8 Yoga Exercises for you to try at Home [2020]

These are challenging times, that require new habits and positive changes, which help us to evolve as human beings.

Trying something new and making it part of the daily routine, either during social isolation or even when we return to our normal lives, can be good for your health and well-being.

And why not start with yoga?

The benefits of Yoga

Yoga is a complex system of spiritual, moral, and physical practices that aims to work the body and mind in an interconnected way.

With exercises that help those who practice it feeling better, both psychologically and physically, yoga can be done by anyone, regardless of gender and age.

Known for being one of the most sought-after practices by athletes – even amateurs - in addition to providing positive feelings, yoga has many benefits.

Controls stress and help reduce anxiety

While practicing yoga, you have to be fully concentrated on the present, letting the mind go from real life and all the problems around it.

This feeling provides emotional balance and great inner peace.

Yoga can help you cope with anxiety problems thanks to breathing exercises and muscle relaxation that lessen physical signs of anxiety, such as pressure, stiffness, and pain.

Helps with weight loss

As previously mentioned, yoga can help you cope with anxiety problems and, consequently, the desire to eat, resulting in a decrease in calories consumed daily.

In addition, the exercises also help you with fat and calories loss, depending on the style you choose to practice.

Improves heart and lung health 

Many yoga poses help regulate the nervous system, improve blood circulation, heart rate, and blood pressure.

In addition, this practice helps you balance the endocrine system and respiratory capacity, thanks to lung expansion and breathing control exercises.

After this brief summary of what yoga is and some of its benefits for your health, there is something important to mention: it's completely possible to do it at home. And for that, you only need to know some exercises.

1. Cat/Cow Pose

This is a basic yoga position, which helps you warm up the spine and chest, before starting more complex poses.

To begin, put yourself with your hands and knees on a mat, placing your knees towards your hips, arms straight, aligning your hands with your shoulders.

Inhale, lifting your chest and looking at the ceiling. Drop all your weight to the abdominal and tilt your spine.

Then exhale and push your hands and knees towards the floor, bending your back and redirecting your eyes to your belly button. Repeat the sequence a few times. 

2. Adho Mukha Svanasana

This is one of the most popular poses in yoga, and it's great for stretching and warming the entire back of the body, in addition to working the flexibility of the shoulders and chest.

Start by placing your feet and hands on the floor, making your body in the shape of a triangle: where the legs are one side of the triangle, and the back, arms the other side, using a mat as the base.

Bend your knees, lift your heels, lift your butt and support your hands firmly on the floor, as if you are pushing it away. Hold that position for at least 30 seconds. 

3. Airplane pose

A great exercise for yoga beginners as it helps you improve your posture and balance.

First, put yourself in an airplane position: standing up, stretch one leg back and up, move your torso so that it stays aligned with the leg that is stretched backward until your body maintains a straight and aligned structure.

Then, stretch aside both arms, supporting the arm that goes towards the floor on a yoga block. This way the block will help you maintain posture and gain balance. 

4. Snake pose

Great for stretching, the position that follows is called the snake pose and is quite simple to perform. Besides, it helps to strengthen the abdominal area and the back.

To start, lie on your stomach on top of a mat. Stretch your legs as far as you can, then stretch your arms so that your hands are aligned with your shoulders. This will cause your torso to be in an inclined position.

Make sure your toes touch the floor. You can also use a yoga block to support your hands. Hold this position for at least 30 seconds, breathing in and out slowly.

5. Apply myofascial roller inside the thigh

For this exercise, start by lying on your left side with the myofascial roller in front of you, parallel to your body.

Then, place the straight leg as close as possible to being perpendicular to the left and bend it to create a 90-degree knee angle, as shown in the picture. Place the inside of your thigh on the foam roller and slowly lean forward and back.

Do the exercise a total of 20 times and then switch sides. Performing this exercise gives an intense sensation in the knee and hip.

6. Apply myofascial roller on the back

This exercise works not only the glutes and the abdominal area but also the muscles that surround the scapula.

To perform it, start by placing yourself in a basic abdominal position and place the roller under your back. Then, cross your arms over your chest, raise your glutes and roll up and down so that the roller moves along your back, creating myofascial relief. 

7. Yoga Wheel Backbends

The next exercise helps a lot to mobilize the spine, stretching, and relieving the tension in the muscles of the back, neck, shoulders, abdominal, and hips.

To perform this exercise, you'll need the help of a yoga wheel.

First, sit on a mat with your knees bent and the yoga wheel positioned under your back.

Then, push backwards as if you were lying down with the help of the wheel.

When lying down, stretch your arms and legs as far as you can, then bring your legs up over your torso with your knees bent.

When you reach with your knees to your face, stretch your legs back. Finally, just push the body to the starting position, always with the yoga wheel positioned under the back.

8. Yoga wheel plank

This exercise is particularly good for muscle strengthening, especially the shoulders, arms, back, and abdominal area.

To do this, start by placing yourself in a plank position with your body straight from head to toes. Your toes need to be touching the floor and your arms bent with your palms flat on the floor.

Then, place the yoga wheel under your thighs and on your knees, as shown in the picture.