Sun Salutations Tutorial & Flow | Yoga for Beginners

This week, you get not only one video to try out but TWO! 

 

I was teaching a yoga class last night, and I had quite a few people who had never taken yoga before. So, we covered the basics and went over a lot of “how-to’s” when it comes to form.

 

And it made me realize that I haven’t offered the same thing for you! 

 

I know some of you might just be starting out on your health journey, so I wanted to make sure all levels (even total beginners) could participate in this Sun Salutations Yoga Flow.

 

Look, I know that going into a yoga class can be totally intimidating and scary if you have no idea what you are doing.

 

So these two videos are going to give you a base understanding of the most common yoga poses so that you can practice at home and be a pro in no time!

This is a great sequence to use:

• at the end of a workout when you’re wanting to cool down, stretch AND destress, or…
• first thing in the morning to get in a quick morning yoga routine before your busy day.

At the very least, try to do this routine one per week. Even short routines like this can drastically improve your flexibility & strength as well as help you destress and decrease of aches & pains.

For me, yoga has totally transformed my mind and my body. Liz and I aren’t some kind of robots without feelings, hardships or rough times – we are real people and that means sometimes we get sad, experience loneliness, and deal with insecurities just like everyone else. 

The most important thing to remember in these times is that you are not alone with whatever you’re struggling with, and that more often than not, those around you have gone through something similar.

Reaching out to others can help, but we also encourage you to form healthy habits – like eating well and exercising – that will help you navigate through hard times.

Now let’s talk about form…

Beginner Yoga Form

So, there are a few basic poses you need to master when it comes to yoga…

 

Stand with the bases of your big toes touching, heels slightly apart (so that your second toes are parallel). Lift and spread your toes and the balls of your feet, then lay them softly down on the floor. Firm your thigh muscles and lift your kneecaps. Lift the inner ankles to strengthen the inner arches, then imagine a line of energy all the way up along your inner thighs to your groins, and from there through the core of your torso, neck, and head, and out through the crown of your head. Turn the upper thighs slightly inward. Lengthen your tailbone toward the floor and bring your bellybutton in towards your spine. Press your shoulder blades into your back, then widen them across and release them down your back. Without pushing your lower front ribs forward, lift the top of your sternum straight toward the ceiling.

Come down onto hands and feet with your body perpendicular to the floor and your shoulders directly over the wrists, torso parallel to the floor. Press your outer arms inward and firm the bases of your index fingers into the floor. Press the floor away and “dome” your upper back so you are not sinking into the shoulders. Press your front thighs up toward the ceiling, lifting your kneecaps and lengthen your tailbone toward the heels. Lift the base of the skull away from the back of the neck and look straight down at the floor.

Knees-Chest-Chin is a beginning strength-building yoga pose that paves the way for full body weight-bearing poses, like Chaturanga. Most beginners should start with this pose. 

 

Begin in Plank Pose with your shoulders are directly above your wrists. Then with an exhalation, lower your knees to the floor and keep your toes tucked under. Hug your elbows in toward your sides, pointing them back toward your heels. Keeping your hips lifted off the floor and palms flat, bring your chest to the floor. Place your chest between your hands and gently touch your chin to the floor.

 

Cobra
Lying flat on the floor, stretch your legs back with the tops of your feet on the floor. Spread your hands on the floor under your shoulders. Hug the elbows back into your body.Press the tops of the feet and thighs and the pubis firmly into the floor. On your inhalation, begin to straighten the arms to lift the chest off the floor, pulling your chest through your arms but going only to the height at which you can maintain a connection through your pubis to your legs. Press the tailbone toward the pubis and lift the pubis toward the navel.

 

 

From Chaturanga, inhale to bring your chest forward & up and stretch your legs back, with the tops of your feet on the floor. Bend your elbows and spread your palms on the floor beside your waist so that your forearms are relatively perpendicular to the floor. Inhale and press your inner hands firmly into the floor and slightly back, as if you were trying to push yourself forward along the floor. Then straighten your arms and simultaneously lift your torso up and your legs a few inches off the floor on an inhalation. Keep the thighs firm and slightly turned inward, the arms firm and turned out so the elbow creases face forward. Look straight ahead or tip the head back slightly, but take care not to compress the back of the neck and harden the throat.

 

 Have your feet hips width apart as well as parallel to each other and move your heels back and down. Hands are shoulder width, spread your fingers wide apart, have your palms flat, press into the pads of your fingertips. Reach your outer arms down and lengthen the inner arms from the center of the chest. Lengthen the sides of the trunk, create more space from your armpits to your hips. Lift your sits bones high and lift your kneecaps up by loading and lifting the quadriceps.

 

xoxo from your yoga teacher,

Sara

 

P.S. Each week, expect a new yoga video from me over on our YouTube channel. I realized I haven’t been teaching as much as I used to and boy do I miss it! 

 

If you have any requests, please let me know by commenting below or heading over to our Facebook page.