strong, both legs are charged by maybe squeezing the inner thighs together, finding that scissor effect got excited there and then finding that length19:24
  217. in the crown.19:35
  218. Breathe here, you can stay here, bending that front knee generously.19:37
  219. Eventually I'm going to want to get to a place where the bottom of that thigh is parallel to the earth, but in due time, in due time.19:41
  220. So I can stay here, hands on the waist or I can reach the fingertips behind the ears and reach it up.19:47
  221. Voila, I'm in warrior one, Vir Bedrasana one, pull the thumbs back, remember your alignment, draw your navel and slightly breathe here.19:52
  222. If you feel like, oh, hug those inner thighs together, find stability as you breathe.20:01
  223. Take a deep breath in, inhale as you exhale, open up towards the left side of your mat.20:07
  224. Ah, warrior two.20:12
  225. I might walk my front toes towards the front edge of the mat and I might find a little bit more space here, little wider stance is what I'm trying20:13
  226. to say as I pull my pinkies back and find that lift in the heart.20:21
  227. Breathe here, strong legs and then exhale, hands to the waistline and I'm going to turn my right toes in and my left toes out to take it to the20:25
  228. other side.20:35
  229. Now we're going to work in reverse order here.20:36
  230. It's a little yoga for the brain too, coming into our warrior two on the left side first.20:38
  231. Bend the knee.20:43
  232. The tendency is you're going to be like, I'm not strong so I'm going to hang out.20:45
  233. I'm going to like not bend that knee so far right away, but I think you'd be surprised.20:48
  234. Get a little, get in there, get a little juicy.20:53
  235. Make sure your feet are stacked just where you need them so we're not on that tight rope.20:55
  236. We're really paying attention to our foundation, working our yoga poses from the ground up.21:00
  237. Deep breath in here and exhale, hands to the waistline.21:04
  238. Then I'm going to step the back foot in just a little bit so that I can bring that back heel to the earth.21:09
  239. Strong legs, strong lower body as I move my hip points gently towards the back edge, which is now the front edge of the mat.21:15
  240. Lengthen the tailbone down, find that lift in the heart.21:23
  241. We can stay here or we can reach the fingertips behind the ears to come up.21:27
  242. Voila, warrior one in the opposite side.21:31
  243. Again, don't worry about trying to create that perfect image, that perfect asana.21:33
  244. It really is about having an experience and then growing the pose.21:38
  245. That makes it fun too and less work.21:43
  246. Okay, one more nice long inhale in here.21:46
  247. Hang with me.21:48
  248. Hug those inner thighs towards the midline and on an exhale float the fingertips down back to the waistline for a little stability, hooking my thumbs behind here.21:49
  249. Then I'm going to turn the left toes in, come back to center and I'm going to heel toe, heel toe my feet back into center.21:59
  250. When you hear that in yoga class, that's what this means.22:06
  251. Heel toe, heel toe.22:08
  252. It's kind of silly.22:10
  253. Okay, this time I'm going to challenge my center of gravity by coming feet flush together.22:12
  254. Before we were hip width apart, now I'm going to stand up nice and tall into dasen, where I'll finish my practice today, bringing the fingertips down, maybe closing the22:17
  255. eyes, kind of challenging that center of gravity, taking the experience of my practice and drawing the palms together at the heart.22:26
  256. Inhale in and nice long exhale out to dasen.22:35
  257. Okay, doke.22:42
  258. So that was just a simple sequence to get us started.22:43
  259. The hardest thing I often discover and I'm sure many, many yogis will agree, the hardest part is just showing up, just rolling out the mat, just getting to the22:47
  260. gym, getting to class, taking a moment for yourself.22:56
  261. So congrats to you for making it this far and you can favorite this video and return to it once a day for a week.23:00
  262. See how that goes.23:07
  263. Check out our Foundations of Yoga series, also really awesome for beginners where we get back to basics and we take the time to break down each pose.23:08
  264. Leave comments, questions below.23:16
  265. Subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and I will see you next time.23:18
  266. Namaste.23:21

A slow, clear american voice: english listening practice in a beginner yoga class

This clip opens a twenty minute beginner yoga class from Yoga With Adriene, and one speaker carries the whole thing in a calm American accent. She talks at 209 words per minute, faster than 68 percent of the catalogue, but each sentence covers a single idea, so the pace reads as steady rather than rushed, which makes it a solid place to start with american accent training and improve your english accent through repetition.

The level is A2, and the opening lines match that: "Hey everyone and welcome to Yoga with Adriene." then a plain statement of what you need, "You don't need any blocks, you don't need any blankets." Nothing here is scripted for drama, it is instructional monologue meant to be followed while moving, and that plainness is exactly what makes it useful for english listening practice before you try to speak any of it back.

The language of this yoga narration: phrases to shadow for english shadowing for beginners

Three moments are worth slowing down for. "We call this Sukhasana or the easy pose, the pose of ease." shows Adriene naming a term and then restating it twice in plain English, a habit that repeats through the class and is simple to copy out loud. "Inhale, looping forward." and "Exhale, grounding down and back." are stripped down commands timed to breath, with the stress falling hard on the first word of each. There are no reduced forms measured in this recording, so every word is said in full, which makes the mouth shapes easier to copy while you shadow this line for english shadowing for beginners.

  • "We call this Sukhasana or the easy pose, the pose of ease.": a naming pattern followed by two paraphrases, good for practising even, unhurried sentence rhythm.
  • "Inhale, looping forward." then "Exhale, grounding down and back.": breath cued imperatives, practice the falling pitch on "looping" and on "back".
  • "All you need is your body and an open mind.": a full sentence with no reductions, useful for shaping each word clearly rather than rushing through it.

A concrete plan for english speaking practice with this beginner yoga sequence

Work the opening minute in the order it was said, since each line sets up the next move on screen.

  • Play "Hey everyone and welcome to Yoga with Adriene." once, then say it back before playing it again, matching her opening pitch.
  • Shadow "You don't need any blocks, you don't need any blankets." twice in a row, keeping the same flat, reassuring tone both times.
  • Isolate "We call this Sukhasana or the easy pose, the pose of ease." and repeat it until the pause after "Sukhasana" sounds natural instead of rushed.
  • Pair "Inhale, looping forward." with "Exhale, grounding down and back." and say each one while actually breathing in and out, since the timing is the whole point of this clip.
  • Close with "Draw your palms together at the heart." and "Take a deep breath in." back to back, the two lines that end this opening segment, and check your recording against hers for english speaking practice.
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