30 Minute Full Body Yoga for Flexibility & Strength is one of Sara Beth‘s more strenuous yoga practices. It is all mat based, so no there are no standing poses, but Sara still works you well. Before doing this practice I warmed up with a vigorous rebounder cardio workout so I was sweating when I came to it. It took me longer than expected to cool down because this practice continued making me work. But I did cool down completely in the course of the practice, so it wasn’t intense. Sara has you hold some rather strenuous (for me) poses for a while. But this practice also felt very good. I feel like some of my muscles/joints are getting tighter and less flexible. I am not sure what to attribute that to; age? All of the strength work I do? Or am I just not practicing flexibility and mobility enough? I don’t know, but I did feel some of these poses very deeply, especially holding them as long as you do.
30 Minute Full Body Yoga for Flexibility & Strength is 30:34 minutes; it’s actually 29 minutes but the last minute is Sara talking about one of her other routines. Equipment: fitness mat.
- Child’s pose
- Thread the needle
- Start in child’s pose, clasp hands behind back and reach them toward ceiling
- Cat/cow
- Still on all 4s, raise one leg behind you with knee bent, hold foot with opposite hand, pulling leg upward
- Bird dog pose; bring elbow and knee together under body, rounding back then extend them both out into bird dog again
- Repeat #5 & 6 on other side of body
- Puppy dog pose
- Lay on stomach with hands on mat under shoulders, lift chest and hands off mat and hold
- Child’s pose
- Down dog twist (in down dog, reach one hand to opposite ankle and hold)
- Puppy dog pose; clasp hands and bring hands behind head to neck
- Cobra
- Belly savasana (lay on stomach, head turned to side)
- Still laying on stomach, lay one arm on floor beside you in cactus/goal post, roll your body onto side toward arm in goal post (if you can go deeper, bend top leg and place on floor behind other leg and bring top arm behind back)
- Bow pose
- Child’s pose; reach arms to one side
- Seated forward fold
- Lay on back, knees bent and feet close to glutes, raise hips into bridge pose
- Supine butterfly pose (lay on back, knees bent, soles of feet together and knees open wide)
- Wheel pose
- Lay on back with knees bent and pulled into chest
- Still on back, pull one knee into chest, other leg is extended straight on mat
- Lying spinal twist
- Repeat #23 & 24 on other side of body
- Savasana for 3 minutes (lay on back with eyes closed, relaxing)
- Sit cross-leg with eyes closed and hands on heart
For more info on SaraBethYoga and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
