15 min Beginner Yoga for Balance & Stability

Hey yo , welcome to my channel .

My name is Cassandra and today we're going to do a standing balancing sequence .

So if balance poses are something that you are trying to work on or something that you enjoy , this should be a really great lesson for you .

We're actually going to start standing already just at the top of the mat .

Toe , heel , your feet together .

So big toes are touching , heels are about an inch or so apart , bend the knees and drop your hips down into your chair pose .

So chair pose , your tailbone is lengthening down .

Your lower belly is hugging in and you're rocking your weight back into your heels as opposed to the balls of the feet as you inhale , reach your arms up to the sky and on the exhale , bring both arms as you twist over to the right .

Keep your knees together .

Inhale , lift on up and exhale .

Sway over to the left once more on each side , inhale up and exhale right .

Inhale and over to the left .

Come back into your chair , pose , arms up , exhale , fold forward over the legs halfway , lift flat back and then plant your palms to the mat .

Keep your right leg as it is , step , the left foot back , come into your runner's lunch .

So the back knee stays off the floor as you inhale , drop the pelvis down , lift up through the heart and let's find our easy twist , left hand down right arm up and now working on our balance here , push down into your big right toe .

Stay firm through your legs .

See if you can keep your arms and your chest exactly as they are right now , come up onto the left fingertips and then come up into your high lunge with a twist .

So opening long through the arms , if you'd like to go further , you can bring your right hand to your left thigh and your left arm up back into that open arm , twist , bring your hands at the front of the heart , facing forward , coming up into your tree pose , you're gonna stand on your right leg , bring your left foot somewhere along the inside edge of that right leg , either to the inner shin or up towards the inner thigh .

Feel your right thigh , push against your left foot , hug into the midline , squeezing in .

Finding something to focus on that is not moving , engaging your core , keep your hands exactly as they are .

You're going to float your left knee in front of you squeezing into the hip flexor to lift it up even higher and then you're going to find your warrior three extending your left leg back , leaning your chest forward , try to rotate that left hip down , squeeze into the group so that left leg stays up nice and high , working on your balance .

Take one more breath here and high lunge again .

Bend your right knee , left toes come back , inhale arms reach up , overhead palms , come together to touch .

Exhale hands , come down .

Take your float , inhale to plank pose .

Exhale , chatter on to the floor .

Inhale , take a cobra pose and then exhale .

We meet downward facing dog .

So your first down dog here , hamstrings might be a little tight .

You can paddle the feet and sway the hips a little bit side to side .

Looking to the top of the mat .

Take as many steps as you need to find your rag doll forward , fold .

So feet or hip with distance apart , bend the knees , hold onto the elbows and you can sway side to side , shaking out the head , releasing your fingertips to the floor , bend your knees a lot .

Push into your heels to roll all the way up to stand inch by inch .

Standing at the top of the mat , bring your big toes together heels about an inch or so apart .

Hands up the heart chair post , rock your weight back into your heels .

Sit low in this chair , reach your arms up , twist to the left exhale , reach your arms back and Hale to chair exhale to twist once more on each side , inhale up , exhale to the left and help up , twist to the right back into your chair .

Arms up , exhale , fold over your legs halfway , lift flat back , exhale , step the right foot back , find your runners lunge .

So runner's lunch , you want your feet about hip with distance apart .

Hips are sinking down low .

Get a nice opening and a nice stretch here through the hip flexor .

And for your easy twist , you're gonna plant your right hand to the mat , aligning your wrist underneath your shoulder and then open up left arm to the sky .

Push down into your big left toe .

You really need to engage your legs firmly here working on balance .

Come on up onto your right fingertips and then lift up into an open arm , twist in your high lunge .

So hips and legs are facing forward , chest is opening to the side .

You're welcome to hang out here or to reverse fully left hand down right arm up , slow steady breaths back to the open arms , hands at the heart , face forward here , stepping up into your tree pose , you're gonna balance on your left leg , whoop and bring your right foot somewhere along the inside of that left leg , either towards the shin or up towards the inner thigh .

And if you fall a bit , it's no big deal .

The purpose of this class is not to get every single balance pose perfectly .

It's just to be able to strengthen the ankle , strengthen the shins , strengthen the lower body so that you can start to correct whenever you do start to wobble .

So , wobbling is good because it absolutely ends up strengthening your joints and strengthening your muscles as well .

Try to push your left thigh into that right foot , squeezing that right knee open , keeping your gaze steady .

You're drift , we're gonna lift that right knee up to face forward , using hip flexor strength and find your warrior three , right leg extends back , chest leans forward .

So at most , you're parallel to the floor really no more than this .

You shouldn't be dipping all the way down to the ground .

You're up pretty high and you're engaging the muscles in that right leg , draw your nasal into your low back to protect your low back .

Finding your high lunge , bend the left knee carefully step the right toes back as you inhale , reach the arms overhead , bring your palms together to touch , exhale , fold it forward , take your flow , inhale to plank , exhale , chatter , inhale cobra or upward dog , exhale downward facing dog .

Take a breath or two here and your downward dog .

And from this down dog , you can start to walk your feet in about halfway to the mat and then you can bring your hands to meet you , bend your knees generously and slowly roll all the way up to stand inch by inch .

And let's finish off with our last little standing balancing post sequence coming into dancers pose so you can lean onto your right thigh and onto your right leg , bend into your left knee and see if you can catch a hold of the inside edge of that left foot .

So standing up nice and tall , keep that left knee hugging in , reach your right arm forward out in front of you palm facing down and then push and kick the foot into the palm to lift the back knee up .

So notice how I'm not dipping all the way down to the floor .

I'm trying to keep my chest up pretty high .

And again , remind yourself , wobbling is totally fine .

Falling out of the pose is perfectly ok .

One more deep breath here and then stay balancing on your right thigh .

You're going to cross your left thigh over the right one into eagle pose , maybe looping those toes back with your elbows , bend in front of you .

You can wrap your left arm under your right once or twice , bend both knees sink down a little deeper .

One more breath and unwind , reach the arms up overhead , exhale hands together at the front of the heart .

Let's switch sides .

Lean onto your left foot , bend into your right knee , catch the inner edge of that right foot , left arm out in front of you and start to kick the foot into the palm to lift it up .

So it is very challenging , but try to keep your hips squared .

So you're not rotating one side or the other chest is lifted one big breath here into your eagle pose .

Wrap your right thigh over the left one , maybe the toes loop back , right arm under the left binding .

Once or twice , both knees are bent .

Sink down a little bit lower , press the forms together and release open the arms wide and now exhale , fold all the way down .

Inhale flat back , exhale , just go right away to your down dog .

Step the feet back lengthen out through the hamstrings , through the arms through your spine , soften your neck , let your head relax and let's come down , bring your legs out in front of you lower onto your back and pull your knees into your belly , giving it a big squeeze .

You can rock a little bit side to side here , massaging the low back , bring your arms out into a teeth .

You can shift your hips a little bit over to the right before letting both knees come down to the left .

A few breaths here in this lang spinal twist a great way to reset the low back .

Try to ground your right shoulder to the floor and lift the knees up .

Inhale .

Move to the other side .

Exhale knees drop down left shoulder , anchors , lifting the thighs back up , make your way into Shava , our final resting pose just taking about 10 or so deep breaths here just allowing yourself this opportunity to check in and notice what feels different .

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Let's take a big breath together .

Inhale through your nose and exhale out the mouth .

I'm bowing forward and I must say thank you so much Yogis for doing this quick balancing sequence with me .

I do hope that you enjoyed it .

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Let me know what you thought of this practice and how it went for you .

Thank you so much for tuning in and I hope to practice again with you soon .