Yoga is a great way to relax after a workout, get some flexibility and help prevent injuries. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced athlete, mastering some basic yoga moves will benefit everyone.
From downward dog, step your right knee forward between your hands and lower your upper body over the bent leg. This stretch stretches the shoulder muscles and calves.
Tree Pose
Tree Pose is a balancing yoga pose that challenges the balance and core muscles. It also strengthens the hips, ankles, and calf muscles. The pose can be modified for beginners by placing the raised foot on a block, the calf or the inner thigh, instead of the knee. Practicing this variation may help prevent hip misalignment, which can increase the risk of injury.
Advanced practitioners can add in arm variations to challenge their balance, such as extended tree and revolved tree. The former involves extending the arms overhead, either with the palms together in prayer position or spread wide across the chest, while the latter involves twisting the torso to bring one arm crosswise over the opposite leg.
Teachers can assist students by encouraging them to keep their hips as square as possible, rather than allowing the lifted leg side’s hip to poke out to the side. They can also encourage students to keep their gaze steady or fixed on a stationary spot on the floor, known as drishti, which helps improve balance.
Down Dog Split
Downward Dog (Sanskrit: Adho Mukha Svanasana) is an essential part of many vinyasa flows. The basic pose is a great stretch for the shoulders and back, but mastering all the fun variations can add a challenge, flexibility, balance, and strength to your yoga practice.
This version of Down Dog challenges your ability to hold the shape of the posture and also opens your hips more. You can walk your feet in closer to your hands for a short version of the pose or even bend your right knee and stack your left hip over your right for more of a twisting Down Dog variation.
Down Dog Split stretches your backs of the legs and core, strengthens your arms, shoulders and back, and builds balance and focus. It’s a great pose to do before deeper forward-facing poses such as Pigeon Pose. It can help ease lower back pain and create space between the vertebrae of your spine.
Lunge
A variation of the standard lunge, this exercise is ideal for building lower body strength and balance. It regularly features in workouts like LES MILLS GRIT, LES MILLS TONE and BODYATTACK.
Stand upright with your feet hip-width apart and core engaged, then step your right foot 2 to 3 feet in front of you (your back knee should be a few inches off the ground). Bend your knees to sink into a forward lunge—your upper leg should be at a 90-degree angle, with your front thigh parallel to the floor.
You should be able to feel the burn in your quads, glutes and hips. The move also helps to strengthen your upper back, biceps and shoulders. For a more challenging version, hold a medicine ball in your hands in front of you while doing the twist section of this move. Alternatively, use a kettlebell or a dumbbell in each hand. If you’re a beginner, start with a smaller step to avoid stress on your knees.
Happy Baby
The movements in yoga are designed to increase flexibility and improve strength, but many of the poses are calming and relaxing. Happy Baby, also known as Ananda Balasana, is a gentle and soothing movement that can relieve tension in the back and hips. This move is often included at the beginning or end of a yoga class because it can help calm the mind and reduce stress.
To achieve this simple yet effective movement, lie on your mat or on the floor and exhale, bringing your knees toward your chest. You can hold the outside edges of your feet with your hands, or if you’re unable to grip the inside of your feet, you can loop a strap around the middle arch of each foot.
This gentle hip opener stretches the inner thighs, hips, and groin, and can alleviate lower back pain. It also opens the sacrum and broadens the spine, which is a great stretch after backbends or twists.