This sequence will focus on the glutes and hamstrings and building flexibility and mobility. Certified yoga instructor, Lindsay Danielson, will walk you through a 60 minute sequence.
You will begin in extended child pose as you start your strong, powerful and mindful breaths, in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you reach your arms forward, you will then begin breathing in through your nose and out through your nose. From there, you will move to a table top position. Then you will move to a downward facing dog as you gaze between your heels. Your fingers should be spread wide and your triceps towards the back of the room.
As you exhale you will move to the front of your mat to a rag doll pose to help decompress your spinal column. Then, you will interlace your fingers behind you to stretch your chest. As you stand up, find your neutral alignment. With the palms of your hands forward, close your eyes to connect with yourself to keep yourself motivated.
You will go through forward fold to get to a halfway lift to then exhale to a high plank to low plank. You will then go back to a forward fold to repeat the plank combination three times. After the last time, you will exhale to your belly for some spine strengthening. You will begin with cobra pose to then go into sun salutation b.
As you are in your chair pose, be sure to have your weight in your heels and have proper alignment. You really want to focus on your breathing in this position. You should feel your legs starting to work. Next, you will go into a lunge as you hold and breathe with your arms towards the ceiling. Work on your stability first, followed by your flexibility. From here, you want to reach forward in your lunge position and find your balance on releve. Next, you will switch to a warrior pose. Reach forward and then down as you work on your mobility. Your muscles should be activated the entire time. Then, you will reverse triangle and remain lifting up and squeezing your heels towards one another.
The next part in this yoga sequence is to go back to high low plank to a downward dog. From there, you will step to the front of your mat and go to a chair position. For more of a challenge, try to balance on releve. Next, forward fold to a high halfway lift to repeat the lunge combination, warrior pose and reverse triangle on the left. You repeat this two times on each side.
From there, you will begin your belly up core series. You will lay in bound angle pose with hands behind your head. Lift your shoulders up and away as you lift and lower, focusing on open mouth exhales. On your last one, hold with your fingertips forward as you pulse for 10. Stretch it out after that with your feet out in front of you. Next, you will do the bicycle exercise. Feet will be in a table top position as you twist your upper body to the opposite leg. From there, you will stretch once again as you focus on your breathing. The final part of the abdominal work is boat pose. Rock your weight back with your legs in tabletop position. Once you are steady, extend your arms and legs.
Next, you will try crow pose, which is placing your knees on your triceps to balance. The goal is to lift both feet up as you balance on your hands. After that, you will stand back on your feet for a twisting prayer pose that helps to stretch your spine. You will then stretch in gorilla pose.
Moving into the standing series of the yoga sequence, you will start in downward dog as you lift one leg at a time to stretch the leg, move to stretch the back, back into warrior pose and into birds of paradise. As you come down from birds of paradise, you will stretch it out in wide legged forward pose. Next, you will go into a side plank pose. You will repeat this entire series on the other leg.
To stretch everything out, you will move into half pigeon and fold forward on both sides. Next, you will lay on your back as you move into bridge pose. Release out of the bridge and take a moment to connect once again. You will then stretch into backbend. Then draw your knees into your chest as you move into happy baby pose. As you continue to stretch, focus on keeping your breathing steady to get air into your lungs and your muscles.
One last example of using the block is for core work in block passes. As you lay on your back, you transfer the block from your feet to your hands as your lower and raise your legs in the air. The block gives you something to work with to keep the mind focused.