Boost Recovery with Full Body Stretch Yoga for Athletes

Hey yo guys , welcome to class .

My name is Flo .

Thank you so much for joining me for this beginner practice today .

I'm honored to guide you through this 30 minute flow .

Very beginner focused and we will focus more on stretching out the hips , outer hips as well as inner thighs and combine all of that into a full body practice .

All you need is your mat .

If you have any blocks or books available , grab those two , also grab a belt or a strap .

If you have that at home , you can just use a belt that you usually use to for your regular pants that works perfectly fine .

Otherwise a yoga strap or anything in that shape is perfect .

Let's begin in a seated position in with crossed legs , doesn't matter which leg is forward or which leg is back .

We will do both sides and we'll , we'll start nice and easy with this cross legged seat , you walk the hands forward and you fold forward .

So for you , you might be on the hands , staying somewhere like this and that's perfectly fine .

Just walk the hands as far forward as possible so that you can comfortably stay here in this cross legged forward , fold , round your back a little more if you want to tuck the chin to the chest , especially if it's early in the morning .

This might feel good to lengthen the entire back side of your upper body all the way up to the neck and to the head .

And this is one of the few poses that I used to do every single day when I just started doing some kind of stretching or stretches every day because I had sciatica and lower back problems .

This is one of the ones that really helped me to get rid of that pain .

If you are in that situation with sciatica or lower back pain , then check out that video that I did specifically for you .

It might help you breathing out through the nose .

Let's walk the hands back release , let's switch sides .

Try to not use your hands as you bring the other leg forward , the other leg back and you fold forward again , walk the hands forward to whatever degree is accessible and possible for you and relax round your back .

Let's take three more breaths .

Start to find the rhythm of your breath that you think you can maintain throughout this practice .

It's really the most important thing to be in any kind of pose or shape and focus on the breath in and out through the nose .

Very good .

Slowly release .

I will rotate on my mat , but maybe you are already in position .

Let's come into a tabletop coming to all fours .

Stay on the toes .

Keep the arms straight .

Start to send the hips back , move the shoulders forward as far as possible .

Keep the arms straight so that you feel the wrist , we're just warming up the wrist for a couple of repetitions here and then walk forward and back .

Very good .

Keep them straight .

I'll make circles around the wrist .

It doesn't matter which direction you're doing .

We will do both .

Let's do two more full circles .

So important to warm up the wrists .

First thing before you start to put any weight on the hands , switch directions , keep the arms straight .

Breathe into the wrist , feel the rest very good .

Sit on the heels , try to stay on the toes .

You're stretching out the feet and the toes more .

Shake out the hands .

If that's uncomfortable for the toes and the feet again , it might be a sign that you should be doing it more .

Most of the shoes you wear nowadays are pretty tight for the toes and for the , for the feet , they don't really allow much movement unless you're wearing barefoot shoes .

And so that's a really nice one to stretch out the toes and the feet and get some of that mobility range of motion and strength back into the feet .

Let's take two more breaths .

I don't want to torture you too much by staying on the toes .

Very good .

Bring the hands down , table top , stay on your toes , push the ground away .

So you're really pushing into the palms .

The upper body lifts up , stay on the toes , lift your knees up off the ground , just half an inch or so .

Keep pressing into the palms .

Push the ground away .

Keep breathing .

We're here for 54 .

You're doing grade three , two and one , send the hips up and back .

Keep the knees bend for your first downward facing dog readjust here so that the hands are as wide apart as the shoulders press into the palms , use your fingertips to grip into the ground , push the ground away , move the chest towards the thighs , send the hips up and back .

Keep your breath going nice and slow through the nose .

Keep Denise bent because you want to focus on opening your shoulders .

But if you feel like you could straighten your legs more at the same time , keep your shoulders nice and open and that nice long line from the wrist all the way up to the hips , then go ahead and straighten your legs more .

But since it's a beginner focused video , most of you watching want to keep the knees bent , your body will open up over time and it's not about the heels to the ground , the legs straight , no one cares about any of that .

Focus on the breath into the nose out through the nose .

Very good .

Keep pushing the ground away , especially if that gets challenging for the shoulders .

Keep pushing , stay with the breath .

You are pushing through something challenging just like in real life .

Right .

That's what we're learning here on the mat .

Things might sometimes get challenging .

But guess what if you leave the mat in real life , things also get challenging , especially these days and you learn on the mat that by pushing through it , staying with the breath , staying present , you can make it through it .

It will all be good in the end .

Lift the heels , bend the knees , walk the feet forward between the hands , take a deep breath in , lift up halfway hand .

So the chins long spine , exhale forward , fold and down .

Very good .

Keep the leg straight , inhale , lift up halfway to do two more length .

No to the spine .

Exhale fold .

Very good Wal Mart in he lift up halfway hands to the shins exhale forward , bend your knees , roll up through the spine to standing nice and slow and gauge your glutes .

The arms reach up , exhale forward , fold and down .

Very good .

Take a deep breath in , lift up halfway , exhale , step the left foot back , low lunch , set your left knee down , reach both arms up , sand , the hips forward and down and gauge your left glute .

Draw the right heel back , push the left knee forward , draw the navel in towards the spine , reach through the arms upwards .

Let's do three more breaths here .

Make sure you can see that right big toe inside the right knee .

So that the right thigh is tracking the same direction as the right foot .

Release the hands down , half splits straight in the right leg .

Heel toe , the right foot forward if you want to .

So that the left hip is over the left knee , use those blocks if the ground is too far away or stay on the fingertips , flex the right foot , take a deep breath and lengthen out through the spine .

Excel , fold forward and down .

You're moving with the breath , inhale , lengthen through the spine .

Exhale , fold forward and down .

Very good .

Let's do two more .

Very good .

Rebind the right knee .

Hell to the right foot forward .

Ronald's lunch place , both hands around the right foot , press into your palms , bring the right leg up and back for a three legged dog .

Press into your palms just like a downward facing dog .

Use your right fingertips .

You're reaching up and back through the right heel .

Both legs especially the right leg is as straight as possible .

The left leg could be bent straight now to the right leg .

Very good .

Now , bend the right knee , point the right foot and open .

Stack your hips .

We're trying to stack the right hip over the left at the same time , lower the right shoulder more down to keep , uh , to keep both shoulders leveled , press into your palms , feel the fingertips focus on the breath nice and slow in and out through the nose .

Very good .

Now come high to your left toes .

Take a deep breath in on your exhale .

Shift forward , shoulders over the wrists , bring the right knee to your right elbow .

Hold it there , push the ground away .

Don't just hang out to your push , push , push , keep breathing .

You're doing great flex the right foot .

Step the foot outside the right hand for lizard lunch .

Very good .

Keep both hands inside the right foot and then just start to move the hips around , forward and back , maybe in a circle and switch directions of that circle .

Now , some of you might feel very open here .

You can start to bend your arms or come onto the forearms .

I'll just stay with you here on the hands , move around , feel the breath , feel the different parts of the , of the pose of the stretch .

Then stop that movement .

Just hang out here a little bit more aesthetic .

The body is still moving because you're still breathing .

Are we good ?

And let's all come on to the hands again .

Release that left knee down to the ground .

And that's the time where you want to reach and grab that strap or that belt , start to bend the left knee , put that belt into your right hand .

Can you , so you have kind of like a loop and then you can hook that belt around the left foot .

Uh , especially if you cannot reach the foot with your right hand .

Otherwise , if you can reach and grab the foot with your right hand , then no need to use a belt .

If you grab the foot , then you grab the pinky toe side , you externally rotate the right arm , engage your left glute , send the hips forward and down , keep pressing into your left palm .

So you're still pushing the ground away to keep the left shoulder safe .

Now , you have that foot either with the belt or with your hand , you extend the left foot away from you .

So you feel a pull on the right shoulder , you also feel the , the left thigh and the left quad contract because it's working to do the extension in the leg .

Stay there and breathe .

I relax the left quad .

Now you're stretching the left thigh by pulling the foot towards the hip .

Be careful here .

It's easy to go too deep , too fast to take your time .

If the inte the inside of your right foot wants to lift up because the right knee is going more to the right side , that's perfectly fine .

Let that happen .

That'd be good .

Let's take two more three .

let's take three more breaths here .

Nice and slow through the nose .

Take your time to release both hands down to the ground inside the right foot , the left toes come back to the ground , lift your left knee up back to lizard lunch , stepped the right foot back playing pose , push the ground away , tuck your tailbone , engaged the core .

I set the knees down .

Of course , if you have to , but do your best to keep pushing into the palms , keep the knees lifted .

Yes , we're working a little bit here .

We're just holding our own body weight on the hands and on the feet .

Although it's a beginner class , you might be working a little bit , but it's still very accessible for everyone .

If you have two arms and two legs , of course , let's shift forward , come high into the toes , then set the knees down .

Start to bend the arms .

We coming all the way down to the ground .

Keep the elbows in all the way down .

Very good untuck .

The toes bring the feet to either parts like the hands forward , cobra pose , press into your palms , lift the chest up , squeeze the shoulder blades together and lower back down .

Let's do two more .

Lift up , press into your palms , shoulders down and away from the ears .

Lower back down .

Last one , lift up and gauge your glutes , flex your butt cheeks , press into your palms .

Hold for 5432 and one release .

Very good .

Check out the hips left and right .

Present your palms .

Child's pose , sent the hips to the heels , shift forward , move through table top , come onto the toes to downward facing dog .

Very good .

If your heart is already beating a lot and you have difficulty breathing .

Set the knees back down , pause the video , come back to a child's post .

Take a break .

You are always in control of how much you want to do .

Let's lift the heels up , come high into the toes .

Walk the feet forward between the hands and to the other side and her lift up halfway , exhale forward , fold , bend your knees , roll up to standing the arms , reach up , exhale forward , fold and down .

Inhale , lift up halfway .

Exel stepped the right foot back for low lunch .

Set the right knee down , reach both arms up , sand your hips forward and down .

Pull the left heel back , push the right knee forward , engage your right glute , draw the navel in , keep the core , the belly active , reach through the arms upwards .

Very good .

Breathe most important you're still breathing .

Take two more nice and slow breaths in and out through the nose .

Sometimes we get so caught up with all of that stuff in the body that we forget focusing on the breath .

So come back to it .

Release the hands down , half splits straight in your left leg .

Very good hands down , flex , the left foot , take a deep breath and lengthen out through the spine .

Exhale , fold forward and down with the chest and the head over the left chin .

Stay for several more breaths .

Focus on the sensation in the body that you create by coming into the shape which is most likely in the back side of your left leg , your left hamstring , if you feel it there , it's great .

Add the breath to it .

It wouldn't be yoga without the breath .

It's just some kind of stretching post .

Use that breath to arrive more in this present moment , arrive in what really is currently going on and not the story that your mind is trying to tell you in the future or the past rebind .

The left knee , wonderful job .

Runners lunch .

Both hands are framing the left foot .

Press into your palms first , push the ground away .

Three legged dog .

The left leg lifts up and back , reach up and back through the left heel .

The left foot is flexed as if you're standing on the wall behind you press into your palms to push the ground away .

Use those fingertips to grip into the mat to take control over your wrist again .

Maybe the right leg , the standing leg is a little bit bent .

It's perfectly fine .

Bend your left leg point , the left toes open stack the hips .

Usually when you do this one , the left shoulder wants to lift up , but you are actively moving the left shoulder down to keep both shoulders leveled .

Hold it here .

Two more breaths come high onto your right toes .

On the exhale , left knee to the left elbow , hold it there , push the ground away , step the foot outside the left hand lizard , lunch .

Take a moment to arrive .

Set everything up .

Move the hips forward and back , keep the breath going , make some circle to the hips if you want , come onto the forearms .

Of course , I'm gonna stay here on the hands today to see that field .

When you move around , there's no reason to hold , hold still in any of these poses unless it's your intention for the practice and your focus of the practice to move as little as possible .

But I always like to move around if it's a normal practice without that special intention .

Very good .

Come back onto the hands .

If you came onto the forearms , let's bring that right knee down to the ground .

Keep pressing with your right palm into the mat so that you keep the shoulder nice and strong and active and you're not just like dumping all the weight into the shoulder .

This is no good over time .

Use that belt again , reach for that belt or that strap .

I don't have one today , but I encourage you to grab one bend , your right leg , use your left hand to reach for that foot .

Now , if the foot is too far away , you can't reach it .

Take that belt , it's perfectly fine to take that belt .

Use it , use the props and the tools that you have .

If you can grab it , then you wanna grab the pinky toe side .

So now that you have the foot with the belt or without extend the leg away from you , so you feel a pull on the right shoulder .

Yep .

Uh , left shoulder , you're activating the right quad at the right time .

Very good .

Engage your right butt cheek , send the hips forward and down .

If the left knee opens up to the left , let the inside of the left foot lift up , it's all good .

Now , relax the right quad , pull that foot , the right foot towards your hips .

Send the hips move forward and down and get you right glute more .

There's a lot going on in this post to take it easy .

Nice and slow .

Don't need to force or push anything .

You're doing a stretch for the right thigh .

You're also kind of working the right shoulder .

You are doing a back a twist .

There's a lot going on .

Let's take two more breaths .

You're doing great and release very good .

Both hands inside the left foot , back to lizard lunch .

Lift the right knee up plank pose , step the left foot back , knees up or down in that plank .

You decide , let's hold for three more breaths .

So if this is challenging , set the knees down , if that's still challenging , keep pushing Paul through it .

Keep breathing very good .

Now , let's all shift forward , come high into the toes , set the knees down or not .

You decide bend your arms lower all the way down to the ground .

Keep the elbows in .

Beautiful job all the way onto the belly .

I'll scoot back a little bit but you can stay where you are .

I extend the arms out to the sides , untuck , the toes , bring the feet wide apart .

The thumbs are pointing down .

Lift your hands up off the ground .

Now , engage your glutes .

Lift your chest up off the mat as well .

Lower back down .

Let's do four more .

Lift up , inhale her lower in her lift , lower .

Last to a lift , lower .

Last lift , hold it here .

Squeeze the butt cheeks , squeeze the shoulder blades together , press the feet , the hips into the ground .

Lift your hands higher up .

Hold for five .

Keep breathing .

432 and one .

Release everything down .

Shake out the hips left and right .

Beautiful job .

You're doing great .

Come back to the breath , come back to the breath .

If you're breathing fast right now .

If the heart is beating , breathe nice and slow into the nose out through the nose , it's all good .

If you want to take a break , pause the video , stay here .

If you would like to continue , let's push back to child's posts and then to downward facing doc .

Very good .

Push the ground away , lift your heels , walk the walk the feet forward between the hands lift up halfway length and hands to the shins el forward fold , bend your knees , roll up to standing deep breath and the arms reach chair poles , exhale , bend your knees , reach your arms up , pull the belly in , draw , unable to the spine , reach out to the arms , the legs are already working .

I'm sure you feel it .

So reach your hands up , higher up , pull the belly in , bend your knees more .

We're just squatting a little bit here , sitting down into this comfortable chair .

It's comfy .

Right .

I knew it very good .

Last deep breath in on your Axelle .

Bend your knees squat all the way down .

Maybe the heels lift up very good .

Set the hips down .

Beautiful .

Bring the feet down to the ground wider apart than the hips .

Now , the hands go behind you , the fingertips are pointing towards your hips .

We're setting up for reverse table top , press into the palms , press into the feet , lift your hips up .

And so for you , this might be like this , this is as high as you can lift .

That's perfectly fine .

We're all just doing our best .

There's no competition .

It doesn't matter how it looks what I'm doing , what you're doing .

Stop comparing yourself to other people .

It really doesn't make , make any sense .

It doesn't help you to grow in your life .

So do your best .

As long as you know , for yourself , you're doing your best .

That's great .

That , that's really incredible .

Lift your hips higher up , squeeze the butt cheeks and hold it wherever it's comfortable for you .

Now , some people want to tilt the head back and some like me like to keep it upright like I'm doing it right now .

But if you want to tilt the head back and let it hang , hang backwards and it's ok for your neck .

Then go ahead and do that .

Do what feels good .

You start to feel the shoulders , most likely it's all good .

Keep pressing into the palms into the heels , shift the shoulders , shift the hips forward .

Keep the hands as they are , set the hips down .

Very good .

So now we're all here hips on the ground .

Keep the hands there .

Take a deep breath in , lift your chest up , exhale , bend your arms , send the elbows back .

Very nice .

So we're targeting the front side of your shoulders .

I hope you can feel it but not too much .

Be careful with this one .

You don't want to push anything here and go too deep .

It can get very deep , very fast and you want to avoid going there .

Just a sensation in the shoulders .

That's all you want to feel .

Then you breathe in and out through the nose , nice and slow , slow it down .

You're doing great at the heart , the heart rate , the heartbeat come down , slow it down .

Relax .

Very good .

Let's release , reach both arms forward , slowly , come onto your back .

Let's take happy baby here .

So you bend the knees , lift the feet up off the ground .

Two options here , you can grab behind the knees and then pull those knees into the armpits or if you feel like it , you can grab the outside edges of the feet and do the same .

Bring the knees closer to the armpits , close your eyes , feel the air coming in .

Focus on that breath .

Let's take three more breaths .

Very good .

Release the feed back down to the ground .

Keep the legs bend for half of Asena cross your right ankle over your left thigh .

Now you see that triangle you create here with the right leg .

You use your right hand to reach through , grab behind the left leg or grab the left chin .

Once you have that grip , pull those legs towards you , release the hat down .

Look to your right foot and make sure it's flexed .

That means the right toes are pointing towards the right knee .

I like to flex both feet just to create a good habit to always flex the feet in any kind of hip openers .

Very good .

Three more breaths breathe into the outer right hip .

That's the part we're targeting in this post and release both feet down .

Very good .

Feel the difference in your body , right side , left side and then let's finish up at the left side across the left ankle over the the right thigh .

See the triangle again , reach that left arm through , grab behind the leg , the right leg or the right shin flex .

Both feet pull those legs towards your chest , relax your head down to the ground .

Five breaths your total .

Make sure there's no sensation in the knee , especially the left knee on the side otherwise , back off a little bit , no pain , no gain doesn't help in yoga .

It will only cause you more pain .

And a lot of us come to this practice to heal .

But then they apply this gym mentality of pushing hard and forcing it and you know , no pain , no gain .

And this might be helpful a little bit to push through challenging stuff when you work on strength .

But with max with flexibility like this , really no good , gentle is better when it comes to a flexibility , especially if you feel any pain and you want to back off .

We got both feet down to the ground , bring the heels close to your hips , press into the heels , lift your hips up bridge pose just to finish up with something symmetrical .

Keep a gap between the chin and the chest to keep the neck safe .

Press into those heels , engage your glutes , feel the activation there .

Keep the breath going nice and slow .

Let's hold for 54 , 32 and one .

Release the hips down .

Very good .

Bring the knees together .

Keep their feet as they are .

Relax here .

Close your eyes , start to relax your body more .

No need to hold on to any tension .

So let's bring the soul of the feet together , open the knees up , wide out to the sides for if that's uncomfortable or too much for the the inner thighs , the groin , in terms of a stretching sensation then extend the legs forward , coming to a regular on the lake straight to feed by the part .

Otherwise stay here with me , pump , facing upwards , close your eyes .

If they are not already feel the sensation in your body , try to relax into it .

Let go relax .

It's all good .

Shift your awareness to the sensation of the breath , the air coming in and out through the nose .

And this whole thing on the back is basically a meditation on your back .

So I invite you to continue focusing on the breath , observe the breath how the air is coming in and out through the nose .

Feel free to stay here for the next 23 minutes , maybe even five minutes , maybe 10 .

Make this a longer meditation on the back .

Be proud of yourself for doing this class , doing this video with me today .

Keep up the good work , relax and I must stay