10 min Core Strength Yoga for Abs

Transcript

hey yogis welcome to today's quick 10 minute practice my name is cassandra and in this short sequence we're really going to fire up our core so let's not waste any time you are going to need one block for this practice have it somewhere close by and let's go ahead and lie all the way down on our backs so laying down on the back widen your feet and let your knees fall in towards each other and just rest your hands on your low belly finding a neutral spine with your hands resting lower on the belly see if you can breathe all the way down underneath your palms feeling the navel lift up on the inhale and soften back down on the exhale and bringing your feet in a little bit so that the feet are hip width distance apart i want you to push your lower back down into the mat and then stack your knees over the top of your hips with your shins parallel to the floor so as we lift the shins off the mat notice how sometimes the lower back lifts off the ground push your lower back down to the floor and if that made your knees come forward to the chest keep the lower back glued to the mat and just realign your your knees directly over the top of your hips we're going to interlace our fingers and bring them behind the back of the head doing some really slow yoga bicycles as you inhale curl head and shoulders off the mat think of lifting up towards the ceiling instead of curling towards your thighs and as you exhale you're going to twist over to the right both shoulder blades lifted off the floor extend your left leg straight to hover inhale come back to center squeeze and curl tailbone up exhale twist to the left reach your right leg straight inhale back to center squeeze and lift exhale twist right extend through the left moving slow flex your feet inhale to center lift exhale to twist reach through your right leg push your low back to the floor inhale to center curl our last round exhale exhale twist to the right reach through your left leg inhale to center curl up exhale twist to the left reach through your right leg inhale back to center last one curl and release down to the floor knees bent grab a hold of your block you're going to place your block and squeeze it in between your inner thighs keep your feet hip with distance apart coming up into bridge pose push your feet into the floor squeeze your block and curl tailbone to lift the hips low back and mid back off the floor so having the block there is a great way to make sure you don't let your knees open up to the sides and it helps you engage through the adductors so hugging into the midline push down into the heels and try to bring your heels towards your shoulders so you're digging down into the mat and dragging them back lift the pelvis up a little bit higher and very slowly release inch by inch back down to the mat now keep the block exactly where it is and just reach your legs straight up to the sky so this is almost like barbie feet those of you who had barbies you know that it's like you're um it's almost as if you're pointing through the feet but then you're curling your toes back activating and spreading the toes interlace your fingers the more unusual way bring them to the back of your head squeeze your block as you inhale lift head and shoulders off the mat and as you exhale squeeze your block and curl tailbone up inhale let the hips come back down and exhale head and shoulders come back down so very subtle we'll do that a few more times inhale head and shoulders up exhale squeeze block curl tailbone up inhale tailbone down exhale head and shoulders back down twice more inhale lift exhale squeeze curl tailbone up inhale tailbone down exhale head and shoulders down last one inhale head and shoulders up exhale squeeze block curl tailbone inhale tailbone down exhale head and shoulders down release the arms bring your feet back down to the mat move your block off to the side our last recline little ab sequence here you're going to bend your knees and wrap your right thigh over your left either once or twice so these are like our eagle legs and then bending your elbows you're going to wrap the right arm under the left either binding once or twice so eagle arm so this is just as if you were doing eagle pose but we're doing it lying down on the mat take a big breath just like this and as you exhale curl head and shoulders up and bring your elbows and your knees together to touch as you inhale move the elbows and the knees further away from one another but don't let your head touch the floor exhale curl and contract twice more inhale move it away exhale elbows and knees touch last one inhale and exhale squeeze and release feet flat on the mat come on up to your bridge pose lift the hips off the mat stretch through the abdominals you should start to feel your abs fire up and hips come back down to the mat change the cross of the legs left thigh over your right left arm under so changing the arms take an inhale to stay as you are and then exhale curl head and shoulders up elbows and knees touch inhale move the elbows and knees away from each other stay up exhale squeeze and contract two more spread the toes inhale and exhale inhale and exhale contract and release pull your knees into your belly rock a little bit side to side and let's make our way into our downward facing dog you can rock up cross at the ankles plant your palms and step the feedback so our last little exercise here create some space in your down dog paddle the feet reach your chest your thighs you're going to reach your right leg up to the sky keep it straight and square and as you exhale come forward into plank pose try to touch your knee to your nose inhale up and back three legged dog exhale need a nose same thing shoulders over the wrists inhale reach it up exhale squeeze it in hold it here for five four three two one downward facing dog lengthen out let's switch sides left leg rises inhale exhale knee to your nose shoulders over the wrists inhale lift it up and back exhale squeeze it in inhale lift it up exhale hug in hold for five four three two one downward facing dog let's come forward into your plank pose lower down to your forearms so forearm plank you're welcome to interlace your fingers your knees can come down to the mat if you need to as well reach the crown of your head forward drag the shoulder blades down your back hold here for a few breaths reach back through your heels squeeze into the midline holding for five four three two one let your hips come down to the mat palms flat to the floor take your sphinx pose stretch through the abdominals opening up through your heart and releasing the chest back down push into the palms to lift up and just take a seat in any way that is comfortable to you sitting up nice and tall close your eyes so try to feel into the fire in your belly that you've created from the short but powerful sequence and just remember how strong you are how powerful you can feel when you tap into your core to your abdominals and know that you can always access the strength within you we are all so much stronger than we think bring the hands together at the heart bowing forward namaste thank you so much yogis for doing this quick course sequence with me i do hope you enjoyed it i put out new classes and new videos every single week have a wonderful day and i'll practice again with you soon