17 Minute Full-Body Yoga Stretch For Beginners

This is a beginner-friendly stretching session you can do from the comfort of home. Unwind, restore and reduce tension in the body with this beautiful sequence. All you need is a yoga mat, comfortable clothes, and soft music if you choose.

Music: "inner light" composed by Chris Collins.

Transcript

My name is Sylvie and today we're going to do a quick little yoga stretch. So this little practice is going to help you to detoxify and also just find a little bit of a release so you can unwind and you can use this at the beginning of the day or even unwind at the end of the day. It doesn't matter what time, Really. It's just a really helpful little interlude to hopefully get you going to the next part of your day. So all that being said, All you need is either a little yoga mat space, Approximately the size and length of your body and comfortable clothing to move in. We're not going high intensity today. And without further ado, Let's get started. We're going to get onto hands and knees. So I want you to find all four. We're just going to plant the hands right underneath the shoulders, The knees right under the hips and find a little bit of engagement in the core. And from here we're going to find our breath and link the breath to the movement. With your next breath in, We're going to drop the belly and lift the heart, Lift the gaze, Looking up, Getting a little bit of a spine articulation going with your next exhale. You're going to drop the head, Arch the spine and look down, Look behind you between the legs. So let's repeat that motion. Just nice and gentle inhaling, Dropping the belly, Lifting the gaze and then exhaling, Grounding the spine and dropping the head, Looking down. Let's do two more just like that. Really nice and mellow. We've been pushing gently through the hands to get a little bit more engagement. Through the upper back, Long breath in. When you come back up and we'll meet together after your last exhale here in neutral spine. Somewhere in the middle of the back of the neck. It's really nice and long. Belly button is pulled in. We're just hanging out here for a moment. We're going to get the legs involved. So let's send the left leg straight back. Toes curled under. The toes are touching the ground. We're going to rock back and forth very gently. So rocking back, You get a nice calf stretch. We're rocking forward. We're sending heart between the hands and you can see that it kind of, You know, It's a little bit of, Of strength and stamina involved here, But not too crazy. Just enough. If you feel like there's a lot of pressure on your wrists, I don't mind at all. You can absolutely just drop down to the forearms and keep repeating that motion. So we get that nice stretch through the whole leg here. Nice and mellow. We're going to do about two more here, Back and forth. And then we'll just come right back to either forearms and knees or back to hands and knees here to set up the second side. All right. So it's going to be a step back. It's a long leg, Opposite side. Toes curled under, Long back of your neck. And we're just going to rock back here until you feel that stretch through the calf. Rock forward. We're doing a few repetitions again. If on this side you wanted to try it again, Coming back onto the hands, But it's feeling like too much, Don't worry at all. We're just going to drop back down onto the forearms and keep rocking back and forth. Two more. And then last one here, Either on your forearms or if you're back up onto the hands, Drop down to your knees. We're going to take the knees wide about either shoulders apart or a mat width apart. Sitting back, Reaching with the arms, Just drop the forehead down to the ground. We'll take a few breaths here. This is child's stretch. Nice long inhales and exhales. Nice and mellow. Now one more big breath in and out. We'll start to bring yourself back up. Walk the hands back towards you. And we'll come to a seated position here. Just cross-legged, Nice and mellow. And we'll have the hands right by your side here. You can close the eyes or keep them open. Connect to your breath here in this new shape and we'll take a little neck stretch from here. So raise one arm. We're going to reach and big breath in at the same time and as you exhale, Take the side of the head and gently tilt down so your ear comes down to your shoulder. Make sure your ribcage is pulled in, Drawn in. Collarbone stays nice and open. Top shoulder rolls up and back. And we're in this shape here just to get a little stretch through the side of the neck. Notice your breath. Long breaths in and out. We'll take one more breath in and then take an exhale and shift your gaze. You're going to look down to the armpit and gently travel the hand to the base of the skull to pull down. So a little traction here. Still breathing. And on your next breath in, We're going to release the head or release the arm, Reach up high, And then breath out, Arm comes back down to the ground. And we'll do that on the other side. So long breath in, Reach up high, Breath out, Side tilt, Ear to shoulder. Looping that top shoulder up and back, Opening up the collarbone, Drawing the low ribs in, Those staying strong through the middle and staying connected with your breath. We're going to take another breath in here. And with your breath out, Slowly shift the gaze down to the armpit, Travel the top hand to the base of the skull, Gently pull down. Another couple of breaths right here. And then on your next breath in, You can release the head, Release the arm and exhale all the way down. Really, Really nice. Take the hands. We're going to interlace the fingers, Press the palms straight out. We're going to drop the chin to the chest. You can round the upper back gently. So you're pushing, Pushing, Pushing, Just to get that nice stretch through the shoulder blades. You know, Often when we sit at a desk all day or we're on our phones, I just generally can hold a lot of tension in the upper back. Drop that chin. Notice your breath here. It can hang out here. Just hollow out the belly, Gently pulling belly button in, Pushing forward with the hands. And we're going to reach up with the arms, With a breath in here. So reach, Reach, Reach. Center of the chest reaches up high to the sky. And we're going to exhale and open the arms and return them back down to the ground as slow as possible. We're going to repeat that one more time. So interlacing fingers, Pressing palms out, Drop the chin to the chest, Push, Push, Push around the upper back. And we're just going to scoop the belly a little bit. So we get that nice rounding effect from the top of the belly button up, Dropping the chin to chest. Notice your breath. And we'll come back up on an inhale. So reaching up high with your breath in, Center of the chest, The heart leading you up to the sky. And then with your breath out, We're going to open, Open, Open, Nice and slow. Release the fingertips to the mat as slowly as possible. Really nice. I'm going to take a breath in, Reach up high, A little different. We're going to add a twist. So still with your breath in, Reaching a little taller, We're going to slowly exhale and turn the shoulders to face your knee. So the twist is coming from the center of the belly here. And you, If you haven't exhaled yet, Please do. You just want to breathe naturally here. Inhale to lengthen. We're going to twist just a tiny little bit deeper on the exhale. So if you can take the hand to the outside of the thigh or the knee, And then reach a little taller. So just making sure your gaze is straight ahead, Not down here or not up somewhere center. The posture is important. Being the sitting bones on the ground, That's super important too. And then just breathing natural rhythm of your breath here. Really important. We're going to take another breath here, Nice and tall. And then to come out of the shape, We're going to do it with an inhale. So inhale, Reach your arm up. Don't twist yet. Exhale, Twist to return to center. And we're going to return the hand down to the ground. So it's not crazy. We don't want any pinching happening in the lower back. Just go until you find your edge and a nice opening through the top portion of the upper body. So we're going to reach up with an inhale. See if you can get a little taller. And with your exhale, Slowly start to twist from the belly button up. Shoulders face the opposite knee here. We're going to hang out another moment to take another breath, To reach a little taller and then exhale. See if you can land your hand on the outside of the thigh or the knee. Just relax the shoulders. Keep both sitting bones grounded. Try not to let one come off more than the other and hang out here with your breath. So one more breath in and out. And we're going to come out of the pose with a breath in. So reaching up high before you twist, And then you use your exhale to return to center. And then hand can come back down to the ground. Awesome work. All right. We're going to land on our backs from here. Doesn't matter which direction you face all the way down. Let's bring the knees into the chest. Nice and wide if you can. So on the outside of your rib cage here, We're going to take happy baby. So let's let the feet look up towards the ceiling. We're going to reach between the legs for the outside edges of the feet, The baby toe side, Gently push down here. So your knees come down to the armpits. See if you can lengthen the spine a little bit more. So send the tailbone forward and down to the ground. Continue with your breath here. Just slowing it down. And if this feels great, You stay here. If you want to go a little bit further, Here are some options for you. You can stretch one leg. Let's see how that feels. And then stretch the other one. Alternating legs, Or you can try both legs together and see if you can get a nice stretch happening through the backs of the legs here. Without compromising anything, Without feeling any pain or strain. Very, Very important. You can always come back to traditional happy baby here. And if even this shape here feels like it's a little bit too strenuous, The next option just to keep the feet together, The knees apart, Hold on to your ankles here. Really nice hip opener, No matter what. And wherever you are, We're going to drop the feet down with the knees apart here. Have the soles of the feet connected. And then just readjust the spine as much as you need to or not. You know, Just make yourself feel comfortable. We're going to take one hand to the belly, Take the other hand to the heart. Pay attention to your breath here in this shape. You'll notice that as you're taking your inhale, Your belly will rise. And as you exhale, The belly will fall. The ribcage expands with your inhale and it contracts with your exhale. You're going to hang out here for another few breaths. Just letting all your worries melt away. Letting any tension just disappear. At any point you feel like this is a little too stretchy, Too wild, You can also just grab, If you've got a pillow or a blanket placed underneath your thighs here. You've got yoga blocks, Even better. Sometimes that can be really helpful just to support the knees. And if you feel good right where you are, We'll just stay here. Eyes open or closed. I will encourage you to close your eyes just for a moment so you can feel a little bit more what's going on inside the body. Let's take about two more breaths right here. And then very, Very gently, You can take your hands to the outsides of the thighs here and just close them up like a book. And we'll take the knees back into the chest for another little hug. This time here, You get to choose how far apart you want the knees. There's no right or wrong, Just as long as there's no pain. Give yourself a little squeeze here. You can rock from side to side. And then we'll return to a seated position from here. So I like to just roll over to one side. Super, Super gentle. Use the top hand for support. Press yourself back up. Then we'll sit back into a comfortable shape here. Crisscross, Easy pose. We'll take the hands together at the heart. Just in a little act of gratitude and appreciation for showing up today, For doing something good for your body. Take a breath in. And a breath out. And I hope this helps to restore and rejuvenate your body today, Wherever you are, Whatever time of the day this is. And I hope to see you again on the next one.