Here a sequence to help you strengthen your arms and upper body.  Yoga becomes more fun, really life in general feels easier when your body feels strong and capable. It helps us to feel more “grown up” and less like a “helpless child”. Always handy when you are an adult, to feel like one!

Now if your body is injured, or weak for whatever reason, there are always things you can do to make it feel better and stronger, you have to actually do it though! the easiest simplest exercises will empower you, so if you cannot do this sequence find one you can do!

In this sequence I demonstrate :

full body stretch                                         urdhva hastasana

standing forward bend                             uttanasana

downward facing dog pose                      adho mukha svanasana

yoga push ups

plank pose

upward facing dog pose                           urdhva mukha svanasana

upward plank pose                                     purvottanasana

Enjoy :)  Esther

Hi Everyone,

For all of you who want to do yoga, but don’t know how! There’s no time like the present to start practicing , Just start…, begin with this part one. Slowly get used to some of the basic standing poses that I will go through in this part and the next few. Your body will begin to get stronger with repetition and you’ll get used to the instructions. Most important of all is to end with a few minutes of relaxation to let whatever you’ve done integrate in the body and to observe what it has done for you.

The poses I demonstrate here are:

• cat pose / marjaryasana
• cow pose / tibilasana
• mountain pose / tadasana
• standing forward bend / uttanasana
• low lunge / anjaneyasana
• downward facing dog / adho mukha svanasana
• warrior I / virabhadrasana I
• warrior II / virabhadrasana II

If you enjoyed this feel free to move to the second video in this beginners sequence here.

Esther

Yoga for Beginners – Full Series
Part 1 - Basic Standing Poses
For all of you who want to do yoga, but don’t know how! There’s no time like the present to start practicing , Just start…, begin with this part one. Slowly get used to some of the basic standing poses that I will go through in this part and the next few.

Part 2 – Standing Side Stretches
Here part 2 of the beginners series. Still focussing on standing poses! When you begin with yoga I think they are the core poses you need to learn first.

Part 3 – More Advanced Poses
The final part of the Yoga for Beginners series moves from the basic standing poses to some of the more exerting twists and stretches.

HI everyone,

Twisting is such a great thing to do, you give your organs a nice detoxing squeeze, not to mention the benefits for your spinal column and back muscles. Bring a twist into any practice you do and sometimes just focus on twisting only. Here are some of my favourite twists, Enjoy..

Esther

The poses I demonstrate in this sequence are:

standing forward bend / uttanasana

chair pose or powerful pose / utkatasana

twisted chair pose / parivrtta utkatasana

reversed side angle pose / parivrtta parsva konasana

half revolved belly pose / ardha jathara parivarttanasana

downward facing dog / adho mukha svanasana

high lunge

Adho mukha svanasana / Downward facing dog pose

Benefits:

• Strengthens the upper body, arms, shoulders, chest and legs.
• Stretches chest, shoulders.
• Stretches the whole back of the body,  ankles, calves, hamstrings, spine.
• Calms the mind.
• Overall energizes the body.
• Improves digestion.
• Relieves fatigue, backpain, headaches.

Click on Downward facing dog to learn how to perform this pose step by step.

Downward facing dog / Adho Mukha svanasana

• From plank pose, on an exhalation lift your hips and push yourself back into the down dog pose.
• Firm your hands down, palms spread, base of index finger grounded.
• Push the floor away from you
• Press upper arms towards each other, shoulder blades down along the spine, but widen the shoulders at the back.
• Front of the ribs soft. Lengthen the spine, through lengthening equally front, back, and sides of the trunk.
• Lift sitting bones, but keep the flesh of the buttocks soft and away from the lumbar.
• Feet hip width apart, firm your legs up and bring inner thighs out in the space behind you.
• Lengthen the legs, and bring heels towards the floor, without compensating in the back, keep the spine long and as straight as is possible for you.
• Ears between the arms, keep the neck long.
• To come out you exhale and lower the knees to the floor.
• You can rest with hips on heel and forehead on floor or supported by your arms.

Click on Adho Mukha Svanasana to read up about the benefits of this pose.