Energizing Yoga Poses

This is yoga for energy. So if you want to combat that midday slump, and you have about seven minutes, you can do these poses.

Come to the front of your mat. Feet together. Take Chair Pose. Bend the knees. Arms up alongside your ears.

Take a few breaths here. You're really strengthening the legs, stretching the back of the leg muscles.

Bringing the hands together, palms at the heart, start the Twist. Twist over to the left, taking the back of the right arm onto the front of your left leg. Breathe into the twist.

Come back into Chair Pose. Arms over head. Hands to the heart. And twist the other way, letting the left arm rest on the right leg. Take a few breaths here.

After this it moves a little quickly. So we're going to just fold forward. Forward Fold.

On the inhale, Half Lift. Now, you can jump or walk back into Plank. Lower the knees, chest into Cobra. Hands on the mat. Shoulders back.

And just press back up into Down Dog.

Take a few breaths here.

Lift up. You can either walk or lightly hop forward into a Half Lift. Exhale fold.

Inhale. Rise up. Strong legs. Inhale up. Exhale fold.

Inhale. Half Lift.

Either walk or hop back. Low Plank.

You can go into Cobra or Up Dog. Up Dog, you're stretching the chest. Exhale back to Down Dog.

Either walk or lightly hop forward. Inhale. Half Lift. Exhale. Fold.

Inhale. Rise up. The hands come down by your side.

I'm going to move into Side Angle. Left leg back. Right leg forward. Bend at the knee. And just take the right arm, bending at the elbow. Put it on the right leg. Left arm overhead.

Finding the breath. Let the arm be right by at the side of your face.

A more advanced version of this is going into the bind where you take the left arm behind the right leg. The right arm goes under the right leg and clasps the fingers.

This strengthens the spinal nerves and strengthens the chest.

Let's gently step back into Down Dog.

Doing the other side, left leg comes through. Side angle on this side.

Taking wide legged stance, arms overhead. You can clasp your palms. Let your pointer fingers touch.

We're moving into Breath of Fire. It's just a short exhale through the nose. So a sniff through the nose as you pump the belly in.

[SNIFFING]

It's a super powerful breath. It's supposed to wake up the brain.

Coming back to Plank. Lower the body to the ground for Low Plank.

Put your hands behind you and just lift the chest up. If you want you can lift the legs off the ground. This is really stretching the back, opening up the chest.

Relax. Let your forehead touch the mat. Just gently press yourself up.

And now we're preparing for Wheel Pose. It's a backbend. It's a pretty intense backbend.

If this pose is too intense, you can keep your shoulders on the floor. Keep your shoulders on the mat. And you can lift your hips.

To go into the Full Wheel pose you bring your hands onto the mat. Elbows pointing toward the sky. And first, just move to the head gently. And then fully extend the spine. That's Full Wheel pose.

Again, you can stay with the shoulders on the mat, and just lift the spine for a smaller back bend if that's appropriate for you.

Just slowly come out of Wheel. Let the head touch the ground first. Lengthen the spine.

And then hug your knees into the chest. Work out any kinks in the back. Rounding the knees. Rock and Roll the spine. You can massage the back.

And just lengthen to the floor. Always rest and relax after the poses.

Notice how you feel after yoga for energy.