15-Minute Beginner Flow

In this 15-minute beginner flow, we’ll stay close to the ground the entire time, with most of the practice done on our backs and seated on the floor. Expect gentle stretches and easy movement designed to release tension in the hips and low back while helping you feel more relaxed and grounded. This is a great class if you're feeling stiff, tired, or just want a calm way to reconnect with your body. No rushing, no complicated poses. Join Jacks for some simple movement and a chance to unwind.

Transcript

Hello yogis, It's Jax and welcome to your 15-minute beginner yoga friendly class. Today's class, All we're doing is moving and breathing and just doing something for us. So thanks so much for coming to class. I'm so grateful we get to practice together. Let's get started on our backs with a little bit of breath work and a little bit of grounding. Bend the knees, Bring the soles of the feet onto the mat, And walk your feet as wide as the mat. Before we begin, Is there any little bit of movement you want to do? Maybe it feels good to knock the knees from side to side. Maybe it feels good to stretch the arms, Reach the toes, Whatever you're needing right now. And then kind of like a pendulum coming to a standstill, Start to slow everything down. I invite you to gently close down the eyes and just take some regular deep breaths in through the nose, Out through the nose, Out through the mouth. Just breathe. And then can you start to bring a softening energy into your energetic state? Softening in the forehead. Softening in the eyes Feel a detaching in the jaw. Let the shoulders just melt down into the mat. Can you notice the rise and fall of your torso as you breathe here? If you like tactile feedback, I invite you to bring one or two hands onto your belly. And start to take some really big belly breaths. So every inhale, It's a little bit longer, A little bit slower as you breathe in. And every exhale is a little bit longer and a little bit slower as you breathe out. I like having my hands on my belly so then I can feel, Really feel with my fingers how my belly rises and falls with every breath. So that's our focus, Just big expansive breaths. This is our way of telling the nervous system, Hey, Let's slow it down. Let's get into our bodies. To help us continue to get into our bodies. Let's find the breath. Our breath work is called triangle breathing. Just like a triangle has three sides that are the same, This breath pattern has three rounds that are the same. You'll inhale for three. Hold for three, And then exhale for three. Let's take a big belly breath before we do this. Big belly breath in. Big belly breath out. Inhale into the belly for 1, 2, 3. Hold the breath. 1, 2, 3. Exhale 3, 2, 1. Inhale for three. Hold for three. And then exhale for three. And then give me one more round like this on your own. And then just let the breath be. Our intention for today's class is gratitude, Gratitude, Gratitude to move our bodies, Gratitude to be here on this beautiful day, And ultimately gratitude for you for coming to class and sharing this practice together. All right, Let's go ahead and open those eyes if they're closed, And then bring both knees into the chest. Feel free to rock from side to side, Pressing into that low back. And then we'll bring both soles of the feet down onto the mat. Walk your heels in close so you can touch them with the back of your hands. Take a big inhale breath here. And then as you exhale, Engage your glutes and start to lift your hips to the ceiling. And just pause here. Press evenly down into your big toe and your pinky toe and your heel. Think about softening your ribs down. Find extension through your lower back. Doesn't need to be anything too active here, But feel those glutes switch on. Big inhale breath at the top, And then exhale, Lower everything down with control. Now let's start to add a little bit of articulation in our spine. Take an inhale breath, Start to tuck your tailbone under, Press your low back down into the mat, And then as you exhale, Start to lift your hips up first, Then the lower back, Then just a little bit of your middle back. So rest on those shoulders, Soft through the collarbones, Soft in the jaw. Take a big inhale at the top, And then as you exhale, Hips come down last. Start to roll down from the middle of your back to your lower back. Hips, And then tailbone. Let's do that again. Big inhale, Breath, Press your low back into the mat. Exhale, Tuck the tailbone under, Lift up from the hips, The middle back. Big inhale at the top. Exhale, Lower down from the front of the ribs to the belly, To the pelvis, To the hips, To the tailbone. And then just keep doing that. Let it be a fluid motion. So your spine has all these natural curvatures in them. Let your body just explore that movement and let it feel good. We have one more round like this. And then next time you drop those hips down, Pause, Keep the left foot on the floor, And just bring that right ankle on top of the left thigh. Little figure four stretch. So the choice is yours. If you want to keep that left foot down, Great place to be. Otherwise, I invite you to start to tuck that tailbone under and then lift that left foot parallel in the sky. If your shoulders are feeling tight, Just keep your hands either on your body or down on the floor. If you want to explore what it feels like to place both hands behind the back of the left eye, That can feel really lovely. Our target area here is going to be that right glute IT band. So really feel some opening there in that right hip. If your left foot was lowered, Let's go ahead and lift it up. We're gonna get into the back of this left calf. So flex your left toes towards your face. It almost looks like you're kicking something. And then kick that left foot up to the ceiling. Point the left toes to the ceiling, Bend the knee 90 degrees. Again, Flex the foot, Kick it to the ceiling. Point the toes, Lower it down 90 degrees. And then just keep doing that movement for me. And instead of just going through the motions, Can you really connect to your body? Can you notice how your leg open and closes? Can you feel the length through the legs as you really point those toes to the ceiling, As you kick to the ceiling? Next time you bend your left knee, Pause here, Drop the hands down to the floor. Let's go for a twist, Big inhale breath. Exhale, Drop that right foot over towards the left side of the mat. Right big toe might touch the floor, You might be hanging out in space. Big stretch here is continuing on into the IT band and glute. And that low back area. We'll inhale together. Exhale, Bring both knees back into the chest and then just give me a little rock from side to side. Both feet are coming back down onto the mat. Take a big inhale, Breath. Let's find that spinal articulation. Inhale, Press the low back into the mat. Exhale, Tuck the tailbone under. Slowly start to lift those hips up. And then just pause here for me. We're going to lift right heel up into the sky, And then gently just drop the right heel down. Other side. Left heel lift. And we lower. Inhale, Right heel lifts. Exhale, Lower. Inhale, Left heel lifts. Exhale, Lower one more time each side. Just nice little movements here, Everyone. And then let's slowly start to lower ourselves down. Hips come down last, And then other side. Go ahead and get the right foot onto the mat. Bring the ankle on top of the right thigh. Always an option to keep that right foot down, Or let's go ahead and float that right foot into the sky. And then you choose where the hands go. The focus here is to not have any tension in the shoulders. I want you to press down into your low back. Allow your shoulders to soften. Three deep breaths to get into that left IT band and glute. Find some stillness in the hips, Flex the right toes, Kick it up to the ceiling, Point the right toes, Bend the knee. Flex, And kick. Point, And then keep going. Allow yourself to feel like you're kind of moving through maple syrup or there's a little bit of resistance. So there's not just this really uncontrolled movement. There's fluidity and there's intention. Allow your yoga practice to mirror those characteristics that reside in you, And let this be an opportunity to really be in those characteristics. All right, We'll find some stillness here. Go ahead and release the hands. We're staying with the legs for the twist. Big inhale breath. Exhale, Twist it to the right. Left foot drops down. We'll inhale together, And then exhale, Bring both knees back into the chest. And let's come up into a tabletop position, Everybody. You can either rock and roll up and down the spine, Or you can go ahead and roll over to one side. Once you get into your tabletop position for me, Make sure shoulders and wrists are in one line, And then knees and hips are in one line. You might even take your hands, Like two fists, And put them in between your knees, Just so you know what hip distance apart is. I want you to push your hands into the mat, And maybe a little bend in the elbows here. Let's go for Cat-Cow. Starting with Cat Pose, As you exhale, Tuck your tailbone under. Round through the spine, Gaze towards your navel. And then opposite is extension, Cow pose. Inhale, Lift the tailbone, Drop the belly, Lift the chest. So let's go into flexion into our cat pose. Exhale, Flex the spine. Tuck the tailbone under, Round the shoulders, Tuck the chin, And then extend the spine. Lift the tailbone, Drop the belly, Lift the chest. Move through that a couple more times, Linking breath to movement. The exhale is the flexion, The rounding, The inhale is the extension, The lifting. Let's find some stillness here. Wide-legged child's pose. Allow the knees to go as wide as the mat. Big toes are gonna touch. Lengthen those arms out nice and long. We'll go for some lateral flexion. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Walk the hands over towards the left side of the mat. Option to walk your right hand on top of the left. Take a big inhale, Length, Length, Length through your spine. And then exhale, Just melt down towards the floor. So lateral flexion, One of the six moves that the spine can do. We've already twist the spine, We've already flexed and extended the spine, And then the last movement is lateral flexion both ways. Do this every day, And my goodness, Your body's gonna feel amazing. But obviously, I'm teaching the class, So I'm biased. All right, If that right hand was on top of the left, Go ahead and release it. Inhale, Halfway lift. Bring yourself back to center and then other side. Walk both hands over to the right hand side this time. Left hand can go on top of the right. Big inhale breath. Find the length of the spine. And then exhale, Just melt and fold. Hopefully you're feeling a big stretch in your left side body. I always think about how much length can I create from my left pinky finger to my left hip. Three deep breaths. Let's inhale together. Release out of that. Come back to center. Nice job. And then come back onto the hands and knees for me. And then puppy dog pose. Go ahead and keep the right hand at the top of the mat, Left hand at the top of the mat, And then walk yourself all the way back. If keeping the hips on top of the knees doesn't feel good, You can always find a child's pose, Narrow child's pose with these knees towards each other. It might feel good to put a blanket under the knees. And then a couple options, If you want to stay nice and passive here, Keep the elbows down. Otherwise, I invite you to tent up on the fingertips and lift your elbows. Remember, Yoga is a personal practice, So I'm the guide. I'm going to offer suggestions, But ultimately it's on you to make decisions on what works best for your body. Our target area here is to get into the chest, The armpits, To decompress the spine, To open up the body. All right, Everybody, One more breath here and then we're going to roll down onto our bellies. Take a big inhale breath. And then exhale, Come down onto your belly. Let's find locust pose. Feet are going to be hip distance apart. Arms down by your side. Gently press your hips down into the mat just so those hips don't lift. Take a big inhale breath for me. And then as you exhale, Hover. Lift the arms, Lift the legs, And gaze down towards the mat. So try not to overextend through the neck by lifting it up towards the ceiling. Gaze down long. So you're just hovering. You're just floating above the floor. Squeeze those glutes, Feel the triceps engage. One more breath like this. And then let's lower everything down, Bend the elbows, Make a little pillow with your hands, Rest your right ear on top of that little pillow. Take a deep breath in. And a deep breath out. All right, Everybody, Last little bit of movement here. So option to keep the hands as is in your Lucas pose, Or maybe you interlace the fingers and find this bind if it feels comfortable for the shoulders. Take a big inhale breath here. And then as you exhale, Hover, Lift everything, Lift the legs, The toes, Squeeze the glutes, Squeeze the shoulders. Breathe one more breath, Length from the crown of the head to the tips of the toes, And then lower everything down. Make that pillow. Go ahead and bring your left ear onto that little pillow. And then just a couple of deep breaths here. I feel everything starting to slow down. Take a big inhale breath, And then as you exhale, Just flip onto your back. Bring both knees into the chest. Curl up into a little ball. Give everything a squeeze for me. Bring your forehead towards your knees. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. And then Shavasana, Lie back. Let's end with that same triangle breathing we did at the beginning. Take an exhale out the nose to prepare. Inhale for 1, 2, 3. Hold, 1, 2, 3. Exhale 3, 2, 1. Inhale. Home. Exhale. And then that last round is all you. I invite you to gently close down the eyes and just notice how you feel. Sometimes all you need is 15 minutes to just breathe. And just be. If you'd like to stay in Shivasana a little bit longer, Please be my guest. It's a wonderful place to be. Otherwise, Thank you so much for coming to class today. This is Jack. Anytime you want to move your body, Feel good, Come back to this video. It's always waiting for you. I look forward to seeing you at another video soon. Bye!