Yoga for Beginners - Foundations of Flow

What's up everyone ?

Welcome to yoga with Adrian .

I'm Adrian .

How they do today ?

We have a yoga for beginners video .

I'm calling this foundational flow or foundations of flow .

So this is great for people who are wanting to um you know , eventually graduate to like style classes or maybe you're trying out flow classes now and you're feeling like I just can't keep up or like how do I breathe or like what the heck am I doing ?

So , this sequence will be great for you to just kind of get the foundations of flow really connect to what matters , which is synchronizing the breath with the movement , the movement with the breath so that you can find what feels good .

Let's get started .

Alrighty , my friends , we're going to begin in an extended child's pose .

So get on down knees as wide as your mat , two big toes touching .

Now , if this is like not a comfortable posture for you , then you can keep the hips lifted and in time , baby , we'll get them down there .

So just be where you are at today .

If you need to curl the toes under uh under and stretch the feet and just kind of rest on the elbows .

This is an option .

So just know that your extended child's pose may not look like the magazine today , but it will evolve and change .

So you just kind of have to get , get into it .

And so that's where we're starting today .

Just kind of nice and easy in an extended child's pose .

If the forehead can come to the mat , you might experiment with that melting your heart down and just take a second to close your eyes and draw your attention to your breath .

A little invitation to notice the breath is super important here as we begin today and talk about or introduction to , you know , flow style yoga and just the synchronicity that comes when you start to really , you know , play with your breath and move with your breath and let your movement be fueled by the breath is um so rewarding , especially in a physical practice .

It's , it's , it's like totally the manifestation of joy .

And if you don't know what I'm talking about yet , you , you soon will .

And if you do then you know I'm not crazy .

Notice your breath , take it nice and slow .

We're gonna move in a circle here .

So the goal today is to not do it perfect but to just um enjoy the ride stick with the practice .

So we're gonna start by in healing coming forward and exhaling around and back .

So you , if you can move with your breath in healing , coming forward and exhaling around and back through that extended child's Bose , keep it going inhale , come forward , moving in a big circle .

Exhale around and back and then reverse your circle again .

Inhaling as you come forward , exhale through extended child's po Now we wanna take long deep smooth breaths .

So rushing your movement isn't really great for that .

Slow it down .

So you can kind of focus and begin to control the breath and the movement .

Let's do one more back to extended child's pose or your version of extended child's pose .

Awesome .

Then we'll gently draw the palms underneath the shoulders and press up , walk the knees in line with the hips and press up , come to all fours table top position , just a little side body stretch .

Since we're gonna kind of um hop into a flow today , kind of quickly .

I'm gonna press it into the tops of my feet , but you're gonna be OK .

And I'm gonna extend my right leg out , take a deep breath in on an exhale , draw your right toes over towards the left side of your yoga mat and then take a look , take a little gander at your right foot .

Um If you were able to do the DDA practice with us , this will help here .

You can really see that line from the crown of the head to the tip of the tail bone here .

So we're not collapsing .

We're really engaging , stretch it out , stretch it out and then release back to center .

And the same thing on the other side , we inhale , lift the left leg up , square the hips and then take it over towards the right .

Take a look at your right .

Excuse me , your left leg , press away from the earth with both palms stretch , stretch , stretch and then we release awesome from here .

I'm gonna curl the toes under , take a deep breath in and then nice and easy keeping the knees bend .

I'm gonna send it up to a downward dog pedal , pedal it out here , soften the knees .

And then we're gonna slowly walk it up all the way to the front edge of your map , take a nice forward fold and when you land just , you know , notice your breath , notice how you might have stopped breathing and continue to breathe deeper and deeper as you let the weight of the head go .

So we're really trying to awaken the breath .

And if that's tough for you , I just want you to know you're human .

You're not alone like it's , it's a super um challenging thing to cultivate a more mindful breath practice when you're ready .

Roll it up nice and slow .

How slow can you go ?

Enjoy this .

Move all the way to mountain .

Keep the knees softly bent here as you roll up to a nice tall mountain pose , lifting them through the crown of the head and then going ahead and just kind of taking this opportunity to check in with your body today , whether it's looping the shoulders , uh drawing some circles with the nose , little neck hygiene here , maybe , you know , pressing into the feet , shaking out any leg cramps , rolling through the ankles a couple of times the wrist .

So go ahead and take a little free sad moment to really check in with your body and then we'll stand up nice and tall toes , pointing forward , feet , hip with the part .

So we're really stacking the bones here and then when you're ready , just getting used to moving with the breath and uh just going back for a second , stacking the bones is so important because uh you know , our habitual self kind of wanna take over , especially when things begin to move at a faster pace as they do in .

So the more attention to detail we have now while we're kind of going through the basics and , and really building the foundation of our practice , um the better .

So when you feel like you have a nice foundation , really pressing through all four corners of the feet , just go ahead and nice and easy reach the fingertips all the way up towards the sky and take a deep breath in and that's it .

Exhale , let it go and again , full breath capacity in here out , reacher reach till you can't breathe in anymore and then exhale , let it go .

Couple more , try closing your eyes or just softening your gaze just going inward , focusing on the breath , inhale , exhale , get used to really moving with your brush .

See if you can let the breath fuel the movement .

And after you've kind of found that like synchronization or at least tried , we're gonna add one more thing to this so you can stay just kind of doing this flow here , synchronizing the movement and the breath , the breath and the movement or you can begin to lift up on the toes .

So we're practicing a little balance here to inhaling this also just requires us to kind of slow it down .

So we have more control over the breath and more control over the movement .

Inhale out , slowly released .

Let's do one more .

Spreading the fingertips .

Exhale back down to mountain , draw the palms together at the heart and let's keep playing with this moving breath and movement together as one , let's see what happens .

Inhale , soft knees reach it all the way up moving nice and slow today .

Exhale down , you go forward fold , see if you can move with your breath .

And it's almost like we're moving through water today .

Not because we want to be weird , but so that we can really just kind of stay in control of the movement and of the breath also really great .

If you're a beginner to just take it nice and slow , allowing the muscles that have been tight for so long to reawaken and stretch out from here , I'm gonna inhale and lift up to a flat back position .

Now , what that looks like today is this sliding the palms all the way up the shins , all the way up the knees .

We kind of draw energy up through the legs as we do this , just a little bonus tip and then I'm gonna loop the shoulders , pull the elbows back and find extension through the crown of the head .

Kind of like I'm creating the number seven shape here .

The legs might wanna lock here , especially in certain body types .

So just keep a soft bend in the knees , everyone draw your navel up towards your spine .

This is hard work and we're gonna draw the shoulders away from the ears .

Take one more breath in here and then use your exhale to slide back down to that forward , fold , bend your knees super generously to give your lower back some extra special love here .

And then if it feels good , you can grab the elbows , rock a little side to side , keep breathing nice , long , smooth , active breath as best you can .

And your chances are , you know , you will stop .

And so we're just gonna make it about coming back to the breath each time even if you have to do it a million times .

No worries .

That's what the practice is all about .

Then release the arms and slowly roll it back up .

Once again , press into all four corners of the feet and again , we'll take a deep breath in and inhale .

Reach up towards the sky .

Exhale , soften through the knees and down .

You go rain it down , inhale halfway , lift palm , slide up to the tops of the thighs .

We're just gonna pause here and work on this shape , finding that length to the crown of the head .

So usually the neck wants to kind of spill off like this and remember that the neck is an extension of the spine .

Remember not to lock your knees , take a deep breath in , pull your elbows back and then use your exhale to slide it down .

Great , rolling up one more time just like this flat back position and then use your exhale to fold .

Awesome .

This time we're gonna bring the fingertips to the mat , walk the feet in just a hair and then on a big breath thin , send your right foot back on an exhale .

Lower your right knee , inhale , open your heart .

Awesome exhale in hell .

Exhale , plant the palms and we're gonna step the left knee back to meet the right cool .

Catch your breath , gather your bearings and we're gonna come to kind of a half push up here , inhale , open your heart forward .

So really let the chest open , exhale , bend the elbows slowly , lower down , stay down , then inhale , lift the heart up , lower the legs .

If you haven't already cobra exhale down , keep your cobras nice and small here , inhale lift up , especially if you're new to the practice .

There's this tendency to kind of want to recreate the shapes that we see and then this ends up happening um because it takes a long time to kind of get everything integrated and working , happy to kind of get here .

So don't worry , I'm not like trying to call you out or anything .

I'm just trying to help you .

I don't want you to have any back pain or anything .

So keep it nice and low inhale , lift , exhale release .

So we're doing this on our own here really pressing through the foundation in here , lifting up , exhaling , lowering down each time you lift up with the breath , pull the elbows back , like little grasshopper legs press into your pubic bone in the tops of your feet .

So it's like a pump here in here .

Lift and exhale fall .

Let's see one more .

Inhale , lift baby cobra and exhale release , curl , cool , curl the toes under .

Lift the knee caps .

Inhale in exhale , press up to a push up .

You got it can always be a half push up , inhale in exhale to your downward dog soften through the knees and then eventually begin to straighten it out .

Awesome work .

Everyone here we go on your next big breath in .

Lift your right leg up into your lunch .

Exhale , lower your left knee down and he had loop the shoulders open your heart , take a deep breath in the next day , I'll let it go .

Great inhale .

Take your time .

We're gonna lift the back foot up to meet the front , big breath thin .

And if that doesn't happen in one step , which it probably won't , who cares ?

Take as many steps as you need and then everyone exhale forward , fold , probably already there .

So take a couple of nice long , smooth , deep breaths .

Awesome .

Inhale on your next breath halfway lift .

We know this position .

Just checking in staying curious , experimenting and exhale down .

You go and then softening through the knees , pressing through all four corners of the feet , spread your fingertips and begin to reach it up .

Full body stretch and feel really good and exhale hands too hard .

Awesome .

Just take a second to catch your breath or observe your breath .

You know , getting used to moving with the breath in this way is actually like uh a really intricate thing .

So we go to class and we're like expected to just like perfectly sync up .

So I think it's really nice to actually break it down like this , whether you're a beginner or not , just to kind of slow it down and remember .

Oh Yes , synchronicity .

So taking a second here to just observe the bra .

If you're brand new to the practice , you need a sip of water right now .

Go get your sip of water .

I mean , it's really your home practice too .

So you can kind of um take what you need , that's when you return to the mass .

Like when you're really listening to your body .

And a lot of yoga for beginners is just about like learning everything the right way and we forget to allow for permission to like make it , make it so that you want to come back to your yoga mat .

So OK , so we're just gonna go through one more little flow here .

Um Just practicing moving with the breath .

So soft knees , marry the breath to the movement and the movement to the breath .

Best you can big inhale , reach the arms up and overhead , full body stretch , long exhale .

Enjoy this move as you forward , fold , dive forward , soft bend in the knees , take good care .

Inhale halfway lift .

This time , you might experiment with bringing the palms to the shin .

It just another option instead of the thighs , take a deep breath in here , lengthen , length and lengthen and then use your exhale to bow forward again , moving nice and slow , walk the feet in just a hair inhale , step the right foot back into your lunch .

This time you can keep the back lifted or you can lower it .

Go ahead and let all the air out on your next inhale , open up the palms wide , lift your heart press into your feet strong again .

We can also be on the knee here .

Take a deep breath in full capacity of breath here as you open and expand and then exhale back down , you go plant the palms , walk the left toes or slide the left tose excuse me , back to meet the right .

Stay here or lower the knees like we did before inhale .

Extend , exhale slowly lower down .

So we're doing it on the knees or we're lowering all the way down .

Everyone hug your elbows into your side body and on your inhale , lift up cobra move with your breath .

Exhale release and he'll curl the toes under exhale .

Draw your navel up to your spine .

Lift your knee caps , come up to push up plank , inhale , in exhale , downward facing dog .

Awesome inhale .

Step your right foot up into your lung again , you can lower the back knee here , exhale or you can keep it lifted on your next breath in wherever you are , move at your own pace will inhale , open the heart , expand , power up through the legs , open , open , open , breathe in and on your exhale .

Let that be your cue to make your way back down .

Awesome .

Step the back foot up to meet the front .

Take a big , big breath in exhale forward .

Awesome work .

Everyone in hill halfway , lift palms on the shins or thighs .

Exhale , diving forward and inhale awesome work .

Everyone take the deepest breath you've taken all day as you reach your fingertips up towards the sky , reach for the stars , full body stretch here , full breath and your exhale brings you back to the heart back to poems together , back to Numa Day , which is where we end our practice .

If you still have more energy and you want to do more today , you can repeat this sequence .

Everyone just take a second to notice how you feel , maybe closing the eyes , not allowing the breath to return back to its natural rhythm .