Yoga Weight Loss, For Beginners _ Get your Body Back _ 14 Day Yoga _ Day 1

Their moms .

Hello , everyone .

Welcome and congratulations .

You're here today because you want a change .

I was once where you are and yoga dramatically changed my life because of that .

I'm sitting here today hoping that I can help you do the same .

During this complete beginner series , you'll learn the basics of yoga , build your strength and tone your muscles .

Follow along for all 14 days to prepare your body for the more intense classes in the , get your body back weight loss collection .

I use yoga to lose weight and get in shape after having Children .

If you're looking to get your body back , the series is for you .

Props can be very useful when you're practicing yoga .

Something like blocks can be handy to bring the ground closer to you .

If you don't have blocks , you can use books and then we also can use a pillow or a cushion if you don't have a proper bolster , which can also be helpful if you're lying down or to pad under your knee , um , towels , blankets , pillows , anything like that .

If you have them handy , keep them close by because it'll really help you throughout our practice today .

And now we're ready to begin .

So come to a comfortable seat , cross your legs , pull the belly in gently towards the spine .

Sit nice and tall .

Let your shoulders gently drop down your shoulder blades , come together on the back and then lengthen the back of the neck , gently tucking your chin in towards your chest , ever so slightly , letting the top of your head reach upwards and then take this moment to check in with your body .

You've physically arrived here on your mat .

Now let's begin arriving mentally .

So notice what's going on inside .

Notice if you're feeling any pain , any tightness , any soreness , anywhere starting with the physical body , just taking a scan , letting go of any judgment , any expectation or attachment to emotions , there's no right or wrong .

We're just noticing and observing .

And then once you've scanned your physical body , shift your attention to your mental and emotional state .

How are you feeling today ?

Maybe you're feeling a little nervous or apprehensive .

You don't know what to expect .

Maybe you've been stressed out whatever the case may be just again , observing and letting go of judgment , having compassion for whatever comes up and then finally turn your attention to your breath and your heartbeat and notice the quality of your breath and the speed of your heartbeat .

Is your breathing shallow ?

Is it deep ?

Is it rough ?

Jagged ?

And then what about your heartbeat ?

Is it fast , slow , steady and then slowly begin deepening your breath , slowing down your inhales for about four or five seconds in through the nose and then hold at the top of your inhale and slowly exhale out for another four or five seconds as you breathe .

Sometimes it helps to visualize uh in inflating a balloon as you inhale , slowly counting or five seconds .

Imagine that balloon inflating to its maximum capacity and then hold at the top of the breath and then slowly as you exhale out through the nose , imagine that balloon deflating until there's no more air left and then just do this another four times .

Nice and slow .

Maybe even letting it be audible slightly like sounding like the waves of the ocean or like fogging up a mirror .

But with your mouth closed , breathing deeply is probably one of the most important tips I can give you as we begin our yoga practice , staying connected to your breath .

Because when we encounter struggle , it is sometimes our natural tendency to clench our muscles .

So as we are starting off in our yoga practice , the most important thing to remember is to breathe , especially when you start feeling struggle and challenge in your practice .

Make sure you're breathing .

Let's take one more last cycle of breath together deep in here , then complete exhale and then if your eyes are closed , you can blink your eyes open slowly and then with your next inhale , we're just gonna reach your arms up and stretch towards the ceiling and as you exhale , drop your right hand to the ground and stretch out the left side of your body and maybe you can turn your heart and look up and it's ok .

If you can't lean down a lot , you can stay up here , just be where you can without forcing and turn and breathe and then lift back up with your inhale .

As you exhale , drop your left hand and then stretch off the right side of the body nice and gentle without forcing , inhale to center .

And then as you excel this time , we're just gonna twist .

So bring the left hand to the right knee and the right hand will plant behind you and then you gently twist , turn your heart , look over your shoulder .

Inhale the center and exhale , twist to the left right hand to the left knee , left hand plants behind you gently looking over your shoulder and then let's do this again .

Inhale the center , starting back at the top , drop your right hand and stretch out the left inhale it .

Exhale side , bend , inhale to center , exhale , twist to the right inhale , back to center and exhale , twist to the left inhale backup .

And this time just fold forward over your crossed legs .

And again , it's ok if you don't go down very far , just be where you can without forcing and breathe some of these movements that may be really foreign to you if you've never practiced yoga before and you may feel a lot come up , maybe some tension , resistance , maybe even frustration or anger .

And that is totally normal .

I just encourage you to stick with it and not throw in the towel too quickly .

Give yourself a fighting chance as you're ready , slowly walk your hands back and then we're just going to transition to our hands and knees called tabletop position .

So in your table top position , you want to make sure your wrists are stopped under your shoulders and your knees are stacked under your hips .

And then again , we're going to gently tuck the chin in towards the chest to lengthen the back of the neck and peel your neck as an extension of your spine , making sure our bones are stacked is really important to keep the pressure off of one particular part of your body .

So if you're kind of like this , your wrists are really gonna take a lot of load and any kind of arm balance where you're , when you're on your hands , you want to make sure your hands are under your shoulders and your elbows .

So we're gonna begin warming up the spine now with some cat and cow with your next inhale , push your tailbone up towards the ceiling , slowly curve your spine and then lift the crown of the head at the end of your inhale for your cow pose .

And as you exhale , tuck your tailbone in , pull the belly in and up , bring your chin to your chest at the very end for your cat to pose like a Halloween cat .

And then again , we're gonna do this four more times as you inhale , always start at your tailbone and then end at the crown of your head .

Your account pose , exhale , slowly curving your spine into your cat pose .

Let's do three more .

Inhale and exhale .

Couple more .

And as you're moving through this , feel free to start wiggling side to side again , we're just warming up the spine .

So again , making it your own , keeping it organic , whatever feels good in your body .

And this is throughout the entire practice .

Remember to really take the cues but then feel the cues in your body and feel free to modify and adjust to whatever feels the best for you from here .

We're just going to inhale the right arm up and twist , lift your gaze as you exhale , we're going to bring the right arm under the body and let your head rest on the ground .

This is called the red the needle .

So again , you may feel some intense sensation here and that is totally ok .

If this is too much for you , feel free to back off a little bit and then you're just gonna continue breathing here , opening up that shoulder , feeling a little stretch , maybe turning your heart towards this feeling .

If it's ok in the body , couple more cycles here , nice and slow .

And it's important to take your time , especially as we are beginning our practice because our body is not used to or accustomed to these types of positions .

And we can be more prone to injury if we try to do too much before our body is ready .

And then whenever you are ready , inhale and then lift that arm back up and twist towards the ceiling , taking your time as you exhale , bring your hand back to the ground in your tabletop position .

We're gonna do the same thing on the other side as you're ready .

Inhale , lift the left arm and twist , lift your gaze and then exhale to thread the needle , Children to the ground , let your head rests on the ground , turn your heart towards the ceiling , lifting the gaze and breathe , opening up the shoulder , feeling a stretch in your back again .

No forceful movements here do more cycles of breath .

So in yoga , we really focus on our exhales because that's where the release happens .

That's where we let go of the tension , the resistance , the clenching and we allow our body to go a little bit further .

Then we think we can go and then inhale as you're ready back up , twist and lift and then as you exhale , coming back to your table top position from here , we're gonna go ahead and bring the right foot in between the hands .

So feel free to grab a blanket or a bolster to pad under your knee or some towels , anything that'll keep it a little bit more comfortable as you come on to your knee and then you're gonna make sure that you tuck your toes under .

So your toenails are pushing against the ground so much almost that you may even feel your knee cap lift off the ground if you had enough force and pressure there .

That's how much activation you want in that , in that left foot from here As we come up , we're going to pull the belly in towards the spine and then place your hands for a moment on your right thigh .

So pull the shoulders down , shoulder blades together , keep pulling and activating your core , pulling that belly in towards the spine , you thrusting your hips forward a little bit , pushing the toenails firmly into the ground , there's a lot going on .

So just take a moment and notice how it's feeling in the body .

Keep breathing .

Remember , I'm gonna keep reminding you in every video that we do to keep breathing because we all forget the , the ones that have been practicing the longest even sometimes have to constantly remind ourselves .

So as you're ready , if you want , you can keep your hands here .

If you would like to go a little bit further , try to reach your arms up and just notice how that feels .

You may just do this and be like , ok , never mind .

I'm just come back here again .

That's totally fine .

So just notice how it feels .

If you can handle it , you think if you want to stay here and give it a shot , keep breathing .

Once again , pull belly in , push those toenails into the ground so much your knee cap can lift off the ground .

Let's do two more cycles of breath here .

Again , I can even feel a burn .

I've been practicing yoga for not that long , maybe five years , relatively .

So even staying here for a while can be quite intense .

So one more inhale and then as we exhale , we're slowly gonna start uh straightening this right leg and then reaching the hips back towards the heel .

And then this is where I'm going to encourage you to grab those blocks or some really thick novels if you have something handy to prop your hands on .

So again , this is a half splits and we're slowly going to reach your hips back to stretch out the back of our right leg , reaching the toes towards the nose and reach your nose towards your toes .

So eventually working our way closer and closer to our leg , our heart melts down again with each exhale without any forceful movements .

And remember if you're up here , if you're even up here totally fine .

This is where I was .

I promised when I started just six years ago , I could barely do this .

This was torture for me .

So kudos to you , I know how you feel .

And again , just keep breathing most importantly , feel that sensation , feel that stretch don't force yourself beyond what you're ready to do today .

So let's do one more cycle of breath .

And then from here , we're going to walk our hands back forward .

And then again , if you want to use a block under your hand , feel free to grab that block , play with the height , even , you may want to keep it at the tallest height and we're just going to reach the right arm up and twist .

And then if you want to try , see if you can bring it down a little bit from the tallest height and then go and then you may not even need the block .

Who knows ?

Maybe you need it .

Maybe you don't just test it and see how it feels .

Continue turning your heart open , reaching up , keep breathing .

Here it is called dragonfly twists .

Let's do one more inhale and exhale and bringing the hand down and then we're going to step the feet back .

So remove that pillow or bolster out of the way and we're just gonna step back and come into the quintessential downward facing dog .

So this may be your first downward facing dog ever .

I encourage you to keep the knees bent as deeply as you'd like to just feel it out .

Keep your hands , your fingers nice and wide , spread out on the mat and then push down through the base , knuckles of your fingers , keep your neck long and keep breathing , maybe even peddle your feet out , one heel to the ground .

Just a couple more deep breaths here .

Again , if this is really intense for you , please take ownership of your own body , do what you gotta do , you know , listen to my cues , but ultimately , you are in charge .

So pay attention to what your body needs and if it's telling you to come out and this is enough , please listen .

Let's take one more cycle of breath here .

Deep inhale , in full exhale .

We're slowly gonna start lowering our knees to the ground back into our table top position .

And now we're just gonna do the same thing on the other side .

So you can grab that blanket , towel , pillow bolster whatever you want to pad under your knees and we're gonna step this time the left foot forward and the right knee is gonna rest on the blanket bolster mat , whatever .

Push the toenails of the right foot into the mat firmly .

So much your knee cap could lift and then rest your hands on your left thigh .

Pull belly in nice and firm shoulders down shoulder blades together on your back , maybe even slightly the rust in your hips forward again .

Just take a moment here .

Breathe , let it settle into the body .

Paying attention .

What's going on ?

How does this feel ?

This is crazy , intense , painful , shouldn't be painful .

It's painful .

Listen to your body's cues back off a little bit .

All right .

It should be uncomfortable though because through the discomfort is where the change happens , the growth happens .

All right .

Now we can inhale , lift the arms up again .

Totally optional .

If you'd rather keep your hands on your thighs , feel free to do that .

Keep pushing the toenails or the right foot into the ground .

Maybe even play with trying to lift that kneecap .

Maybe not today .

Rebellion .

Lift and breathe .

Keep your shoulders down .

Your neck is nice and long .

Couple more deep breaths .

Again , remember to be kind and compassionate to yourself .

This is not like other workout uh videos or other , you know , exercise regimens .

Yoga is very different .

Yoga is about compassion and kindness and acceptance almost the way a parent would be to a child .

You want to encourage your child , you love your child , you know your child's potential .

Let's bring those arms down , grab the blocks .

If you need them , we're straightening out that left leg , going back into that half splits , straightening it out and reaching your heart down as you exhale , let your heart come down a little bit closer to your leg .

Keep reaching your nose towards your toes as you inhale , straighten out your spine .

Couple more cycles of breath here .

So yeah , as a parent loves a child and wants a child to succeed and do well and reach their fullest potential .

Yoga teaches us to have that same kindness , love and compassion for ourselves to love and accept ourselves as we are .

But then to have enough compassion and love to want us to reach our full potential .

Let's do one more cycle here and then slowly rise up and then we're just gonna walk our hands back again .

You can grab that block , place it under the right hand .

If you would like , we're gonna inhale the left arm up for that dragonfly twist .

And then if you prefer to do it without a block , you can try it both ways and see what feels better in your body again .

There's no right or wrong .

Continue turning your heart and breathing , reaching up towards the ceiling , pushing away from the ground , keeping your face , your neck , your shoulder soft , one more cycle of breath here .

And then as you're ready , bring your hand down , tuck your toes under , you can move your blanket or bolster it out away .

We're just gonna step back .

However , you can get there coming back into our downward facing dog .

Keep those knees nice and deeply bent , starting off like this and then maybe even straightening one leg and then the other , push your heel down one at a time towards the ground .

Continue drawing your chest towards your thighs and breathing and you may not even be able to be here for very long and that's ok .

Your body may just be getting used to this sensation and that's what matters .

Little doses , small , little doses gradually increasing as we progress through our practice over time .

And then as you're ready after you've had a few deep breaths , slowly bring your knees to the ground and then we're just gonna push our hips all the way back , bringing the forehead to the ground with your toes together , your knees are wide , letting your fingertips slide towards the top of the mat .

This is called child's pose .

And this is a very restful restorative pose .

Any time you need a break .

Whenever you're practicing yoga , this is a great place to come to when you need to catch your breath .

Anita Pies always coming back to your child's pose , reconnecting of your breath and your heartbeat , noticing what's going on in your body .

Couple of deep breaths here and then as you're ready , slowly coming back up , great job guys .

I hope you're proud of yourself for completing your very first yoga class .

So I have a homework assignment for you .

I want you to grab a piece of paper and a pen and I want you to jot down a few things .

So yoga is a mindfulness practice , which means becoming more aware .

It's not just physical .

I want you to write down if you noticed moments where you were holding your breath .

As I mentioned , many times , there are a class when we get uncomfortable , we tend to naturally clench and hold our breath .

So if you caught yourself doing that and when you caught yourself doing that write down , write that down as number one .

Number two , I want you to write down what was your least favorite pose ?

What maybe brought up anger or frustration or resentment or any aversion or any uh undesirable emotion in you and what you didn't like about that pose , maybe try to think about what it was specifically that you didn't like .

Number three , I want you to write down what your favorite pose was and why , how it felt in your body .

What was amazing about this pose ?

You know , the sensation that came up just really again , trying to think a little bit deeper and noticing what your body really enjoys and what your body doesn't enjoy .

Secret .

Here .

Sometimes the things that we avoid and the things that we hate are oftentimes the things that we need more of in our life .

And then number four , I just want you to overall write down your experience with the class .

How are you feeling now ?

And how are you feeling now compared to when you started the practice , when you started the class , when you hit play , you know , try to notice how you were feeling then compared to notice how you're feeling right now .

And these are things that I invite you to reflect on after every class , maybe not on a piece of paper , but even just mentally , just notice those things because that is where the magic of yoga will really help you .

Make a difference in your life .

And number five , I want you to write down your , why , why did you begin this series ?

Why are you excited to make a change in your life ?

What brought you to yoga ?

What motivates you ?

I want you to write down maybe make a list of all of those things that motivate you that inspire you .

The reason why you're looking for something more in your life .

Because those things , when we get in touch with those things , that's what helps us be consistent .

That's what helps us come back to the mat tomorrow and tomorrow we're going to be breaking down sun seit A which is the very beginning of our yoga class .

It's the warm up part that you may often see before we really dive into our practice .

Um We're gonna talk about the meaning behind it , the purpose behind it .

And also we're gonna help break it down into more digestible pieces .

We're gonna offer some modifications .

We're gonna break down the chat , which is often people have a hard time doing appropriately even if they've been practicing for a while .

So I'm gonna help you kind of understand everything and break it down for you .

So you really get the most benefit out of your practice .

Thank you so much guys .

I'll see you tomorrow in a nice day .

Great job guys .

Congratulations .

You just completed day one of my , get your body back program .

If you're interested in checking out the rest of my videos .

Please download the Yoga Plus app and I encourage you to reflect on how today's practice felt for you .

Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and just jot down what came up for you jot down if anything really made you feel angry if you really hated a particular pose , if you just didn't like it at all , write that down because that's important .

Oftentimes the things that we hate and avoid the most are the things that we need the most in our lives .

Number two , write down which pose felt awesome in your body and why ?

What was wonderful about that pose ?

What you know , just came up for you again , writing down these things helps us go a little bit deeper into our practice because this is a mindfulness practice .

It's about becoming aware of what's going on .

Number three , I want you to think about your why and write it down .

Why did you decide to pursue yoga ?

What made you motivated to turn on this video and why are you looking for something more in your life ?

What motivates you ?

What inspires you who inspires you write those things down , maybe make a list because these things are what's going to help you come back on your mat tomorrow and the day after these are the things that help you continue to strive and give you the willpower to keep going , especially when things get tough in your life .

All right .

Right .

Daniel .

Y and I'll see you tomorrow .

Thank you so much .

I must stay .