How to Stretch Tight Hamstrings, Yoga Workout for Flexibility, Power Yoga Routine, 15 Minutes

Hey there, welcome back. My name is Liberty. This is my power yoga series. In today's class, we're going to be working on the hamstrings. Go ahead and grab two blocks and let's get started. If you're not in a place where you can practice with me right now, go ahead and save this on your watch later and join me whenever you can. Hey, so we're going to go ahead and get started in child's pose. Bring your big toes to touch and open your knees as wide as you can. Take an inhale to stay here. As you breathe out, start walking your hands to the front of your space and find yourself in a child's pose. Bring your forehead on the ground. Walk your hands as forward as you can. Take a deep inhale there. Deep breath out. Good. Once more, full breath in, fill up the belly. Open the mouth, let it go. Good. Slowly start walking your hands slightly towards the front of your space. As you breathe out, see if you can press your palms against the ground so much that your elbows lift from the ground. Take one more breath in here and let it go. With the next breath in, start walking your hands to the right side of your space. Breathe out to try and press the left armpit on the ground, looking at the right side. Take a deep inhale to stay there. Exhale to start walking your hands back to center. Breathe in to walk your hands to the left side this time. Breathe out, press the right armpit against the ground. Inhale to hold. Breathe out. Inhale, start bringing yourself back to center. As you exhale, slowly start lifting out of your heels and into your tabletop position, bringing your hands and knees on the ground. Spread your fingers wide as you're here. Take an inhale, make sure your knees are right below your hip bones, hands right below your shoulders. Inhale, bring your belly down, shoulders up, gaze high, find a cow pose. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest, arch the spine for a cat. Good, a few more. Breathe in, belly down, open up. Breathe out to push the fur away. Good, two more like that. Inhale, open, gaze forward. Exhale, arch the spine, look at your navel. Good, last one. Inhale, open up. Exhale, push away. Good, with the next breathing slowly come into stillness. Breathe out, send your right foot to the back of your space, tuck your toes. Start lengthening a little bit that back leg, rocking a little bit forward and down to feel the stretch in the right calf. As you're here, take a few seconds, see if eventually you can press so far back that you feel more of a stretch in the right calf. Your right heel is almost trying to touch to the ground. Take a deep inhale there, breathe out. One more full breath in. Exhale, tuck your left toes. Inhale, lengthen your legs, your arms, send your hips up and back for a staggered down dog. Big stretch on the right hamstring. Your left thigh is close towards your belly. Take an inhale to hold, breathe out. One more deep inhale here. Exhale to lean all the way forward, bring your left knee on the ground. Take an inhale to walk your hands to the front of your space. As you exhale, start left and forward, left your right leg and your left foot. Breathe in, press your right heel up to the ceiling and your left heel towards your glute. Breathe out, stay there. Hold there and slowly walk your hands even more forward and with control bring your elbows on the ground. With the next inhale, lean as far forward as you can, your chin is passing past your fingertips. Exhale, press back. Take three more, breathing forward. Breathe out back, inhale forward, exhale back. Last one, lean forward, press back. Good, inhaling all the way forward. As you exhale, slowly release your belly on the ground. Rest your right thigh on top of your left foot. Bring both of your hands on the ground and maybe use it as a pillow so that you can rest your head on your hands. Your right foot is reaching as far up as it can. Finding some length in your hamstring. Take a deep inhale, deep exhale. Last breathing. As you breathe out, slowly release the left foot down. Can you keep your right leg as high as it was? Bring your hands right underneath your shoulders. Inhale, push yourself away back in tabletop. Exhale, tuck your left toes. Inhale, send your left leg up and back, three-legged down dog. Breathe out, continue to send your right foot as high as you can. Deep inhale, lift it higher. Breathe out, bring your right knee to your right elbow. Lean all the way forward. Nice, inhale, send it back up. Exhale, knee to nose. Lean forward, shoulders of a rest. Exhale, reach back up. Inhale, lean forward. Exhale, twist your right knee to your left elbow. Hold there for three, hold for two. Inhale, reach back up. Exhale, step your right foot in between your hands. Rest the left knee on the ground. Take a few seconds here to settle into the pose. You can reach for your blocks and bring your hands onto your blocks. Untuck the left toes. Bring the left knee even farther back. Keeping your hands on the mat or on your blocks, allow for your neck to relax down. You're trying to sink your hips as low as you can here. Take an inhale. Big exhale. One more full, but in here. And let it go. In the next breathing, slowly bring your right hand inside of your right leg. Maybe you walk your right foot slightly to the outer edge. As you breathe out, bring your right hand behind your right ankle. Exhale, lengthen the right leg, finding yourself in a halfway split with your right hand holding behind your ankle. Take an inhale, find some length. Breathe out. One more deep breath in here. And let it go. Breathing to re-bend your right knee. See if you can bring your right shoulder inside of your leg. Take an inhale, stay there, sinking your hips even lower. Exhale, lengthen your legs, lean back. Maybe you bring your shoulder even a little bit more lower underneath your right thigh. Trying to keep your right toes very flexed, take an inhale. Deep breath out. Breathing to re-lean back forward. Breathe out, tuck your left toes. Hands on your blocks for more support. Inhale, lengthen both legs, find yourself in a pyramid pose. As you exhale, flex your right toes, lift them off the ground. You got the option to stay here, or walk your hands to the back of your space. Maybe you hold, or see if you can bend your forehead towards your knee. Can you close your eyes, finding stillness in this pose? Take a full bend in. Deep breath out. One more deep inhale. Good. As you breathe out, slowly start re-bending that right leg. Take an inhale, step the right foot back, high plank. Breathe out, bend your elbows, chaturanga. Inhale, up dog or baby cobra. And as you exhale, roll all the way back for downward facing dog. Press your hip bones all the way up to the ceiling. Take a full bend in here. Deep exhale. Notice the difference between one leg and the other. And now we're gonna go ahead and do the other side. Inhale, lean forward. Exhale, both knees on the ground, tabletop again. Breathe in to step the left foot to the back of your space. As you breathe out, tug your toes and start rock and rolling back and forward, just a few rounds. Nice. Eventually find stillness. Keep pressing to the back wall. Take an inhale. Take an exhale. Breathe in here. Tug your right toes. Breathe out, lengthen your hips up and back, finding your modified downward facing dog. Take a full breath in there. Deep breath out. Can you press your belly closer to that right thigh? Last breath in. Exhale to slowly start bringing your right knee on the ground. Keep your left leg extended. Walk your hand slightly forward. Inhale to lean to the front. Exhale, lift your right, your left foot and the other leg. Good. Breathe in to hold. Breathe out. Last inhale. Exhale, lower down towards your forearms just like we did on the other side. We're gonna do some push-ups here. Take an inhale to lean to the front. Exhale, press back. Breathe in, lean forward. Exhale back. Inhale. Exhale back. Last one. Send it forward. Keep your heel as high as you can. Hold there. Feel the burn for three, two, one. Belly on the ground. Rest your left thigh on top of your right foot. Bring your hands on the ground and rest a few seconds there. You're trying to find more length on your top leg. Take an inhale and take an exhale. Last breathing. This is your resting break. As you exhale, slowly coming back to center. Hands underneath your shoulders. Bring your right foot down. Keep the left leg lifted. Use the power of your arms. Inhale, lift up. Nice. Exhale, tuck your right toes. Inhale, send the left leg up and back. Three-legged down dog. Try and lift it as high as you can. Take an inhale. Take a big exhale. Last breathing. Breathe out. Bring your left knee to your left elbow. Lean all the way forward. Good. Inhale, send it back up. Exhale, knee to nose, maybe forehead. Breathing, reach back up. Exhale, twist left knee, right elbow. Hold and stay for three, for two. Inhale, send it up. Exhale, release the left foot out inside of your left hand. Good. Release the right knee on the ground. Tuck the right toes. Once you're in your low lunge, tuck the right toes. Walk the right knee slightly back. Breathing, hands on your blocks or not. Breathe out. Bring your chin down to your chest. Allow for your hips to fall a little deeper. Breathe through these sensations and if you can, bring your hips a little lower as you exhale. Take one more inhale. Exhale, lengthen the left leg. Flex your left toes, halfway split. Allow for your left hip to pull back as your right hip is pulling forward. Nice. Breathing to revent your left knee. Breathe out. Bring your left hand inside of your left foot. Bring your left hand to grab onto your ankle and see if you can scoot your shoulder underneath your left thigh, like if you're wearing it as a backpack. Inhale to stay. Exhale, lengthen your leg, coming down low. Your arm is underneath your left leg. Keep flexing your toes and keep trying to lengthen your spine, although it's arched a little. Good. Breathing to revent. Breathe out, send it back. Good. Last one. Inhale, revent. Exhale, send it back. Stay there. Flex your toes. Take an inhale. Take an exhale. Breathing to start coming all the way up. Breathe out. Walk your left foot slightly to the center. Hands on your blocks for more support. Tuck the right toes. Inhale, lengthen both legs, finding yourself in your pyramid pose. And if you like a tiny bit more, go ahead and flex your left toes. Breathing to stay. Exhale, maybe you bring your forehead towards your left knee. Maybe you walk your hands on your blocks or no blocks to the back of your space for a deeper sensation here. Take a breathing. Big breath out. Last inhale. Exhale, start walking your hands to the front of the mat. Breathing, send the left foot back. High plank. Breathe out. Bend your elbows. Chaturanga. Maybe you come all the way on the ground. Take an inhale. Push up. Maybe cobra or up dog. Exhale, roll over your toes. Find yourself in downward facing dog. Take a few rounds of breath. Now both of your hamstrings are even. They feel lengthened, maybe. Take a few seconds. Just observe how they do. As you inhale, reach the right leg up. Exhale, right knee, right elbow. Breathing, reach up. Exhale, right knee to your nose. Inhale, lengthen. Exhale, twist. Right knee, left elbow. Hold for three. Hold for two. Inhale, three-legged down dog. Exhale, right foot in between your hands. Left knee on the ground. Inhale, reach your arms up. Finding yourself in a low lunge. Exhale, lengthen the front legs. Bring your hands back. Halfway split. Hands can be on your blocks for support. Breathing, point your right toes. Breathe out to stay. Full breath in. Full breath out. Inhale, re-bend your right knee. Reach your arms high. Exhale, halfway split. Lengthen up. Two more. Inhale, reach. Exhale, back. Last one. Inhale, up. Exhale, center back. Breathing up, tuck your toes. Exhale, airplane crescent. Lift the back knee off the ground. Spin your hands to the back of your space. Good. Take a deep inhale there. As you breathe out, slowly reach for your blocks. Place them on the higher setting. Take an inhale to stay here. Exhale, hands on your blocks. Lengthen the front leg. Flex your right toes. Good. Breathe in to re-bend. Spin your hands back. Exhale, lengthen. Lean back. Maybe you bend the left knee to keep yourself even more challenged. Inhale, re-bend. Send your arms back. Exhale, lengthen. Can you do it without your hands, maybe? Breathing forward. Breathe out, back. Inhale, forward. Exhale, back. Last one. Lean forward. Exhale, back and hold there. Take an inhale. Bend the left knee for more challenge as you exhale. One more full breath in here. Your right toes are going to your nose. Exhale, bring the right foot down. Hands on your blocks. Step them a little bit back. Inhale, fly the left leg off the ground all the way up for standing splits. Hands can stay on your blocks or maybe you bring them down to the ground. Option to hold here or see if you can grab onto your right ankle with one hand, maybe both hands. It's a little tricky on the balance. Take a few seconds. Keep trying. You got this. Deep inhale. Deep breath out. Last breath in. Exhale, bring your hands on the mat. Push the foot away. You can have your hands on your blocks or maybe your left and trying to balance on your right tiptoes. Keep sending the left leg as high up as you can. Take a full breath in. Deep exhale. Last inhale. Exhale, release your left foot to meet the right foot. Forward fold. Breathe in. Grab opposite elbows. Breathe out. Bend your knees. Relax your torso. Shake it a little bit side to side. Good. Full inhale. Deep breath out. Slowly release your hands to the ground. Give the next inhale. Halfway lift. Exhale. Forward fold. Good. Again. Inhale. Halfway lift. Exhale. Forward fold. With the next breathing, start coming all the way up. Mountain pose. Hands overhead. Reach up. Exhale. Bring your hands onto your heart center. Good. Again. Breathing. Reach your arms up. Exhale. Hands to your heart center. Tiny pulse on my part. With the next breathing, reach your arms up. Mountain pose. Exhale. Bring your hands forward and down. Forward fold. Breathing. Halfway lift. Exhale. Forward fold. Hands on the mat. Set one foot back. Bend the other. Press your hips up and back. Downward facing dog. Nice. We'll do it on the other side. Take an inhale. Reach your left foot high. Exhale. Bring your left knee to your left elbow. Lean forward. Inhale. Reach back up. Exhale. Knee to nose. Maybe forehead. Inhale. Lengthen up. Exhale. Twist. Left knee, right elbow. Hold here for three. Left higher for two. Inhale. Three-legged down dog. Exhale. Left foot in between your hands. Release the right knee on the ground. Contact the back toes. Inhale. Reach your arms to the sky. As you breathe out, see if you can keep sending your hips forward and down. Balancing on your front foot. Take an inhale. Reach your arms to the sky. Exhale. Slowly start lengthening the front legs. Bring your hands to the back of your space or to your blocks for halfway splits. Your left toes are reaching all the way back to your head. Inhale. Re-bend the front knee. Lean back. Exhale. Halfway split. Inhale. Come back up. Exhale. Lengthen. Last one up. Exhale. Send it back. Good. Breathe in. Reach up. Tuck your right toes. As you exhale, in one single move, lift the back knee off the ground. Send the torso forward. Good. Reach for your blocks. Keep them close to you. Your torso is leaning to the front of your space. Navel is in and out. Take an inhale to stay. Exhale. Hands on your blocks. Lengthen the front leg. Lift your left toes. Breathe in. Re-bend. Sink your hips. Breathe out. Press back. Inhale. Forward. Exhale. Back. Nice. Two more. Breathe in. Lean forward. Exhale. Press back. Last one. Send it forward. As you exhale, slowly send it back and stay there. Flexing your toes. Hands on blocks around the mat. Start walking them back. Try to bring your forehead to your knee. Find the balance. Take a few rounds of breath. Your left heel is pressing down and back. Your right toes are reaching forward. So although your legs are spread apart, you're trying to bring them closer to each other to find a little bit of more sensation on your hamstrings and legs. Take one last inhale. Breathe out to slowly bring your left foot back down on the ground. Bring your hands on your blocks and step them a little bit forward. As you breathe in, stand in split. Fly the right leg as high up as you can. Breathe out. Hands can stay on your blocks or maybe you lower down to the ground. You can hold there or see if you can find that challenge of grabbing onto one ankle and then the other. You want to spread your toes a lot wide and press with the four corners of your foot here. Take an inhale. Take an exhale. Last breath in. Breathe out. Hands on the ground. You can hold here or lean forward. Fly the back heel off the ground. Send it more wide onto your hands. Stack your shoulders on top of your wrists. Full inhale. Deep breath out. Last breath in. Exhale, forward fold. Pedal your feet a tiny bit. Good. With the next inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, forward fold. Once again, breathe in. Halfway lift. You can use your hands on your shins to push their legs away. Exhale, forward fold. Breathe in to slowly start coming all the way up vertebrae by vertebrae. Last thing to roll up is your knees. Once you're up, reach your hands to the sky. Exhale, bring your hands into your heart center. Again, breathe in. Reach your arms up. Exhale, bring your hands into your heart center. Spread your feet a little bit wider than your hips. Heels and toes up. Take an inhale. Reach your arms up. Exhale, slowly start bending your knees, coming all the way down into a Malasana yogi squat. Your heels are slightly in, toes are slightly out. Use your elbows to push the knees away. Take a deep inhale. Deep exhale. Last breath in. Good. As you exhale, with the help of your hands, slowly start finding yourself sitting on the ground. Breathe in to lengthen your right foot forward. Bring the left foot inside of your right thigh. Reach your arms to the sky. Exhale, forward fold towards your right foot. Your toes are flexed. Take an inhale and exhale. Inhale, come back up. Exhale, change sides. Reach your arms up. Breathe out to lean to the front of your space. You don't need to reach for your foot. You can stay up here. Your knee can be slightly bent. Do whatever works for your body at this moment. Don't force anything. Last inhale. Deep breath out. With the next breathing, start coming back up. Bend both legs. As you breathe out, grab the back of your thighs. Inhale to press your belly forward. Roll the shoulders back. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest, arch your spine, and slowly start bringing your body all the way to laying on the ground. Once you're laying on the ground, walk your feet together. Allow for your knees to fall to the outer edges. Bring your hands right next to your body, palms facing up if you're ready to feel empowered and receive energy from the universe. Allow for the gravity to keep pulling your knees to the outer edges. Maybe you place blocks underneath your legs if you feel a little bit too much pressure there. We're going to take two rounds of breath before we close today's practice. Taking the deepest inhale, feel your belly go bigger. Let it go. Last one. Full breath in, and let it out. Feel free to stay here in this pose for as long as it feels good, or maybe you'll lengthen your legs to the front of your space. Take a few seconds here to surrender in your Shavasana, last resting pose. Thank you so much for practicing with me. If you like the outfit that I'm wearing today, make sure you check the shelf below so that you can get one for yourself. Don't forget to check the next video of my series. Bye. Welcome to Yoga Plus. Courses available from pupil to yogi. Sort by yoga, fitness, and instructors. Create your own routines. Access the Pose Library. Yoga Plus by Psyche Truth, available on Google Play and the App Store. Join us for 14 and 30-day programs, hour-long classes, and much more on our yoga app, Yoga Plus by Psyche Truth. It's free to download and features a variety of wellness content including yoga, fitness, Pilates, guided meditations, and interviews with dozens of wellness experts.