OVERVIEW

If you’ve never done it before, yoga can feel intimidating. It’s easy to worry about not being flexible enough, in shape enough, or even just looking silly.

But yoga isn’t just those crazy arm-balancing, pretzel poses that are so popular on social media. It can be easy to get started and then work your way to more advanced poses.

STEPS:

1. Squat down from Tadasana with your inner feet a few inches apart. If it isn’t possible to keep your heels on the floor, support them on a thickly folded blanket. Separate your knees wider than your hips and lean the torso forward, between the inner thighs. Stretch your arms forward, then bend your elbows, place your hands on the floor and the backs of the upper arms against the shins.
2. Snuggle your inner thighs against the sides of your torso, and your shins into your armpits, and slide the upper arms down as low onto the shins as possible. Lift up onto the balls of your feet and lean forward even more, taking the weight of your torso onto the backs of the upper arms. In Bakasana you consciously attempt to contract your front torso and round your back completely. To help yourself do this, keep your tailbone as close to your heels as possible.
3. With an exhalation, lean forward even more onto the backs of your upper arms, to the point where the balls of your feet leave the floor. Now your torso and legs are balanced on the backs of your upper arms. As a beginner at this pose, you might want to stop here, perched securely on the bent arms.
4. But if you are ready to go further, squeeze the legs against the arms, press the inner hands firmly to the floor and (with an inhalation) straighten the elbows. Seen from the side the arms are angled slightly forward relative to the floor. The inner knees should be glued to the outer arms, high up near the armpits. Keep the head in a neutral position with your eyes looking at the floor, or lift the head slightly, without compressing the back of the neck, and look forward.
5. Stay in the pose anywhere from 20 seconds to 1 minute. To release, exhale and slowly lower your feet to the floor, back into a squat.

TIPS:

1. Be sure to warm up your wrists before this pose.
2. Use a strap around your upper arms to keep elbows from splaying out to the sides.
3. Practice balancing by placing a yoga block on its shortest side under your feet.
4. Place a pillow under your face if you're feeling fear around falling.

STEPS:

1. Stand upright with your feet together and parallel. Raise your arms above your head and interlock your hands. Release your index fingers and cross your thumbs.
2. Begin bending your body forward, maintaining your arm positioning.
3. Engage your core as you continue to bend into a deep fold forward, reaching toward your feet. Use your hands to hold onto your heels from behind.

TIPS:

1. Loop a strap around your foot if you can't reach it, and extend the leg at the same time.

STEPS:

1. Kneel on the floor. Step your right foot forward about a foot in front of your left knee, and rotate your right thigh outwardly. Do this by lifting the inner sole away from the floor and resting the foot on the outer heel.
2. Exhale and lean your torso forward, pressing your fingertips to the floor. Slowly slide your left knee back, straightening the knee and at the same time descending the right thigh toward the floor. Stop straightening the back knee just before you reach the limit of your stretch.
3. Now begin to push the right heel away from your torso. Because we started with a strong external rotation of the front leg, gradually turn the leg inward as it straightens to bring the kneecap toward the ceiling. As the front leg straightens, resume pressing the left knee back, and carefully descend the front of the left thigh and the back of the right leg (and the base of the pelvis) to the floor. Make sure the center of the right knee points directly up toward the ceiling.
4. Also check to see that the back leg extends straight out of the hip (and isn’t angled out to the side), and that the center of the back kneecap is pressing directly on the floor. Keep the front leg active by extending through the heel and lifting the ball of the foot toward the ceiling. Bring the hands into Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal) or stretch the arms straight up toward the ceiling.
5. Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to a minute. To come out, press your hands to the floor, turn the front leg out slightly, and slowly return the front heel and the back knee to their starting positions. Then reverse the legs and repeat for the same length of time.

TIPS:

1. Practice hip openers and hamstring lengtheners to work on the flexibility needed for splits.
2. Use a bolster or folded blanket beneath your pelvis to support you if you can't reach the floor.