Sebastian Brosche · 20 min · 1,931 words
A 20-minute flow you can do with injured or sore shoulders, elbows or wrists. No weight on the hands, full mobility benefit.
Hi guys, I'm getting a lot of emails about people having problems with the shoulders, elbows and wrists. If it's pain injuries or surgeries, it's a common problem. So what we're going to do today is a no hands flow. So even if you have no arms, you will be able to complete today's class.
I encourage you to do the same as I'm doing wearing my belt, so we can keep our hands on the belt at all times. Okay, let's do it. We're going to start in mountain pose, stretch your whole body and take five deep breaths. Your neck is long and your shin is slightly tucked in.
Get your toes and engage your quads. Shoulders back, chest up. And now lift your left knee so you're balancing on your right foot and then slowly stretch your left leg back and step back into wide stance. Right knee forward, lift all 10 toes and make sure your back leg is straight.
Don't lean forward, but lean back so that most of your weight is behind you into the outside of your right foot and into your left heel. Take three breaths here, lift the chest and hug your shoulder blades back. And the exercise we're going to do now is going to require a lot of core. Stretch your right leg, lift your right hip and lean back, reverse triangle.
And then bend your right knee and lean forward into side angle pose. So you're stretching your head away from your left foot. Straighten your right leg, lean back, stretch your right side. And then every time we go down, you can go a little bit deeper into your right leg.
All the way up and back and all the way down. Hug your belly in and engage your core a lot here. Couple more. One more time.
Now stay here inside angle pose for five breaths. Work your right leg, work your core. Don't lean into your elbow. Stay here with the power of your leg and your core.
Now all the way up, turn both feet in, inhale up and exhale fold forward, head down, butt up. Take five. Shoulder blades back, head is heavy. On the next inhale, all the way up, turn your left foot back.
We're going to do the same sequence facing backwards. Left knee points back, right leg straight, warrior two, take three deep here or five. Leaning back slightly, lifting all ten toes, bending your left knee. If you're consciously breathing, you're doing it right.
Stretch both legs, lift the left hip, lean back, bend your knee again, side angle pose. Make a straight line from your foot up to your head. All the way up, reversing the triangle. Squeezing your belly in, take five.
Side angle. Squeezing your belly in, working your core as you lean forward deep into your left leg. All the way up. All the way down.
All the way up. All the way down, last one. All the way up. All the way down, stay here.
Breathe in and out through your nose. Hug your shoulders back and puff up your chest a lot. And stand back up, turn towards the center again. Inhale, exhale, fold, lean into your toes, head down, back relaxed, legs are active.
Inhale. On the next inhale, all the way up. And step to the front of your mat again. And take five breaths in mountain pose.
Relax your spine, but lift your head. Two more breaths. We're going to do one more standing sequence, working with our legs and our balance. Start by lifting your right foot off and stretch back so your right foot and your head is on the same level.
Warrior three. Take one breath here. And then step back far into crescent pose. Since we're not using our arms, it's going to be tricky to balance, but that's good.
Bend up and down a couple of quick times. And then kick your right leg forward. So start with your knee and then kick your right foot forward and hold the balance for one, two, and three. Warrior three, right leg back.
Make sure your right toes are pointing down towards the ground. So you're closing your hips instead of opening them. And then step back to a deep crescent lunge, two pumps up and down, and then kick forward again. Don't bend your standing knee.
Straighten your left foot, straighten your right leg. Back to warrior three. Your right hip is at level with the left hip. Stretch your right leg back and step back into crescent pose.
A couple of quick pumps up and down. Last round. Both legs straight. Lift your right leg, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift.
Breathe. Warrior three, one last time. And mountain pose. Release your left foot.
Same thing on the second side. Left leg back, warrior three. Toes are pointing down, shoulders back. Step back to crescent pose.
Pump up and down a couple of times. Step back to crescent pose. Pump up and down a few times. Stretching your hip flexor.
And then using that same hip flexor when we're going forward, straighten both legs. One, two, three. Warrior three. Flex your foot and point the toes down.
Hold your balance. Don't hold your breath. Stepping back to crescent pose. Pump up and down.
Left foot forward. Lift your foot. Straighten your standing knee. Warrior three, last round.
Stepping back to crescent. One and two. Last time kicking warrior. Left foot forward.
Warrior three for the last time. Stretch it all out. And mountain pose. Release your feet.
Let's sit down on our butts. Into boat pose. Lift your chest. Lift your knees.
Lift your face. Lift your toes and take five. Spread your toes and squeeze your feet together. Lift your chest more.
And squeeze your shoulders together behind you. And if you hate this one, you're really going to hate the next one. Half boat. Straight legs down to your lower back.
Without touching the shoulder blades to the ground. One, two, three, four and five. Lift your hips, feet to the ground. Stretch your belly.
Breathe into your belly. And squeeze your butt so much that you're stretching your hip flexors. The muscles we just used in the boat pose. Hips down, rock back up.
One more round. Boat pose. If you want to be crazy here, stretch your feet as high as your head. Or not.
Keep lifting your chest. Squeeze your feet together. And keep your feet at level with your knees. One, two, three, four.
Spread your toes and smile. Five, low boat. One, two, squeeze your legs together. Three, four and five.
Bridge pose. Hips up. Squeeze your butt and lift your hips and legs. Breathe into your belly.
And hips down, rock back up to a seated. Straight legs. Hands on your hips. Inhale.
Exhale, fold forward. Since you're not using your hands here, you can use your hands. Since you're not using your hands here, relax your head and let the weight of your head stretch your neck and your spine. So when you inhale, you're going back up.
When you exhale, you let yourself fall deeper into the pose. Breathe deep. If it's too much for the hamstrings, let your toes fall away from each other. Be patient here.
Five more breaths. Now, sit back. Five more breaths. Now sit back up.
Right foot towards your left inner thigh. And then twist sideways. Twist to the right and then lean sideways so that your left ear is coming closer to your left knee. The classic name of this pose is head to knee pose.
Of course, it's not important to get there, but it's the direction that is implied in the name. Stretch the side of your neck. Stretch your right side. Make sure you're not crunching your left side.
Try to lengthen through the left side as well. Switching sides. Both legs straight. Left foot in.
Twist to the left and lean towards the right. Release. And then twist to the left. And then twist to the right.
And then twist to the left. And then twist to the right. Release your right ear to your right shoulder. Stretch your whole left side from the hips all the way up to your ear.
Sit back up. Spread your legs wide, wide, wide. Super wide. And then roll towards the front of your hips.
Use your back to lift your chest. And if you want to fold forward, if you can fold forward, please do. But since you don't have your hands to stop you, you're going to have to need to back off here or move the feet slightly. And then you're going to have to move your hips.
And if you don't have your hands to stop you, you're going to have to need to back off here or move the feet slightly closer. Because if they're too wide, you're going to smack your head in the ground if you're wide and flexible. So if you're stiff, be happy with having some resistance here. Try to find that perfect angle where you can actually relax your head and let the weight of your upper body stretch the back of your thighs.
Take five more breaths here. And straddle forward fold. And sit back up. Lay down on your back.
Simple bridge pose. Lift your hips. Use your legs to lift your chest. So push your chest towards your chin.
Slight back bend here. And then roll all the way down. Twist your knees towards the left. Relax your right shoulder closer to the ground.
And breathe. Relax your left shoulder. Relax your teeth. Relax your nose.
And breathe, breathe, breathe. Let's twist over to the second side. Knees to the right. Relax your left shoulder down.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And then back to the center.
You can knock your knees together and lay like this. Or go for shavasana with straight legs. Let's take a couple of minutes of relaxation here. Just enjoying the feeling of having done yoga.
While actually being a bit crippled and handicapped. And be proud and grateful that you are able to practice. And pass your excuses. You could just have sit down and blamed your injury or your pain for not doing anything.
But you did. So give yourself a smile. A proverbial tap on the shoulder. Relax.
And enjoy shavasana. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. And breathe. And breathe.
And breathe. And breathe. Inhale. and exhale.
Roll back up to seated. Thank you guys very much for practicing the no hands flow with me. I hope you guys liked it and if you need any video that is not already in the library, please tell me so and I will do my absolute best to satisfy your needs. Okay see you guys in the next video or see you on the mat.
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