Ready to change your fitness routine? Ready to try something new? Try this at-home yoga routine to help you increase your flexibility and improve your overall health! It doesn’t get much better than that, right?
An at-home yoga routine at its finest
Whether yoga is the only thing you do or a supplement to another activity, yoga is a key component to any fitness regimen. It’s as mentally challenging as it is physical because it requires the practitioner to slow down and really get into his or her body. When you tune in and really pay attention to your body it gives you feedback.
As your body reaps the benefits of the practice – increased strength and flexibility, reduced stress, better mood, and enhanced focus – you’ll naturally want more. So you continue practicing.
The cool thing about yoga is it not only makes you feel good but it inspires good (or healthy) decisions in other areas of life, including food choices.
We recommend doing yoga a minimum of 2-3 times per week. For some of our student’s yoga is their only workout. Other students work yoga into other fitness activities they love.
Equipment:
- Yoga mat
- Yoga block (optional)
On Your Mat
Here are 3 mini-sequences you can begin practicing today. The poses are broken down into 3 categories: Strength, Balance, and Flexibility. The sequences are meant to be done together and in that order. However some yoga is better than no yoga, so if you’re short on time pick 1 or 2 sequences and finish the others later.
Strength
The strength-building sequences target the major muscle groups and build heat in the body (it’s like a warm-up). It’s important to warm and prepare the body for movement before taking on any deep stretches or advanced yoga poses.
- High Lunge (targets quads, glutes, hips)
- Warrior 2 (targets all of the above + stretches the inner thigh)
- Plank (targets abs/core, can be modified with knees down for beginners)
- Dolphin (core + shoulder opener)
- Locust (posterior chain: hamstrings, glutes, back muscles)
Balance
Balancing postures require a tremendous amount of focus while continuing to challenge and build strength in the lower body. They also highlight any areas of weakness in the smaller, stabilizing muscle groups. This standing sequence builds on the above strength sequence (targets and opens similar muscle groups)
- Tree (balance + inner thigh stretch)
- Figure 4 (balance + hip stretch)
- Standing quad stretch with Dancer option (balance + quad stretch)
Flexibility
The best time to work on flexibility is at the end of your workout, this is when the muscles are the warmest and most supple. The 4 postures below align the spine and passively open and lengthen hamstring, shoulder, and inner thigh muscles.
- Standing Forward fold w/ option to interlace hands behind the back (hamstrings and shoulders)
- Seated wide leg forward fold (inner thighs, lower back)
- Revolve Head to Knee Pose (hips, hamstrings, side body)
- Seated twist (spine)
Wrap-Up
An at-home yoga routine is a great way to clear your mind, increase your flexibility, and build your strength!
It’s time to give this at-home yoga routine a try! Let us know how it goes below in the comment section!
I never thought about it this way before. Thanks for opening my eyes.