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.

MOUNTAIN POSE(TADASANA)




STEPS:

  1. Stand with your big toes barely touching, and your heels slightly apart. A good way to gauge your stance is to see if your second toes are parallel.
  2. Press into all four corners of your feet: big toe, little toe, right side heel, left side heel. As you push into your feet, feel how that engages your entire leg and keeps those muscles active.
  3. Take a deep breath and roll your shoulders up and back, releasing them down, so your shoulder blades are resting toward each other and your neck is long.
  4. Take a few deep breaths here. Close your eyes if you like.



FORWARD POSE(UTTANASANA)




STEPS:

  1. On your inhale, lift your arms to the sides and up, over your head.
  2. On your exhale, release your arms (either in front of your body or out to the side, like a swan dive) as you fold your torso over your legs. On the first time through, have at least a slight bend in your knees. No matter how flexible you are, your hamstrings will be cold when starting out, and you’ll want to be gentle with them.
  3. As you relax into the pose more, begin to straighten your legs as far as feels good. Anything that pinches or is a shooting pain should immediately stop your movement. Let gravity do the work here — don’t pull yourself down and try to force the fold.
  4. You can put your hands on your shins, your feet, or the floor. This passively lengthens your spine and your hamstrings, and it’s also a great way to work on balance.



DOWNWARD-FACING DOG (ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA)




STEPS:

  1. Push into your hands and lift your hips up and back on the inhale. One thing that can be tricky with this pose is, again, keeping your shoulders engaged but not working too hard, and keeping a neutral spine.
  2. Your legs should be straight, and your heels working toward the floor. There will probably be some space between your heels and the floor. You could be very flexible, but if your legs are a bit on the long side, you probably won’t have your heels all the way to the floor. That’s fine. Keep your legs active and heels reaching toward the ground.
  3. Your first time in this pose, pedal out your feet a little to warm up your leg muscles.