Beginner Yoga Series

Yoga invites you to connect with your breath as you strengthen and stretch through different postures. This inner connection calms your mind, relaxes your body, improves your mood, increases flexibility, increases strength, and reduces stress. When you practice yoga relax the muscles of your face and smile inside and out.

You can start your practice with this series of yoga exercises for beginners :

Internalize

Begin your practice sitting in Easy Pose , with your legs comfortably crossed and your back long. He gently closes his eyes and becomes aware of your inhalations and exhalations. Observe the areas of tension in your body and focus on full, relaxing breaths. Chant the “Om” three times . Hold this pose for about five minutes.

Heat

To mobilize your spine, rest your hands and knees on the floor, on all fours, and practice the cat pose . Exhale as you round your back up and look toward your navel, and inhale as you round your spine toward the ground and look forward. Observe the movement with the breath. You can add some variations of the cat/cow pose, such as twists – with one arm raised straight up – and balances – lifting the opposite arm and leg.

Strengthen

Exhale and rise into inverted V or downward-facing dog , focusing on stability and support in your hands and feet to stretch your arms, legs, and back. Hold this position for several breaths. Inhale and bring your shoulders forward, directly over your hands, moving into a plank or inclined plane pose . Hold this position for three breaths. Exhale to return to Downward Facing Dog. Repeat about four times.

Expand

After Incline Plane Pose, exhale and lower to the mat. Make sure your legs and feet are parallel. Clasp your hands behind your back and reach your arms back and up, lengthening your spine and lifting your chest and head off the ground. Hold the pose for a couple of breaths, undo and rest a few locks. Placing your hands on the mat, on either side of your chest and below your shoulders, breathe in, lift your chest and head, and stretch your spine forward into cobra pose . Hold the asana for a couple of breaths, then exhale again moving into downward facing dog.

Balance

From downward facing dog ,  walk your feet toward your hands and, as you inhale, lengthen your spine forward and vertically into standing or mountain pose . Hold for a few breaths, lengthening and growing with each breath. Improve your balance with tree pose . Feet hip-width apart, strong and firm on the ground. Raise one leg and rotate the knee to the side. Place your foot on the calf or inner thigh of the other leg, place your palms together, and lift your arms up. Hold tree pose for a few breaths and repeat on the other side of the body.

Relax

A yoga practice should always end with the corpse pose, savassana . Lie on your back with your arms outstretched and your hands palms up, with your legs slightly apart and your feet dangling to the sides. She gently closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, feels complete relaxation. After about five minutes in this posture, bend your legs, drop to one side, place your hands on the floor and sit up in easy posture just as you had begun the sequence of postures.