In 2011 I worked as a nanny Monday through Friday, I taught creative arts for children part time, rehearsed and performed as a professional actor in the evenings, and taught yoga six days a week to people ranging from toddlers to seniors. (Not all at once.)
I taught in schools, gyms, studios, art galleries, warehouses, theaters, museums, private homes. I led yoga in a backyard for a birthday, on the lawn of the local independent grocer, and outside at the local cafe, Casa De Luz. Passionate about yoga, and inspired to share it with as many people as would hear me out, I was posting frequent invitations on Facebook, through email, and with homemade posters, for friends to come on out and try a practice.
In March of 2011 I received email correspondence from a friend and indie film collaborator, Chris Sharpe. We had worked with each other on a super fun, fiercely creative, wild ride of a film that never got finished or saw the proper light of apocalyptic day. We were both interested in silent film, both born in September, and both passionate about storytelling. We got along and respected one another since day one of meeting, which was through a virtual audition (ahead of our time) for the aforementioned indie feature, The Spider Babies.
Both eager to achieve and unlock the dream of working and living as full time professional artists, he wrote to me. He included a friendly update on life, as well as a fortuitous (and super secret) proposal for a project.
In September in 2012, Chris and I uploaded this video to a platform I had heard of called YouTube, welcoming whoever would listen to join me for practice. Spoiler alert, not many did. Or at least not right away. But little by little, with a consistent single video offering each week, we delighted in the things we were learning, and the indelible surprise (at least to me) at the eventual growth.
People were tuning in to participate, to connect, to listen, and feel seen.
Heroes.
A home practice is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It is at times excruciatingly personal. You can stop it, call it quits, cheat on your breath, cheat on yourself, anytime, no problem, super easy, just hit it - turn off and move on.
A home practice is private too. But without the expensive trainer or guru looking down on you. It’s strange, it’s weird, and precarious at times.
But it’s also deep, it’s precious, it’s an emptiness that you and only you can choose how to fill. A structure for you to find wholeness. A practice for living your life.
Home practice invites you to unite with what matters most. To celebrate your body, your breath, to not cheat or sell yourself short.
It allows you to ask, “Who am I when no one is watching?”
Your wellbeing is my well being. My well being is your well being.
This is the essence of Yoga With Adriene, a yoga community that was born a decade ago.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Yoga With Adriene we wanted to do something special, something that would mark this moment in time, this YWA era, and inspire us to keep going. I am thrilled and honored to partner with Manduka to create our anniversary collection for the home yoga practice.
Designed and made thoughtfully in tribute to an international community of over 11 million people… and pets. This collection is limited, and intended to live beautifully in your home and your practice space. May you feel the love it was created with and may it support you for a lifetime.
We have a lot of exciting things in the pipeline this week. Be sure to get your September Yoga Calendar! You will see a month long of celebratory practices - including a brand new free practice perfect for a special occasion.
I am wrapping up two weeks of production on your next 30 Day Yoga Journey. That’s right, we are filming early this year to allow for time and space for family and reflection at the end of the year.
I am so grateful for the incredible YWA and FWFG team that I get to work with each day. In a lot of ways, they are my family. And I want to honor them the way they honor me by publicly saying thank you. Thank you for the way you show up to work, the way you believe in the impact of our practices, and for always putting community first.
And thank you dear community, you have and will always be the heart of Yoga With Adriene.
Happy ten years!
Yours,
Adriene
PS: The Manduka With Adriene collection will drop on September 1st!
Thank you, I appreciate your help and all your beautiful yoga lessons, they give me strength, calmness and peace, and of course I feel my mody toned and stretchy
adrienne happy ten years
I stumbled into Yoga with Adriene by chance couple of years ago during lockdown. The feeling was like coming home. I have arrived.
Doing yoga for the last 30 years I have tried few diferente classes.
Yoga with Adriene is the Yoga that I always believe. You don’t need fancy clothes or show up your abbs or go upside down. It is a journey of respect and discovering your potential and limits. Some days we are strong and some days we are in need to be quiet. It has helped me immensely after the loss of my father.
Thank you so much!
♀️
Congratulations on 10 years!
I love your channel and I am so happy that it became a success!
Thank you for all you do!
Namaste!
This is an exciting time for you and the rest of team, thank you for letting us all share in the celebration!!! Congrats on 10 years and here’s to at least 10 more!!!
Love you from Wisconsin!
After retiring, I have time to go to in person yoga classes but much prefer choosing one of your many exciting online classes each day after my morning walk. Thank you!!!
The pandemic brought me to find you. I was doing yoga at my local gym. Years before began at a local community location. The gym closed and I knew I had to keep connected to yoga. I thought I needed a group for accountability. I learned I do not, simply showing up with you and Beni on YouTube practice has brought me to the best shape I have ever been. I will turn 60 next year. I practice more often because I can join you at anytime. Thank you. Congratulations,Happy Anniversary, you, Benjamin and Chris are appreciated.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful gifts and inspiring life
I am so incredibly grateful for you, Adriene. My body fell apart beginning in 2020 and your yoga practice has helped heal me physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Little by little, I am getting stronger, but Yoga with Adriene and Benji has kept me sane. Namaste!!
Thank you so much Adriene for 10 years of your energy , classes,time,motivation and spreading the love !.Namaste !!
Love to you.
Sincerely,
Steve Lewis
I love your YouTube classes. I always let the advertisements complete, except the ones > 5 minutes, before I start the class. Some of them are very interesting.
I had been using them for a very long time and you were recommended by the Neighborhood Acupuncture Project in Austin, love that place.
Thank you all very much for the programs, but these classes have been very beneficial. I have lost weight and increased flexibility Not bad for a 67 yo Cranky Old Guy.
Thank you all very very much
Ed Walsh
Love you and your essence, message, and practice
I am grateful to have found you. A yoga teacher myself , everything you say speaks to my soul - truthfully.
1000 thank you from the bottom of my heart! For sending your care and soul, for the enormously job you do! You have given so much good for me building up my health strength and inner calm. Doing the exercises with you (and Benji) means and contribute care and stability and a source to continuity and relief even in hard, tuff conditions. I wish you safety, health and a sense to live your own life first and caring for us others secondarily. Sincerely yours Marie Eidem, Stockhom
Hi Adrienne and team, I was unable to get Manduka to ship to Australia. Would love one of the two tone mats! Is there any way this might be made available?
Love your work, can't wait for the next 30 days yoga journey.
Happy 10th Birthday!
FWFG subscriber, Ben
HAPPY 10 YEARS ANNIVERSARY THANK YOU
Subscription problems, please help. Since the love letter went less than weekly, I no longer receive it in my inbox. I have somehow been removed from the list. I have Re -subscribed many times with out success. I don’t even receive the confirmation email. In the past I received the weekly love letter for years. Your help would be deeply appreciated. Thank you Becky
Hi Becky, thank you for expressing your concern with us! Please contact [email protected] for assistance.
You've literally saved my life. My health would not be what it is today if I had not found Yoga with Adriene five years ago. Thank you Adriene and Benji. Sending you all my LOVE xoxoxo
I’m so delighted that I have Yoga with Adrienne on my YouTube channel for my home practice. I might do only 30 minutes but I always feel better for it. Thank you so much for giving so much more than Yoga. You have improved my life in many ways. My husband now does yoga with you, and his back thanks you too!
Namaste
Elayne
Congratulations Adriene and the whole YWA/FWFG team on ten years! What a positive impact you have made on the world! Keep up the amazing work. I appreciate it and I know so many others do as well. All my love!
Love your tutorials so much. They helped me create some sort of normality and sanity during the pandemic.
When are you coming to the UK again?
I'm grateful for 10 years, though a participant for 2 years. The specificity is so helpful. I can search a "need" of the day and find a YWA video that walks me through the need and into my most well shape to enjoy and share the day. Also, Adrienne is an example of ego free connection and love, walks the talk with coherence.
Your Youtube videos have been invaluable to my attaining and maintaining a level of strength, mobility and balance that I had lost due to age and a back injury. I do miss being able to ask a human being how to adapt poses for my personal needs, but I do appreciate you encouraging us to find what feels good.
Thank you for all you have done and I sincerely hope that we continue to have access to old and new YouTube links for years to come. I can't wait for the next 30 program!
Thank you Adriene and Chris for bringing your vision to us. Congratulations on 10 years! My husband and I are enjoying our new mates, they our beautiful.
Happy 10th Birthday YWA. I am so very lucky to have found this amazing community. FWFG and the Kula have enriched my life in ways I never expected. The mat truly has my back. Thank you for all that you have given to me.
Thank you so much for all you have done, what an amazing gift you have given the world. I live in Alaska and it is not easy to find a good yoga practice, so this allows me to stay in the yoga world. Also my (adult) daughter lives and in Seattle, WA. This allows us to connect in yet another way as she also does YWA. In fact she is the person that introduced me to YMA over 5 years ago. Thank you again, John Sanborn
Congratulations Adriene! You got me back into yoga after too many moons of missing it. I am so grateful for what you do for this community, and how you helped me back to the mat with your 30 days this January. 20 minutes of yoga removed any barrier to (re)entry, and became a “tiny habit” that changed my life. I fell off the “wagon” again this summer but am getting back on today. Thank you!
Thank you for being my daily yoga teacher, for keeping me grounded and having my back, congratulations on 10 years, I will be here still after the next 10, nameste ❤
Thank you for all you do to enrich our lives!
I remember the first day I found your YouTube channel. I thought to myself, I can do this. Slowly improving getting stronger. Thank you Adrian, you helped me gain my strength to stand up straight, regain my balance after hormones created havoc on my body.
I truly believe I would not be walking upright with out your videos. Bless you for having the courage to jump!
Left a message for you with the YouTube video (Free Sunday/Monday),thank you!
Thank you for helping me, not just with yoga.
Namaste
Happy Birthday!And many more!
Dear Adriene,
I have been following you for 6 years now and you are certainly part of my life. My morning routine would not be the same without your yoga practices you share on YouTube.
I love your spirituality, your profoundness and truthfulness. You help me ground myself and I am now an addict of ocean breath ;-).
Congratulations for your 10th anniversary and I wish you so many wonderful years to come.
With all my love from Québec, Canada
Happy anniversary. I started following your you tube videos many years ago after googling for a yoga session for lower back pain. So glad I found you then! Now at age 74 I start my day with your yoga sessions. ❤️
Kia ora Adriene
I located Yoga with Adriene some years ago after my husband died prematurely
here in Aotearoa New Zealand. I am completely at home with your practice
having been a FWFG member for nearly three years now.
Recently I had to say an emotional goodbye for quite a while to one of my sons who lives half a world away, from a hotel room - and to settle myself down I picked up a FWFG practice and after 20 minutes was calm. That says it all really.
Namaste, congratulations and arohanui,
Frances
Frances, thank you for sharing your journey and practice with us. For all that you have been through, your strength and light truly shines! Sending you so much love.
Happy ten years dear Adriene
Thank you so much
I LOVE YOU
The words "Thank you" don't seem like enough for what you have freely given. I discovered you on YouTube several years ago. I practiced your videos in times of physical struggles. I practiced your videos in times of mental struggles. As long as I showed up consistently, these practices worked to help me through injuries, illness, and anxiety. I don't know how or why - it just worked. Magic!. It wasn't only the physical movements, it was also the instruction/conversation that went along with it. Somehow you would say something that resonated at just the right time. I became a better person physically and mentally with the help of your videos. Thank you for all you have given.
Dear Adriene and YWA, FWFG, and KULA teams,
I’m now in a yogic squat and deeply grateful for your path, step by step, which now I’m taking on and dancing on.
I’m now relishing the utmost joy in each yoga asana that I am in my body and present, I am alone and universal.
May there be light on your way!
Lots of love✨
Thank you Adriene, bor being here for me with your videos, your jokes and your encouragement. I really felt like you were believing in me, even if I wasn't believing in myself each time I was getting back on mat. I found YWA after I had a baby, I couldn't carve out the time to go to my yoga school and you just brought me back to life. My son is 7 now, but I will never forget how you changed my life. Thank you. <3 And namaste! 🙂
Thank you Adriene and company for all you have done for the past 10 years. Doing YWA always leaves a smile on my face. Thank you and much love to all of you!
Congratulations on Ten Years! YWA has made me a better person. Celebrate YWA today, and tomorrow for all you do, Welcome back! 🙂
Dear Adriene,
Thank you for being an anchor point in my days. It is with joy I go to the mat every time. I always recommend you to everybody. My dogs like your voice as well. Take care of yourself as you do of us.
Un abrazo,
🙂 Suzanne
I sincerely appreciate you Adrienne! I've been joining in your yoga classes online for years now, since 2013! I have participated in yoga classes at my gym and at yoga studios during this time, but YOU are my favorite! I don't bother with in person classes anymore, because I've learned that no-one is as good as Adrienne. The balance, optimism and variety your menu of practices bring just can't be beat! The personal, at home, solitary yoga experience fills my cup. I also appreciate your monthly Love Letters, blog, recipes...You're truly appreciated for all you do, for who you are! Your passion for your work shines brightly. Thank you and congratulations on your ten year anniversary!!
Congrats Adrienne (and team) on your first ten years! Really appreciate your approach to yoga. Thank you.
I feel we all need to be congratulated, you're a gift to all of us. Thank you for creating your beautiful inspiring videos, there's always a friend in the room.
Adriene, I've been watching your videos for 6 years now and I just love your way of teaching so much; I would like to ask you where you studied so that I can consider it in my research of Yoga Teacher Trainings.
Thank you so much for your generosity and lovely way of teaching <3
I used to think that yoga was not for me, until I discovered your videos.I was completely hooked from the beginning..I really appreciate the kindness and humanity that you radiate. It has helped me immensely to grow stronger and more balance in body and soul.Thank you so much Adrienne and the team!!
I am so thankful to be part of Adriene’s yoga community. I feel so lucky to have found her honestly. She is the teacher I had been waiting all my life for- saying all the right words, speaking the language of kindness and love. I am doing poses I never thought I would be able to perform. Who knew that yoga can also open the doorway to self love. 🙂
Congratulations and Happy tenth anniversary of YWA - l thank you Adrienne and the team for sharing these wonderful, fun, loving and healing yoga sessions with us for so long.
It is truly a gift each time I log on for a YWA class. It’s such a gift. I am 71 years old and need yoga for my health and spirit.
I ‘found’ you 4,5 years ago, first as an addition to my 2-weekly yoga classes at my sportsclub. When I’m was not at the club, I was on the mat with you…and Benji ☺️ The last 3 years I wake up with YWA…a day without yoga of any sorts just does not fit right. It has become part of me and I wouldn’t want it to be any other way thank you so much for giving yoga tot the world the way you do! Sincerely yours from me living in the Netherlands., Michelle
WE LOVE YOU ADRIENNE & CO!
OMG — finding Adriene felt like a personal gift, a blessing, a safe haven, like rediscovering my peace of mind.
I’m hooked.
Hi Adriene,
I just wanted to reach out to say thank you so much for a year of daily yoga practice. This has been life-changing for me as I am so much more mindful and connected to myself and those around me. Daily yoga practice is now part of my lifestyle and it is all thanks to you and your platform.
Thank you so much for all that you do!
Happy New Year for 2024