Gentle Seated Yoga For Beginners & All Levels | 30 Minute Practice

Transcript

welcome to your 30-minute beginner friendly yoga class my name is jessica and today we'll be doing a seated sequence for a full body stretch getting started in a seated position bringing your left leg out in front of you and grounding down through your sitting bones find a nice tall spine and bring the arms alongside the body inhale to reach both arms up overhead bring the palms together exhale place the left hand down beside your body and reach your right arm up and over bringing your bicep towards your ear straightening out the elbow and staying grounded down through both sitting bones lengthening the right side body and breathing space into the ribs [Music] inhale to come up through center palms touch overhead exhale place the right hand down beside you and reach your left arm up and over bringing your gaze up towards your hand if it's comfortable for your neck and lengthening through the left side body [Music] on your next inhale bring both arms up overhead palms touch reach the fingertips up towards the ceiling and as you exhale release the hands behind you pressing the palms into the ground and opening up the chest so pressing the belly forward drawing the shoulders down and back and gently squeezing the shoulder blades together and bringing your hands out in front of you start to walk the hands forward coming into a seated forward fold going as far as is comfortable for you and just feeling a stretch in the left outer hip maybe staying on the palms or maybe coming down on the forearms letting the back of the neck soften as you relax the head continue to breathe here [Music] on your next inhale slowly press up out of the hands to lift yourself back up switching legs bringing the right leg in front this time readjusting your sitting bones finding a tall spine and then bringing the hands beside you inhale to reach both arms up overhead palms touch as you exhale twist to the left bringing your right hand to your left knee and your left hand behind you gazing over your left shoulder [Music] making sure that this twist is coming from your mid back your neck is relaxed your shoulders are soft take one more breath here come back through center as you reach both arms up inhale as you exhale twist to the right this time left hand comes to the right knee right hand comes behind you [Music] come back to your breath and breathe into the twists take one last breath coming back through center inhale to reach both arms up exhale slowly release the hands behind you pressing the palms into the ground lifting the chest and lifting the gaze opening the hearts gently squeezing the shoulder blades together breathe here and then gently come back to center bring the hands out in front of you and then just gently start to walk the hands forward feeling a stretch in that right outer hip letting the head and neck be heavy either staying here on the palms or maybe dropping down on the forearms continue to breathe here and slowly start to walk the hands in lifting yourself up draw the knees together and come to face the front of your mats from here extend the right leg out in front of you and bend the left knee placing the left foot inside of the right leg grounding down through your sitting bones maintaining a tall spine and lengthening through the crown of the head inhale here and then exhale start to walk the hands forward gently bringing the belly towards your right thigh and folding over your right leg [Music] you can keep the hands here on the ground or you can reach for your ankle or your toes [Music] try to relax the upper back feeling the stretch in the back of your right leg and continue to breathe here [Music] do taking three more rounds of breath [Music] and then slowly walking the hands in finding a straight spine from here you'll bend your left knee keep the right leg extended out in front of you either keeping your foot here beside the leg or you're going to cross your left foot over your right leg reach your left hand behind you inhale to reach the right arm up exhale twist to the left bringing your right elbow to the outside of the left knee pressing your elbow into your left leg to get a deeper twist gazing over your left shoulder breathing into the low belly [Music] one last breath here slowly untwist to come back through center uncross your left leg extend the left leg out in front of you and then bend your right knee placing your right foot inside of your left thigh ground down here inhale to find length and as you exhale start to hinge from the hips draw the belly towards your left thigh walk the hands forward and fold over your left leg again you can either keep the hands rested here on the ground or you can reach for your ankle maybe your toes and then try to relax here [Music] soften the face soften the jaw and close your eyes [Music] feeling the stretch behind the left leg and breathing [Music] on your next inhale slowly lift yourself back up [Music] placing your right foot on the ground hugging your knee into your chest keeping that left leg extended out in front of you either keeping your right foot here or crossing your right leg over your left place your right hand behind you inhale to lift the left arm up [Music] exhale twist to the right bring your left elbow to the outside of the right knee and gently gaze over your right shoulder pressing your left elbow into your knee to deepen the twist feel your low back release [Music] and take one more breath here slowly untwist come back through center [Music] extend your right leg straight out in front of you so both legs are out in front flex the feet lengthen through the spine take a big breath in as you exhale slide your hands down your legs coming into a seated forward fold [Music] letting your head and neck be heavy as you round through the upper back and draw your belly towards your thighs [Music] feel the stretch in your hamstrings keeping the toes pointed up towards the ceiling continue to take full deep breaths here on your next inhale slowly lift yourself up sliding the hands back in go ahead and turn to face the long ways of your mat bring the soles of the feet together and open the knees out wide to come into butterfly pose bring the heels further away if you'd like less of a stretch and if you'd like to deepen the stretch you can bring the heels closer in towards your body wrap the hands around the tops of the feet press the thumbs against the bottom of the feet inhale to find length and as you exhale slowly start to forward fold maybe pressing the elbows against the inner legs opening up both of the hips bringing your chin towards your chest [Music] and finding stillness [Music] taking one last breath here and slowly straightening out the arms to lift yourself all the way up [Music] from here extend the left leg out in front of you and bend the right knee placing that right foot inside of your left thigh reach your left hand for your right knee reach your right arm up and over take a big inhale and as you exhale take a side bend towards the left side reaching your right fingers for your left toes breathing space into the ribcage taking one last breath here as you inhale slowly come back up release your right hand down bend your left knee and extend your right leg bringing your left foot to the inside of your right thigh bring your right hand to your left knee reach your left arm up big inhale exhale side bend to the right lengthening the left side of your body reaching your left fingers for your right toes [Music] taking one last breath [Music] and then slowly lifting yourself back up release the hands to either side and then extend your left leg out coming into a wide leg straddle [Music] bring the legs out as wide as is comfortable for you flex the feet bring the hands inside of the legs and very slowly start to walk the hands forward [Music] folding forward until you start to feel a stretch in the back of the legs and in the hamstrings let the head and neck relax and continue to breathe in this stretch [Music] take one last breath here and slowly start to walk the hands in to lengthen the spine bring the legs together bend the knees and turn to face the front of your mats coming into a seated position at the center of your mats keeping the knees bent and lowering all the way down to the ground with your spine pressed against the mat go ahead and keep the knees bent here and rest the arms alongside your body coming into pigeon pose keeping the left foot on the ground and crossing the right ankle on top of the left thigh just above the knee stay here if this is a deep enough hip stretch for you or you can lift your left foot up off of the mat bring your right arm in between your legs and interlace the fingers around the back of the left thigh just behind the knee hugging your legs closer in towards your body getting a deeper stretch [Music] take one last breath here if your left foot is lifted slowly place it back down cross your right leg all the way over the left so that the right knee is over the left knee lift your right foot up off of the mats and place your hands on the tops of the feet [Music] drawing the heels towards your glutes getting a stretch in the right outer hip [Music] relaxing the shoulders maybe closing the eyes here [Music] and gently release your grip on your feet placing your right foot back down and crossing the right leg over the left so both soles of the feet are flat on the ground keep your right foot planted down and cross your left ankle on top of your right thigh just above your knee coming into our pigeon stretch choosing to stay here with your right foot on the ground gently pressing that left knee away from your body [Music] or choosing to lift that right foot up bringing your left arm in between the legs interlacing the fingers placing them to the back of the right thigh and hugging both legs closer in towards your body [Music] keeping your left foot flexed and coming back to your breath taking one more breath and if the right foot is lifted go ahead and bring it back down cross the left leg all the way over the right so the left knee is stacked over the right knee and then lift your right foot up off of the mats place your hands to the tops of the feet hugging the knees closer in towards your chest letting the arms become heavy [Music] and breathing into that left hip [Music] and with your next breath gently release the grip on your feet release the right foot back down and uncross the left leg extend one leg at a time straight out in front of you and allow the arms to rest alongside your body with the palms face up coming into our final resting pose invite the eyes to close down begin to bring your awareness to your physical body just noticing how you feel here beginning to rest the feet letting the legs become heavy letting go of any tension in the hips the glutes the low back notice how the belly and the chest move as you breathe feel the expansion and the contraction of the belly feel the shoulder blades pressed into the ground feel your face relax unclench your jaw soften the space in between the eyebrows feel your body relaxed all the way from the crown of your head down to the fingers and the toes and finding a cleansing breath here exhaling where you are take a big breath in through the nose open the mouth exhale out coming back to your natural rhythm of breath as you start to wiggle the fingers and the toes start to awaken the body by rolling the wrists and rolling the ankles reaching the arms up overhead pointing the toes to find a full body stretch gently bending the knees placing your hands on top of the knees and very slowly rolling yourself up to come into a seated position [Music] keeping your eyes closed or your gaze soft rest your hands on top of your legs and come back to your breath [Music] taking a moment to find gratitude for yourself for coming on your mat today to practice gently bring your hands to heart center pressing the palms together finding a slight bow as you bring your chin to your chest namaste thank you so much for joining me for this 30 minute beginner friendly yoga class i hope you have an amazing rest of your day i'll see you in the next class soon