yoga stretches for beginners

hey everyone. welcome to yoga with adrian.i am adrian. and today we have a sequence for the lower back. this is something thatyou requested and i think it's awesome and really dear to me because i very much believein the healing power of yoga -- practice, keyword, practice. so i encourage you -- inviteyou to try this video more than once. and embrace the repetition. you might favor thevideo or click the ad to tab below so you can find it more easily. but this is somethingthat i think if you practice regularly, will really provide you some yummy benefits, andhopefully get you living pain free, in the back. so let's check it out. shall we? hopon the map and let's learn yoga for lower back pain.

alright my friends, we're going to start flaton our backs today. using the support of the earth to tend to the lower back. i just loveall poses on the back because it reminds me that we are supported. so, if you want togo there with me. if you want to go -- oh nevermind, can't sing that -- explicit lyrics.if you want to go there with me you can just kind of take a deep breath in and alreadyjust feel relief from the idea that we are supported -- by the mat, by the earth, bythis moment. feel like a little bit of consciousness goes a long way. so, take a deep breath in. long exhale out.then slowly we're going to wrap the arms around the shins. might interlace the fingertipshere. and nice and slow, let the knees come

in towards the heart. so if the lower backis already starting to talk to you, you have a couple options. palms can come to the knees.this is great. or again, we can interlace. now rather than hardcore squeezing, just breathehere, relax the shoulders down. let the weight of the elbows drop. and we have two options.we're gonna rock a little side to side, just kind of massaging the lower back. not squeezinglike i do normally in hatha yoga, but just kind of letting the space be. so i have anoption here, or i have the option to draw circles with the palms. so just take a secondhere on your own, because everyone's different -- so hard to do yoga for this and yoga forthat, because everyone's different -- everyones's experiencing different sensations. so justtry to honor that and i'll encourage you to

listen to your body, be gentle, and of course,modify up, modify down as needed. so what we're doing is drawing circles withthe palms on the knees one way and in the other. or, we're fingertips interlaced, goingleft to right. might even linger on one side if that feels good. and then close your eyes.look away from the video, and just take a second to feel both these things out. to checkin with the lower back. make sure you're breathing deep. awesome. then when you feel satisfied, slowly overlacethe soles of the feet to the mat. and we'll inhale, reach the fingertips all the way upand overhead. nice and easy. we're gonna just rock the pelvis here. so, i'm gonna rock thepelvis so that the lower back becomes kind

of a rainbow over my mat. if i wanted i couldslip my hand underneath, there. and then i'm just gonna rock the pelvis here. get sassy.so nice and easy we can bend the elbows as i tuck the pelvis. and then exhale, tailbonedown. navel stretches long, belly stretches long. and then we switch. doesn't even matter what you're inhaling onand what you're exhaling on. just breathe deep. and i'm sure this is gonna look greaton the video. but we're just kind of coming into, almost a little sensual pelvic rockhere. but it's awesome because we're massaging the top of the buttocks here. and we're justloosening up, finding a little soothing movement for that lower back. staying grounded to thesoles of the feet. just do a couple more,

stretching the belly long, as the lower backlifts up. and then maybe drawing the navel down as we lenghten into the tailbone, lowerback flush with the mat. do a couple more on your own. like a baby bridge, baby setubandhasana experience. cool. when you feel satisfied with that -- i gota little zen'd out there out there -- when you feel satisfied, we're gonna lift the kneesback up, and we're gonna cross the ankles, and we have an option here. if you're reallytending to lower back relief, skip this, rock to one side and come sit up. if your lowerback feels tight, and you feel like this might be good, join me in a little rock-n-roll up.so i'm gonna grab the outer edges of the feet and begin to rock a little, front to back.if it feels like that's yummy, do it a couple

of times, massaging the spine -- rememberit's all connected. if this is a great way to just kind of relieve tension, then stretchand soothe the spine. now if you're a little more sensitive today, again, we're all differentapproaching this different, then just skip that move and come to cross-legged position,which is where we will all meet. i have a blanket here, conveniently. i'm gonnalift my hips up on. you can use a towel or blanket, or nothing at all. as we come tocross-legged, and bring the palms to the knees here. nice and easy-breezy, we inhale, pressthe palms into the knees. extend through the crown of the head. lift your heart, just open.then on an exhale, chin-to-chest, navel draws back towards the spine. we come into whati call mr. burns pose here, rounding forward.

breathe, breathe into the back. and then inhale,extend, tagging a little weight in the elbows here. open the chest, the heart, and exhale.same thing, chin-to-chest, rounding forward. go ahead and catch the weight in the palms.and take a couple breaths here. stretching the skin of the back. the breath can be sohealing. so take some nice, long, smooth, deep breaths here. and then slowly we'll rockall the way back up, and come to all fours. nice and slow, take it easy, honor the body,enjoy this practice, this time. so we're gonna come to all fours. if you wantyou can sneak in a gentle cat cow here. then we're gonna take the right leg and lift itgently all the way up into a lunge. now again, if the lower back is tight, breathe deep.if the lower back is tweaking, you might,

save this. i mean i just don't want anyonewith lower back pain to do anything that they don't want to do. so just listen to your body,and breathe. i'm going to heel-toe, heel-toe my right my foot out a little bit wider thani would normally in a runners lunge. you might even turn the right toes out slightly. andwe're gonna bring both palms in towards the centerline. now, i'm gonna curl my left toes under, walkmy left knee back, and slowly sink into the hip. so what i'm doing is -- this might seema little counter-intuitive. but i'm streching the front of that left hip-crease. the psoashere that wraps, literally from here to here which often causes some crabby, crab crapin the lower back. so we're finding a nice

opening in the front of that hip-crease. wehave the palms here to support us. if you want, if you have a block, or a book, andthis is just too much for you, you can lift the earth up to you, baby. yeah. four fingertipsis always good. now breathe. finding what feels good, againwe're focusing on deep breathes. and opening the front of that left hip-crease, the psoas.if, feels right, you might lift that knee for a pulse or two. but if we're super-tightthen that might not be an option. and you might stay up nice and lifted. couple morebreaths here. smile. relax the skin in the face. we got this. then to come out we'llcome on to the fingertips. send the sit bones back for a little stability as we walk thatright heel in. and then we're just gonna take

it for a nice little counter-pose here. rightheel stays in the earth, as we relax the weight of the head over. pulling the right hip-creaseback. this doesn't have to be a deep stretch guys. in fact, if we're tending the lowerback we should keep it nice and spacious, nice and easy. so one breath here with theweight of the head over. remember it's all connected. cool. then we'll rock back onto that right foot.come to all fours. and nice and easy, gingerly switch to the other side. cool. so then theheel-toe, heel-toe the left foot out now. both palms come in towards the center line.take it nice and slow, fine integrity. and then i will curl the right toes under, walkthat right knee back. and check out, what

it's like on the other side. so again, i'mfocusing on the psoas muscle or we can just kind of bring your awareness to the frontof that right hip-crease. stretching it nice and long. using the breath, to breathe, youmight lift that back knee. again, as we said before we might lift the earth to us. if it'sreally tight that might be why your lower back is hurting. so, opening up through thefront body a little bit to provide relief, in space, for the lower back. ding.one morenice, long, smooth, deep breath here. and then we come out. nice and easy lifting the sit bones back.walk the left heel in towards the centerline, and release over again. we're not sinkingall the way back. this isn't power yoga. we're

just checking in. so keep a nice spaciousvibe going on here. weight of the head comes over. we breathe. and then we roll throughthe left foot. we use the fingertips for stability. and this time we're gonna step that rightfoot all the way up to the left for a forward fold. now, rule of the game here is please, please,please my friends keep your knees bent. bend those knees, keep them soft. they can be super-bentgenerously. then i'm gonna take my hands to the belly, draw the belly in just slightly.and let the weight of the head hang over gently. oh yeah baby. release the fingertips. if youhave a block you can kind of rest it here, or a book. this is not about the palms touchingthe earth. they can go whereever they need.

this is about feeling grounded through thesoles of the feet, and then finding spaciousness in the lower back. so we breathe here. weuse the exhale to let go. we find a little weight in the sit bones, and we use that inhaleto maybe really feel expansion in the lower back. the exhale to ground down, find stability.can grab the elbows here if you like. let's take one more nice long deep breath in, andthen we let it all go. to come out of this forward fold today, werelease the palms or the fingertips to the mat, by bending the knees generously. andthen slowly, nothing fancy here, come back to all fours. cool. cross the ankles, niceand easy, we walk it back through. texas. and come back to the back for our final posturefor the lower back.

yea. hug the knees into the chest. feel thatspace. yeah. starting to feel better. starting to feel good. and then we'll send the fingertipsleft to right. you know i like to call this texas t. and we'll scoop the tailbone up,draw the knees up towards the heart, and then this is not about forcing. this is about,again, gentle, finding ease, creating space in the lower back. so i'll gently melt theknees towards the right side. and rather than keeping the knees practically hugging up towardsthe heart like we normally do, give yourselves a little more space. so again, rather thandrawing the knees all the way up here, i'm letting myself have a little more spaciousness,a little more, just space. so i breathe here. i can take that left palm, of course, guideit a little deeper into the posture. i'm breathing

now again, into that psoas lower back, outeredge of the hip. yummy. so i'm encouraging us to start here as a wayof just again, moving with ease but you can, of course, hug the knees up and play withanything in between. couple more breaths here, you might turn to rock onto the right ear.then on an exhale, nice and easy-breezy. melt it back through center. itch your nose ifyou have an itch, and then send it to the other side. here we go. again, i'm giving myself a little more spaceusing the right palm to guide and get a little deeper. i'm not anchoring anything. i'm justkind of letting gravity do its job. nice, long, smooth, deep breaths. turn it onto theleft ear if that feels good. softening through

the face, and again, we breathe. cool. gently, making your way back to center, youcan end with a nice flat back full-on body stretch. or, so ask yourself what feels better.open, or we'll turn over onto our bellies and come into a child's pose. belly comesto the top of the thighs as we release here. this is so great for lower back. you can dothis in your bed. find a little gentle rock. if you need even more space you can bringthe knees out here with the part and hang out here. sometimes even fingertips between.nice. and you wonder why they call this the child's pose? hmm? so, i say find a nice yummyplace to end for you here now, and enjoy.