WEBVTT

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Hey, everyone, and 
welcome to Yoga with Adriene.

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I am Adriene.

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And today, we are 
going to learn Cat-Cow.

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Which is one of my favorite
things in the entire universe.

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So I'm happy to 
share it with you today.

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Cat-Cow is 
great for happy spine,

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massages the internal organs,

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stretches the belly, 
builds muscles in the back,

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and can also reduce stress.

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Which we all need to do.

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I don't think we 
will argue about that.

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So hop on the mat 
and let's learn Cat-Cow.

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(lighthearted music)

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Okay, so we're going 
to begin on all fours.

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And we can pad the 
knees with a blanket,

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or we can double up the mat.

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In fact, let me just 
show you that really fast.

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This is a great trick if
you're working on hard floors

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and you don't have a blanket.

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You can peel the mat 
up and double it up here,

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or quadruple.

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Triple, quadruple it up.

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And it becomes a nice 
little padding for the knees.

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Ta-da, so use a 
blanket if you like,

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or double up on the mat.

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Okay, so together, we'll 
come to arrive on all fours.

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And right away, of course

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I wanna think 
about my foundation,

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that which is 
touching the earth.

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So I'm gonna spread 
my palms as wide I can,

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and place them 
underneath the shoulders.

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So wrists 
underneath the shoulders.

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I'm gonna check in with my legs.

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Knees directly 
underneath the hips.

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And checking in 
with my foundation,

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I will therefore press the tops

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of my thighs into the earth.

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So rather than just 
hanging out on all fours,

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I'm already 
considering my foundation.

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And not just that, but 
pressing up and out of it.

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So finding this what 
we call tabletop position.

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And to do that, 
I'm really gonna extend

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through the crown of the head.

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By maybe taking my gaze down
between my two index fingers.

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And then maybe 
drawing the shoulders,

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Not maybe, how about we draw

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the shoulders 
away from the ears.

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My yoga mentor will be like,
what's with all this maybe?

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No maybe, let's roll the
shoulders away from the ears.

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See if we can 
create a long neck here.

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And then, 
particularly for us gals,

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but for everyone, just 
check in with the lower back

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by drawing the naval 
up towards the spine.

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So sometimes we get 
caught in this nice pelvic tilt,

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which is lovely.

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But we'll want to come 
into the tabletop position.

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So straightening that out.

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So there's kind of a lot 
of activity going on here.

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I'm pressing up 
and out of my palms.

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I'm engaging the pelvic floor,

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pressing into 
the tops of the feet,

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drawing my naval to my spine,

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shoulders away from the ears,

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long beautiful neck here.

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Then of course,

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I'll begin to come 
into my breath (exhales).

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Maybe first just 
noticing the natural rhythm,

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the natural ebb 
and flow of the breath.

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And then beginning to 
stir it up, play with it,

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see if I can extend 
the inhale (inhales).

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And extend the 
exhalation (exhales).

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I'm starting collect tiny
beads of sweat on my forehead.

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One, because it's 
kind of hot in the room.

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But two, because 
I'm working here.

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I'm already creating a full
body experience for myself,

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engaging the core (inhales).

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Connecting from 
the crown of the head

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to the tip of the tailbone.

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Okay, so this is 
actually Tabletop position.

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This is the preparatory
pose for Cat-Cow.

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So I'll inhale and 
break this line in the spine.

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Scooping my heart forward,
pelvis tilts here,

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as I shine my heart forward,
gaze can come forward here.

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I'm drawing my 
shoulders away from the ears,

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and I'm continuing that action

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that I had in Tabletop position

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of pressing up 
and out of the earth.

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Rather than just 
collapsing into my bones.

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So inhaling, long belly.

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Then on the exhale, opposite.

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So I'm gonna 
start at the tailbone.

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Curl my tailbone under,
travel up the spine,

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draw the naval 
up towards the sky,

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chin slowly rotates, 
tilts towards the chest.

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So we wanna draw 
the chin to the chest,

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but not forcefully,

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just letting the 
flow up the spine.

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Allow the crown of 
the head to release.

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And then same thing here.

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I could be hanging 
into my bones here.

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Or I can really get my money's
worth, as I like to say.

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I can press up 
and out of the earth,

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really feeling the 
skin of the back stretch,

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drawing the naval 
up towards the sky.

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And then on your inhale,
on the next inhale,

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same thing, 
scooping the heart forward.

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Lengthening 
through the side body,

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pressing up and out of the palms

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as the tailbone lifts up,
pelvic tilt.

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Heart radiates forward.

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Nice big breath in.

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On the exhale, tailbone 
curls under, chin to chest,

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naval draws up, pressing
up and out of the palms.

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In kids yoga, 
here we pretend like

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we're black Halloween cats here.

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We go hisses.

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Now on the inhale, 
scooping the heart forward,

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I want to just take 
a quick moment to say

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rather than thinking of this
as a U shape,

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the letter U, 
like I love you,

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or other things,

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rather than 
thinking of it as a U shape,

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and then an N shape,

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think about it as a journey.

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So the breath is taking us on

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the journey up 
into that U shape.

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And then we'll connect 
the breath and the movement

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by then traveling 
into the N shape.

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So a good example of that,

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if you're like, 
what did she just say?

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Is when I'm here in 
this kind of U shape,

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stretching the skin on my belly,

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rather than just thinking
about going from here to here,

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I'm gonna really 
enjoy how I get there.

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So connecting 
it with the breath.

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I'll maybe start at 
the tip of the tailbone.

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Start the movement there.

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And then slowly 
travel up the spine,

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like two little 
fingertips walking up my spine

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until they continue to
walk, walk, walk up my neck.

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And then the crown 
of the head releases

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only because I finally 
made it there in my journey.

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And then I begin again, inhale.

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Looping the 
shoulders away from the ears.

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Again, scooping 
the heart forward.

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So this is a really 
great spinal flex warmup.

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And I feel like a lot of times,

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we just blow through 
it like everything else,

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like really fast.

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So take your time, 
consider the breath.

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And then marry the 
breath to the movement.

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Always wanting to marry 
the breath to that action,

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the action to the breath.

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So here we go, Cat-Cow.

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Inhaling, scooping 
heart forward (inhales).

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And again, inhaling.

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Heart radiates forward,
long puppy belly here.

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Pressing into 
the tops of the feet.

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In kids yoga, here we say, moo.

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And then, exhaling.

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Traveling up the 
staircase of the spine.

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Pressing into my palms.

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All of this is on 
that exhale (exhales).

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Long breath in, long neck.

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And we can close the eyes and
really enjoy this (exhales).

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So that was Cat-Cow.

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A wonderful 
basic foundational pose

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that you can do 
every day when you wake up,

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or before you go to bed.

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Super yummy for the spine.

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Thanks for being with me.

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If you have any questions,

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leave them in the 
comments box area.

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I'll get back to 
you as soon as I can.

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Make sure you 
subscribe to my channel

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and visit yogawithadriene.com.

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Hope you have a beautiful 
time practicing Cat-Cow.

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Namaste.

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(lighthearted music)