Do Yoga, Skip the Rest. ™
16 Minute Yoga Video – Slow Flow – YogaSkip presents a slow yoga flow that helps reduce stress, while calming our mind and body. Devote 16 minutes to breathing deep, destressing and finding that inner calm on our yoga mats. Feel more relaxed and calm to begin your day or practice any time during the day that fits your own schedule. This is a perfect 16-minute flow for yoga beginners as well. We begin seated on our mats with some centered breath work, limb stretching and a gentle spinal twist. Next, we find our table top position, which is coming down onto our hands and knees. Make sure to align the wrists under the shoulders and the knees under the hips. Feet can be soft, with toes relaxed. Then begin our cat/cow spine stretching with inhaling first with belly relaxing toward mat, while we open our heart space, stretch front of neck and lift the chin toward the sky. Exhale, round the back, drawing the navel to spine, with subtle release of the tale-bone toward the mat. Repeat a few rounds; feel free to bend the elbows and explore your own cat/cow as we breath deep in and out through our nose. Inhale, next pose, we stretch our left leg back long with toes forward. Gently shift hips back and forth to stretch calf muscle as we remember to draw the extend shoulders up and draw our navel to the spine. Left the leg, with active toes pointed downward toward the ground. If it feels safe, extend the left arm forward for Bird Dog Position, with option to Reach for foot; keep attention to wrist and shoulder on right arm staying aligned, as Open our left side of our heart space and breath for a few breaths. Gaze forward. We repeat on the other side. We then lift our hips from a safte table top position for downward dog. Shift the weight of the body back over the heels. If heels do not reach, just bring feet Slightly closer together and bend knees so hips can lift higher as we draw our Navel to spine. We then step toward our toes, lengthen the spine as we inhale, Then exhale, uttanasana, back stretched out posture. Let the neck be soft, upper back Muscles release as the crown of the head reaches gently toward our mats. Bend the knees a little so our abdomen can rest on the upper part of the thighs, This helps protect the hips and stretch the lumbar spine. Next, we slowly roll up to a standing position, taking a half Sun Salutation to warm Up our bodies. On our next inhale, bring the ankles closer together as we sit back into our deep squat, Chair posture; draw knees back as sit bones reach toward the yoga mat and push into the toes. The arms are reaching up, as we gaze toward hands breathing for a few breaths. Engage the quads, as we continue to draw the navel to the spine. Next we forward fold, half-way lift, then take a long stride back with each foot as we find out Plank position. You can modify plank by bring the knees onto mat as we breathe here for a few breaths, Get ready to release knees onto mat as we breath deep, sinking the weight of our body over hour heels, with arms stretched forward. On exhale, bring forward to the mat. Relax. Release the muscles in the body, the upper back, shoulders and arms. Continue to sink The sit bones down over the heels and let the body feel peaceful and calm. Next we move to our thread the needle posture; repeat each side. Continue breathing in and out of the nose, using our victorious breath. Inhale and bring the forearms down, and stretch legs long behind your torso. Bring the elbows in front of the chest and continue to peel chest upward to the sky. Next we place our hands by our ribcage, extending arms long find our upward dog, with a Micro-bend in our upper spine, engaging the shoulder blades and stretching the front of our neck open with chin lifted up. The legs are hovering slightly off the mat, using our leg strength also, to lift legs, or allow thighs to gently rest on mat. As we are almost finished, we stretch the hips up and back over the heels for one more Downward dog, then working our way back up to the top of the mat with some light limb stretching and centered breath work before we say goodbye. I hope you enjoyed this slow, relaxing flow that will help you gain more clarity and calmness Enhancing the rest of your day. Namaste, Machel (Ma-shel)
