And we’re back again yoga fam, with another weekly yoga video to help live your journey!

Pssst… looking for more yoga foundations & posture tutorials??? Click here.

And welcome back to the Back to Yoga Basics series, where we’re welcoming new yoga students to their mat, creating a safe space for learning, and covering the foundations of what to expect for the yoga journey ahead.

Today’s focus + goal is….

How to Build Strength.

I love this focus + goal, and I love it because the yoga practice has taught me both of these things, however not just within my body. It also taught me how to cultivate goals +  build strength off the yoga mat and created a three hundred sixty degree experience or as I like to call it – a body, mind and soul experience. 

But for today’s experience, let’s focus on the physical aspect of strength, yeah.

If you’re new to this practice here’s what I can promise you – newfound strength, toner muscles, shedding of layers, a re-connection to your body, and an appreciation for all that the body can do. However there’s one catch, it will be hard.

Like any physical activity in life, a challenge will be involved, and yoga is no exception. We don’t just stretch and look pretty, contrary to popular belief.

….. although we do do those things, just not all the time.

If you want this practice to benefit your physical self, then be prepared to shake, sweat, feel the burn, want to quit, shake some more, sweat some more and then be invited to rest in child’s pose (what every yogi loves to hear mid-practice).

But also be prepared to feel like a badass in your own skin, more confident in your actions, willing to exhale the bullshit, ready invite in the good shit, and excited to live your journey!

Oh man, we were supposed to only talk about physical, and here I go into a yoga sermon (per usual). Back to the physical…..

What can you expect from today’s practice, what postures are we planning to do?

• core work on the floor
• core work in tabletop pose
• forearm planks
• baby chaturanga push-ups
• crescent pose
• warrior III
• dancing shiva
• standing staff pose
• bow pose

As you can see, today’s yoga class is loaded with opportunities to build strength. We will move through these postures with a slow + steady pace, while I explain the how-to of the pose. Your only job is to listen, put forth the effort, challenge yourself, and do what feels good (aka stop doing anything that’s pinching, piercing or painful).

Once you move through this beginner strength flow, I invite you to continue on this path of building strength (both on and off the mat).

You can find a library of strengthening yoga class on my YouTube channel and scan through the different playlists to choose your next adventure. Or visit your local yoga studio and chat with them about what classes offer strength building.

Now with all of that said, let’s step on our yoga mats, maybe sweat + shake a little bit, and start to build this beautiful strength!