Intermediate Yoga Program for BJJ: 50-Min Full-Body Class

Three breaths in dog. Bend your knees look forward. Try tucking your heels to your butt when you jump. Inhale halfway up.

Exhale fold. Bend your knees chair pose. Take a breath. Inhale hands together look up.

Exhale fold. Inhale halfway. And jump. Inhale.

Exhale same thing again. Step your right foot forward. Warrior one. Inhale now.

And exhale dive down again. Vinyasa. Left foot forward. Arms up.

Inhale. Exhale hands down all the way. Keep exhaling. And then inhale back bend.

And exhale dog three breaths. Bend your knees look forward. Try pointing your toes and tucking your feet together. Jump forward inhale halfway up.

Exhale fold. Final round of sun salutation B. Chair pose inhale. Exhale fold.

Inhale halfway up. Exhale low push up. Back bend inhale. Exhale down dog.

Right foot forward. Inhale warrior one. Exhale low push up. Inhale.

Exhale left foot forward. Warrior one. Inhale. Exhale Vinyasa.

Three final breaths in downward facing dog. Relax your neck. Engage your arms. Spread your fingers.

Lift your toes and straighten your legs. Bend your knees look forward. Exhale jump. Halfway up inhale.

Exhale fold. Chair pose now. Now the fun begins. Interlace your fingers and press your palms as high as you can.

So back bend while you keep sitting down. So squat down as far as you can go without falling backwards. Straighten your arms. Take two more breaths here.

Release the arms and stretch your arms and your body forward so you're parallel with your back to the ground. Take two breaths here. Straight arms. Spread your fingers.

Belly should not be touching the thighs. Inhale look forward. Exhale fold. Step back slightly crow pose.

Knees to elbows. Take two breaths. And as you exhale jump back to low push up. Vinyasa.

Down dog. Stretch your right leg out behind you. Bend your knee. Open your hip.

Roll the knee to your face. Keep it there. And step the foot on the inside of the right hand setting up for warrior one like we did several times. Arms up first.

Inhale look up. And exhale interlace your fingers behind your back. Really try to stretch your arms as far down your butt as you can. Expand your chest.

Lift your toes. And then slowly keep spreading your chest open. Fold forward with your head. But keep squeezing your right butt in towards the midline.

Your legs stay in warrior one while your upper body folds forward for humble warrior. Three more breaths. And then back to warrior one. Arms up.

Inhale. Open your arms. Step your foot back for warrior two. So a deeper pose.

Let's take five breaths here. Get everything in place. Stretch out and look forward. Now straighten your right leg.

Move your back leg in slightly. Bring forward with your upper body. And then slowly place your hand on your chin. Left arm up for triangle pose.

Do the triangle with your legs and your spine. Your arms and your neck are also important but you start from the legs and you keep your focus on your spine and your breath. Lift up your arms. Step your left back foot in even more.

Hands behind you. Now instead of interlacing you just place your knuckles together or you can grab your forearms. Stretch your legs out. Inhale and exhale.

Go forward as deep as you can. So your goal here is to get your forehead towards your chin one day. Keep your legs pressing down into the mat and suck your navel in. So if you can go really deep here, if you can go all the way down you should not be relaxed.

You should keep stretching your legs and trying to lift up from the leg. So first the goal is to get all the way down and when you're down here you kind of start pulling back up. Two more breaths in the pyramid pose. And then left hand down on the inside of the foot.

Keep your right hand on your lower back and look towards the right. So you're twisting without turning. So make sure you look at your back leg, your front leg and your arm. Make sure everything is in place.

And look up over your right shoulder and maybe stretch the arm up. Make sure the left hand is far enough forward so that you don't feel it in your left wrist. From here place the right hand on the inside of your right foot. Move your left foot back again setting up for side angle pose.

Left arm either up or over. Try to stretch your left side in an angle. Look towards the left hand. Both hands down.

Back heel up. Look forward. And all the way up to crescent pose place your hands in front of your chest. And then lean forward and twist to your right so your elbow hooks your thigh.

And then use your hands as leverage to press your spine twisting to the right. You can place your back knee down if you need to no problem. Just breathe and extend your neck forward. Hands down.

Vinyasa. Alright before we do the second side elbows down. Dolphin pose. So lift your heels here.

So you step on your toes and then walk your toes forward but keep pressing your chest back. You can bend your knees but try to get your hips as high as you can. Maybe even try to lift one foot off the floor here with your knees together so you're learning to lean all the way into your forearms. Nice walking back.

Downward facing dog. Take a big breath. And exhale. Left foot out.

Bend and open. Inhale. Exhale knee to face. Place your left foot on the inside of the hand.

Come up to warrior one. Interlace your fingers behind your back. Going for back bend first. Open and extend your chest.

And then fold forward without turning to the right. Try to get your upper body on the inside of the knee without looking right or leaning towards the right. Breathe. All the way up.

Inhale. Exhale step your right foot back for warrior two. Take five breaths here. Head over hips.

Engage your arms. Stretch them out. Stretch your left foot to walk the right foot in slightly and then lean forward tilting your hips back. When you have the control with the core, hand on chin, right arm up.

Don't slide too deep. Slide only as deep as you can keep your integrity in the core. Legs and spine and breath are important here. The rest is detail.

Lift up again. Step your back foot in even more. Hands behind you. Grab opposite forearms or elbows.

Inhale lift and exhale fold. Pyramid pose. Stay active. Right hand down.

Keep your left hand on your lower back. Twist towards the left without turning anyway. Everything should be straight forward and straight back. Look up over your left shoulder and maybe stretch the arm up.

From here left hand on the inside of the left foot. Step your right foot back. Open your body for side angle pose. Turn towards the right.

Right arm either up or forward. Go for maximum length in your body. Hands down. Back heel up.

Lift up to crescent pose first. Hands in front of your chest. Twist first and then hook your elbow on the thigh. Hands together.

Use your arms to leverage the twist towards the left. Back leg straight or knee in the ground. Don't look under your arms. Lean your head back.

Long neck breathe. Hands down. Vinyasa. Forearms down.

This time lift your right leg up in dolphin pose and give it a few short jumps here. Jump slightly off the floor. Leaning all the weight into your elbows. Switch legs.

Same thing. Back to downward dog. Take a deep breath. Walk your hands backward.

Grab your opposite elbows and take five breaths in a forward fold on the back of your mat. Inhale all the way up. Arms up. Stay here with your arms up.

Then lift your heels. Stay on your toes and as straight as you can try to walk on your toes with control to the front of your mat. If it's too easy close your eyes and see how good or shitty your balance is today. Then lower your heels down.

Hands to the chest. We're going to do a classic standing sequence. We step back with our right foot. I'm going to do the opposite so you can see.

Step back with the right foot. Turn towards the right so your feet are parallel. Then interlace your fingers behind your back. So inhale and lift.

And then exhale. It's okay to bend the knees on the way down but when you come down all the way down try to stretch your legs and stretch your arms. Relax your neck and breathe. Release your hands down to the floor.

Inhale halfway up. Now turn your right foot backwards and walk your hands back to the back of your mat. And try to slide down to half a split so your back knee is either in the floor, it should be in the floor. Depends on how far you want to go here.

Stop before you think you should stop. And then try to lower your hips down for a split practice. You could go all the way out if your hamstrings and your psoas allows it. But it's better to be in a place where you actually have a bit of movement and where breathe and not just forcing your breath and holding it.

So a gentle 75% split, not an intense 100% split. Now walk back to the other leg, same position on the other side. Slide as far forward as you can but save 25% so you can move and adjust into the sweet spot. And breathe.

From here sit down on your butt and turn sideways so we're doing a seated straddle. First of all lift your hips up and make sure you're rolling your hips forward and lifting your chest. And then left or right arm up, doesn't matter. One arm up, inhale and exhale go for the opposite foot.

So left arm grabs right foot or opposite. Cannot catch the foot, just catch the ankle. But try to go deep first and take a breath. And then use your arms and turn under your arms.

So you're turning your head and trying to move your biceps up with your cheek and your forehead. Try to get under your arm and breathe. Switching sides slowly. If you can't catch the foot you can also use a belt or a towel.

Take five breaths. Nice get back to the center. One hand on each side of your back leg, so your right leg. Lift your hips up and lift your legs up and count to three.

One two three sit down. Shake your butt, shake your arms. Looking forward on your mat, hands down. Inhale, exhale lift your hips, lift your legs.

One two and three. Turn forward, cross your ankles, rock back to build some speed and then rock up, place your hands in front of you and try to jump back through a vinyasa. So from here bend your knees and look forward, turn your fingers outwards and now like you did cross your legs and try to kick your legs through and land in an L-sit. So jump through, get your legs through in some way, don't land on your butt just yet.

Now you can sit down, grab your thighs for both pose. Just take a couple of seconds here to engage your core again and then slowly roll back into upside down guard, stretching your neck, most of the weight in your shoulder blades. Roll up to a squat, sit down in a squat with your toes pointing away from each other. And then lift your butt, toes forward, right peace fingers grab the right big toe, left hand to your hips and squeeze your shoulders back, bend your knees look forward and then lift straight up with your right leg.

So the leg can be bent or straight as long as you keep a perfect posture through your spine and your standing leg. Don't lean forward, don't lean back. One more breath and then right leg out towards the right, you can use your left hand for balance if you want. If a wall is there, perfect, you can close your eyes and you don't even have to balance.

And then one more pose, right leg behind you, catch the inside of the foot with the thumb up and stretch your arm with your leg, left arm forward. Get as high as you can, don't hold your breath. Release and try to catch the foot as high as you can and then sit down into a pistol squat, sit all the way down and roll back to upside down guard. Same sequence on the other leg.

So first squat, get your butt and your head as deep as you can, take a breath, lift your butt, toes point forward, catch your left foot, catch your right hip. So try to flatten out your back and bend your knees slightly and then lift up and straighten everything except the left leg. If you want to straighten the left leg, do it last. Left leg as far out to the side as possible without leaning left or right, try to keep your head in the same position.

And then catch the inside of the foot, straighten your right arm forward, stretch your left arm with your left quads, so you're stretching the knee out, trying to lift up and keeping your balance without holding your breath. Now catch the left foot in front of you and slowly sit down through a pistol squat and roll all the way back to upside down guard. Roll up to a squat again, walk your feet slightly back, bend your knees and then try to jump into a tuck handstand like this. Do it five times.

And vinyasa. Fingers point out, we're going to sit through again, so bend your knees and try to squeeze the knees into your armpits as you jump through. Sit down and stretch your legs out in front of you. Inhale arms up.

Exhale, catch your ankles or your feet, fold forward, keep your legs engaged, really relax your belly and your back down. Don't pull, just relax. Look up again, cross your ankles. So the cheat is to place your hands in front of you.

If you want to do it the hardcore way, place your hands next to your hips and then try to really tuck your chin to your chest, lift your butt and pull yourself back through a vinyasa. Sitting down dog and take a breath. Bend your knees, look forward, cross your ankles again and sit through. If you can land in an L-sit, even better.

Sit down on your butt, tough pose this time. Toes must be together and point them away. Hands behind you, if your wrists are bothering you, turn your fingers out, engage your butt as much as you can for reverse plank pose. Lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift and breathe.

Sit down, cross your ankles. Try to jump back through a vinyasa. Now jump with your right leg through but land with your left knee bent like this. Stop here.

If you need to place something under your right leg you can do that. Inhale look forward and exhale fold over your right leg. So half a split and half a hero pose. Look forward, hands down, just lift your hips and jump back vinyasa.

Second side, land on your right leg, left leg through, inhale up, exhale fold. Hands down, jump back. Let's do it one more time but this time we add on a pose. Jump through, right leg through.

We start here, let's go back on this one. Go back and try to lift your hips on this one, point your toes, it's like the reverse plank but with your knee bent. Take a breath here and then place your right foot in the ground, rock forward into a tripod headstand like this and then right knee on your right triceps, left leg out behind you, one legged clown pose. Take a breath here, if you want to try the impossible lift your head off the floor.

Everyone vinyasa. Second side, kick your other leg through, left leg, lean back, lift your hips, stretch the front of your thigh and then left foot in the ground, tripod headstand, right leg up, left knee on your elbow, spread your toes. If you want to lift your head off, lower the leg, makes it easier to lift the head off. Vinyasa, downward facing dog.

Roll forward to plank pose and let's go slowly forward and down. Lean forward, elbows in and land on your belly. Hands back, palms up, lift your legs, toes together, lift your chest, squeeze your shoulder blades together. So, back of your hands and your belly is in the ground, nothing else.

Squeeze your toes, lift your chest. Vinyasa. Same sequence again, roll forward. On three breaths, lower down, keep squeezing your triceps in towards your lats.

Setting up the same way, this time bend your knees, reach back, don't throw the legs, try to slowly catch one ankle, then the other, lift with your back and then stretch with your knees like we did standing. Gently release, Vinyasa. Take a breath in down dog. Now, sit through again, all the way down to your back.

Lay down on your back, feet together, knees apart, arms like a cactus or one arm on the belly and the other hand on the chest. Let's take a break, close your eyes. It probably feels really nice to feel your heartbeat under your palm. Three more breaths.

Now, plant your feet, lift your hips, either stay here with your hands under your butts, interlace your fingers behind your back or if you want to go for it, wide hands, lift to the top of your head and take a couple of breaths here. Use your legs. And then slowly lower down and take one breath, shake your arms. Let's go for another round, I'm going to go all the way up but first to your head and then when you inhale, lift your head off the floor.

If you stay here with bent elbows, you're going to get a good strength workout. If you can try to stretch your arms straight, do that but don't give up. Take two more breaths. And then lower all the way down, take one breath, shake your arms and engage your core, so tuck your tail between your legs.

And one last round, small, middle or all the way up. Let's stay here for five. And slowly all the way down, stay here, one hand on the belly and one on the chest and twist your knees from side to side. Don't grab your knees and pull them in, use your legs to twist your lower back and your hips, relax your wrists.

Stretch your legs up, catch your hamstrings and start rolling up and down. Use this rolling to stretch your body the opposite direction to the backbells. All the way into a standing forward fold for five breaths. Catch your opposite elbows again and relax.

Hands down, inhale, look forward, exhale, jump back. Sit through again. Inhale, arms up, exhale, forward fold. Next time keep looking forward and go as far forward with your nose as you can.

So try to touch your nose to your toes, intense one this time, suck your navel in, keep your legs engaged, try to press the hamstrings into the floor, almost lifting your heels. Spread your toes and pull yourself more forward, keep your belly engaged. And then sit up, vinyasa. Let's meet in down dog.

Stretch your right leg out behind you, bend your knees, open hips, inhale and exhale. Roll your knee forward and place your right leg under your belly for pigeon pose. You can stay here on your hands or you can come down to your elbows. Just make sure you find that sweet spot in your hips.

And let's take seven here. Now lift up on your hands again, swing your back leg forward and place the foot on the outside of your thigh, so you're crossing your legs. Sit here and catch your hand to your knee or if you want to you can, if you can, you can wrap your forearm around the knee. Anything that works for your proportions as long as you get a nice twist and a little stretch for the outside of your thigh.

Look forward, vinyasa. Second side, left leg up, inhale. Exhale, knee forward. So on your hands or your elbows, find a nice stretch for your left butt and hip.

And look forward, swing your right leg all the way to the other side. Seated twist. Make sure you keep your head over your tailbone, sitting in a good alignment. Look forward, final vinyasa.

Sit your legs through one more time. Roll all the way back to upside down guard. Take a breath here. And then place your hips on top of your wrists so your forearms are under your lower back.

Place your feet, stretch your feet out and lift up onto your forearms. Look back and stretch your throat by placing the top of your head in the mat. You can stay here with the legs in the ground or you can lift them up for some final work with your legs and core fish pose. And release everything down.

Happy baby pose. Rock up and down. And find a seated cross legged seat. Catch your right foot to your left lap for half lotus pose.

If you want to stay here, you can do that. Or if you want to fold forward and your right knee is okay with that, fold forward for five. Keep your eyes closed. Sit up and do the second side.

Switch the crossing of the legs. And fold forward again. Keep your eyes closed. Lay back for Shavasana.

Give your mind, your body and your soul a well deserved long Shavasana. Stay here for as long as the body and mind wants to.