Hello , it's Leslie Fightmaster and welcome to day two of your 30 days of yoga for beginners .
I'm going to start again on our backs .
So just to review the breath , remember our breathing , it , p prana means life force a means to extend and it's in and out through the nose .
So with your hands resting on your belly , just take a couple of long smooth breaths .
If you remember how to constrict the back of the throat , do that .
If not remember , it's like fogging a mirror , but then closing the mouth and doing that little sound in the back of the throat and this helps to warm up the body from the inside .
Plus it keeps our attention a little bit .
So for keeping our attention on the breath and the posture that our minds aren't wandering all over the place like a lot of times they do .
So yoga is a wonderful way to quiet the mind , relax the shoulders in the jaw , any tension in the neck and then we'll draw the right knee into the chest and circle the right ankle in one direction .
Left knee can stay bent or extend it out .
Circle in the other direction with the right foot and then we'll extend the leg up again .
So we did this yesterday , feel free to keep the knee bent if you need , it is working towards straightening the knee .
And you'll notice I'm holding way up above my knee or I'm sorry .
Yeah , above my knee , you can hold up higher and your leg doesn't have to draw toward your head so much .
Mine just does because I've been practicing a while .
But when I first started , it wasn't anywhere near there .
So just know as long as you feel a stretch that's as deep as you need to go and draw the right knee in and then take it across to the left side for a little tow .
Now , your leg might go all the way to the floor over , it might go just a little bit over whatever works for you turn to look over the right shoulder unless it bothers your neck breathing , try to keep your in house and house equal in length as you move through your poses .
Inhale center straw , the left knee into the chest , right knee stays bent or you can straighten it out circle the left ankle in one direction and then reverse it and then we'll extend the left leg up toward the ceiling again , holding on anywhere along that leg and bend the knee as needed .
You can also , you know , just hold on if you've got shorts on or your pants , you can hold on to your pant leg or short leg , short leg and let the leg come a little more forward toward the right foot .
It doesn't have to be straight up and down .
Relax the shoulders , make sure you're not creating any tension around your neck again , jaw face .
So I always want to check in with that and the breathing .
So bending the left knee , take it off to the right side for your twist .
So it might just go a little bit , might go all the way across again .
It doesn't matter , look over your left shoulder and try to turn your belly a little bit up toward the ceiling if possible , continuing the long steady breath and then we'll come on back to center , extend the legs and point the toes up to the ceiling .
So it's a reminder here of the natural curves .
We got that little curve in the lower back , but we don't want it to get too curvy .
So , and we got a curve under the neck .
Those are natural , the upper back touches the floor .
I wanna maintain those natural curves because it keeps the spine as safe as we can .
Ok .
Tail bones reaching toward the backs of the knees and the legs are firm as we pull the toes back and then inhale , reach the arms up and over .
So remember low back and over arch here , the rib cage can pop up .
So watch that and then exhale , sweep the arms out , around and down and then again , inhale arms up .
They might not come all the way up by the ears .
So just notice they might be a little bit further away .
Palms face out , exhale , sweep the arms out around and back to the sides .
Inhale , I can sweep the arms up in line with the ears as much as you can comfortably by keeping the ribs in and the lower belly lengthening or lower spine lengthening exhale , sweep them around , lower belly is pulled in .
Of course , inhale , reach the arms up , ribs in tail bone lengthens , exhale , circle the arms down and then draw the knees into the chest .
So you just draw yourself into a little ball and rock side to side up and then roll off to your right side and with your left hand , press yourself up with your head coming up very last .
And then we'll cut back on to the hands and knees today .
Again , pat up the knees .
If you have sensitive knees , we don't want any pain in the knees ever .
So inhale , cat and cow , bring the chest forward , lift the chin , lift the tail bone exhale , press away from the floor firmly and round the back , chin to chest in .
He'll stretch the front of the body , bring the collarbones forward and widen them .
A hall press away from the floor , pull the ribs and belly and strongly tucking the tailbone and again , inhale to come forward .
So we're linking our breath and movement , exhale to tuck and round , breathing through the nose .
If possible in hell , chest comes forward , belly drops , acts hell belly lifts , chest collapses a bit .
Now , from here , I'm gonna take one leg back , toes tucked under the right leg back and lift that right leg up .
Now your low back is really gonna want to arch here .
Your right hip is probably gonna want to lift up .
So instead pull the belly and ribs in strongly and drop the outer right hip down as you pin the left hip in towards center and I'll set it down .
And now we extend the left like back , toes are tucked under , pull the belling ribs in here .
Now , lift that leg just straight up from the inner thigh .
Don't let your low back arch , don't let the hip open up .
So drop the outer left hip down , lift the inner left thigh up , keep extending the crown of the head forward and through the heel , straightening out the leg as much as you can .
And then we'll set that down right leg back again , tucking the toes under , lift it straight up .
So the toes point right to the floor , drop the outer right hip down , pull the ribs and belly and firmly press away from the floor with your arms and release it and left leg , tuck the toes and just lift that leg from the inner thigh , keep your hips level , press away from the floor , keep your torso level as well .
So that pulling the ribs in , pulling the belly in and then set that down .
We'll come to child's pose .
So remember child's pose , we take the hips back to the heels that might not make it there .
So take it back as much as you can head , can rest on the floor or you can rest your head on your hands or a yoga block if you have one or a pillow or a blanket .
Now , wherever you are , if you're up higher or your heads on the floor doesn't matter .
But I want you to extend your arms as straight as you can , then come up onto your knees , bring your chest forward into a cow pose and then exhale round back into child's pose , keep the arm straight , inhale , bring the chest through .
So now your wrists are a little in front of your shoulders , exhale stretch back .
So we will lengthen the spine as much as possible as those arms are straight .
Spread the fingers , arms or shoulders , distance apart , inhale , bring the chest through , lifting chin and tailbone , exhale and take the hips all the way back to the heels , keep the arms extended in front , fingers spread .
You want to press into the base of the fingers , keep the arms straight and the hands right where they are fingers spread as if your hands are glued to the mat , then come back up onto the knees , bringing the chest through .
This time , we'll tuck the toes under and lift the knees off the floor , but keep the knees bent .
So we want to try keep the spine as long as possible .
So we bend the knees and then we'll take the knees down and come to child's pose that was called downward facing dog or a .
So arms are shoulders distance apart , inhale again onto the knees , bring the chest through , exhale and tuck the toes start to lift the knees off the floor .
Keep your hips up nice and high arms and ears in line .
Now reach your right heel toward the floor any amount .
But keep the length in the spine , bend both knees and then left heel reaches inhale , knees , bends , exhale right heel or I'm sorry , exhale , knees come down back into child's pose .
Child's pose in Bala .
Bala is the name I like the Sanskrit name .
Some people don't , but I like the history of it .
So anyway , it just makes it feel , I don't know , authentic , I suppose .
Ok , up onto the knees , tuck the toes and lift back into down dog .
If you can straighten the knees straighten them .
If not , keep the knees bent , I'd rather see a long spine and bent knees than straight legs and kind of more forward without the length in the spine .
Ok .
So keeping arms and ears in line , pull the belly in and stretch back , press into the base of the fingers as your forearms lift away from the map and then take the knees down child's pose to rest this time , bend your elbows and rest comfortably , head on hands or head on map and breathe .
Check in with your nice long , steady breathing .
And then again , arms and front shoulders , distance apart , come back up onto the knees , tuck the toes downward .
Dog , the feet are hips with a part reach the heels toward the floor .
The weight is pressing up to the hips .
Now , we want to try and keep the spine lung so you can bend the knees to stretch back and then straighten them as much as you can .
Inner thighs are spinning back , keep pressing back back , back , weight up to the hips and then reach it down toward the heels .
If your legs are straight , make sure to firm the quadri muscles , then come back onto the knees and rest back to child's pose , our resting pose , which by the way , you can push , pause on these videos and take that at any time .
That's one of the beauties of practicing at home .
So back on to sitting and lying onto our backs , going to take the right ankle just past the left knee flex the right ankle and draw the legs into the chest .
You can hold them behind the thigh or hold the shin or maybe your left foot will stay on the floor but what you might be feeling here is a little stretch on the right hip .
So I want to make sure that we keep the right ankle flexed to help keep the right knee safe .
If you have any discomfort in the knee , then don't go in so deeply .
Remember your breathing , I remind you because I know I always forget and then we'll release the left ankle , just pass the right knee flex that left ankle so you can stay with the right foot down or hold them behind the thigh or reach for the shin , a little stretch in the left hip .
Keep a nice steady breath here as well .
Relax any tension you might find again in your jaw , shoulders , neck , hips , belly check all through the body .
Always wanna check , be aware and release with every exhale .
You can let it go and then slowly we'll release that we're gonna rest here .
We're gonna make our way to Shana .
You can keep your knees bent or extend the legs .
Remember Shava most important we want to relax .
So if you're more comfortable with the knees bent , keep them bent .
If not extend the legs , feet flop , open arms by your sides , palms up , close your eyes and rest .
And as you're resting today , our quote from a Me Ray yoga is not just repetition of a few postures .
It is more about the exploration and discovery of the subtle energies of life .
Start to make movements in your hands and your feet and stretch out through your arms and your legs and then bend the knees , taking the feet onto the floor and roll yourself off to usually the right side and then with your left hand , press up , head comes up last and come into a seated position .
So cross the shins .
If that's comfortable or another one , bring the hands together .
It's called Mudra .
The hands to forehead , reminding us to have clear and loving thoughts , hands to the heart , to remind us to have clear and loving intentions and our hands to the mouth .
To remind us to have clear and loving communications , sending out wonderful energy to all beings everywhere .
Now must stay .
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