An Uncomplicated Life Blog: Easy To Follow At Home Yoga Flow

Monday, May 2, 2016

Easy To Follow At Home Yoga Flow

Get ready to face the day with this easy to follow at home yoga flow!

Have you ever had 10-15 minutes to get a workout in and thought, dang. That's not enough time to run, walking isn't effective enough for a measly 10 minutes, clearly I can't make it to the gym, but I'd love to do SOMETHING today! Yup, me too. I might get 10 or 15 minutes of quiet time out of both my kiddos and need to do something quick! Pull this easy to follow at home yoga flow to get your heart rate up and muscles firing and stretched out for the day!

An at-home yoga flow for all levels!

Start in child's pose. I love starting here and taking a few deep breaths. It stretches your arms, shoulders, hips and the tops of your feet. Plus there's something grounding about having your head on the ground, it really helps you focus on this moment, right now. How often do you do that in your day?! Not often enough, I bet.

Once you've taken a few deep breaths and fully felt the stretch of the pose, build some heat with Sun Salutation A. Don't know how to do Sun A? I've got it covered in this post! I also talked about how to properly do the most challenging yoga pose of all time - chatturanga. Dang that one's hard, isn't it? Make sure you're using proper form so you don't hurt yourself! Do five rounds of sun salutation A.

Ok, now you're breathing harder and getting good and warm! Move on to Sun Salutation B. Sun B goes like this:


Warrior 1 on the right side(don't know how to do warrior 1? Ive got you covered here!)
Chair pose
Chatturanga
Warrior 1 on the left side
Chatturanga
Chair pose - and repeat the cycle!

Your arms will be firing with all the chatturangas! I like to do this three times, then I like to hold my chair pose with a twist to rinse my spine and increase mobility. Spinal mobility is essential for body movement, good posture and overall good health, so make sure to add a few twists in on rounds 4 and 5 of your Sun Salutation B!

Now your arms are burnt out from chatturanga, so let's do some standing poses . After you've walked or jumped to the top of your mat from your last Sun B, move into tree pose. Your standing leg should be active (read: all muscles contracting) and you can move your arms into whatever position you're comfortable with. Take a few moments and regain your breath from all those sun salutations!

While you're still standing on the same leg, move your foot into figure 4 pose. Get low to feel the stretch in your hip and the burn in your quad. Stay here for three deep breaths. If you're an advanced yogi, move into the arm balance: flying pigeon! If you're not, still play around with it and see what happens. You never know until you try, right? So what if you fall on your face. You're at home - nobody can see you!



I find the key to this arm balance is hooking my foot firmly to the outside of my triceps. Really wrap it around there firmly and get a good grip with putting your body weight into your arm muscle. Have your arms bent in a shelf-like position to make it easier for you. Then lean forward until you're balanced on your arms. Don't be afraid of falling on your face - you don't have far to fall and will never get the balance if you don't try! If you're feeling fancy, lift your back leg up and fly.

Flying piegon arm balance
See how my foot is hooked around my triceps? That's the key to this arm balance

Do a chatturanga to clear out that side, then repeat the tree - figure 4 - arm balance on your other side.

Finally, when I'm tight for time, I like to wrap my closing pose in with a stretching pose. So I skip savasana and instead take cow face pose. This is an amazing hip stretch, and if you're an office worker, odds are good you've got tight hips! Line your knees up over one another. Flex your feet to protect your knees. If your hips are so tight that this is uncomfortable for you, sit cross legged. Close down your eyes and breath, being present in the moment  for one final time in your practice.

Boom! You've just raised your heart rate, built some muscle mass, stretched your hips, hip flexors, & shoulders, and worked on your spinal mobility - all in one easy to follow at home yoga flow! If you've got more time, do more sun salutations or hold the poses for longer - or both! Namaste.

22 comments:

  1. Dang girl that flying pigeon is serious. It makes me want to close my office door and try that right now. I love starting my mornings with a 10-15 minute workout and I think I need to add this series to my rotation especially with all the good stretching to it!

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  2. Yessss. This is exactly what I needed... Although I am nowhere strong enough to do that flying pigeon. Haha #Goals!

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  3. FLYING PIGEON!!!!!!! Dang Paige, look at you, you little yogi rockstar. I love all the explanations and visuals you put into this post - it must have taken you a while, but it's worth it.

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    1. I don't know why it says I'm Unknown.
      xoxo,
      Lindsay

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Paige, this is so awesome! I am with Lindsay--this must have taken forever but it is amazing! Every time I am feeling a little tight and sore I try to squeeze in a few minutes of yoga stretches. Bowie calls it "mommy exercising" and I feel so much more relaxed and calm. I am going to have to write these down so I can remember the flow. When we lived in Chicago I got to do a full class four to five times a week but now I haven't gone to an actual class in over a year :( So I am a bit out of the swing of things and need more guidance. What I would give for a yoga studio that took kids AND had convenient classes! Why don't they have studios with daycare for yoga like barre? Ok, we need to get on that!

    xo
    Annie

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  5. holy crap! You are one flexible momma! I did yoga with adriene's 30 day yoga and loved it. I am now going to get back into yoga and will actually use your guide since i'll be in and out of hotel rooms quite a bit. I've heard yoga is great for frequent flyers. Also, SUPER impressed with your photo skills here, did you use a tripod?!

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  6. Nice flow! I really need to try this out tomorrow1

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  7. That flying pigeon post is INSANE. I think I'd end up in the ER if I tried that, haha.

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  8. Lovely. Thank good nees for my yoga practice! Whether at the studio or a home practice it's the best part of my day!

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  9. You make it look so easy. I really want to give yoga a try. I have been putting it off for a long time. This post is what I needed. Thanks.

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  10. You make this looks so easy. I love doing yoga at home, but I can only imagine how silly I must look. Ha!

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  11. This is PERFECT & exactly what I need to start doing at home!

    - Nicole @ www.WorkWearWander.com

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  12. dang you go with the flying pigeon girl! is this the post where you hurt your back? lol. hope it is all better now!

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  13. I'm such a yoga novice. I've never even heard of a flying pigeon, haha! I have been doing some yoga these last few weeks, with my stretching, and I'll keep doing it during my morning workouts starting next week. Will definitely keep this handy.

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  14. I am going to try this out next week starting Sunday! I took an intense yoga class Sunday and realized just how much I really do not know about yoga!

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  15. You go girl! You are amazing!! If doing yoga will give me that kind of strength I'm in!

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  16. I've always wanted to try yoga - you make it look so easy!

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  17. The flying pigeon is amazingly beautiful and intimidating! I can't wait to try most of these--probably won't achieve that one though :)

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  18. Thanks for these! I'm trying to get back into yoga and this is really helpful!

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