- Hey everyone, and welcome to Yoga With Adriene. I am Adriene and today we are going to learn Plank Pose. Plank is very common in a lot of active Hatha yoga classes and so today we're gonna break it down and learn the proper way to build strength and be happy in Plank. So hop on the mat. (upbeat music) Okay, so we're going to begin on all fours. Taking a second before we break down Plank to just kind of connect to this integration in the body that I feel like is so necessary in Plank so it's not just about strength. In fact, a lot of people think that they don't have the arm strength to do Plank and it's more than just these babies it's from head to tail. So, we come to all fours. Wrists underneath the shoulders, knees directly underneath the hips. Just take a second here to press into the tops of the feet, and let the knees hover. And then just notice what happens here. Does the head hang low? Do we collapse into the shoulders? What do you have to do to really come into your body, crown to the head, tip of the tailbone. Couple of action points here. I'm gonna press up and out of the palms. The tendency is gonna be to roll to the outer edges of the hands. I wanna really focus on pressing through the index finger and thumb and all this fleshy area. Fleshy area, hey-oh, in between. One, that's gonna alleviate any undue pressure on the wrist. Two, it's gonna help me press in, up and out of my arms so that I can create space in the shoulder blades, so not collapsing into the shoulders. So, before we go into the full posture, let's just practice that here on all fours. Maybe on an exhale, find your breath. Pressing in the tops of the feet, let the knees hover. Couple of action points: pressing up and out of the palms, index finger and thumbs. Tops of the shoulder also roll out and away from the ears. Check in with your belly. Drawing that navel up towards the spine. And then gaze is straight down so we're not crunching the back of the neck here. We're not forgetting about the head and neck. So remembering the neck as an extension, a natural extension of the spine. Pressing into the full area of the palm. Might begin to feel that warmth or that tremble. And then on an exhale, we're following your breath, we release. Can take a second to just notice the sensations in the body and let's send it up for Downward Facing Dog. Just how we'll head into our Plank today, which is also how we head into Plank in most Hatha yoga classes. Of course, no class is the same, and there's no right or wrong way, but, typically, we'll come into this from Downward Facing Dog. So from here, I'm gonna bring my awareness to my hands. Again, Hasta Bandha, the hand-to-earth connection. Pressing into all 10 fingerprints, and the area between the index finger and thumb. Now, bring your awareness to your belly. Hug that navel up towards your spine as we rock forward, arms perpendicular to the earth. I'm gonna bring my shoulders right above my wrist. So I don't want them to go in front, I want them to stack right above. Ah, and here I am. Now, going through our checklist. Crown of the head is extending forward. Tops of the shoulders looping out and away from the ears. I'm pressing up and out of the palms, seeing if I can really create space between my shoulder blades here, so I'm not collapsing into the bones here. Ooh, that's hard, but I'm pressing up and out. Now, sitbone-to-heel connection. I'm really extending through my heels here, tucking the pelvis. If you feel any pressure in your lower back, send that tail towards your heels, elongate in the lower back. Again, not collapsing but pressing up and out. Don't forget to breathe here. We tend to hold the breath here. No bueno, breathe. Nice and long in the back of the neck, extending the base of the skull towards the front of the mat. And on an exhale I can lower the knees. And send it back for a rest, Extended Child's Pose. Feel free to turn the palms face up here and breathe. Can rock the hips a little, gently side to side. And then we dive in for more. Variations. There's always tons and tons of variations. Hence, the word variation. But I just want to offer a couple here. We can do a half push up, so in Plank we're at top of a push up here. I can lower the knees, and make adjustments. Tucking my pelvis in, really sitching that navel towards the spine here. Shifting my heart forward. If you want to get shmancy on me you can cross the ankles here. Whew, doesn't matter. What matters is that we're aware all the way through the toes as I tuck my pelvis, same thing here, tendency is to collapse into the shoulders. I wanna press up and out of the shoulders here. Find that long, beautiful neck. Gaze is down in-between the index fingers. And here I'm getting the same benefits of Plank. I'm building that strength from the crown of the head to the tip of the tailbone, in the abdominal wall, in the arms. But I'm doing it with good alignment, with integrity. Can start at Half Plank, and then slowly build up to full Plank. For people with carpal tunnel, or wrist issues, we can go on the elbows here, so, same thing. Elbows directly above the shoulders, fingertips pointing forward, and come to Plank here. This is actually a little bit harder. For me, I should say. Nice, straight line. Make sure you're not collapsing into those shoulders, particularly for those wrists. Make sure we're pressing up and out, so we're taking all that weight off the shoulders, which gets me off the wrists, and we're also not taking the shoulders in front of the wrists, make sure the bones are stacked, in your favor. To rest, we take it back, Extended Child's Pose. Okey-doke, so that was Plank Pose. Plank is awesome because we build strength in the front body and the back body at the same time. Yoga! Which means, one, we're building strength in the body, but also we're aiming towards healthier spinal support, so, better posture, and hopefully less back pain. Great for the abs, and tons of benefits, which I'll list on the blog. So visit the blog, poccox.com, If you haven't subscribed, please do, subscribe to the channel, Like Yoga With Adriene on Facebook so you don't miss anything, and I'll see you next time. Thank you. Namaste. (upbeat music) Also, I wanted to thank my very special friend, Sam Webber, for giving me this tank top that I wore today on the mat. Thank you Sam! Love you!