30 min Beginner to Intermediate Yoga - Evolve Your Yoga Practice!

Hey yo guys , welcome to my channel .

My name is Cassandra and today's yoga class is for beginner students who want to transition into being intermediate students .

So this was a request I got on Instagram .

If you don't follow me already , the handle is down below .

But periodically I go on Instagram and I ask you guys for requests on videos and this was a really popular one .

So I think a lot of you are kind of stuck doing beginner videos and you want to figure out how you can eventually progress and evolve your practice for this class .

I'm going to give you as many options as I possibly can .

So for all of the poses and transitions , I'll show you what the beginner variation would be and what the more intermediate variation would be .

And then you can decide and try out which one would be the best for you .

And even if you can't quite do the intermediate variation today , at least you'll know what to work towards .

So hopefully this will work .

I'm not going to use any props for this practice .

However , I always advise at home that you have a block or two somewhere close by just in case that you do need it .

And we're going to start in table top hos on our hands and knees just doing some hip circles to warm up the joints .

So you want to be able to spread the fingertips nice and wide .

So if you look down at your fingers try to create really as much space between each finger as you can .

And I like to get the index and the middle fingers to be pointing towards the top of the mat so that the crease of the elbows spins to face forward , knees underneath your hips .

And there's really no right or wrong way to do this , just start to trace some circles with your hips and you might hear a little bit of cracking in your knees and in your hips .

I know that always happens for me , try to link up the breath with your movement , inhaling and exhaling and you can start to reverse and go into the opposite direction .

Notice if there's any tension or tightness in the hips and in the low back , push down firmly into your fingertips and knuckles .

So you're taking out some of the weight from your wrists and coming back into our neutral tabletop pose on hands and knees .

Now engage your core .

So pull your lower belly in towards your low back .

We want to avoid a rounding of the low back .

So really push and stay firm here and then extend your right leg up and back , keep your right hip rotating down .

So the front of the thigh , the knee , the shin , the toes all point down to the floor flex your foot and push back into your heel .

Already notice if one or both elbows are bending or if you're collapsing in your little back , stay really strong .

This is beginner variation .

More intermediate would be to also extend your left arm forward .

So if this is too much , just come back to having your left hand down .

Otherwise , keep the left arm lifted up , drawing your navel in , inhale , lengthen out a little more and then exhale coil in , bring your knee in towards your nose around and contract .

Remember you can do this with your left hand down as well .

Inhale , extend , exhale , squeeze and contract twice more here .

Inhale , reach it out , exhale , squeeze it in last one .

Keep your right arm straight .

Inhale to lengthen .

Exhale to squeeze , bring your left hand down if it was lifted , re extend your right leg back behind you .

And this time as you exhale , try to tap your right knee as high up towards your right shoulder as you can without bending your left elbow .

Inhale , reach it back just two more times here .

Exhale , tap the right knee in , inhale , extend exhale to squeeze .

Ok .

Now , re extend your right leg , we're gonna try to charge it up .

You're either gonna do it three more times just the way we've been doing it or you're gonna do it from your three legged plank pose , a more intermediate version .

So in how to lengthen exhale , right me to your right shoulder and hey , I'll reach you back , exhale , squeeze it in last one .

Inhale , back , exhale to squeeze right .

Footsteps back .

Let's lift our hips up and back downward , facing dog .

So down , dog , you want your feet hip with distance apart , maybe even wider than your hips .

If the low back and hamstrings are really tight and really don't worry about having your heels touch the ground or having your legs straight .

You can absolutely bend your knees here .

Focus more on lengthening your spine and lengthening your arms and you can shake up the head and we will come up to a rag doll fold .

So step your feet to the top of the mat , keep them a little bit wider than your hips , bend your knees a lot and just hold on to the elbows , sway a little side to side , just decompressing the low back , getting a little traction in the spine and release your fingertips down to the mat .

Bend your knees a lot more and slowly roll up to sand .

Push into your heels to come all the way up .

Stepping to the top of the mat will take a little half sun , salutation .

Palms shine forward in your mountain pose , inhale arms , rise up , palms come together to touch exhale , swan , dive forward so you can absolutely bend your knees here to protect your low back .

Halfway lift in hell .

Exhale to fold and just step back into your downward dog just for a breath here .

Set your knees down to the ground tabletop pose , realign your hands underneath your shoulders , knees underneath your hips .

This time , your left leg extends up and back , rotate that thigh down , squeeze into the glutes .

So this is less about how high up you can get your leg and more about how much can you reach it back ?

Either hold here or reach your right arm forward .

For the more intermediate version as you inhale , reach lengthen out , exhale , squeeze in and contract inhale to extend .

Exhale , coil in , keep your left elbow straight twice more .

Inhale out , exhale , contract rich , squeeze it in .

Bring your right hand down to the mat , re extend your left leg back behind you .

And this time exhale , you're gonna tap your left knee as high up the upper arm as you can push both arms straight .

Inhale , reach it back .

Belly is strong .

Exhale , squeeze and he'll extend exhale .

Squeeze it in next time you extend your left leg back , you can continue to do it from table top hose or you do it from plank .

So tuck the back toes under , lift the back knee , exhale , left knee , squeezes in , inhale , reach it back , exhale , squeeze , inhale , reach last one left to left tricep plank pose downward facing dog , stretch it back and walk your feet forward .

Raged all , once more feet are a little wider than your hips .

Bend your knees .

Hold onto the elbows , sway a little side to side .

See if you can invite the hamstrings to open up and loosen a little more fingertips come down to the floor , roll all the way up to stand .

Push into your heels , head and shoulders are the last to make their way up .

Step to the top of the mat .

This time , we're going to take a full sun salutation .

So a full via more beginner version is to keep your feet hip with distance apart , aligned underneath your hips .

If you'd like to go a little further , you can just bring your big toes together to touch heels about an inch or so apart .

Hug in through the midline to lift and lengthen up , reach your arms up to the sky .

Breathe in exhale , swan dive , fold forward , knees can bend or straighten halfway , lift flat back , plant your palms .

Now , you can either step back to your plank po or you can hop back to Charanga with bent elbows , inhale back bent and we meet downward facing dog .

So from your downward facing dog come forward into plank and just let your right knee come down to the ground .

So your shin is supported , roll to the inner edge of your left foot and extend your left arm up .

So this is your modified side plank .

You're aligning your left shoulder directly over the top of your right one .

This is the beginner variation of this pose .

If you'd like to take it one step further , you can come into your full side plank pose by straightening both legs and stacking the left foot over the right one .

Push into the feet to lift the pelvis up a little higher .

Take one deep breath in here .

Look down , left hand comes down to the floor .

We will switch sides , left knee and shin down to the mat .

Roll to the inner edge of your right foot and extend your right arm up to the sky .

So this requires a lot of strength in your obliques .

You can stay as you are or you can straighten both legs and try to stack the joints .

So right shoulder over the left right hip over your left , push into the feet to lift the pelvis up a little higher , right hand down , downward facing dog .

So if downward dog is starting to feel a little challenging for your shoulders , you're welcome to instead do everything from a table top pose .

So from your table top pose , you would extend your right leg up and back .

If you're in down dog , you're also extending your right leg up and back .

So it's up to you .

If you want to have your left knee on or off the floor , squeeze into the glutes either way and see if you can reach your right heel up a little higher and we're gonna step forward to a low lunge .

So right foot in between the palm to the top of the map back , knee comes down to the floor .

Keep your back toes curled under and lift up right knee over your ankle .

Hands at the heart , reach the tailbone down , press your hips forward and down .

So this is the beginner variation , intermediate variation you're gonna hover and now lift the balcony off the floor in a high lunge as opposed to your low lunge , pushing into the palms , keep your gaze steady on something that's not moving and draw the navel in .

Coming into a prayer twist , you're gonna hook your left elbow over the top of your right thigh .

So this can be a pretty challenging twist for your balance .

Remember , you can always do it with your back knee lowered to the floor , draw the right shoulder down and away from your ear , push into the hands as if they were going to come directly to the center of your chest .

Looking down to the mat .

Easy twist , left hand down , right arm up , acne can be lifted or not look to the floor , bring your right hand down to the mat .

Now you're either going to straighten your right leg and fold from here in your pyramid poles or if you need to make it a little easier with your back knee down , you're just going to straighten your right leg and fold from here .

So whether you're doing the beginner or intermediate variation , we're still working the same thing .

It's still just a hamstring stretch .

Try to relax your head , pulling the heart forward and we meet either in downward dog or table top pose to repeat this sequence over on the other side , left leg rises , keep it straight and squared .

So beginners , you do this from table top with your right knee down , just extending it up .

Otherwise the right knee is lifted and we'll come to our low lunge left foot forward between your hands .

Acne comes down to the mat , keep your back toes curled under , lift up and you're hugging into the midline hands at your heart .

Choose to stay in your low lunge or lift your back knee off the ground for high lunch , slow down your breath .

So initiate the twist from the low belly .

We're not twisting our hips .

We're just twisting the upper body trying to stack the right elbow over the top of your left thigh .

Back knee can either be up or down to help you out with balance a little bit .

Push into that right elbow , draw the left shoulder down and away from your ear .

Keep the back heel lifted up nice and high , whether your knee is up or down and we go to our easy twist .

So look to the mat right hand down , left armor left fingertips to the floor .

You're either gonna take your half splits , straightening the left leg with the back knee down , or you're gonna take your pyramid pose , straightening the left leg , folding into your shin .

And we meet either in our down dog or our table top posts .

If you can from table top , try to come up to our down dog .

We're gonna take two V , I'll break it down .

The first one , I'll do a modified version and the second time we'll do it the more traditional way a little bit harder .

So inhale , come forward to plank pose and drop your knees to the mat .

So this is your modified plank and then we're going all the way to our belly point , your elbows back , keep the arms hugging in all the way down , point your toes back , push into the hands , lift up to cobra .

So elbows stay bent and squeezing in and then exhale lower and press back either to table top poses or to your downward facing dog .

So that's how you would do a modified via flow .

If you're a more beginner and getting into yoga , if you'd like to add on and do the traditional variation of this V , you're gonna inhale forward into plank pose from here .

Rock your weight onto the tops of the feet , bend your elbows at a 90 degree angle .

Hover inhale to upward dog .

So the hips and the knees are lifted off the mount exhale .

Core strength , pulls the hips up and back downward facing dog .

Let's set our knees to the floor .

Take a little easy child's pose .

Keep your knees pretty close together .

Reach your arms back , forehead down , five deep breaths here .

So for me , when I was just starting off lowering in Teranga , so doing those little pushups was definitely the hardest part of a Viasa flow yoga practice .

So don't get discouraged if it doesn't really work yet or if you need to keep your knees down , I found it really , really hard , even if my knees were down , it requires quite a bit of upper body strength and that can take time to develop .

So you can modify or even leave them out as much as you'd like coming into our next flow , start to lift and lengthen back up and we're gonna come back into either table top poles or downward facing dog .

Your choice right leg rises in Hale and we're coming to Warrior two .

So you'll step your right foot forward between your palms back foot parallel to the shorter edge of your mat , lift up with the arms .

So arms are reaching out , palms are facing down as you bend into your right knee , you're pushing and squeezing it open .

So from the stance , bend your elbows in front of you at a 90 degree angle .

So everything should be facing the long edge of your mat , you're going to swing your right arm under your left , either binding once or binding twice , wrapping at the wrists .

If none of those really feel good , just hold on to the shoulders or the shoulder blades , draw the shoulder blades down your back , keep your elbows lifted and move your hands away from your face already .

There's a lot going on .

Bend into your right knee beginners .

You're simply gonna drop your elbows to your chest and coil in more intermediate students .

You're going to dive to the inside of your right thigh , three breaths , whichever pose you have chosen .

And let's all make our way low to the ground .

We're coming to our easy twist , unwrap the arms left hand down , back , heel up , right arm up .

So we've been here before from this easy twist , let your left knee come down to the mat and step your right foot all the way to the back of your mat .

Again .

We've been here before .

This is your modified side plank pose .

Hold as you are or stack one leg on top of the other with both legs straight .

Instead of keeping our right arm straight up to the sky , bring your bicep along the ear , reach your fingertips to the top of the mat and push into your feet to lift the Pelvis up plank poles .

So your choice to do your , you can do modified with the knees down , exhale , we lower down , inhale either cobra or upward dog with the knee caps lifted off the floor , exhale downward dog or tabletop pose .

Moving to the other side , left leg rises , step your left foot between the palms to the top of the mat .

Back foot parallel to the shorter edge , lift the chest , lift the arms reach them out to the side .

Squeeze that left knee open .

So really strong legs , front heel is pretty much aligned to the middle of your back arch and we're gonna bend the elbows in front of us at a 90 degree angle .

This time , you're gonna wrap your left arm under the right binding once , binding twice or just holding onto the shoulders .

From here .

Beginners , you can coil in and hold as you breathe into the upper back , more intermediate students , you're gonna dive down to the inside of your left leg , try to soften your neck and your head stay strong in your legs .

We're coming from this pose into our easy twist , unwrap the arms , plant your right hand down to the floor , lift your back heel off the mat and extend your left arm up from this easy twist , ground your right knee to the mat , step your left foot all the way to the back of the mat .

And now you're in your modified side plank poles where you can choose to stay or you can straighten both legs for full side plank .

If you're in your full side plank poles reach the left fingertips up and over bicep along the ear inhale to plank , exhale lower down either or to your belly .

Inhale , backb of your choice .

Exhale our final downward facing dog push into the heels , reach long through the arms stretch out through your spine and set your knees down to the ground .

And we're going to lower all the way down onto our back , lower all the way down and just pull your knees into your belly .

Give it a big squeeze .

You can walk a little .

So we'll take a reclined knee pile pose .

One of my favorite hip openers .

You're just going to cross your right leg as far over the top of the left one as you can .

We're trying to stack the right knee one on top of the other from here .

You can either choose more beginner variation is to just hold on to the knees and pull them in towards your belly .

If you want to make it a little bit more challenging , see if you can hold on to your feet or to your ankles and reach the feet further away from one another , flex the feet and drag down towards the floor .

So you should feel this like a pretty intense stretch on the outer edges of your hips .

Try to soften your shoulders .

Don't need to use too much strength or effort here in this pose and release unwind the legs , ground your feet down to the floor becoming to bridge .

You want your heels pretty close and towards your glutes , relax your arms by your sides , push down into the feet .

Start to curl , lift the tailbone , hips low back , mid back off the ground .

As soon as you reach your peak height , notice if you're rolling to the outer ankles or if the knees are opening up any wider than they were before , try to hug into the midline and push down into your big toes .

This is a more beginner variation .

If you'd like to go a little further , you're gonna shoulders and shoulder blades underneath you until you can clasp your hands .

Push into the back of the arms to lift the pelvis up even higher again .

Try not to roll to the outer edges .

You want to keep your ankles , your knees and your hips all in one line .

Breathe into your belly .

If you are clasping your hands , you can let that go lower down , inch by inch until your hips lower to the mat and we'll take reclined knee pile on the other side .

So bringing your knees in this time , you're gonna cross your left leg over your right one cross as far as you possibly can either pull in , holding on to your knees or hold on to the feet or the ankles and drag them further away from each other .

Try to relax the arm , squeeze it in a little bit closer and let's release unwind one last time into our bridge pose .

Feed our hip with distance .

Apart , push down , lift up .

And if you'd like , once again , you can shrug your shoulders underneath you , but try to clasp your hands in a more unusual way .

So you have the other thumb on top so that we're not always repeating the same side , squeeze your inner thighs together , push down into your heels and root them back towards your shoulders , straighten the arms , soften your neck , release the hold of the arms and the hands slowly lower down and widen your feet towards the edges of the mat and just do a little windshield wiper motion with the knees letting them drop from side to side really slow .

No need to rush this just trying to release any tension in the hips or in the lower back .

If there are any other little movements or adjustments that are needed here , you can do that .

Now , otherwise we're gonna make our way into Vona corpse pose .

Take up some space .

If your low back feels sensitive in any way , you can always just let your knees fall in towards each other with your feet flat on the ground and just notice what activated for you throughout this practice .

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Take a great big stretch here .

If you were just waking up in the morning and we'll make our way up to take a seat , sit in any way that is suitable for your back and for your hips lengthen out through your spine and bring your hands together at the front of the hearts close with a cleansing breath in through the nose out through the mouth , breathing and bowing forward .

And I must stay .

Thank you so much Yogis for doing this practice with me .

I hope you enjoyed it .

And hopefully you learned a few things on how you can slowly over time progress .

Your practice from a more beginner practice to intermediate .

I always love to hear from you guys .

So please leave me a comment and just let me know how this went for you .

Keep at it .

If you're new to my channel , do subscribe .

I put out new classes every single week and it's a really great , easy way to support free yoga on the internet , which I think is something everyone can agree .

It's pretty awesome .

Thank you so much guys .

Have a great day and I'll practice again with you soon .