Intro To Vinyasa Yoga: 12-Minute Stretch And Strengthen

New to Vinyasa Yoga? There's no need to fear joining a public or group class. Take a few minutes to learn the steps and modifications to a basic flow so you can keep up with pace. Then, we'll add-on some popular poses for a quick midday movement break that will leave you feeling energized, refreshed, and ready for the rest of your day.

Transcript

In yoga, A vinyasa is a flow movement sequence where each movement is paired with a single breath. Let's learn how to do a simple vinyasa together. Start with your feet together at the top of your space, Lift your arms up over your head, Take a deep breath. And as you exhale, Simply bring your arms down by your sides. Again, Inhale, Arms up, Look up, Lift. And exhale, Arms down by your side. Let's make that a little bigger movement. Inhale, Arms up, Reach up, Slight backward bend. Exhale, Breathing, Reach your arms wide, Fold your body forward, And release your fingers towards the floor. Relax your neck. Take an inhale breath, Lift up halfway, And exhale, Forward fold. If your legs are a little tight, Try bending your knees, Hands to the shins, Inhale, Half lift, Exhale, Breathing, And fold. Take a deep breath, Lift your arms up over your head, Reach up high. And arms relax down by your side. Again, Inhale, Arms high. Exhale, Breathing, Forward fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold your body down. Bend your knees, Plant your hands, And step your right leg back for a lunge. Hips square, Hips low. Stay right here or plant your palms and step your left leg back to meet your right. Very slowly, Bend your elbows and lower your body all the way down to the floor. Untuck your toes, Inhale, Lift your chest. Exhale, Lower your body down. Shift back either to child's pose. Or tuck your toes, Lift your hips high, Downward facing dog. Step your right leg forward between your hands, Feel the lunge, And left leg forward to meet the right. Inhale, Half lift. And exhale, Fold your body down. Inhale, Rise all the way up. And arms down by your side. You've done a vinyasa, Let's take it again. Inhale, Arms sweep high. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Plant your hands and step your left leg back now for a lunge. Hips low, Warming up through the hips and thighs. Plant your hands, Step right leg back to the left. Bend your elbows, Lower your body all the way down. Untuck your toes, Lift your chest, Cobra. Exhale, Breathe in, Push your hips back to your heels for child's pose. Or you can choose to take downward facing dog. Hold here, Shoulders away from your ears, And rotate your elbows towards the floor. Bend your knees for a beat here, And stick your tailbone as high up towards the sky as you can. Reach the head tail high, Press your knees back, And gently lower your heels towards the floor. They don't need to hit, No problem. Look forward between your hands, Step your left leg forward for that lunge once again. Let the hips sink and settle low, Starting to warm up. Step your right leg forward to meet the left. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Body folds. Inhale, Rise all the way up. And exhale, Arms down by your side. We'll try this one with up dog and down dog. Inhale, Arms high. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Lift your chest. Exhale, Fold your body down. Step both feet back to a plank position, Bend your elbows and lower down halfway. If you can't stop here, Feel free to go right into cobra. Otherwise, Push forward through your toes, Lift your chest, Upward facing dog. Shoulders down away from your ears, Lift your chest high. Roll over those toes, Press your hips back and up, Downward facing dog. Whenever we do a vinyasa, You can go right to the down dog or take your child's clothes. It's totally up to you. Bend your knees, Lift your hips high, Look forward between your hands and step your feet forward to start. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Fold your body down. Inhale, Rise all the way up. And exhale, Arms down by your side. Now we're going to start to add some poses. Inhale, Arms high, Slight backward bend. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Lengthen your spine, Lift your chest. Exhale, Step your right leg back, Plant your right palm and open up to the left, Start to rotate your spine. If this shoulder doesn't come up comfortably, Place hand to the hip and turn, Twist your chest open. Left hand down, Step the left foot back, And head through your vinyasa. You can lower through cobra, And push back to child's pose, Or go through upward and downward. And downward facing dog. Median downward facing dog, Step the right leg forward between your hands, Plant the left hand, Open your right and twist. Try to rotate torso and the upper body. Plant your right hand down, Step your left foot forward. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Rise all the way up. And arms down by your sides. Inhale, Arms high. Exhale, Forward fold. If you're feeling kind of frisky, Inhale, Halfway lift. As you exhale, Plant your palms and hop back to that plank position. Lower down through cobra or upward facing dog. And meet in child's or downward facing dog. This time, Take a deep breath, Lift your right leg high. As you exhale, Shift your weight forward, Bring your knee towards your nose, And hug your knee up into your chest. Try it again. Inhale, Extend. Exhale, Tuck and hug. One more. Inhale, Extend. This time, Tuck, Hug, And step. Now, You're starting to see how people can get that foot right in between your hands. Open up to the right-hand side. Plant your right hand down, Step the feet together. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Forward fold. Inhale, Rise all the way up. Arms down by your side. Let's get the other side. Inhale, Arms high. Forward fold. Inhale half lift, Exhale you can step or pop your feet back to the plank position. Sit down through your up dog and shift back downward facing dog. Oops, This time reach your left leg high. And then shift your weight forward to a plank. Hug your knee in close, Tuck it into your body. Inhale, Extend. Exhale, Shift, Hug and tuck. Exhale, Extend. Now use the momentum, Hug your knee up to your chest. Step. And open up to the left side. Plant your left hand down, Step your feet together, Inhale half. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Rise all the way up. Catch your arms up over your head, Bend right side. Bend to the left side. Come back to your center. Inhale, Lift. Reach backward bend. Pull your body back. Inhale to center, Exhale forward fold. Open your feet hip width distance apart and curl your first and second finger around big and second toe. Take a big inhale, Lengthen your spine, Hold here. If your legs straighten comfortably, You can begin to bend your elbows to the outside and fold in from the hips, But try to keep this out of your spine. Good. Inhale, Chest high. Exhale, Plant your hands and step or hop to the back of your mat. Bend your elbows. Inhale, Chest high. Exhale, Push back, Downward facing dog. Let's practice that as a smooth move. Inhale, Right leg high. Exhale, Step your knee forward between your hands, Introducing the crescent posture. Stay in this lunge position high on your toes and lift your arms right up over your head. If you're feeling unstable, Keep your hands on your hips, Pull the left hip forward and arms high. Take a big inhale here everybody, Lift up and pull your arms towards the wall behind you, Backward bend. Good, Inhale back to center, Turn your left heel in and down, Open up your arms for warrior two. Turn your right palm high, Lower the left hand down, Reach up and over, Take a side bend, Feel the stretching along your right. Inhale back to warrior two, And like a windmill, Hands to the floor, Step right leg back, Bend your elbows, Up dog or cobra. Shift back down dog, Or always you can take child's pose. Inhale, Left leg high. Stepping forward between your hands. Inhale, Rise crescent. Find your backward bend. Pull your body back. Opening the front side of right leg hip, Inhale center, Lower your back heel down, Warrior two, Bend your front knee, Sit low. Flip your left palm, Reverse your warrior. Inhale back to center, Windmill hands to the floor, Step left foot back and go through your vinyasa. Follow your breath. Move at your pace. If you'd like to try hopping to the front of the mat this time, Look between your hands. Heels high, Bend your knees. Take a deep breath, Hop high and land gently. Inhale, Half lift. Hands to shin of the floor. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Breathing in, Rise. And we're gonna take that whole sequence. One more time, Inhale, Arms high. Exhale forward fold. Inhale, Half lift. Exhale, Step or jump. Inhale through your vinyasa, Find a back bend. Exhale, Find a forward bend. Reach your right leg up high to the sky. Step forward between your hands. Inhale, Rise, Crescent. Take a back bend. Open up, Warrior 2. Reverse your warrior. Back to warrior two. Windmill the hands down, Step back, Lower, Press, Up dog. Roll, Shift. Down dog, Left leg high, Step forward between your hands, Rise up to crescent. Backward bend. Open up warrior 2, Reverse it. Inhale to center, Sit low. Almost, Windmill the hands, Give me 30. Then press up, Up dog. And this time, Open your knees wide, Shift back, Child's pose. Walk your hands off to the left side of your mat, Reach through your right fingertips, And lower your head to your right biceps. Lean into the right shoulder, Stretching all the muscles at the back of your shoulder and under it. And then take that same stretch to the right. Reach through your left hand fingertips. And finish in the center. Shift forward to your plank pose. And back to downward facing dog. Bend your knees, Look between the hands, Inhale, Pop. Lengthen Fold and hang down, Slight bend in your knees, Ragdoll, Catch the arms over your head. Inhale to roll all the way up. Pull your hands right to the center of your chest. And relax your arms down by your side. That's the basic warmup for any vinyasa class. And we just add postures in between. So feel free to start to mix up your flow and add in the stuff that feels great to you.