If you’ve decided to get ahead of your New Year’s resolutions with a fresh yoga routine, this 20-minute beginner class is a great place to start.
Led by yoga instructor Charlie Follows, this session will take you through some basic breathwork and classic yoga poses (asanas). You’ll move seamlessly from one pose to the next in sync with your breath, before ending with a restful shavasana (corpse pose).
It’s a slow-paced, easy session that will boost flexibility and relaxation.
Watch how to do the 20-minute beginner class
Follows’ session is ideal for beginners because it features expertly demonstrated stretches and movements. She includes many of the top yoga stretches for beginners in this flow, with downward dog, low lunge and puppy pose included.
Benefits of yoga
One of the best-known benefits of yoga is that it can improve your flexibility. Research published in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies suggests that completing just one yoga session a week for six weeks could improve your flexibility. A meta-analysis in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine suggests a regular yoga practice might improve balance, too.
However, yoga benefits extend well beyond this. The meditative practices and breathwork in yoga can boost your mental health, reducing stress, anxiety and depression. This could be because slowing your breath can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for triggering a restful, relaxed state.
There’s emerging research to suggest that yoga can help with emotional regulation and brain health, too, although larger, more complex studies are needed to confirm this.
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