The Benefits of Arriving to Yoga Class Early

Legs Up the Wall

If you’re practicing next to a wall, simply scoot all the way until your buttocks touch the wall. Place the soles of the feet on the wall and then straighten the legs. Stay here for a few breaths.

You have the option of keeping the legs together or choose to spread them apart to feel the stretch in the inner thighs.

Make circles with your ankles and flex and point the feet.

Gentle Baddha Konasana or Bound Angle Pose

You can rest in bound angle pose either lying down on the floor (supine) or seated version.

Bend the knees, point them in opposite directions, and have them as close to the ground as possible. Move the feet closer to the groin. For support, you can place blocks under the knees.

For more external rotation of the hips, slightly bend the knees and create a diamond shape with the legs. Compared to the traditional bound angle pose, the feet are farther away from the groin, but knees are still pointing towards the opposite sides.

Shoulder Flossing

Take a strap or a towel. With your hands outstretched and parallel to each other, hold the strap using both hands. The arms should be wider than shoulder width apart. Remember that the narrower the hands, the more intense the stretch will be. Inhale and lift the hands overhead and back until the shoulders fully rotate. The hands are now behind your back. If you find that you need to arch your back to get the rotation or bend the elbows, this means that you need to widen the hands.

If you’re unsure about how far apart your hands should be, you need to feel some form or resistance and tightness, but not too much that you won’t be able to do the full rotation without compromising good alignment. Engage the core as you move the strap and feel it in the shoulders.

Pause in areas where you feel tension. Keep repeating the motion and narrow the distance between the hands if you need more resistance.

You can also try moving the strap in various directions, as demonstrated by @eileendelatore.

Tutorial by @eileendelatorre

Child’s Pose with Blocks

In child’s pose, place blocks under the elbow to get an added tricep stretch. Increase the height of the blocks for more intensity. You can also press the palms together and place them on the back of the neck.

Using Blocks in Child’s Pose

Chest

Use blocks in order to open the front line of the body when the body is not yet warm.

Take a block and place it on the mid-back. The higher the block, the more intense the openness. Extend the legs straight.

Shoulder Positions:

• You can bend the elbows and have them face the sky. Let gravity take over.
• Arms can be parallel and straighten the elbows for more engaged arms. You can also squeeze a block with your hands to add more resistance.
• Grab opposite elbows and actively place the arms next to the ears.
• Extend the hands straight on the sides, with the arms forming a straight line from the right fingertips to the left. Allow the clavicles to open up to the sky.

Blocks and Heart Openers

Pectoral Muscle | Chest

Lie down on the belly with the arms outstretched, forming a letter ‘t’. The arms should be inline with the shoulder. Keeping the right hand extended, slowly shift the left leg to the right to move the body weight to the right front deltoid, opening the chest to the left. You can raise the left hand or you can use it to push the mat away from you. Repeat on the other side.

You can also do this standing (instead of lying down), against the wall. @kinoyoga has an informative video on shoulder stretches using the wall that can be incorporated before class starts.

Intense Chest Stretch

Shoulder Stretches Using the Wall