Yoga for Beginners: Improve Flexibility | Yoga With Dakota | Skillshare
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Yoga for Beginners: Improve Flexibility

teacher avatar Yoga With Dakota, Health & Fitness Coach, Yoga Certified

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction

      0:54

    • 2.

      Setting Your Intention

      1:01

    • 3.

      Gentle Flow For Improved Flexibility

      30:44

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About This Class

Welcome!

Move the body and link the breath with gentle movements and intention. Poses will offer:

  • Improved Flexibility
  • Stability
  • Stretching
  • Lengthening
  • Strength

Bring a softness, heaviness and intentional letting go to every posture. Allow your body to melt a little deeper into each pose. Vinyasa means 'movemen't, so we will be flowing and moving throughout this gentle yoga practice.

Explore traditional yoga poses with variations and modifications offered to help support your own unique practice.

Need a break from the hustle? Take time out to rest, recover, and replenish. Let go of tension and get moving at home!

See you on your mat!

~Namaste 

Meet Your Teacher

Teacher Profile Image

Yoga With Dakota

Health & Fitness Coach, Yoga Certified

Teacher

Health, Fitness and Yoga have been a part of Dakota's life for 10+ years. Her practice has helped her grow stronger, more flexible and fearless. Dakota encourages her students to be creative and challenge the body. She seeks to inspire every student to feel refreshed, nourished and balanced both on and off the mat.

What is it that you continue to say you want to do or be? Do you want to be leaner, stronger and healthier? Do you want to be more present at home, more dedicated to your work or more adventurous in your life? No matter what it is, dare yourself to stop saying and start doing. It doesn’t have to be scary and you don’t have to make drastic changes—all you have to do is begin. Let's begin toget... See full profile

Level: All Levels

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Transcripts

1. Introduction: Hi everyone, my name is Dakota and welcome to this yoga for beginners, gentle than Yosef flow course. Move the body and link the breath with gentle movements and intention. Poses in this course will offer lots of stretching, lengthening and proved flexibility, stability, and strength. We will explore traditional yoga poses with variations and modifications offered to help with supporting, developing your own unique practice. No prior yoga experience is necessary. Just follow along with me as I walk you through simple step-by-step instructions. All I recommend for this class is a yoga mat and optionally a yoga block or a blanket, also something comfortable to move around in. Now that all being said, when you're ready, let's get started. 2. Setting Your Intention: Before we begin in a traditional yoga class, you typically set a goal or an intention towards the beginning of class. When setting an intention for your practice, keep it focused on something you have control over. This can be something like coming back to the breath every time you remember cultivating a patience with yourself or simply being mindful of your postures during the class. Focusing on less controllable things like mastering a difficult pose or going super deep into a pose, can lead to unhelpful thought patterns like beating yourself up, rather than using the practice to explore what your body means on any given day. So to keep things very simple, think of one word that best describes your intention. C, You can come back to that one word. Now when you have your one word, let's get started. 3. Gentle Flow For Improved Flexibility: We'll begin lying on our backs. Coming on tier Matt, extending the feed out nice and long. Sitting on your sit bones and gently moving only on tear Matt. Palms can face up or you can bring one hand to your heart and the other T ability. Taking a big inhale, inhale, filling the belly with breath, pausing at the top, exhale, sending all of it out. One more big belly breath. Housing, exhale, semi-annual out, inhale, send the arms up overhead, big stretch. Like he just woke up out of bed. And on your exhale sending the feet to the left side of the mat and walking the hands to the left side has well, forming a little crescent moon here or a C. Hearing a nice stretch in the right side of your body. Maybe closing the eyes. Coming back tier intention. In hearing. Exhale, walking the feet in the hands back to center. Once more, inhale. Exhale, locking the feet to the right side and the hands to the right side. Hearing a nice stretch down the left side body. Inhaling. Next herring walking in the hands back to center. Inherent stretching MY arms, waking them up. Exhale, sending the knees into the chest. Your arms around the knees. Khomeini rocking from side to side to give your spine a little massage. Coming back to center, explain their right leg out in front of you. Heel drops to the mat, relaxing the right leg, placing your left hand underneath your leg, pulling it a little bit closer to your shoulder. Feeling a nice stretch in the hip. Any rolling out the ankle. And the other way. Coming back to center will extend that left leg all the way up. Mania gentle bend in the me pointing, flexing the foot, sending money back in and down. Now sending the right leg into your chest and early senior fingers around you shin. And then putting them underneath the leg, playing a little bit closer to your shoulder, feeling a nice stretch on your hip and knee rolling out the ankle. And then the other way coming back to center and then lifting a link all the way up. Mainly it's straight, namely it's gentle bend in the me pointing and flexing the foot and bringing it back to center and then into the chest and all the way back down. And now we're gonna make our way into tabletop. So shifting the way onto one side, coming up, then coming on to all fours into table tough. So in tabletop, our shoulders or over a risk, hips over knees in tabletop to take some of the weight off the wrists were going to spread our fingertips as wide as you can and sending some of the weight into the fingertips. And now we're gonna do a few rounds of cat and cow. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this pose. If you don't do any of the other poses, This is the most important one. It really stretches and strengthens the spine. And here we go. We're going inhale, extend the gaze up, dropping the abdomen, extending the chest, nice and kind of sky. Exhale, contract the app saying a spine up nice and tall until a hollowing cat shape. Inhale and dropping the abdomen, extending the game. Egg sale contract, any abs, setting the spine up nice and tall. Feel more on your own breath. Going as fast or as slow as you want. Just remembering to breathe. Yoga is all about the breadth and the movement. Coming to a flat back engaging the core. We're going to draw our nose to our hip. And inhaling, coming back to center, exhaling, going to the opposite side. Moving at your own breath, engaging those abs. Good. And now coming back to center, we're going to put our right hand in the center of our matt, raising our left arm all the way up to the sky for a nice gentle twist. Smiling. And coming back down. This time we're going to put the left arm and the middle of our matt, raising our right arm all the way up. Feel a nice stretch in this twist. And coming back down onto all fours, putting away and both the risks now, wiggling out the spine and gently coming back onto our heels into hero pose. Now if sitting back on your heels is uncomfortable, you can always bring a yoga block or a blanket in between your legs and sit gently on it. Imagine someone pulling you up by the head on a string. Setting the spine up nice and tall. Inhale, sweep the arms up, exhale, sending the arms into goalpost, arms extending the chest. And again inhale, seeping the arms, exhale, go boosting the arms. A couple more on your element bread. Just working in the shoulders. And last one, let's make it count. In AOCI venial irons, exhale goalpost. My arms sitting the chest up nice and tall. And coming back into a neutral spine, inhale shaking out the shoulders, right, and now we're gonna go back into tabletop. So removing the block or the blanket, if you had one. And coming back into our lovely tabletop. So the shoulders are over the wrist, the hips are overwritten means sending your fingertips out nice and wide, putting some of the weight into your fingertips. One nice, big inhale. Exhale standing there right flip back, flexing the foot may be rolling out the ankle and then sending it up in between the hands, coming into a low lunge, we're gonna do something different. We're gonna pivot, be back, left foot, kind of like a kickstand, if you will. And then in mailings and Amy arms up, coming into a modified warrior one squaring the hips to the front of the room. Gaze goes forward, arms go up, extending the chest up nice and tall, making sure that me is over the heel. A nail. Exhale. And now going into a warrior, two hands come to the hips. We're going to square the hips to the side of the room now come into a modified warrior to inhaling the arms, go parallel to the mat and your gaze goes over your front fingertips? Again checking in, making sure the knee is over the heel. Inhale and exhale. Studying the arms to frame the front foot, undoing your kickstand and the back coming into a low lunge, saying the weight back. Bringing your right foot back to meet your left. And now we're back in tabletop. So we'll do the same thing on the opposite side. Whenever you're ready, we'll deal a big inhale and exhale, sending the left foot now back flexing the foot media rolling out the ankle and then sending it up in between our hands, coming into a low lunge and now pivoting the write back foot into a kickstand, coming up a nailing, sending the arms up overhead, checking in, making sure our needs over our heal. And now coming into our modified warrior to pose, we're gonna take our hands to our hips, square the hips to the side of the room, and then on an inhale, raising the hands parallel to the not thinking in a bit deeper to that front me. Checking in inhale and exhale, coming down to frame your front foot and undoing that kickstand, coming into a low lunge and then sending that meet all the way back. And then coming into a table top ones more, inhale. And now coming into a child's pose for a well-deserved rest, your knees can go as Why does the mat or as close together. But if you bring them as wide as the mat to, you're gonna get a nice inner thigh stretch. So whatever you choose, walking the hands out in front of you and gently melt in your head onto the Met, reconnecting with your breath. On your next inhale, inhaling through the back, feeling expand, filling it, broaden. Exhale, relaxing the shoulders, relaxing the elbows. Walking your fingertips back, swimming your hips down to meet your heels. Playing around here, maybe facing the poems up. Hearing a different stretch in the shoulders. Maybe locking them to your sides. Just playing around with what feels good right now for you to start to be too much for your hips. So gently walking your knees closer together and then sending the arms out. But taking a few breaths here, one big inhale, exhale gently coming in to a table top. Another big inhale, shaking out the hips. Exhale coming up into our downward facing dog, tucking the toes, sending it all the way up into our downward facing dog. Are hip-width, distance apart, sending away into heels and the fingertips showing a table and all the way up to the sky. And now don't worry if your heels don't touch the mat. Just gently walking out the fee, putting in gentle bend the knees, pushing into the hands, keeping the head Heavy so there's no tension in the neck. And we're here for a few breaths just gently walking it out. In nano next inhale or getting gaze to our front fingertips, exhale, we're going to walk the hands to our fingers at the top of our map, going into a gentle forward fold, R phi R hip-width distance apart. Relaxing the shoulders, relaxing the head and the neck. Gentle bend in a means. In the inhaler in halfway lift hands come to the shins, extending the chest, explain the gaze. Exhale. Inhale, sweeping the arms up overhead, Hindi up at the hips. And exhale Hands come to Heart Center. Sending our left leg back, pivoting our feet, are told you're gonna point slightly outwards, coming into goddess. And nailing, saving the arms up overhead. Exhaling, bending the knees, sending our hands into goddess. Inhaling, coming all the way up, exhale, bending the knees, sending the items out. Inhaling, exhaling. Once more inhale. Exhale. Very good inhaling, and then setting the arms down. Walking the fee up to mountain pose once more. The palms face forward, inhale, exhale hinging at the hips into a forward fold. Option for this forward fold to have a gentle than minis grabbing either elbow and rocking from side to side. In a rag doll pose. Relaxing your neck. Relax your hand. Coming back to center, dropping hands down, inhaling arms, come to shins. Exhale fully. Inhale cbind arms up overhead. Exhale, arms come to Heart Center. Sending my left leg back, pivoting our feet are tows. You're gonna point slightly outwards. We're going to come into a wide legged forward fold. Hands coming to the hips, hinging at the hips, folding forward gently, dropping one hand down and then the other. Maybe walking the feed out a little bit more option and take a block or a blanket or a couple of books to rest your head on, or maybe coming onto your forearms, whatever's comfortable for you. But trying to reach the head down to the mat, relaxing the head, relaxing the neck. Taking a couple of breaths, fearing a nice stretch. Inhaling, coming all the way up. Walking the feet up to mountain pose once more. And now coming into tree pose are gonna come onto the center of our map. Routing each individual toe into the ground, shifting our way into our heels and then to our toes, spreading them out wide as if there are roots to our tree. And then when you're ready, we're going to shift the weight onto our left leg. Sending the right me up, maybe stretching out the ankle, playing around with balance here. And then when you're ready will either come to our left leg, ankle, the shin avoiding me, or maybe coming up onto our left inner thigh. And also the thigh pushing the foot. The foot is going to naturally push the thigh, but pushing the thigh right back on the foot and then maybe playing around with some balance. They loosening the arms all the way up overhead, gazing at the ceiling, making this a little more difficult. Or maybe just bringing the arms to the hips to Heart Center. But making sure to have a focal point as well. If you're balance isn't quite there yet, making sure to have a focal point is important. Coming back to your intention, whatever that may be, maybe the bread, but one more inhale. Exhale or moving the foot from the thigh, coming back onto both of your feet, stretching it out, maybe shaking it out. And when you're ready again, we'll go ahead and do the same process. So stunning the way into your toes, into your heels. And then routing each toe into the mat for your right link. And when you're ready saying the left me up, stretching out the ankle, maybe going the opposite direction. And then finding the place that suits you for this leg, each leg is different. You may have more flexibility on the opposite leg. It may be this one. So coming up onto the ankle, maybe the shin, avoiding the NEA, maybe coming onto the upper thigh. Straightening the spine, finding your focal point, opening up the left leg thigh. Maybe playing around with your balance, sending the arms up overhead or to heart center. One more, a nail and exhale. Removing the Lang and shaking it out. I promise it'll get better with practice if you're not quite there yet. Don't worry. We're going to come into a mountain pose, stepping to the top of our mat. Inhale, saving the arms up overhead. Exhale, hinging at the hips, folding forward. Inhale and exhale, folding it forward, stepping both of our feet back and sending it up into a downward facing dog. We're only here for a second. Silly least stretching out everything going into our seeded poses. Inhaling, looking to your hands and dropping into a tabletop. Coming back onto our heels, swinging the legs in front of us, coming on to lie on our backs. And once you get onto your back, sending one mean and then the other to the chest. In the rocking from side to side to give your spine a nice massage. After all the amazing work you just did. Breathing into this pose. Coming back to center, sending both feet to plant onto the map. We're going to come on to bridge pose, palms face up, sending the shoulders down and back. Relax your neck on an inhale, sending the abdomen up. Exhaling, sending it back down one vertebrae at a time. One more a nail saying the abdomen up, exhale, sending it back down one vertebrae at a time. Sending you knees back into your chest, arms come to a T, sending both means over to the left side. First simple spinal twist, gently pushing into your right shoulder. As you elongate your back. Here, head can stay neutral. Or maybe gaze. Movie left shoulder. Feeling this nice stretch. Taking a few breaths, inhaling, sending the Neves back to center and exhale, sending him over to your right side. Gently pushing you left shoulder down as you elongate your low back. Keeping a neutral neck, or maybe gazing over T right side. Are here for a few breaths. Setting your knees into center. Interlacing your fingers around your shins. Meany sending your head up, Tierney's grid nice stretch. And then sending both your legs out, taking up as much space as you possibly can on your mat. Coming into our final resting pose, Sheila asthma or corpse pose to digress. After all the poses your body just did for you. Baby gently closing the eyes. Any putting a pillow, a near head, a blanket over your body. Honoring the work, he adjusted, relaxing. Relaxing. Relaxing the means. The fives. Your hips, your tailbone, your belly, your shoulder, your arm, your fingers, your neck, and your head. One final inhale and exhale. Going into stillness. Can't really hamper your toes and fingers. Back to the breath. Inhaling, shifting your weight to one side. Jerry coming into a seated position and are keeping the eyes gently cursed her focusing on one focal point. Breathing in, breathing out. Hands come to heart center, delay in me, honors, and see the light in each and every one of you. Nama stay. Thank you so much for being a part of this gentleman. Iasa yoga flow with me. I hope you have a great day.