20 min Core Strength Yoga 🔥 ALL LEVELS - NO PROPS

Transcript

hi everyone thank you for joining me my name is Cassandra and I'm going to take you through this all levels practice which is specifically targeting core strength so we're definitely going to work on our abdominals on our obliques today a little bit of hip lexor strength as well um but still giving ourselves this opportunity to Target the entire body stretch strength balance mindfulness the whole package no props required and let's start lying down on our backs we'll just start in reclined butterfly so releasing through the hips a little here as we bring the soles of the feet together to touch let your knees fall open and your arms can go wherever is comfortable to you if for some reason this hurts your lower back you can just start with your knees in feet out we're really just using this first pose to connect with the flow of our breath to find that first connection with our abdominals releasing all tension from your body even your facial muscles your jaw your fingers just let yourself relax here taking three more breaths we'll float the knees back up feet flat to the floor and notice how when you bring your knees back in parallel it's easier to connect the lower back to the mat and you can draw the lower belly in so getting that first little bit of core activation we'll hold on to the back of the right thigh and just find a little hamstring stretch here as you extend your right leg up towards the sky and you can alternate flexing and pointing through that right foot so that you're really stretching through the back of that heel into the ankle into the calf and also through the top of the foot and now you can bend and straighten a few times with that right leg point pointing through your right toes release Your Arms by your sides so engaging the abdominals here I want you to always keep your lower back planted and glued to the ground shoulders roll back you can externally rotate that right leg so you can see the inside of your heel and we're just going to Exhale to lower that leg slowly all the way down and then inhale all the way back up so it's very simple movements your foot probably won't touch the mat it can just hover an inch or two but I want you to feel how those right side obliques need to contract and engage in order for you to keep that leg straight and to control that descent so think of reaching and stretching from the back of the knee reaching out through your toes just take about two more here and left side obliques are Contracting a little bit as well in order to maintain your center of gravity lift all the way up and now Bend and release we'll go do this over on the second side so hold on to the back of your left thigh straighten that left leg any amount and you can start by just flexing and pointing through those toes getting some Mobility through the ankle try to relax head and shoulders and now you can bend and straighten the leg I like to do this with a flex foot you can do it pointed and now releasing The Arms by your sides Point through your left foot externally rotate through that thigh so you can see the inside of that heel press your lower back down into the mat core is really strong here as you lower down nice and slow and inhale squeeze and lift it back up so what we're trying to cultivate here is that when we engage our abdominals we want to avoid pushing the stomach out which tends to be what happens instead we want to focus on keeping that lower belly drawing in and up and notice if other areas are your body kind of tense up and overcompensate you might notice that this feels easier on one side than the other just do one more and bending pull both knees in towards the belly okay adding a little bit of intensity here if you have a delicate tailbone you might want to bring your hands underneath your seat I'll just show you what we're going to be doing we're going to be tracing some circles with both legs so you're going to to stretch the legs out lift them up and bend them back so it's like a little scooping action the lower you bring your legs the harder this is going to be so join me when you're ready what I don't want is for your lower back to pop off of the mat so try to keep it grounded it's the same type of action and motion that we were doing one leg at a time and think of pulling the belly in do one more like this and then we're going to reverse the direction of those circles so this time you straighten the legs lower them away from you and pull them in keep breathing two more last one and release give it a big squeeze rock a little side to side and we'll come on to hands knees in our tabletop pose so you can lift yourself up and we'll just do a little calf stretch from here so in tabletop pose you can straighten your right leg back behind you and push into that right heel coming back to neutral go ahead and lift your right leg up Point through those toes and see if you can tap your right knee towards your right shoulder without bending your elbows so we're going to stretch it all the way back and then exhale tap that knee in inhale and exhale twice more like this inhale reach exhale squeeze last one inhale and exhale step your foot to the outer edge of that right hand taking this wide lunge left hand stays down let's open and find a Twist here right arm up melting the hips down kind of stretching through our ABS here right hand down step it back tabletop pose you can straighten your left leg push back into your left heel stretching out through that calf pushing into fingertips and Knuckles and now go ahead and lift that left leg up and you're going to squeeze keep that leg and that knee up as high as it can go with the right elbow straight inhale and exhale three more last one and Step It Forward take this wide lunge more like a dragon or lizard variation left arm up big twist and release stepping back let's find plank pose from here so you keep your shoulders over the top of your palms legs are straight and often we drop our head when we're doing planks try to lift the back of the head up one long line so even here are you pushing the stomach out can you draw the lower belly in downward facing dog lift your hips up and back stretch it out so same thing as what we were doing from tabletop pose we're now going to do it from three-legged dog so reach your right leg up as high as it'll go keep it straight and as you exhale come forward to plank tap your right knee towards your right shoulder inhale stretch it up twice more like this exhale squeeze it in last one inhale and exhale step your foot to the outer edge of that right hand different variation but same twist here right arm extends up and now bring your right hand to the outside of your right foot so you can tow heel it in a little bit here push your feet into the floor to lift on up and we're just transitioning from this high lunge coming into tree pose Vasa so my left foot is going to step to the inside of my right thigh and I'm going to add a side Bend here you don't need to you can simply work on tree pose this way if you'd like to stretch out the obliques you're going to grab a hold of your left ankle with your left hand and you're going to reach your right arm up and over and you really don't need to be going very far in this we're just trying to gently stretch the obliques that we worked coming off all the way back through to Center release the legs shake it out and let's take a little Vasa inhale arms rise exhale fold you can absolutely bend your knees here halfway lift flat back plant your palms step back through to plank pose so again find that strength in your Plank and now let's lower down elbows in bujang gasana this is your Cobra pose big back bend exhale downward-facing dog lift your hips up and back and we'll do this over on the second side so from downward dog reach your left leg up keep it straight and then bring your knee or sorry your knee over towards your left shoulder as you come forward into this plank pose squeeze and lift it up and back twice more exhale hips are low lift the back of the head inhale lift exhale squeeze lightly step that foot to the outer edge of your left hand and reach your left arm up this time our back knee is lifted off of the floor and we'll bring our left hand down tow heel that foot in so you're about hip width distance apart rather than being really wide here and just push into the mat to help you with balance as you lift on up and we're going to step into that tree pose so my right foot is going to step somewhere along the inside of my right thigh maybe just staying centered here or grabbing a hold of your right ankle with your right hand left arm reaches up and ease your way into a side body stretch coming back through to Center release shake it out and let's take our Vinyasa again here inhale and exhale halfway lift step back plank strong through your core here lower down Cobra push into the tops of the feet this is our last downward-facing dog and let's bring our knees down on the mat come to take a seat and we'll just do our reverse tabletop pose from here so your feet are hip with distance apart hands are back behind you with your fingertips pointing towards your heels squeeze your shoulder blades behind you squeeze through your seat and lift on up trying to flatten out through those hips and exhale release you can lower yourself all the way down let's pull our knees in towards the belly rocking a little bit side to side if you'd like you can transition into a happy baby a non double AA grabbing a hold of the big toes with the two-piece fingers stacking the ankles over your knees try to keep pushing your tailbone down into the mat with Head and Shoulders grounded as well slowing down the breath and let's release you can stretch out through your legs through your arms we'll find shavasana our final resting pose fully relaxing here and not notice what kind of activation you feel through the midline giving yourself this opportunity in a few minutes to fully rest not rushing to the next thing not distracting yourself we really staying present even in this ending pose e e e breathing a little deeper reawaken stretch your arms up overhead and really extend and stretch out through your obliques through your abdominals here and we'll roll to one side come up to take a seat sitting up tall let's bring our hands together at the front of the heart rolling your shoulders back let's chant M together one time inhale to chant breathe in oh thank you so much everyone for doing this core strengthening flow with me I hope you enjoyed it if you don't already and hopefully we'll practice again together very soon