Post Workout Yoga Flow A

Okay, let's get into a quick post workout yoga stretch that will be phenomenal for making sure that you maintain pliability and flexibility, which are two completely different things, but very necessary. One caveat that I want to give is you want to find that line between exertion and being able to fill me intensely. Intensity of the pose so you can tell that it's working in the sense of your body's connecting with the pose. But don't push prior to workouts is your time for what we call dynamic stretches or postures.

Those are postures that you get into, but there's more movement involved in them. Post workout. When the muscles are warm is when you want to focus more on static workouts or static poses and stretches so that you're holding the pose and elongating it. One of the biggest ways that individuals end up having muscles, tendons and ligaments that pop is they do not spend adequate time releasing the tension in the body after a workout. So consider incorporating this after anything that you do. The first thing that we're going to do is consider what you might need.

You can do this anywhere. Use what you have. If you don't have anything but time and space, use that if you're at home. A mat is great. A non slip surface blocks, a band, a bolster, whatever is possible. Okay, so let's start with forward fold. You want to make sure both feet are hip distance apart, feet are flat. You should be able to curl your toes and bring them up and down, which is actually great. Flatten them there to ground yourself. And we're moving into forward fold coming all the way down.

I love tracing the front of the body. This is a great place to grab blocks and just bring the floor to you. You also want to make sure that your head is down. Allow that head to hang, which is going to help release the tension in the back of the body. Bend the elbows. Keep a micro bend in the knee. Inhale, exhale. Bring your heart closer to your thighs, to your quads. You might change the position of your blocks to where they're horizontal, or your hands or fingertips may be down in the mat. Decide what's best for your body.

But we really want to allow all of that release to come. We're going to turn sideways in the back of the legs and try not to judge how far down your body goes. Go as far as you can go. Again, let that head release. But I stay here. Move your blocks for just a moment. Working on a quad stretch. So coming up almost into halfway, lift as a matter of fact, since we're already there, let's go ahead and do this. Notice that my back is parallel to the mat. My hands are below the knees. So your hands might be here on your thighs, they might be on your shins.

You don't ever want to put your hands on your knees and hyperextend your knees. We always want to keep a micro bend in the knees. But stay here for a moment. You should feel this down the back of the calf, behind the knee, which is a super important area. And specifically in the hamstrings. If you have tight hamstrings, this is great for you. And feel like someone is pulling your hips back towards the opposite wall. And then to bring in the quad, I want you to take your left foot forward on your heel, reach down with your left hand and pull the base of your toe, the heel of your toes towards you and hold.

Keep that micro bend in the knee. Right hand can rest on your right thigh. Hamstrings and quads here and release and switch. Left foot comes back, right foot comes forward on the heel. Bring your hand, the palm of your hand is going to go on the ball of your right foot, left hand on left thigh and pull up and hold and smile. Such a gift to be able to do these movements that we don't realize. And then release slowly. Coming up. Maybe take one big tall stretch forward and hands back down. We're going to move to wide leg forward fold.

So, opening up your feet a little bit more than hip distance apart. Again, you want to go far enough that you will feel a release, but not so far that you hurt yourself. Now, your feet can either be planted straight or out to the side, depending upon what part of the body you want to support. More slowly coming down again. You can grab your blocks again here. Coming all the way down. Micro bend in both legs, bend the elbows, let the head hang down and hold. Be patient, letting that release come in.

Breath is so important here. When you're in a pose and you breathe. There's a type of breathing called ujjayi breathing in yoga specifically, that's in through the nose and out through the mouth of the mouth, closely closed, where the air stays contained. That's like filtering air back into your body that helps lubricate your joints. Now, from here, and this is not something that everyone may be able to do, your elbows are going to kind of come in between your knees and you're slowly bending down.

It's almost like doing malasana. And you're coming down just as far as you can and then back up. Modification would be bringing your blocks horizontally. Come down maybe only halfway, it's still effective and back up. But if you can go deeper, then I want you down. Holding for a few seconds here and then releasing back down. Blocks can come in front of you, leaning over towards your right all the way to the side. That's important. You're getting an entire side body stretch all the way down and then walk over.

1234 that walk over is important. Hold here. And we're going to stay on the right here. Lower your heart towards your chest a little bit. Micro bend in the legs. Last time on the other side, all the way over. And then while you're here, I want you to grab your blocks. You're going to need them, so bring them in front of you. You're going to turn your right foot about 45 degrees. And that brings us into Trika Casana trikasana tongue tied or triangle pose. My hands are down on my ankle. Yours might be on a block horizontally or vertically.

The goal is to stack your hands in alignment. Keep a micro bend here. This is one of my favorites. I love that stretch. Is so good and phenomenal. If you have a death straw. All right, bring that hand down. We're going to walk our way over to the opposite side. So right foot straightens, left foot comes at an angle. Decide if you need a block or want a block. Beautiful job. Excellent job. And the more you take the palm of your hand and bring it back behind you, the more you're going to open up your heart and get that side body stretch and then bring both hands down.

Coming back through middle. Continue to come up slowly using the strength of your quads. Make any adjustments that you need to. While we're here, we're not going to ignore the upper body. Bring your left hand forward and bring your fingers slightly back again. Find that balance between exertion. You can bring your legs in a little bit if you need to. And then opposite hand. And then work our way down to the floor. Slowly coming down. I actually want you to take your left leg is going to be bent, right leg is going to come out, and then you're going to reach up and over again.

Hands can be on a block or down. Phenomenal posture here, elongating the body. This prevents our tendons, our ligaments and our muscles from becoming short and tight. Short and tight muscles are not flexible and they tear and they rip easily. We want to keep them fluid. And then opposite side, just bring that down one more time. Then we'll move to the opposite side and then up and over. Reach a little further. Almost feel like somebody is pulling that arm and back. Then let's switch legs. Bring your block with you as needed.

Right leg is bent. Left leg is out over my mat. Just always making sure that I'm on a non slip surface. Also make sure that this knee stays in alignment with the hip. And then coming over, reaching side body reach. Feel that release. Elbow comes down. And then one more time. This is also excellent for the growing and release. Coming into whatever position feels great for you here. And you did it. You made it through. Enjoy. Take care of your body. And most importantly, have a phenomenal day. Bye.