Yoga For Beginners At Home 30 Day Challenge (30 min class) Day 27

Hello , it's Leslie Fein master and welcome to Day 27 .

Take a moment here to sit up nice and tall .

Bring your hands together in front of your heart , setting your intention for your practice , or maybe you'll dedicate your practice to someone .

And as we set our intention , it's always nice to remember how our yoga practice makes us feel good , but also how it makes our loved ones and those around us also feel good as a result , we're going to come onto our backs , taking the souls of feet together , knees apart .

I have blocks .

So I'm going to put them underneath my legs to just give a little bit of lift of the legs so that I'm not stretching tons because it's early in the practice .

And then just as you get settled , begin to take your attention to your breath , starting your ranma breathing in and out through your nose , little construction in the back of the throat as you breathe .

Today's practice will be a little bit gentler as we will focus more on stretching .

Today .

The last few classes we've been kind of taking it up a notch and I thought maybe a nice stretching class was in order .

So hopefully you agree as you're here , take a moment to scan your body just checking from the crown of the head all the way down to the feet .

Noticing if you come in contact with any tension , let that go .

If you have the blocks underneath your legs and you'd like to remove them for the last few breaths and go a little deeper .

Please do and then take your hands to the sides of the legs so you can dry your knees toward each other .

And if you have a strap , grab it , taking it to the ball of the right foot , if you don't have a strap , you could use a towel or a belt .

Take your right hand to your right hip , crease , drawing that right hip forward and then hold the strap in the right hand and you can lift it up as much as you like , whatever you're comfortable with doesn't have to be straight up and down .

The knee can be bent or straight .

We're working towards straight .

But if there's a little bit of a bend in the knee as you're still warming up , that's ok .

We'll just start to lengthen it out as we breathe here .

Be sure the left leg is active and the toes point straight up to the ceiling as you gently flex your left ankle , just check to see that there isn't any tension in the jaw .

Now , left hand on the left thigh as you exhale , open the leg to the right now , the left hip is gonna want to pop up .

So don't let it drop back down and it might mean that you don't go in quite so deeply , then turn and look over the left shoulder as long as that's ok on your neck and checking in again with your breath .

Nice hip opening and then head back to center , bring the leg back to center as you inhale , switch hands with the strap start to take yourself into your twist and then right hand to right hip crease again , draw that hip forward and then maybe take it a little deeper into the twist , but just kind of see how it feels .

Try and turn your belly up toward the ceiling , looking over the right shoulder .

As long as your neck feels ok with that and twisting has many , many benefits , including benefits for digestion .

Also benefits for spine health kind of like a ringing out the spine , inhale , bring the leg to center and exhale .

If the head and shoulders draw the leg in for a breath or two and then release it , extend the right leg next to the left leg .

Just noticing the difference might feel a little bit longer and then bend the left knee , placing the strap on the ball , the left foot or whatever you're using and reach up , hold the strap for a moment in your right hand .

And then take your left hand to your left hip crease and draw that hip forward .

So your hips are more level and then you can return the strap to the left hand , check in with the breath .

Be sure your right toes point up to the ceiling as you are continuing to keep the right leg active during this stretch .

If your leg does straighten the whole way , be sure also to pull up on your knee cap to firm your quadricep muscles to firm your thigh muscles in toward the hamstring muscles front of the thigh toward the back of the thigh .

Swing the right hand onto the right thigh .

A exhale open to the left .

Once that hip starts to pop up , regrow the right hip down and move from there .

Look over the right shoulder to remember as always , never matters how deeply you get into a stretch so that you feel a stretch .

And once you feel the stretch , you know that the circulation is happening , the blood is moving in toxins , moving out , relaxing the jaw and the shoulders here , bring the head to center , inhale back to center and then exhale to twist .

Take your left hand again to that left hip crease , drop forward and then start to twist any amount , turning the belly up toward the ceiling , looking over the left shoulder .

And this twist , is it OK to roll onto your right hip a little bit and come on to the little toe side of the right foot , it's fine because you're twisted , that hip has to come off the floor .

That left hip has to come off the floor as well for the twist .

Unless that's too intense in that way .

If it is , don't go quite so deeply .

Inhale , center exhale , draw the leg in , lift the head and shoulders up for a nice long stretch and let's release that you can put the strap off to the side , extend the legs out and put your toes up to the ceiling .

So the legs are active and then place your fingertips on your shoulder .

Heads , start to make circles with your elbows .

Like your drawing circles on the ceiling , start with little circles and then start to make them bigger and bigger gradually until the circles are as big as you can make them .

I'm just warming up the shoulders , getting some movement , pause where you are and then start to circle in the other direction to start like you're drawing little circles and then make the circles a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger until you are at the place where your circles are as big as they're going to get and just take a few rounds there and inhale arms reach overhead palms , face each other .

Shoulder blades release away from the ears and then exhale , circle the arms down and put them by your sides , bend the knees , roll off to your right side , pausing just for a moment here with your left hand , press yourself up , allow your head to come up last .

Then we'll come on to our hands and knees and then stretch back into a child's pose .

So we're filming in the street again by our house .

There are a couple of cars that go by , but it's ok .

Stretching the arms out here .

Get nice and long through the spine .

Take an inhale up onto the knees .

Exhale , shift forward , lower all the way down to the belly , keep the belly lifted .

Inhale small cobra , peel the chest up , all the toenails pressing down and then exhale to the knees and back into child's post .

So there's a little bit of movement here to warm up the body .

Keep the arms extended in front and we're going to do the same thing again .

So inhale up to the knees , shift the hips forward , but keep the spine long as you lower all the way down to the belly , keep the belly pulled in , inhale , little cobra pull the hands toward the feet wide in the collar bones .

Exhale , press up onto the knees and then hips back to heels into , in a child's post , Tita Bolano with the arms extended , keep the fingers spread nice and wide , straightening out the arms inhale back up onto the knee , shift forward , exhale lower to the belly and again , inhale to cobra , pull the shoulder blades toward the waist and our thighs spinning up and then exhale .

This time , we'll tuck the toes and lift up and back for down dog .

And first down dog spend one knee and the other bicycle , the bicycling in the legs , check that your arms are shoulders distance apart and your feet are hips distance , bend the knees and stretch back nice and long through the spine .

If you need to keep a little bend in the knees , that's fine as you lengthen out the spine , pressing the weight up to the hips , reach it down toward the heels and her thighs are spinning back , be sure the outer edges of the feet are parallel , come forward back to the knees and now into table with the wrists in front of the shoulders and now step your right foot up in between the hands .

If you've got blocks , if it's difficult to reach the floor , you can put your hands on the blocks , keep your back toes tucked under , pull the right hip back , send the left hip forward .

So you'll lean over the front thigh a little be hands on the floor or on the blocks .

And then as you take your next exhale straight and off the right leg , come onto the heel , pull the toes back and fold forward , half , splits , half , trying that right hip back again , still sending the left hip forward and then bend the front knee again .

Inhaling come back into low lunge on again .

Sink in the hips , keep the tail bone long , exhale straight in the leg and fold over the leg hinging from the hips .

Keep the spine nice and long .

You don't have to try and touch your head down to your leg .

More .

Reach the belly toward the thigh .

Bend the knee again and then step back into your table left foot forward .

Keep the back toes tucked under as you sink forward , making sure the left knee is lined up over the ankle .

Hands on the floor or on blocks , pull the left hip back , drop the tailbone down and lift your frontal hip points up toward your lower ribs , creating length in the low back , then inhale , straighten that front leg , exhale and hinging from the hip , extend over the leg stretching out the hamstrings .

Next in Hillary bend , the left knee again , dropping the tailbone down , pull the left hip back as you sink forward and then we'll rest straighten that left leg and a half splits , pulling the left hip back .

So we try to keep the hips level as we extend the torso over the thigh and I'll rebind it , sink the hips forward and then tuck your back toes , make your way into table again with the wrist in front of those shoulders and then tuck the toes for down dog .

So feel free to bicycle the legs a little bit more .

If you like spread the fingers out nice and wide , press down into the base of the fingers as your forearms lift up and away from the map .

Arms and ears are in line .

Gaze between your knees or your feet .

Look to the hands and step your feet all the way up .

As many steps as you like .

Inhale halfway up .

Exhale hips over the heels , full forward , bend the knees a little here as needed .

Press down through the feet .

Rise up , inhale , sweep the arms up and then exhale , bringing the hands down .

Then we'll find our Tedo at the front of the mat .

Big toes touching he's slightly apart or feed hips with find equal standing in the feet .

So press evenly through the four corners of the feet .

Lift up through the arches from the leg muscles , lift your chest and inhale , sweep the arms up , looking up if that's all right with your neck , exhale hinge from the hips and fold over the legs .

Crown of the head , reaching down , bending the knees as needed .

If legs are straight though , move the weight forward , inhale halfway up and then exhale , stepping back into plank poses , knees can be up or down here , shift forward .

Exhale Teranga , shoulders , no lower than elbows .

Inhale to cobra or take upward facing dog thighs and knees up .

If you're an up dog and then make your way back into downward facing dog .

Just a gentle c A right leg lifts on the inhale as you exhale , take it to the outside of the right foot and take the left knee to the floor .

For lizard pose , feel free to pad up that back knee .

If it needs any padding , you can also put your hand or hands on blocks .

Or if you want to go a little deeper , your forearms on a block .

Some people might reach the forums to the floor , feel free to tuck your back toes and lift your back knee off the floor .

Otherwise keep the back knee down , draw the right hip back and lengthen out through the spine .

Your right knee will probably want to drift out to the right today .

Let's keep the right knee drawing to the right should and the toes pointed straight ahead .

So with that back knee off the floor , it's a pretty intense stretch .

So keeping that in mind , come up onto the hands and then step back into downward facing dog again and now we'll do our left side .

So as you're inhaling left leg up from the inner thigh , let's keep the hips level , exhale , step it to the side of the left hand and pull the left hip back , try and lift up through the right hip .

So you can stay right where you are and you can take your back knee down to the floor and keep it there and keep your hands on the floor or put your hands on a block or going deeper forums on a block or some might even take forms to the floor back knee can be up or down .

That's your choice .

Be sure though that the left knee is lined up over the ankle and it points over the middle toes .

So left knee is gonna want to drift out to the left .

Keep drawing the knee in toward the left shoulder .

Steady breath here and return to the intention that you set or the dedication that you made .

And then we'll step back again into downward facing dog .

Take a couple of breaths here .

Keep the belly lifted as you press back , wait toward the hips and down toward the heels .

And he'll come forward to plank pose .

Exhale lower slowly to the floor .

Knees can always be down .

Now , bring your arms out to a T so wrists and shoulders is about in the same line .

We're going to stretch our shoulders , roll all the way on to the right side of your body .

Take your left hand behind your back , see if you can find your right hand back there , then bend your left knee , put the left foot onto the floor , maybe also put the right foot onto the floor .

So your legs are like they're in bridge pose , but the hips are on the floor and the shoulder blades are drawing in toward each other and you're drawing your top shoulder back and this will also stretch your chest .

Now , if it's too intense , you don't have to hold your hands and you don't have to have both feet down .

You can stay right on your side .

You don't have to bend either knee actually .

And now we'll roll back onto the belly and again , arms out to your sides to a T shape and then we'll roll off to the left side .

So you could say right here on your left side , you could put your right foot flat on the floor , maybe reach back with the right hand , finding the left hand and then maybe you will bend your left knee and put that left foot onto the floor .

I'm tilting the head just a little bit toward the ceiling , slightly .

Breathe into those shoulders , allowing your chest to expand your shoulder blades to draw in toward each other and down toward the waist .

I wanna make sure we're avoiding any tension around the upper back and neck .

Couple of long breaths into the shoulders and then unroll onto your belly again and hands by the low ribs , press all the toenails down and he'll press up onto your forearms .

For Sphinx pose , elbows right underneath the shoulders , wrists in front of the elbows , gently draw the elbows back toward the heels again , to widen across the chest .

Keep the belly lifted , pulled in tailbone toward heels to protect your lower back , outer hips pin in , but don't clench your whole glute area , maybe a little bit higher if you wish to straighten the arms , but make sure it doesn't hurt your back .

So we want to stretch out the front of the body , not compress the back , lower down hands by low ribs , press up onto the knees , set your hips down to one side and then come onto your back , feed hips with a part , I'm gonna take a block and have it handy .

So grab a block if you have it and press into the heels , lift up into bridge post , if possible , roll those shoulders under and then grab that block , putting it right at the base of the spine , you can put the block at any height .

Of course , the higher the block , the more intensive a stretch you'll feel , make sure to keep spiraling the thighs in toward each other and be sure your toes don't turn out here as well .

I want to keep them parallel , keep the chin away from the chest .

Now your shoulder blades will continue to press up toward your chest to widen across the collar bones .

Again , option to extend the legs out long .

This will make your back bend more intense .

So just notice if it bothers your lower back , if it causes compression there , then don't do it .

Your inner thighs still have to spin down toward the floor or spin in toward each other .

If your legs are straight , re bend them and lift the legs up toward the ceiling for the Krai .

So we've got a block underneath the base of the spine .

If you don't have a block .

You can always do this without it just lift the legs .

It's a mild inversion .

Very calming for the nervous system .

This helps us get into the rest and digest phase of our nervous system helps us to relax and digest and all those good housekeeping things , bend the knees , take the feet back to the floor , remove the block , come down , hug the knees into the chest .

I don't know if you've ever noticed , but when you slow down , maybe to get a massage or to practice restorative yoga , a lot of times the belly starts making lots of noises at your body saying , oh my gosh , here we go .

We can just relax and digest our food .

Begin to rock back and forth up and down the spine .

Take two or three rocks to come up and sit .

And so if you take together knees apart for feel free to sit up on the edge of a blanket or if your back is rounded or on a block , inhale length and through the spine , exhale hinge forward from the hips .

So again , creating length .

So the belly is coming forward instead of bending from the waist and rounding the back would create length through the spine and the legs can open any amount never matters and come on up on your inhale , bring your knees or bring your feet a little bit further forward and then fold over the legs .

This time , you can keep your back , a little more rounded , having trouble with my words at the moment .

So rounding in this way , you can stretch your lower back and then come on up and turning to face the side of the mat .

If you would like to keep your heels on the mat , otherwise you don't have to bring your hands behind you and sit up nice and tall and then right hand to the inside of the right leg , lift the left arm up .

Maybe I'll lift the left arm over in line with the ear .

But if you roll forward , it's better to keep the left arm straight up , you may touch the foot with one or both hands again , try to spin your bottom ribs forward and roll your top ribs back .

So this is a great side bend and again , go any amount .

It never matters how deep come on up on your inhale .

And then we'll take our left hand of the inside of the left leg , roll the torso , open , right arm up and then you can stay right there or right arm up and over .

But if you're rolling forward , keep the right arm up again , working on bringing the bottom ribs forward and spinning the top ribs back as you breathe into this nice lateral stretch , allow softness around the shoulder blades around the upper spine in the neck and the jaw , big breaths and he'll come on up and sit up nice and tall hands behind you , you can stay there or begin to walk yourself forward any amount and again here , instead of allowing your back to round , create length .

So hi again , from the hips point your toes and your knees up toward the ceiling , toes have a tendency to turn in here .

So if you point them up and pull the toes back , flexing the ankles , that will keep your legs active and then in hell to come up and we'll bring the legs together , turn back to face the front of your mat .

If you did turn to the side , make your way onto your back , take your right ankle just past your left knee .

So option one , hold on behind or sorry .

Option one , hold your left shin .

Draw your right hip forward , keep pulling the right toes back .

Option two straight in the left leg , reach down toward the foot or you can still hold behind the leg anywhere along the leg .

That'll take your , your stretch deeper into the hip .

Keep that right hip .

Draw forward .

Option three , you can use your arms underneath the right leg or wrap them around the right leg and extend the left leg out onto the floor .

So this is like if you're familiar with pigeon pose , this is a pigeon pose upside down , be sure the left leg stays active .

So whatever pose you choose , really just again , focus on the breath .

Imagine that you are moving breath right into that right hip and allowing it to open , then draw the right knee into the chest and exhale .

Take it off to the left for a twist .

Look over the right shoulder , come back to center and now we'll do the other legs .

So left ankle just pass the right knee so you can hold on to the right shin or behind the thigh is option one and option two , extend that right leg up toward the ceiling .

Hold on anywhere along the leg , drawing it toward you .

Keep that left hip drawing forward here .

And then option three , I'm gonna bring the elbows underneath the calf or wrap the elbows around the outside of the knee and the foot reaching the right leg straight down in front of you point the right toes up to the ceiling and that will allow a great stretch in the left hip .

You might notice one hip feels tighter than the other and that's pretty normal for me .

My right hip is tighter and my left hip is more open .

Now , draw the left knee into the chest exhale , take it across to the right side and look over the left shoulder , come back to center , hug both knees into the chest , rock gently side to side and up the and then we'll prepare for our final resting pose for Shana .

Take the feet hips with her wider , let the feet flop open arms by your side , dry your shoulder blades toward the waist tailbone , reaching toward the heels and then allow everything to just sink right into the floor , releasing your breathing practice and just coming right into natural breathing our quotes a little bit longer today .

I'm going to read it now and then I'll give you a little time to yourself .

This is a quote by Frederick Beecher in the entire history of the universe , let alone in your own history .

There has never been another day just like today and there will never be another just like it again .

Today is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth .

It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death .

If you were aware of how precious today is , you could hardly live through it unless you are aware of how precious it is .

You can hardly be said to be living at all .

Begin to make some movements and your fingers and your toes and stretch out through your arms and your legs bring in your awareness back on the knees , roll yourself off to your right side , pausing for a moment and then with your left hand , press yourself up to seat it , take a comfortable seat crossing at the shins , hands together in front of the heart , our hands up to the forehead to remind us to have clear and loving thoughts and our hands to the heart center , reminding us to have clear and loving intentions , hands to the mouth , reminding us to have clear and loving communications , sending out wonderful energy to all beings everywhere must stay enjoy your precious day .

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