I needed this yoga video. I mean, I really needed it. Before I gave this follow-along flow from Adriene Mishler a try, I had finished my workday with a stress headache, a sore throat, and a body full of aches. Naturally, I wanted to do some yoga to relieve tension and take time for myself (I’m also a huge fan of Yoga With Adriene on YouTube). After 40 minutes of “Yoga Kiss,” I felt stretched out, cooled down, and, thanks to a series of core-focused moves at the end, energized in a good way.
Moral of the story? You deserve this. You deserve to tend to your body and your mind after a long day — or even a short one — and you deserve to make space for yourself. This flow is advertised as something that will “remind you of your worth” and will target “all parts of the body,” as the YouTube description states, and the variety of poses and gentle affirmations from Adriene hold true to that promise.
You’ll start in an upright posture, focusing on the breath and elongating the neck; then you’ll move into Cat Cow and a period of holding Baby Cobra that might feel as wonderful for your upper-body as it did for mine. You’ll pick up the pace with sequences that incorporate Forward Fold, planks, and high lunges (and, yes, holding those lunges brought heat to my legs big time).
One of the hardest poses for me in the flow was one where you had to balance in a squat position on the balls of your feet with your heels up, arms back, and palms facing down (in “airplane arms,” as Adriene put it). The core work toward the end of the video also made me shake a bit (you should expect modified Boat Pose, among other movements).
Throughout, Adriene reminded us to lift our hearts to the sky — to “kiss” the sky, if you will — and to “move like you love yourself.” While in Corpse Pose lying down, she talked about nurturing our bodies. “I love the idea that our yoga practice can kind of pick you up, give you a kiss, and really meet you wherever you are on any given day,” she said. Show up on your mat and see what happens! We’ll be right there with you.