This invigorating yoga flow is designed to target and strengthen your lower body. So grab a block (or something of similar shape/weight) and get ready for a spicy, lower-body practice that will leave you feeling strong.
Meet your Teacher
Grande Prairie, AB, Canada
Transcript
Hey, Everyone, And welcome to day 24 of our 30-Day Yoga Challenge. My name is Candice, And today's practice is about lower body strength. So we will be using a block. If you don't have a block, Just grab something of similar shape and weight, And we are going to get started on our hands and knees. So coming on to your hands and knees, Finding stability here, Spreading through the fingers, Grounding down through particularly the index and thumb knuckle of the hand, Pressing firmly into the hands, Pressing into the knees, Rock the hips from side to side, Feel your weight shift from side to side. And then from here, Come back to center, Shift the weight into the right knee, Take the left leg straight back behind you. Take a bend to the knee. From there, Find circles through the hip, Coming in, Out, And around. Little circles moving through the hip joint. Take those circles the opposite direction. And then come back to center. Take the left knee down just for a moment. Go ahead and grab your block or whatever you have. Place it behind your left knee and curl the leg so you're grabbing the block and holding it in place. You're not necessarily squeezing it as hard as you can, But just holding it there. Holding it strong enough so that you can keep it there. From there, Grounding down through your hands once again, Shift the weight into the right knee. Take the left knee straight back from the hip, Keeping the block. From there, Can you curl the left knee in towards the chest? And then kick it back, Extending through the hip, Squeezing through the left glute. Exhale, Curl it in towards the chest. And I'll extend it back, Squeezing through the glutes. If you can't tell, I am shaking just from this whole movement here. It does feel quite difficult for me. I don't know if it does for you or not, But it's just like sometimes these subtle little movements. When you just add something else like a block. It really changes things. So from there. Taking the knee back, Down, Hovering over the mat, And we're going to take the leg extended out to the side, Keeping the block there, And then back in. Take it out to the side. And back in. Out to the side. Back in. For two. And one. We're almost done from there. Finding circles once again through the hip, Keeping the block there. The circles might be quite a bit smaller while you're holding the block, And that's fine. Staying stable through the right leg, So you might feel that right hip activating and screaming at you as it's holding its place. Take those circles the opposite way. Oh, And then bring it back. Left knee down. Releasing the block, Setting it off to the side, Extend the right leg straight back, Press back through the heel. Extend the left leg straight back, Press back through the heel. Come back to center. Shift the weight into the left knee. Extend the right leg straight back. Take a bend to the knee. Find circles through the hip once again. And as we're weight-bearing in our hands here, Resist the tendency to roll to the pinky edge of the hands. You want to keep pressing firmly into the index and thumb knuckle of the hand, Activating through the wrist. Take those circles the opposite way. And then we'll come back to center. Go ahead and grab your block again. Take it behind your knee. Curl, Hold the block in place. From there, Pressing in through the hands, Extending the right leg straight back from the hip, Extending through the hip. Exhale, Curl the knee in towards the chest. Inhale, Extend. Exhale curl it in I don't know if you can see how much I'm shaking when I extend But I am this type of hip extension. I guess when we're activating through the hamstring as well I don't know what it is. It just feels very hard. I don't know if it does for you. Maybe I'm just weak there Taking the knee, Right knee, Hovering it over the mat. And again, We'll take the knee out to the side and back in. Out to the side. And back in. Too. And one, Finding those hip circles once again, In, Out, And around. Taking the circles the opposite way. And then back to center. Release your block, Set it at the top of your mat ahead of you. Let's come on, Actually, First of all, Extend the right leg back. Tuck the toes, Press back through the heel. Almost got ahead of myself there. And then we'll come back. Sit on the heels for a moment just to shake out the wrists. Releasing the wrists. That's pretty much the most weight bearing we'll have on our hands for this whole practice. The rest will be. Standing. So, Coming back forward, Planting the hands, Tuck the toes under, Lift up, Downward dog, Just for a moment. Maybe pedal through the feet, Press one heel down and then the other. From there, Look forward, Lift through the heels, Walk your way up. Uttanasana, Top of the mat. And fold. Sway side to side if you want to. And then we'll come back to center. Heel-toe the feet a little bit wider than the hips. Keep the knees soft. As you inhale, Slowly roll up. Keeping the knees soft. All the way up to stand. Keeping the knees wide, A little wider than the hips. Take an inhale, And as you exhale, We're gonna sink down into a wide squat. So kind of like chair pose, But our legs, Our feet are wider than our hips. So taking your squat, Firming through the outer hips. So you want to press the feet down into the mat and pulling away from each other, Firming through the outer hips. We're going to take the hands forward. Lower down a little more. Can you find a little pulse here? Lower down, Back to center, Down, Back to center, Down, Back to center for five. Four, Keep pulling the navel in. Three. And one, Keep this wide squat, Take the hands down. Grab your block with your right hand. Go ahead and bring it in by your right foot to the inside of the right foot. As you shift your weight over to the right foot, Become light on the left foot. Keep your hand on your block, Maybe just ahead of the foot. Go ahead and step the left foot all the way back. Ground the back heel, Line up heel to arch. Take your block at the tallest height to the inside of the right foot. Lift the left arm up and overhead, Extended side angle. You can kind of press your elbow into your knee, Your right elbow into your right knee and use that to revolve the chest open to the left. Full breath in. Full breath out. With your next breath, How light can you become in this right hand? Can you press and ground through the right foot to pull yourself all the way up to warrior two? Sink down through the hips. Soften through the shoulders. Flip the right palm up. Reverse your warrior. Slide the left hand down the back of the leg. Reach the right arm up. As you exhale, Windmill the hands down, Take the right hand to the block again. From there, Can you take it just ahead of the right foot, Heel toe the left foot in towards the right foot a little bit, Shift the weight into the right foot. Can you become light on the left foot? Like lifting the heel. As you do this, As you shift your weight forward, You might take your block a little bit forward, Maybe off of the mat even. Spread through the toes of the right foot. Can you shift your weight fully into the right foot? Extend the left leg straight back behind you. Open the left arm either to your hips. Open the chest to the left. For Half Moon. Take the left arm up. If it's there for you. Feel a dance of the right foot as it searches for balance. Maybe you find it, Maybe you don't. Can you become so light in this right hand that you move the block to the side? And hover the right hand off the ground. Try it out, Strong through the side body. From there. . . Grab your block if you set it to the side. Keeping this left leg lifted, Energized, We're going to close the chest down towards the mat and find a standing split. So we're going to close the hips, Close the chest off, Keep energizing through the left leg. And then maybe you take the hands to the block or maybe they come down to the mat and fold. And I know this is called standing splits, But I realize that it probably doesn't look like the splits on most people. It never has for me. So just really think about energizing through that left leg and keeping it up. From here, As you exhale, Bend the right knee, Bend the left knee, And bring the left knee behind the right. Take it back up. Inhale, Bend both knees. Take left knee behind the right. Extend it up. Bend. And extend. From here, Stay. How light can you become in the hands? Can you lift up and find a warrior three? Extending back through the arms, Your right leg's probably screaming, Mine is too. Bend into the right knee, Stepping the left toes to the back of the mat. Crescent lunge. Rise up. Whew, Good job. Extend up through the fingertips, Find your balance. If you have it. Inhale, Extend up through the fingertips. Exhale, Can you bend both knees, Drop the left knee down to a hover, Just to your edge. Inhale, Extend the back leg again. Exhale, Bend left knee down to a hover. Extend it back up. Exhale, Bend. And extend, One more. And extend. Take a full breath in And exhale, Hands come down, Both hands to the inside of right foot. Heel toe the right foot out to the right, Shift the weight forward, And step it up to that wide leg forward fold, Wider leg forward fold. Shift the hips side to side. All right, From there, Slowly roll up. Inhale all the way. Take a full breath in, And as you exhale, Bend the knees, Sink the hips, Find that wide squat. Take the arms forward. Can you sink down? And back up. Little pulses here. For five, Four, Three, Two, One. One, Keep the knees bent, Take the hands down. Grab your block, Take it to the tallest height. Take your left hand to the block towards your left foot. Shift the weight into the left foot. Send the right leg all the way back behind you, Ground the right heel, Line up somewhere heel to arch, Take the left hand onto your block at the tallest height to the inside of left foot, Reach the right arm up and over, Extended side angle. From there, How light can you become in the left hand, Energizing up, Pulling yourself up, Warrior two. Inhale, Reverse your warrior, Lift up through the left fingertips. And exhale, Left hand returns back down to the block. Take a look down. You can take your right hand to your hip or just do whatever you need to do with the right hand to keep your balance. Heel-toe the right foot in towards the left. As you do that, As your body shifts forward, Take the block just ahead of you. Maybe it even comes off of the mat. Shift your weight into the left foot, Can you pick up the right leg for half moon. Extending it straight back behind you. Maybe take the right arm up. Energizing through both legs. If you want to try it out, You can set your block to the side and take this left hand and just hover it, Just balancing on that left foot. If you set your block to the side, Go ahead and grab it. If you fall out, Just come back into it. From there, Again, Closing the hips, Closing the chest, Framing it towards the mat, Standing split. Readjusting as you need to. And if you fall out, Just come back into it. It's just practice. It's not serious. From there, Bend both knees. Take the right knee behind the left. Squats down slightly. Inhale, Extend. Exhale, Bend. For three. Too. And one. Extend it back. Keep energizing through the right foot. How light can you become in the hands? Can you lift up to warrior three? Lifting the heart, Taking the arms back behind you. From there, Bend the left knee as you slowly step the right foot to the back of the mat, Taking the arms up, Crescent lunge. Almost done. Extending up through the fingertips, Inhale. Exhale, Bend both knees, Drop the right knee down towards the mat. And extend it back up. Exhale, Bend it down. Inhale, Extend. Exhale, Bend. Extend up. Bend, Extend up, Take a breath in. Exhale, Take the hands to the mat. Plant the palms, Step back, Downward Facing Dog. Rock the hips from side to side. From there, Inhale, Take the right leg straight up and back. Let's open the hip and bend the knee, Opening through the hip. As you exhale, Square the hips, Pull the right knee in towards the chest. Lay the shin onto the mat, Wiggle the left toes back for pigeon. If pigeon is too intense for you right now, You can lean over to one side, Bend the left knee and find a 90 degree angle with both legs. If you're a pigeon. Extending the left leg back. Shimmying your way into it to find comfort. Dropping into the hips, Either staying upright onto the fingertips or maybe you come down. Over the front leg. Take two deep breaths here. And if you came down, Go ahead and press yourself back up. Planting into the palms, Tuck the back toes under, Step straight back into your downward dog. Next, Inhale, Take the left leg up and back. Open the hip, Bend the knee. As you exhale, Curl left knee in towards the chest. Lay the shin down, Either pigeon or 90-90. Adjusting yourself to get comfortable. And either staying upright or maybe you climb forward over that front shin. One more deep breath. And then let's go ahead and press ourselves up. Shift over to one side. Extend both legs out in front of you. Bring the soles of the feet together, Let the knees fall open. Grabbing onto your ankles or feet, Inhale, Sit up tall. Exhale, Hinge at the hips and fold, Little round through the spine. Drop the head. And the next inhale, Come on up. Finding a comfortable seat. Taking your hands to your legs and just give yourself a little loving massage into the legs all the way down back towards the glutes. Lovingly and compassionately. Sending gratitude. And love. To these strong legs of yours. That just carried you through that practice and that carry you through every single day. And then we can release, Take the arms up overhead, Reaching up through the fingertips, Join the palms together. Exhale, Take the hands to heart center, Closing the eyes. Closing your practice. With a deep breath in through the nose once again. Sigh it out through the mouth. You can blink the eyes open. Thank you so very much for joining me in practice. I hope you enjoyed today's class, And we will see you again tomorrow.
