Simple Yoga Exercises

If you were playing a game of word association and heard the word “yoga,” what would be the first thing that popped into your head? A lot of people would say “pretzel” or “hard,” but yoga can actually be quite simple. If you got out of bed and stretched your arms up this morning, you already did a yoga pose. Yoga introduces a mindfulness to stretching, so that you pay attention to your alignment and how the position really feels in your body. A lot of basic yoga positions can feel very familiar, even if it’s been a few years since your last P.E. class. Here is a sequence of ten poses that look simple but will stretch and strengthen your major muscle groups.

1. Mountain Pose – Tadasana

Just because these poses are simple doesn’t mean that they are going to be easy. Bringing new awareness to a position you think your know can actually be very challenging. Take mountain pose, which may look like just standing around. In a yoga context, however, there is a lot going on in this position. The heels root down, the muscles of the legs are engaged, the bones are stacked with the shoulders directly over the hips, the shoulder blades slide down the back, and the crown of the head rises. Don’t forget to breath!

2. Raised Arms Pose – Urdhva Hastansana

Inhale and bring your arms up and over your head. This is your basic morning stretch, but you are focusing on keeping the good alignment you established in mountain pose, particularly staying grounded in the heels and keeping your shoulders moving away from your ears at the same time that you reach up through your fingertips. Your gaze can come up to the hands, which can be shoulder’s width apart or palms touching.

3. Standing Forward Bend – Uttanasana

Exhale and fold over your legs into a forward bend. If the hamstrings feel a little tight at first, bend the knees so that you can release your spine. Let the head hang heavy. Slowly straighten the legs if you like but keep the head hanging. The feet can be touching or hip’s distance apart, whichever feels better.

4. Garland Pose – Malasana

5. Lunge Pose

Straighten your legs and move your feet back under your hip before stepping your left leg to the back of your mat and bending your right knee for a deep lunge. Try to bring your bent knee directly over your ankle so your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Keep the left leg straight and strong with your heel reaching back. If this is too intense, you can drop your left knee to the mat instead. Stay five breaths before returning the left foot to the front of your mat next to the right one. Then repeat the lunge with the left foot forward and the right leg back.

6. Plank Pose

7. Staff Pose

8. Seated Forward Bend – Paschimottanasana

On an exhalation, bring your torso over your legs in a forward bend. Your hamstrings should be warmer now than when you did your standing forward bend earlier. Work with your breath, lengthening the spine on each inhale and deepening your forward fold on each exhale. Stay for five breaths, keeping the feet flexed.

9. Head to Knee Pose – Janu Sirsasana

Come back up to sit and bend your left leg, bringing the sole of the left foot inside your right thigh. Use the same technique described above to deepen the pose using your breath. After five breaths, sit up and switch legs.

10. Happy Baby Pose – Ananda Balasana