A little while ago, I shared a time lapse of my at home practice. And got an overwhelming response that you all wanted me to share it. It is a true intermediate practice which challenges your full body.
These 7 poses include hip openers, core strengthening, backbends, and twists.
- Warm Up – Stand at the top of your mat. Inhale the hands over head. Grab your right wrist with the left hand. Crescent over to the left for a big side body stretch. Inhale back to center. Switch grip and take to the other side. Lower the hands, interlace the fingers behind you, bend the elbows and squeeze shoulders back. Widen the feet, bend the knees, then tilt forward over the legs. Reach the knuckles up and over.
2. Side Plank – Bring the hands down to the mat, step the feet back into plank. Lean onto the right hand. Drop both heels down to the right. Extend your left arm up and over. Push into the feet to lift the hips even higher. Circle the left hand down and switch sides.
3. Locust – Lower down to the belly. Reach your arms back at your sides, palms facing down. Press the pubic bone down, lengthen the tail towards the feet. Inhale, pick up everything (feet, legs, shoulders, chest, hands, and arms). Keep the back of the neck long. You should be able to take full deep breaths here. After several breaths, release down, press back to child’s pose.
4. Belly Butterfly – In child’s pose, bring the big toes together and take your knees as wide as you can. Ease forward on to the belly. Keep the knees wide and the soles together. Try to relax the legs here. Holding for several breaths.
5.Thread the Needle Variation – Come up to table top. Reach the right arm up to the sky. Exhale, thread it through underneath you. Lowering the shoulder and ear to the floor. To take this further, straighten the left leg back behind you. Maybe lift the left leg up off the floor, keeping the left thigh wrapping down. Return to table top, then take it on the other side.
6. Standing Flow – Start in downward dog. Step the right foot to the top of the mat. Push into the feet and lift up to high lunge. Keeping the right toes tucked and heel lifted. Bring the hands together at the heart. Turn to the right, hooking the left elbow over the thigh. Pushing into the hands so as not to collapse. Lift up off the front leg. Staying in a twist as you open the arms out. Reverse, bringing right hand down and left hand up.
Take a flow, then repeat 6 through on the other side.
7. Camel Pose – Lift up to kneeling, with the hips over the knees. Emphasize, lengthening the tailbone down, drawing the belly in. Bring the hands to the low back, fingers pointing down, Squeeze the elbows together. Press your hips forward and lean back. Maybe reaching for the feet.
These poses are just a portion of the 30 minute intermediate vinyasa flow I shared. Want to practice the whole thing? Check it out below.
Namaste,
Kassandra
