10 Minute Standing Stretch Workout // Gentle Yoga Exercises for Seniors & Beginners

Hi and welcome to this workout, which is a quick 10-minute gentle standing stretch workout. Great to do anytime, maybe you sit at a desk all day in a chair, or if you're not comfortable getting down on the floor. Let's go ahead and get started. Make sure that you have a chair, maybe the side of a couch or a mantel handy for some of the stretches. Standing nice and tall, a very slight little pelvic tuck, feet directly underneath those hips. Roll the shoulders down and back, and then tuck your chin, nice and slow, starting with the shoulders, rolling all the way down, vertebrae by vertebrae, rounding the back as low as you can go. Slight bend in the knees, tuck that tailbone, roll up nice and slow. Let's do that again. Tuck the chin, roll it down. Inhale, exhale, let's roll it up. One more time, tuck the chin. Inhale, exhale, roll it up. Roll the shoulders back, then standing nice and tall. Turn to face our chair, and take one leg, big step back here. Try to press that heel into the floor, and then put a slight bend in that front leg, making sure most of the weight is in the heel. So right now, you should feel a nice stretch in the hip flexor and the back of that calf muscle. Hold that stretch here, and then do a little pelvic tuck. So this stretch will shift to the hip flexor right there in front. And let's straighten both legs, arms out to the side, and then gently bring them in back of you, clasping the hands if you can, shoulders down and back. Try to straighten those elbows, and gently lift the arms behind you, opening up the chest. Big inhale. On our exhale, release the hands, bring them forward. Same thing, clasp the hands, maybe flip them palms away from you, and stretch that upper back. Inhale. Exhale, release the hands down. Coming forward onto that front foot, let's go ahead and bend this back leg behind us for a quad stretch, grabbing onto your ankle. If you can't reach your ankle, maybe grab your sock, pant leg. Knee is down towards the floor. And again, to really emphasize this stretch, we're gonna do a little pelvic tuck, gently pulling the heel towards the bum. So you should feel this in front of that thigh. And again, maybe your hip flexor. Hold that stretch there. Nice deep breath. And if it's comfortable for you, we can lean slightly forward, a little bend in that standing leg, lift that foot behind us into a little dancer's pose. Again, only if that's comfortable for you. Slowly come out of that, release that leg. Same thing, other side, big step back. Start with both legs straight, pressing the heel towards the floor. Little lunge, bending that front knee. Nice stretch in the back of that calf muscle. Holding it there, we tuck the hips. Inhale. And exhale. Let's straighten both legs again, find that balance. Arms out to the side, and then bring them in back. Again, clasp those fingers. Shoulders down and back, really open up that chest. Maybe even gaze slightly up. Exhale, arms come forward. Again, clasp, flip away from us. Really use your own resistance here. Push, push, push away from you. Inhale. Exhale, release down to the side. And then bring that back leg up again. A quad stretch on the other side. Heel towards the bum. Grabbing whatever you can. Stand nice and tall. Pelvic tuck to get into that hip flexor. Shoulders down and back, inhale. Exhale. Comfortable for you. We hinge forward, lifting that back leg behind us. Breathe. And slowly release. Nice wide stance here, toes to the corner. Lift that left arm up and over, nice side stretch. Hold it here, and then make sure that you're not leaning forward or back at all. Straight to the side. Now round that back, and then hinge over, nose towards the knee. All the way over that right leg. Inhale. Exhale, relax into that stretch. Let's swing that torso to center. Bend the knees, tuck the tailbone, roll it up one vertebrae at a time. Other side, big stretch up, all the way over. Hold that here for the side of the body. Again, not leaning forward or back. Round the back, round the arm. Reaching down, trying to get the chest towards the thigh or the nose to the knee. Relax into that. Release, come center. Hands above the knees. Again, bend, tuck the tailbone, roll it up. Finishing with those shoulders. Toe heel in slightly so the feet are underneath the hips. Big inhale, arms come up. And let's cactus those arms down, squeezing the elbows behind us. Inhale up, cactus down. One more. Inhale up again. Hands come into prayer. We're gonna bend the knees and then side twist over to the side. Exhale, side twist. Inhale, exhale. Last one. Inhale, reach the arms down towards the side, really stretching those fingers long. Drop the chin to the chest. And then slowly roll the ear towards the shoulder. Back to center. One more time, half circle. Stretching the side of the neck. Back to center and lift to that chin. On a face by chair again, we're standing figure four stretch, my favorite. We're gonna cross our ankle at the other ankle or if you're able to, up above that knee and we're gonna sit those hips back. Beautiful stretch for the glutes and the hips. If it feels good to you, you can make this movement a little more dynamic. Move those hips side to side. The further you sit back, the more intense that stretch is gonna be. I love this one for lower back pain. Inhale, exhale, let's come out of that. Same thing, other side. Crossing that foot, let's slide it up. Maybe you can even help it and sit those hips back. Move around if that feels good to you. Inhale, exhale. Come on up and release that leg down. Walking our feet back, hands are still on the back of our chair. Inhale here, exhale, shift those hips back and drop your chest towards the floor. So it's our little standing downward dog here. Feet are flat on the floor, straight knees and try to keep your upper back nice and flat. One more big inhale here. Exhale, can you drop the chest one more inch? And nice and slow, let's walk our way back in. Inhale here, exhale, circle the wrist as the arms come down. Let's do that again, big inhale, circle. Let's take our hands, the top of our hands behind our lower back. Roll the shoulders down and back and very gently push your elbows forward. This should feel really nice in your shoulders. Hold it here for a nice deep breath. And then flip so your palms are against your lower back and ever so gently, you lean back. Shoulders are down and back, supporting ourself here. And come back to center. And just as we started, we finished with a roll down, tuck the chin. Rolling down nice and slow, one inch at a time. Let's see if we can go even further than when we started. I'm sure we can. Slight bend in the knees, tuck those hips and roll it up. One more time, finishing with the shoulders. And as always, one last big inhale and exhale. I hope you feel stretched out and energized. Thanks for working out with me today. See you next time.