Giselle Toner leads a beginner yoga class covering cat stretches, downward dog, warrior poses, and balance work like Tree pose. She offers modifications and safety tips throughout, including when to avoid putting weight on your knees and how to use a wall for support.
Chapters
Namaste. Hi, everybody. I'm Giselle from Eternity Yoga. So today we're going to go through a little bit more movement. We've been doing our video series for beginners. We started out with our first video, which was Sun Salutations. And the second one geared a little bit more towards warriors and triangle poses. Today we're going to go into a little bit of releasing the back through cat stretches and a few other poses that are going to make you a little bit more challenged. So let's start out with our palms on the floor in a cat stretch. So we're going to come down to our knees and let's start out with a nice deep breath as we look up to the sky. Curve your tailbone upward. Inhale. Now exhale as you round your back. Press the belly to the spine. And attention. Through again. Look up to the sky. Deep breath in. Exhale round your back. Press hard through the arms. One more time. Look up. Inhale, deep breath and exhale as you press hard through the arms, rounding your back. Chin tucks under and relax. Now let's do a little strengthening for the back. Extend your right arm and your left leg. We're going to point and hold it here. Stay long. Now flex that left foot. Kick it. Feel that left leg work. Point again and hold. Great. If you want to challenge this, reach around and grab your foot behind you. This is not necessary though, so if you're feeling like it's too much, don't do this pose. But if you feel good, lift a little. Release it. Good. And relax. Take a deep breath. Okay. Same thing with the left arm extending, right leg extending. Let's hold. Now flex the right foot. Kicking hard and point again and you're tired. Take a break if you can go further. Reach around, grab your foot and just a gentle lift. Release it slowly. Good. And bring it down. Let's sit on the heels and go into child's pose. Relax your head down and take a deep breath here. And on your exhale, start to release stress. Take a deep breath. Roll it up on your exhale. Let your hands slide back. Keep your head down and take a deep breath when you come up. Good. Now we're going to go into a downward facing dog. Palms flat and drop your heels to the floor. Come onto the toes. Lift the tailbone. Bend those knees. Straighten. Drop your heels. Now let's walk the feet towards the hands and then bend your knees. Take a deep breath. Roll it up on your exhale. Bring it way up and let's arch back. Exhale. And really open up the front of the body. Reach. Bring it to the sky with an inhale. And the palms come to the heart. Okay, now we're going to step forward with the right leg, back with the left. And remember our warrior poses. We want to stay low, but we want to feel really strong here. The knee stays over your ankle. Extend your arms. Now we're going to start to bend this right elbow and go into a side stretch. Parsvakonasana. This left arm is over the ear. Don't sag into the right shoulder. Stay lifted and try to look up and twist up a little. Keep the breathing deep. Good. Slowly bring it back into a warrior 2. Straighten the right leg. Let's turn it. Starting out with a Warrior two. Again. Stay low. Feel this lower body work. Remember the knees over the ankle. Now bending your left elbow, right arm over ear. Side stretch. Try to look up and twist up. Don't sink into the left shoulder. Stay long, Doing great. Breathe deeply and slowly bring it up again into a warrior 2. Straighten the left leg. Now let's just slowly walk the feet together. And let's try going into a balancing pose. We're going to go into tree pose for Chasana. All the weight goes onto the right leg. Take your left foot. Place it on your ankle or your calf. Stay away from your knee. Stay below the knee so that you don't hurt your knee. Joint palms at the heart. Make sure that your knee goes out to the side. If you need a little assistance with this pose, you can always press your back against the wall so that you have a little bit of support. If you feel good and you want to go even further, we can take the foot way up into the upper thigh, palms at the heart. Take a deep breath. Let's start to reach to the sky and stay grounded. Keep your eyes focused, palms together. Breathe deeply and slowly. Bring your palms to the heart and release it. Great. Let's do the same thing on the other side. All the weight on the left leg. Get balance. Placing your right foot on your ankle or your calf. Stay away from your knee. Don't hook onto the knee. If you want to go further, bring your foot way up. Dig the heel hard into the upper thigh, palms at the heart. Take a deep breath. Now let's lift it and reach it and focus your eyes. Stay long. Stay tall and slow. Slowly bring it back to the heart and release. Good. Take a deep breath. Up with an inhale and exhale. Now let's try a little bit more balancing. A little more strengthening for the lower body. All the way onto the right leg. Take your time with this. Keep your eyes focused on something. Eye level. Grab a hold of your left foot. Take your left hand in front front. And try to pull the heel towards the belly. Use the strength of your arms, not your shoulders. Your biceps are working, not the neck. So pull the heel to the belly. Stay lifted. Deep breath and gently releasing. Great. Same thing. Other side. All the way onto your left leg. Get grounded. Nice and tall. Grab a hold and slowly pull the heel towards your belly. Remember, you're not using your shoulders. Stay long and soften the neck. Pull the heel towards the belly. Strong left leg. Focus your eyes. Great and gently release and take a deep breath. Up to the sky. Inhale and exhale. Palms back to the heart. Namaste.
