Yoga for Beginners: 10 Essential Exercises to Do at Home

For many beginners, when faced with hundreds or thousands of yoga poses, they don't know where to start, how to practice, and how effective the poses are. It feels overwhelming and confusing.

7 essential yoga poses for beginners

In the past few days, we've highlighted essential standing poses. Today, we'll focus on seated poses.

no matter what your reason is for practicing yoga, start with these basic poses. Once you've mastered them, you'll be able to go far.

During yoga practice, just maintain natural breathing.

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1Sit and reach

• Sit on a mat, with your pelvis aligned and your spine upright.
• Extend your legs with a width equal to your pelvis.
• Inhale, lengthen your spine, and raise your hands above your head, palms facing each other.
• Exhale, let your arms guide your body to fold forward to your ability.
• Hold for 3-5 sets.

Function: Stretches the entire back side, relaxes the back.

2Lateral Stretch Pose

• Sit on a mat, with your legs extended straight.
• Turn your right foot outward to your ability.
• Bend your left knee and place your left foot on the inside of your left thigh, with your heel close to your body.
• Again, adjust your pelvis to be aligned, your spine upright.
• Inhale, extend your arms to the sides.
• Exhale, let your arms guide your body to bend to the right to your ability.
• Hold for 3-5 sets, breathing and reversing side bending.

Function: Stretches the side waist, arm, expands the chest cavity.

Note: When bending your legs, don't move your hips away from the ground, don't focus on how much you bend, focus on the stretch of your waist, the expansion of your chest cavity; while bending, keep your spine upright, don't hunch your shoulders, don't twist.

3Seated Angle Pose

• Sit on a mat, with your spine upright, your pelvis aligned.
• Extend your legs to the sides as far as possible, with your feet pointed.
• Inhale, raise your hands above your head, palms facing each other.
• Exhale, let your pelvis tilt forward, and let your arms guide your body to fold forward to your ability.
• Hold for about 30 seconds, then return to the upright position.

Function: Stretches the inner thigh, relaxes the hip joint, and flexibly the hip joint's outer extension.

This pose is often shared many times, especially suitable for practicing before going to bed, it can clear and maintain the liver meridians, and help you sleep peacefully.

4Butterfly Pose

• Sit on a mat, with your pelvis pressed to the mat, your spine upright.
• Bend your knees and bring your feet close to your body.
• Hold your hands together, encircling your feet's palms.
• Cooperate with your breathing, shake your knees.
• Slowly stop shaking your knees.
• Inhale, extend your spine.
• Exhale, let your body fold forward to your ability.
• Hold for 3-5 sets after breathing, and return your body to the upright position.

Function: Stretches the inner thigh, flexibly the hip joint; promotes blood circulation in the pelvic region, opens the hip joint's groin;

This pose can be practiced during menstruation, and frequently practicing it can relieve discomfort during menstruation.

5Simple Spinal Twist

• Sit on a mat, with your pelvis aligned, your spine upright, extend your legs and point your toes.
• Bend your left knee, place your left foot on the outside of your left thigh.
• Inhale, hold your hands together, encircling your left thigh.
• Exhale, let your arms guide your body to bend to the left.
• Hold your left hand to the side of your head, and your right hand to hold your left knee.

Hold for 3-5 sets after breathing and reversing side bending.

Function: This is a twisting pose that softens and flexibly your spine, relaxes your back, and when bending your left knee, the inner contraction and inward rotation of your hip joint, it is a movement to retract and contract the hips; at the same time, it can also be used as the opposite pose of the bending back pose to relieve the discomfort of the back caused by excessive bending back.

• 6Knee Movement
• Sit on a mat, with your legs extended straight.
• Bend your left knee, raise your left leg to leave the ground
• Hold your hands together, encircling your left thigh
• Inhale, extend your left leg
• Exhale, bend your left knee

Cooperate with your breathing, do 10-15 times, reversing side bending.

Function: This is a very simple pose, but it's a little difficult to do, it's a lubricating exercise for the knee joints, nourishing the habit of the knees. It can be used for knee joint protection and therapy that can be used to lubricate and nourish the habit of the knees and can be used for knee joint protection and therapy; it can also be used during breaks at work.

7Baby Pose

• Sit on a mat, push your pelvis back and out, keeping your pelvis aligned, don't hunch your back to straighten your spine.
• Bend your right knee, hold your hands together, encircling your right little thigh.
• Move your knees back and forth
• Stretch the outer thigh, increase the outer extension and rotation of the hip joint; strengthen the blood circulation in the pelvic region, open the groin joint; this pose is also the preparation for double lotus pose, if you want to do double lotus pose, you should often practice this pose.

During the whole process, keep your back upright; move your legs back and forth, don't twist your waist and body.

8Bean Counter Pose

Long sitting on the mat, your legs extended straight, your pelvis aligned, your spine upright.

• Hold your hands in empty fists, extending your arms forward
• Move your shoulders back and down
• Let your arms guide your body to draw the largest circle clockwise and counterclockwise.
• During the whole process, tighten your abdomen, don't shrugg your shoulders, keep your spine upright.

Function: Strengthen the waist and abdomen core.

9Half Boat Pose

Sit on a mat, bend your knees and your feet on the ground.

• Use your hands to push your hips back and out, ensuring that your pelvis is aligned, your spine upright
• Hold your hands on the sides of your hips
• Inhale, slightly lean back while raising your arms and legs to a parallel position to the ground, hold your hands flat in front of you
• Exhale, maintain it for 3-5 sets after breathing
• Function: Strengthens the core strength.

In this I introduce the half boat pose, which is a simplified version of the boat pose. The full boat pose is with the legs extended straight. It looks very simple, but it's a little difficult to do.

A very important point is that don't hunch your back, the power of your spine should be activated simultaneously in the front and back, it's like tightening the spine.

I also introduce the half boat pose to you, because the movement of the hip joint in the sitting posture is more extension and rotation, and less inner contraction and inward rotation; the half boat pose is a typical and common hip joint inner contraction and inner rotation pose, so don't forget to retract the hips.

10Hero Pose

Bend your knees and your feet are together.

• Spread your legs to the sides as far as possible
• Extend your toes, try to make your little fingers also touch the ground
• Hold for 3-5 sets after breathing
• Function: It's a hip joint inward contraction and inward rotation pose. At the same time, it can drain the meridian of the stomach, helping with digestion.
• Considering again and again, I still recommend the hero pose to you, because the sitting posture involves a lot of movements of the hip joint, which are more extension and rotation, and less inner contraction and inward rotation; the hero pose is a typical and common hip joint inner contraction and inner rotation pose, so don't forget to retract the hips.