Yoga for Beginners: The Best Basic Stretches to Get You Started

Yoga for Beginners: The Best Basic Stretches to Get You Started: Yoga stretches are great for everything from pain relief to stress relief, and they’re really easy to work into your day. Yoga instructor Donna Noble explains how.

So, try walking away from your desk for five minutes of gentle stretching and see how you feel.

Donna does note that if you want to really feel the full benefits, or you have mental or physical health concerns that yoga could help you to manage, you could try “doing yoga at least twice a week”.

If you want to start working yoga into your schedule, A few simple poses and stretches that are great for beginners to try.

Child’s pose

Child’s pose stretches “the thighs, hips and ankles”, and it “is often performed to rest in between poses”, says Donna. This stretch is great for helping to “relax the body and the mind”, and so Donna suggests staying in position for as long as you like.

Start out on all fours on the floor and then take your knees out as wide as your mat with your toes touching.
Sit back so that your bum is resting on your heels.
Stretch your arms forward and lower your chest and forehead to the floor.
Let your entire body release down into the mat.

Mountain pose

“This forms the foundation of all standing poses”, according to Donna, making it a great pose for beginners. Mountain pose is really easy to do, too.

Stand up straight with your feet placed wherever feels natural, either together or apart, and your arms by your side with your palms facing forwards.
Press your weight into your feet and spread the toes wide.
Engage your quads and abdominal muscles by pulling your belly button in towards your spine.
Lift your chest and pull your shoulders down and back – you should feel the shoulder blades coming towards each other.

Hold this pose for between five and eight breaths

Downward dog

Even if you don’t know much about yoga, you’ve probably heard of downward dog. Known and loved for its simplicity and the way it “strengthens and stretches the entire body”, it is one of Donna’s go-to postures, and in fact “is used in most yoga practices and classes”.

Yoga for Beginners: The Best Basic Stretches to Get You Started

Start on all fours with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
Tuck your toes and press through your hands to lift your hips up off the floor.
Pull your sit bones towards the ceiling as you draw your belly button towards the spine and your torso towards the thighs.

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The aim is to get your heels down to the floor and your legs straight, although you can keep your knees slightly bent if you are a beginner or have tight hamstrings.