7 Beginner Friendly Yoga Poses to Become Flexible
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Starting a yoga practice can be so hard, and the most common roadblock I hear is “I’m not flexible enough to practice yoga!”
I am here to say, “you do not have to be flexible to practice yoga!” Rather, if you want to become flexible, you should do yoga. Louder for those in the back!
But it’s hard to do yoga when you want to be flexible and you’re just not flexible (yet!). I’ve been there. I started losing my flexibility when I started weight lifting and I was shocked and a little embarrassed. Until I started doing yoga poses every day that were geared toward increasing flexibility, which is what I’m sharing with you here!
In this blog post, I’m sharing which yoga postures you can do from the comfort of your own home to increase your flexibility. I’ll be covering:
How I lost and regained my flexibility
the 7 yoga postures to increase flexibility from home
how to turn the yoga postures into a yoga sequence
the most important pro tip to incorporate into your yoga practice
So if you’re ready to start seeing results and increasing your flexibility, you’re in the right place! Here we go!
How I lost and regained my flexibility
Flexibility had always come easily to me up until I started weight lifting. As my muscles got stronger from the weights, I realized I had started to lose my flexibility. I was tight and stiff and uninspired to practice yoga anymore.
I also realized how inconsistent I’d been in my yoga practice. I had prioritized weight lifting—which is perfectly fine—and had not made as much time for yoga.
Until one day I was so stiff and uncomfortable that I wasn’t enjoying playing with my 6 month daughter. I committed to maintaining my yoga practice and, as a byproduct, maintaining my flexibility. I decided to start small with shorter yoga practices every day.
I dusted off my 500+ hour of yoga certifications and curated a series of postures that I could do from home to increase my flexibility every day. Before I knew it I was regaining my flexibility and confidence in my yoga postures. I felt better and it even improved my weight lifting practice. I could once again move as much as playtime required.
I felt so good, so limber, so flexible! I had more energy and I felt like I had found physical and mental balance.
So here’s exactly what yoga poses I did every day to regain my flexibility.
The 7 yoga postures to increase flexibility
Here are the yoga postures and how to do them
1. Mountain pose
This pose looks like regular-old standing. And it sort of is. But this time, stand with your posture proud, shoulders back. Balance your weight evenly between all parts of both feet. Chin away from your chest. Find something to focus your gaze on. Clear your mind. Breathe deeply.
2. Half moon - both sides
Standing with your arms up and over your head so your palms are touching. Lock your elbows. Stretch up and bring your arms over to one side, pushing your hips in the opposite direction. This is a total side body stretch. Keep the bend in just the side body and don’t let your hips or shoulders collapse forward or backward. Breathe deep and do both sides.
3. Mountain pose or back bend
If you have back pain, you can do mountain pose again. If you’d like to stretch your shoulders and back, engage your abdominals and stretch your arms up and backwards. Keep the back bend in your chest as much as you can, to avoid sinking in your low back. Lift your chest up as you reach and look back.
4. Forward fold
From standing, fold forward from your hips. Bend your knees as much as you can and bring your upper body down as far as you can. I recommend bending your knees until your upper body is touching your thighs. From there grab onto something like your heels or wrap your arms behind your calves and pull against yourself. Bring your body weight into your toes. This is how to keep increasing your flexibility even if you can touch your toes with your knees locked.
5. Chaturanga - high plank to low plank
Starting in a plank position, bend your elbows to 90 degrees, keeping your elbows in close by your body. Engage your abdominals
6. Upward facing dog
From the low pushup position, keep your hips low and abdominal muscles engaged while you straighten your arms and open your chest.
7. Down ward facing dog
With your hands and feet on the ground, lift your hips up until you are making the top of a triangle with your upper and lower body. Shift your body weight around to find different stretches in your shoulders, hamstrings, and calves. Big, deep breaths.
There you go! Easy postures to do every single day.
How to turn these yoga postures into a sequence
The postures listed above only need a few adjustments to turn them into a sequence.
The first change is to repeat forward fold and mountain pose. Add them in as if they were postures 8 & 9. This means that after your downward facing dog, simply step your feet in so you’re in another forward fold. From there, stand back up into mountain pose and begin again!
The second change to make this sequence very flowy is to add breath to each posture. Coordinating each movement with breath could look something like the following:
Inhale and exhale in Mountain pose
Inhale your arms up, exhale half moon to the left. Inhale back to the center, exhale half moon to the right.
Inhale to center, exhale to forward fold. Hold forward fold for another inhale
Exhale step your feet back to high plank and lower to low plank
Inhale upward facing dog
Exhale downward facing dog — hold down dog for 3-5 breaths
inhale step your feet in to forward fold. Stay for the exhale.
Inhale mountain pose
repeat as many times as you’d like
Alternatively you can hold each post for as long as you’d like. If I want to really stop my brain from thinking, I set an interval timer to hold each posture for 30 sec. Then I don’t have to think about how long I am in each posture. I simply move then the timer tells me to.
It can be intimidating to set a goal as lofty as starting a yoga practice. A sequence like the one listed above or a course safe for beginners, like the Basic Beginner Yoga Program, can be helpful guides to solidify the habit of practicing everyday. Click here to get started with the Basic Beginner Yoga Program!
The most important pro tip you need to incorporate into your practice
Let’s keep it ridiculously short, sweet, and simple.
Be consistent.
Honestly, I have always struggled with consistency. Even as a yoga teacher, I struggle to practice yoga everyday. In the past I have struggled to practice yoga regularly at all.
I didn’t say it would be easy. But it is simple.
Conclusion
Once I settled on these yoga postures and finally found a way to be consistent, I had my flexibility back in no time. I was confident in my yoga postures again and I was excited to roll my mat out to practice! I felt limber and energizes to move the way I needed to in my day to day life. Even my weight lifting practice improved because I was taking better care of my body.
I want this for you too! If you’re ready to reconnect with your body, finally be consistent with daily movement, and become more flexible than you’ve ever been, then I urge you to get started with the Basic Beginner Yoga Program!!
If you’re not ready to purchase the beginner yoga course to increase your flexibility, you can do the sequence listed above every day for 30 days. Download my FREE Yoga Practice Habit Tracker to stay consistent and track your progress!
