Hey Ladies, are you looking to add a little “junk in your trunk?” Or maybe you want to firm up/lift that booty! Well look no further, here are 5 yoga poses you can do daily to add a little oomph to your tush and achieve that ultimate “Yoga Butt” everyone wants! 1. “Balancing Table” or Opposite arms/leg—works the butt, back, and abs How to: starting on your hands and knees, shoulder width and hip width apart respectively, lift your right arm out in front of you and your left leg straight behind you. Pull your belly in towards your spine and lift your arm and leg higher as you inhale. Hold for 5 breaths. Exhale as you lower your arm and leg, then switch sides. 2. Three-legged down dog—works butt, arms, and abs How to: from table position, lift your knees and straighten your legs. Hold Down-Dog for a few breaths and walk out any tightness (especially if it’s your first Down-Dog of the day). Press your hands and left foot into the mat and lift your right foot into the air. Make sure your leg is straight and as high as it’s able to go. Hold here for 5 breaths. Slowly lower your leg on an exhale. Repeat with the left foot on your next inhale. 3. High Lunge—works the butt, quads, and hamstrings How to: from down-dog, step your right foot between your hands and lift up into a lunge, with your back leg straight and your front leg bent. Stretch your hands overhead and pull your belly into your spine. Hold for 5 breaths. Return your hands to the floor and switch legs. 4. Twisted lunge—works butt, legs, shoulders, abs, and back How to: from lunge position, bring hands in front of chest, palms pressed together. Twist torso to the right, placing the left elbow to the outside of the right knee, lifting the chest and squaring the shoulders. Hold for 5 breaths and repeat on the other side. 5. Bridge pose—works your butt and abs How to: lying on your back, bend your knees, with your feet on the ground hip-width apart. Place your arms on either side of your body stretching towards your feet. Pressing into your feet into the ground, lift your hips on an inhale, interlacing your hands together underneath you. If you can, bring your shoulders closer together, and hold for 5 breaths. If you feel you can come any further, on an inhale, lift your right leg towards the ceiling for 5 more breaths. Lower, and repeat with the other leg. Once you have completed whatever variation feels good for you, on an exhale, slowly come back down on to your mat, one vertebra at a time. |
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1) Opens those HIP + GROIN Muscles... for all sorts of other playful activity ;)
2) Opens Hip Rotator Muscles; great for people you tend to sit at work all day. 3) Helps ease chronic low back pain (which I can personally attest to) 4) Helps balance your core and open chest in advanced variations (as shown) 5) Calms the mind- thank GOD! Bonus reason: It's a DAMN good release. Physically and Emotionally. Pigeon gets you into that perfect place of hurting so GOOD. So Pigeon up + Feel Good. I LOVE this pose even though it can cause me MUCH discomfort.
Even as a yoga instructor I have my own personal challenges and my hips are quite tight. Relentlessly so that even after a wicked hip opener workshop with Nicki Doane of Maya Yoga (she is phenomenal) that left me so open I was walking different for a week, yet my tight ass hips they still managed to tighten back up! Awesome benefits of this Pose:
Challenge: Try this pose everyday for the month of August! Child's Pose is such a Wicked Pose.
I used to love it as a "resting" pose in between a hectic strength challenging flow, but now I just straight up love it to hang out in whenever, wherever. It chills me out, clears my mind, slows down my breath and does gently stretching for most all areas I need it. #1. Gently Stretches Hips, Ankles + Thighs. #2. Stretches Back ; Can Relieve Neck and Back Pain when properly supported in this pose. #3. Clears and Calms the Mind; Grounding Effect. #4. Relieve Stress #5. Fight Fatigue 1 minute drills of each exercise DAILY:
Had an amazing class come out of me tonight so I thought I would share it with you all.
It's a pretty standard flow but it just felt so good! Starting in Savasana: 5 minutes to settle in your savasana, relax, let go of the days stresses Do a mental scan of the physical body- a check in to see how you are feeling. Are there any aches, pain or discomfort? Taking this time to connect with the body and see what's up. Begin now to connect with the breath: Starting with gentle inhales and exhales through the nose, feeling the belly rise and fall, making each next breath a little deeper, a little longer than the last. Once you have set a flow to your breath, continue for 10 deep breaths at your own pace. Warming up the Body Transition: Gently begin to bring awareness back into the body- wiggling the toes, fingers, gently rolling the head from side to side. Whenever you feel ready, on a inhale bring a bend to the knees, soles of feet on the mat. On your exhale begin to open the knees away from each other, push the soles of feet together as the legs drop to the sides settling into reclined butterfly. Arms can come out to sides or even rest on the floor over head to begin to open the chest and shoulders. Continue to breath here. When you feel ready, on an inhale begin to bring the knees back together, soles of feet on mat, and on your exhale begin to bring the knees into the chest, wrapping the arms around the legs giving yourself a big hug. Rock or roll out any tension here; massage the back. Eventually rolling up onto your sit bones and transitioning into table top: completing a few cats/cows at your own pace, warming up the spine, preparing for practice. Here comes the Flow: On your exhale begin to tuck the toes in under, lift the hips and push back into your down dog. AHHHH, walk it out, stretch it out, feel that oh so awesome down dawg feelin. Inhale to plank, exhale chaturanga, inhale up dog, exhale down dog. Step or jump your feet to the top of the mat, inhale to a flat back, exhale into a forward fold, and inhale all the way to stand arms stretch over head, palms come together in prayer and exhale to the heart. Continue to flow ~ adding in: 1st flow: Step back with low lunge- Hold for 5 breaths. 2nd flow: Step back with low lunge , then using core, inhale arms and torso up into a high lunge 3rd Flow: Low lunge, High Lunge, then on an inhale bring palms together in prayer and exhale the opposite elbow to the front bent knee- into prayer twist 4th Flow: Low lunge, high lunge, prayer twist, inhale release the twist lengthening arms over head clasping palms together and exhale push the bent knee forward, lifting chest to the sky settling into cresent lunge. 5th Flow: Low Lunge, High Lunge, Lunge with Prayer Twist, Cresent Lunge, release the opposite arm to the bent knee bringing the hand to the mat (reaching the other arm to the sky), begin to lift the lengthened leg off the mat into a lunge- settling into revolved intense side angle pose. After you've completed the 5th flow sequence on both sides and have landed in down dog, rest here. Return your focus to your breath. Inhale the left leg to the sky- hips squared, toes facing down. Bring the gaze forward to your hands and with caution begin to move the left hand to the right side, so the thumbs of both hands are touching. Exhale bend the knee of the lifted leg, sweep forward across chest and plant the left foot on the mat next to the hands. Settle into Lizard pose. Inhale begin to lengthen the torso and arms lifting over head come to stand. Simultaneously lengthening the front leg. Adjust so hips are square to the front and begin to transition into pyramid pose. Bring a bend back to the front knee, lower torso down, step back into down dog. Repeat on other side. Finishing with pigeon and king pigeon, one armed camel on each side, seated forward fold and breathing meditation. Confusing to do from written instructions? lol- probably very much so. Video to follow once I muster up the courage to go on camera ;) Lots of Yoga Love, AAxo Photo Credit: yatrayoga.co 8 Minute Warm up Run. Jogging at a comfortable pace outside on flat terrain, few slight inclines, large downhill portion. Photo Credit: Cacha.com 50 Squat Cross Crunches. Photo Credit: Shape.com 100 Bicycle Crunches. Photo Credit: Sassyfitgirl.com 15 Froggie Jumps. Photo Credit: theweddingmile.com 30 Second Plank Hold. Photo Credit: fitsugar.com Kneeling Cross Crunch. (1 minute each side) Photo Credit: Shape.com 30 Second Mountain Climber. Photo Credit: newhealthguide.org Fire Hydrant. (1 minute each side) Photo Credit: fashionpaths.com 5 Minute Run. Moderate to fast pace. Mixed inclines, one large incline. Photo Credit: dailyhiit.com Step Ups. (One minute each side; switching leading leg) Photo Credit: sassyfitgirl.com 1 Minute Alternating Plank. (Continuously rotating from Forearm to Hands, switching lead hand at 30 seconds) Photo Credit: womenshealthmag.com Repeat Entire Routine for full hour Bootcamp.
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