 Hi, during these trying times of the pandemic, the City of Columbia Parks and Recreation Department realizes that choices can be limited in enhancing one's physical, social, and mental well-being. The Parks and Recreation staff have been involved in developing a number of videos in which citizens can participate in and enjoy in the privacy of their own home. These videos consist of arts and crafts, gardening, physical activity, and sports instruction, with many more to come as we work through this pandemic. The videos will be available to you on a number of our social media outlets. We hope you enjoy and thank you very much. Hello, Columbia. We're here today at your wellness. I'm Diane, fitness coordinator over here. We're very excited to bring some yoga at home for you. I want you to grab a couple of things that might help. If you have a yoga block, they come in different sizes or a yoga strap. Now, if you don't have these, you can grab a belt or a towel or just something stable that you can use to prop yourself up on. You might need a chair, which is totally fine. We might go a little deeper in our next video session to go to chair yoga so everybody can do this one. But play along, go at your own pace, flow with us. I promise it'll feel really good afterwards. If you can't get something, don't get frustrated. It takes a lot of time and patience and practice. All right, we're going to stand up nice and tall. We're going to take a couple big deep breaths through the nose, exhale through the mouth. Again, one more time. Just getting those lungs ready to work. All right, let's take our stance a little wider. Now, if you can see my mat, I have one going long ways and one going sideways just for camera angles. But for you, you could just go down onto one mat. We're going to wide, nice wide stance. Our toes are going out towards the corners of the mat. We're going to take some big deep breaths with the arms. Exhale, nice and wide like you're stretching. Again, two more, one more. We're just going to gently reach up and over, side to side, a little dynamic stretching to get the body warmed up and ready to move and stretch. I should warn you that I have a few injuries that I work with. My good knees, my left knee, but it has gone down on me. So I will be modifying a lot of things today, which means you can totally do this workout too. One more each side. Let's go back to the beginning. Bend those knees, big deep breath. Exhale like you're stretching. Again, two more, last one, reach up and over, lengthening out through the fingers all the way down to the hips, bending that knee slightly as you go. Make sure your toes are going towards the area you're folding towards, it's a little safer on the knees. Now once you start to get warmed up, you can feel that you can go a little bit deeper in these stretches. All right, we're going to do one more each side and then bring it back to the center. Two big, big deep breaths. Reach over two times each. Let's do that one more time. Our body is nice and heated up. Reach up and over, come back center, drop those shoulders and let's just roll them back. Lift the chin off the chest, opening up the chest, rolling those shoulders. Now take it in the opposite direction and then come to a solid stance. We're going to do a little pulling in of our belly, flat back, roll down. Inhale on the way down and then exhale and just roll that spine. It should feel so good. Inhale down, exhale, we're going to add a little tummy work on this one. Roll down, exhale through the mouth, pull that belly button in. That's getting those core muscles ready to work, ready to stabilize the body. Two more. Last one, good. Shake it out. Let's go to the top of our mat. We're going to stand nice and tall. We're going to stand about hip-width apart with our feet so you have a nice solid base just for a little balance. If you find any balance troubles, just walk your feet out a little bit more. It gives you a wider base to work with. We're going to start with a couple sun salutations to really get heated up and then we're going to move it down to the floor. All right, one big deep breath. Exhale, dive down. Holds here and forward fold. Let the head go down towards the ground, easing into that hamstring stretch. We're going to gently just walk our hands to one side. Walk your hands to the other side. Back to the center. Step back with your right foot. Our feet again are about hip-width apart for a good balance. I technically shouldn't need my hands for this one. We're going to keep our one hand down on the ground and then lift up through the left. Another option for this is just lower that lack-back knee. If you have something like a towel or something that you need, this is a little cushion that I got at probably TJ Maxx or Marshalls or something like that, you can use that. That'll stabilize a little bit. Then we're just going to twist away, bring both hands back down to the mat. Take both feet to the back of the mat, into that down dog. Spread your hands nice and wide like a starfish for good balance. We're just going to sink our body weight back into those heels. Prepare, start to inhale. We're going to come forward into our plank. Modification, drop to your knees. You're still holding your belly button in nice and tight. My chest is lifted, open, and then we're going to lower to the ground. If you want to go Chaturanga style, you can, otherwise I'm just going to go down nice and easy, elbows, and then into a small baby cobra. Great deep breath. Exhale, let's go back to down dog. Stepping forward with that right foot again. And then we should be twisting to the opposite side. Come forward. We're going to straighten that front leg out just a tad bit. Start to lengthen out the back of the leg. You may have a little more difficulty, especially if it's early when you're doing this workout. So just kind of move your knee back and forth and loosen it up. Right here, we're going to take it all the way to the top of the mat. You're going to watch me have to kind of like hop because of my knees, and that's okay. Take your time. Back to that forward fold. We're going to roll ourselves up to a standing position. Let the head, the vertebrae, stack right on top of each other like a rag doll coming up, standing nice and tall at the top. On the chest, drop the shoulders back. We made it through one. Big deep breath. We're going to hold it up here, interlock those fingers if you want. Exhale into a baby back bend. Bring it back to center. Gently tip towards your side, your right, I believe, your left. I forgot to ask if we're mirrored or not. So I'll be working my right back to center. Big deep breath. Come all the way up. Exhale, dive back down. We're going to do the same exact thing on the other side. Step back with your left foot or your opposite foot than you just did. Holding here. Drop that knee if you need, otherwise we're going to keep that arm down and reach into the sky. Pam that's up in the air. It's coming down towards the ground. We're going to take that front foot to meet the back one into the back down dog. Take a little breather here if you need. Push those heels into the ground, bringing it forward to that plank. Remember to drop your knees if you need, otherwise we're stacking our shoulders, elbows, wrists right on top of each other, pulling that belly button in. There should be a straight line from your shoulders down to your feet. Start to lower. Chaturanga, if you know what that is, otherwise follow me. Lower to your knees and come down nice and easy. Into our baby cobra. You are welcome to go a little higher if you want, if you're ready to go a little deeper into your stretches. Coming back down, inhale, tuck those toes, exhale back to down dog. I led with my left foot that time. That means that foot is coming forward, back to our lunge and twist away. Bringing both hands down, both feet back to the top of the mat, forward fold. Let your head go, let that spine relax. If you feel comfortable with it, take your hands to your elbows and gently just feel that nice pull going down the hamstrings, down the legs. Little bit in that lower back. Walk your hands over to your right side and see if you can't take that left hand a little farther. So you feel a nice stretch going from your wrist up around that shoulder. And let's walk it to the other side. Back to center. We're going to roll ourselves up to a standing position again. If you had trouble with that first one, I'm going to show you a different option. Bend your knees flat back and roll it up like we did in the warm-up that will save your low back. Stand nice and tall. Lift that chin up, chest out, shoulders back and down. Take deep breath up, coming into that baby back bend. Back to center over to one side and other side. Back to center. Let's take a big deep breath. Exhale and dive back down. We're going to do that one more time on each side. Step back with your right foot and this time we're going to challenge our balance a little bit. Do a little leg work for this left leg and this left knee. You want this knee stacked right on that ankle for really good support. Keep this hand down if you need. You can come up here if you're comfortable. I'm also going to grab a block so you can see what that looks like. So most of my body weight is sitting right here. All right, let's take it back to down dog. Forward to plank. Lower down. Chaturanga or my little cheat. Come down. You've got to work with what you're given. Injuries should not make you stop your workouts. Just modify. Step back. Let's go back down. Tuck those toes all the way back to down dog. I led with my right foot that time so that foot's coming back forward. Going back to that lunge. Feel free to drop that left knee if you need. Use this block. Use two blocks, two chairs, whatever gets you the stability you need. Knee over ankle. Good. We're going to come back to that top of that mat. Forward fold. Let's roll ourselves up. Remember your little flat back roll if you have lower back issues or knee issues. Come back to the top. Stand nice and tall. One more time through. Come up to our baby back bend. Over to one side and switch back to center. All right, this is our last time through. We're going to be leading with my left foot. Do what you can. Go back to the first level if you need to. We're going to add just a little bit this time through. Breathe deep breath. Exhale, dive down. Step back with that left foot. Drop to the knee if you need. Blocks if you need. Chairs if you need. Holding here. We're going to add just a little bit of movement five times. Down. Up. Last one. Good. Let's take it back all the way down dog. Hold here, sink those heels into the ground. Forward to plank. All right, lower down. All the way down. Pick your level. Before we go anywhere, we're going to do a little bit for the lower back. Come down. Let's scoot back. My elbows are on the ground. My hands are on the ground. It's a little back, kind of a crunch for your back. Look up and over one shoulder and then switch. If you want to add to this one, squeeze your tushy, your glute muscles. It's going to bring your feet off the ground just a tiny bit, but it's going to add that full body flow to it. All right, let's do one more each side. Bring those hands back. Push it all the way back to down dog. Hold here for a second, rebalance. We led with my left last time, so I'm stepping forward with my left. Going into that lunge. Remember, you can drop that knee. You can keep your hands down. Blocks, chairs, or come all the way up. Challenge your balance, knee over ankle. Five little ones. Down, last one. Good, bring it all the way to the top. Stand nice and tall. Let's roll those shoulders back. I'm going to take it a little wider on the mat. Move these out of my way. We're going to go a little deeper for the hamstrings, but we're going to add some chest. So if you can interlock a couple of fingers behind, we're going to start there. If that's too much, just rest your hands and open up the chest as much as you can. We're going to start to forward fold down. And notice my hands are still kind of hanging out here. If you have super tight shoulders, you might be fine right there. Don't push it. You may be able to just come out a little bit or interlock and open. Go ahead and let those hands come down towards the ground. And we're just going to back and forth, little kind of lunge. Now my body weight is in my heels. So you can see my toes can actually come off the mat. And I'm really just doing that to show you where my body weight is setting. Pick one side, doesn't matter which one. Lean in, pop that toe if you want, and switch. Bring it back to center. We're going to walk our feet just a little bit in to get to a standing position. We're going to go back to that flat back roll. So my knees are bent, flat back. Exhale, roll all to the top. Nice. We're going to take it down to the mat. I'm going to take a quick second to get some water. You should too. Lots of water, especially this time of year. It's hot out there. We get very dehydrated. As you can tell, I'm sweating already. All right, so we're down on the mat. I'm in a comfortable seated position for now. We're going to have two different angles here. So you're going to probably see me sideways. It might be better. You might have to move your phone. I'd rather you move your phone to the side of you. So when we're on the ground, just look your head this way. Otherwise, you're going to strain your neck trying to look up in some weird directions. So nice big deep breath. Exhale, let's roll down one vertebrated time. Use the back of the knees or the legs if you need. And just kind of hold it. From here, we're just going to bring our knees up. Gently rock side to side. Massage out that low back area. Gets real tight, especially as a far. When our hips get tight, our low back hips tight. Usually causes some back injuries. Both directions. And come back to center. We're going to start with some glute raises. So start with a bridge. Now your bridge lines up kind of like the plank. So I have a straight line for my shoulder, to my hip, to my knee, and then down. As we start to move, you're going to notice your knees kind of go in and out. And I want you to pay attention to that. Means you have a little instability in your hip somewhere. And we're going to try to correct that instability. Inhale down. Exhale, come all the way up. Pull that belly button in and squeeze your tushy. We're just going to do 10 of these. Take your time. If I go too fast or something or too slow, it's a great thing about video. You can pause and do your whole thing about halfway through. Two more. Hold that last one up there. If you need a break, go ahead and lower your bum down. Bring your knees into your chest. We'll go there in just a second. All right, ease yourself down. That was a lot of good strength for the quads and the tushy. And let's just rock it back and forth. Now we're going to stretch these hamstrings nice and deep. This is when you're going to need either a yoga strap. But like I said, you really don't need a yoga strap. If you have a belt, that works better than a towel, in my opinion, but everybody's got towels we're laying around to. So we're going to start with our right leg. You're going to put that strap right in the center of your foot. And if you're super flexible, which I technically am, I don't really need it either, but sometimes I like it for the next one we're about to do. We're going to hold each of these hamstring hip stretches for about 20 to 30 seconds. So we get some nice deep stretching. And with these, you'll start to feel the muscles breaking a little bit. That means you can go a little deeper into your stretch. That increases your flexibility. So when you feel it, take a big deep breath, exhale, and just pull a little deeper. If you're comfortable with it, you can straighten that other leg out. However, that might put some stress in that left hip. So listen to your body. Now we're going to take that same foot a little wider than our body. And this is where the strap comes very much in hand. So if you have a belt that's nice and long, take it out, getting that inner thigh. And not only are we bringing it out, but we're kind of bringing it up towards our shoulder just slightly. All right, it starts to bring that leg back in. And then we're gonna cross over. Our back is still flat on the ground at this point. And we're switching our hands with that strap and taking it up and across. And that just starts to get that IT band. That gets really tight, especially if you're out there walking. The IT band and the hip flexors get real tight. So it's really important to put a little yoga stretching into your routine. And then we're just gonna let that foot go down towards the ground, lifting that hip. Right hip is what's one I'm using. You're welcome to stay here or take that right hand. I love this part. Palm facing up, start to push that shoulder blade down, gazing out towards those fingertips. So I'm getting a nice little neck stretch. And then we're gonna start to bring it back. Now the safest way to get back, is bend the knee slightly. Bring it back to center. Both legs are flat. We're gonna switch our band, which is easy if you have one of these, into our other leg. We're gonna start with that hamstring stretch. Again, this leg can either be bent, especially if you have tight hip flexors. It's gonna feel more comfortable, but you wanna try to lengthen those out as much as possible. And then remember when it starts to feel a little loose, you can go a little deeper into that stretch. Big deep breath. Exhale, take it wider than our body. Start to bring it back up. Bend that knee a little bit if you need. And then remember our back is flat. We're gonna switch our hands with that strap. Gently take it across the body, feeling that IT band. And sometimes it's nice to just run your hand up and down that IT band. It gives it a little warmth. Gets it a little easier stretch. Now go ahead and take that foot all the way down to the ground. You're picking that other hip up. You're welcome to stay here. Or take that hand out, palm facing up. Look out towards those fingertips with your eyes. Start to roll it back center. Bend that knee a little bit to get you there. Come back to center. We're gonna take both legs up in the air. This is called legs of the wall. It's really nice to do this on the wall or on a recliner, or even just sitting next to the couch. Put your legs up on the couch where you normally sit and you're laying on the ground. I'm not gonna stay here too long. But this is a nice one to get all the blood flow through the body. Go ahead and unhook yourself. Let's put that strap to the side. We're gonna do a little hip stretch. I'm gonna give you two options. So one is just to hold this knee straight in. And then try to bring that knee towards the middle of your body. Your piriformis gets in there. If you're doing some walking that gets really tight along with that IT band and that gets a little stretch. The second one is we're gonna take that same foot and place it above the opposite knee into a figure four. Now, depending on your knees, your knees may not like this because they weren't really made to twist and turn. So just listen to your body. If it feels weird, go back to this one. This is a really good hip opener. You can even add on to this one by coming through and grabbing onto that thigh and taking your elbow and just gently pushing that thigh out. Little external rotation with that hip. Go ahead and relax. We're gonna do the same thing on the other side. So remember, one level is just bring that knee in. And if it feels, if it hurts to put pressure on the top of your knee, walk it underneath and grab onto one of these big chunky muscles instead of your joints. Option one, option two is that figure four on the other side. And everybody's a little different in their flexibility. If you go to class, you'll notice some people, it's not for them to do this. I'm a little more flexible than the average folk. So I'm a little wonky and I'm actually like triple quadruple jointed, which isn't that great either. Go ahead and release. We're gonna roll ourselves up to the top, either like a little ball or I'm gonna show you a different way. Just come to your elbow and push yourself up to a seated position. We're gonna keep those knees bent again. We're gonna do a little twist. So take your opposite elbow to your opposite knee and then start to look over that shoulder. Let's bring it up and then switch other side and then bring it all the way back to center. Let's go into a comfortable seated position. Cross-legged, if that's comfortable. If you're okay with a little bit more, you can come here. We're just gonna sit nice and easy. Take a big deep breath up. Let's interlock those fingers and then press your palms to the sky. Let's take it over to one side and then the other. Let's drop down, place those palms out towards you. Again, open up the chest. Chin up, chest out, shoulders back and down. Once you've spent enough time with me, you'll hear that all the time. We're just gonna pull those shoulder blades back and down. Now bring it out in front and pull those shoulder blades away. Relax, take the hands behind. Either interlock, open up the chest. If that's too much, walk your hands out like this. Just feel that nice stretch going through the chest and back. Just shake your wrist out. Going into a nice, easy seated position. You can close your eyes if you're comfortable. Exhale, let your hands rest right on your knees, on your lap, let your head fall forward. We're gonna switch our breathing to our nose and just let all the muscles running from your head down to your spine, down your neck. Relax, switch your breathing to your nose if you haven't. Now gently take your head from one shoulder to the other. Nice and easy, kind of rocking back and forth. Still breathing through the nose. Take it back to center, chin resting softly on the chest. Start to pick your head up. We're gonna inhale, take a big deep breath. Exhale through the mouth, let your head fall back. Let those shoulders melt right into the ground. Let your mouth gap open. Switch your breathing to your mouth. All the muscles running through your jaw, down your neck, relax. Gently roll your head from one shoulder to the other. Nice and easy. Now we're gonna take it a couple times around in a full range of motion. Take it real easy. Go one more time that direction. Go ahead and switch directions. Last time around, we're gonna finish this last circle with our head resting, chin on chest. Take one second to just give thanks. What's your thankful for today? The air that we breathe, the fact that we have video so we can still connect to each other. Start to lift your head, open your eyes, take a big deep breath. Exhale with a big smile. Namaste. Thank you so much for coming. I really enjoyed being with you today. I cannot wait to see you in person, but until then, we have video to connect to you. Very excited. Be safe, be well. Have a great day.