- Hey everybody, and welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I am Adriene, and today we are going to learn one of my favorite poses: Pigeon or One-Legged Pigeon. Super yummy posture, I know I say that a lot, but it really is a yummy posture. Sorry, I can't stop saying yummy. Let's hop on the mat, and learn Pigeon. (upbeat music) Okay so we're going to begin on all fours. And I'm going to take my left toes, extend through my left leg, take a deep breath in. Spreading through the toes, and on an exhale I'm going to carve a line with my left knee all the way up towards the front of the mat. You can also come into this posture from Downward Facing Dog, but today I'm gonna take it nice and slow. I'm gonna take my right toes now draw a line straight down towards the bottom edge of my mat. Now I'm kind of in a half-split here, One-Legged Pigeon. From here I'm gonna press up and out of my fingertips. So I'm already beginning to create a little bit of support in my spine so I'm not just collapsing into my hips or collapsing into my bones. No dead weight. But I'm maintaining that lift in the heart here, that open chest. Now, I'm gonna take my attention to my left heel, my left foot. I'm going to slowly walk my left foot towards the right edge of the mat, nice and slow. All the time in yoga, and in life, but really especially here, I advise you to go nice and slow and be mindful. So let the pose unfold, no dropping into anything here. Left toes are crawling towards the right edge, and it's here that I maybe come into my palms, and I bring my awareness now to the left hip. I'm not forgetting about this right leg, okay? In my opinion we often just kind of forget about this leg when we can really engage through the top of this right foot supporting. I'm opening up through the right hip crease and then I'm finding that external rotation in the left hip. So I have two things going on in each leg. I'm breathing, finding that lift in the heart. Now if you're nowhere near this, I wasn't always able to drop into this deep of a posture here, so a couple things: You can stay lifted. Again that's why I'm maintaining this space in the chest and this kind of integrity from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone is important so that we're not just dropping in, straining anything in the knee or in those hips. We can use a block here to stay up. This may be the pose for a long time for you, breathing slowly again, releasing into the posture, letting it unfold rather than driving it in. You can have the block at any level. Sometimes if you don't have a block you can use the wall. Just kind of a little steady support. I might just stay here. Breathing, softening on the exhale. Keeping the heart lifted on the inhale. To go a little further, again, I'm going to bring my awareness to the front of that right hip crease. Come onto my fingertips here. I can keep my block there for the next step. I'm gonna want to make sure that I don't roll onto my outer edge of the hips. So right now I'm letting you see the opening of the right hip crease, but in a second I'll switch and we'll look at this external rotation of the hip. But for now, I'm trying to stay centered here, pressing into the top of that back foot for a little stability. And then I believe, (laughs), I believe I believe! I'll begin, I don't know why I said believe, I'll begin to slowly melt the heart down. I can just bring the palms to the mat, again, using my arms to support, or maybe in time I come to the forearms. Voilà! Maybe in time I come to rest all the way on the forehead. Again, in time, letting the pose unfold, or use my block or any of those steps along the way. It's nice sometimes, a little restorative to rest the forehead. Couple of extra action points: We already talked about keeping that engaging quality in the back leg. Same thing with this foot here. Keep a little bit of a brightness. My buddy Chris Shea always asks me, "What do you mean by brightness?" I mean the little bit of energy, a little bit of awareness in that left foot. This will protect the knee, keep everything engaged. Often you'll see, especially with the internet these days, you'll see people with a nice open leg here, kind of right angle. That's fabuloso if you're very flexible in your hips. Be mindful of where you're at. Maybe drawing this heel in as close as the groin to begin and then slowly, slowly in time, again, letting it unfold, walking it out. And just seeing where you're at. Keeping those shoulders drawing down and away from the ears. Shoulder blades in and together, and then finding your Pigeon Pose. I'm gonna press into the palms to come up. I'm going to curl my back toes under, come back to all fours. I can take a quick Downward Dog here if I like. I just wanna show the other side by extending the right toes out. And then carving a line with the right knee in. I'm staying on the center line here as I allow my left toes now to go towards the back edge of the mat. And again, breathing into that left hip crease, and then I slowly start to inch my right toes out towards the left edge of the mat. And then each side is different of course, so be mindful of that. Again, I can use the block here or the wall for a little support. Keeping the heart lifted here, long belly, shoulder blades in, together and down. If this hip starts to externally rotate over, maybe lift up a little bit so we can start to unfold that space. So if we're just kind of hanging on the hip we're kind of cheating ourselves a little bit of the stretch, of the opening. So maybe come up a little bit. Engage the belly, navel to spine. Opening the chest, drawing the shoulders down. We can also take a block and bring it to the hip here for a little support. Ooh that is great. Long, smooth, deep breaths. Or I can keep my block here for stability and use a blankie to kind of support here, lifting the earth up to my hip, top my bum. And then same thing here, keeping the chest open, I can find what feels good, ding! Finding what feels good for your forehead on the block. Maybe coming to the forearms in due time. Maybe you're rockin' and rollin' today gonna bring the forehead all the way down and find a mudra. Just experimenting but being mindful no matter what. Same thing here, I press into the palms. Lift back to all fours to come out, and then send it back, Extended Child's Pose. Aww, perfect. That was One-Legged Pigeon or Pigeon Pose. Great hip opener, great heart opener. I love Pigeon. It's also the name of one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite bands, Tennis. "Pigeon", it's a good song, check it out. If you have any questions or comments please leave it below in the comment box. I love hearing your feedback. If you haven't subscribed to the channel, subscribe to the channel already! Hop on the newsletter bandwagon and Like us on Facebook if you haven't already so you don't miss anything. Thank you so much. Enjoy Pigeon, and Namaste. (upbeat music)