Quick Hands-Free Yoga Practice (No Down Dogs or Chaturangas)

“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>

This short 15-minute morning sequence is a hands-free yoga practice that includes no weight-bearing poses to give your wrists and hands a break. There are no Planks, no Downward Facing Dogs, no Chaturangas, no Tabletops, nothing of that kind of thing.

The practice is perfect for any experience level and is designed to be a full-body stretch with a mix of seated and standing poses targeting the hips, hamstrings, shoulders, and spine. So there’s a little more focus on the lower body and a lot less focus on straining your wrists in this hands-free yoga practice.

15-Minute Hands-Free Yoga Flow

The extent to which you use your arms in this 15-minute hands-free yoga flow is when you need to support transitioning from seated to standing. You can also use this practice if you’re traveling and didn’t bring your mat but still want to practice.

Seated Side Bend

Sit cross legged, and if you want, you can stagger your right shin slightly in front of your left one and roll your shoulders down and away from your ears. Really lengthen through the crown of your head. And we’ll begin with a side bend so you can crawl your right fingertips out to the side and reach your left arm up and over. As you lean to the right, really ground and anchor down into that left hip. You’re not putting any weight on your right hand. It’s really more of a lift than a side bend. Relax your head and your neck.

Seated Twist

Come back through center and carry this over into a twist so your left hand goes to your right knee. You can bring the right fingertips behind you and just rotate your chest to the right. You’re not slouching. You’re not leaning forward or backward. You’re just staying tall and drawing your lower belly toward the spine and releasing as you come back through to center.

Head to Knee Pose Variation

Straighten and extend your right leg off to the side. Keep your left leg and left foot exactly where they are and rotate your chest so you’re facing your right knee. Flex through your right foot and activate your right leg so it’s super dynamic and you’re engaging all the muscles. Maintain a flat back as you lean forward toward your toes. You can reach with your hands if you want or just keep them beside you for support and find a stretch here.

You really don’t need to go too far into this variation of Head to Knee Pose. Lengthen and stretch through your spine as you sit tall and then just kind of crawl and reach out, not going very far, finding a comfortable edge within your range of motion, so that there is sensation but no pain.

Take another breath here and then transition into a passive forward fold. So this time you can kind of let the knee bend a little bit, and you can just round and relax through your upper body. So there’s no pushing, there’s no pulling. Let gravity pull you into the stretch with no effort required on your end. You’ll probably feel this stretch along your spine as well as your hamstrings.

Stay here for one more belly breath and then lift all the way up.

We’ll redo that sequence on the other side, this time sitting with your left shin in front of your right one. Begin with a side bend as you bring your left fingertips out to the side for stability and support, then a twist, and then a forward bend. Lift all the way up and back through to center.

Half Sun Salutation

Come to stand at the top of the mat. However you need to get there, if you’re trying to do this hands-free, a challenge is to see if you can cross at the ankles and push your feet into the floor to lift yourself up and standing tall in Mountain Pose (Tadasana).

Do a Half Sun Salutation by inhaling and circling your arms wide to bring your palms to touch overhead. Exhale as you fold all the way down into a Standing Forward Bend. You can absolutely bend your knees here. Inhale as you halfway lift with a flat back. Exhale and fold back down. As you inhale, press all the way up to standing with your hands together at your heart.

High Lunge

From standing, step your left foot back into a High Lunge. See if you can bend generously into your left knee and tuck the tailbone slightly to feel a stretch through your hip flexors. Stay here if you’d like to intensify this stretch. Then open your arms into a cactus shape and add a little backbend as you keep your elbows lifted.

Pyramid Pose

Come back upright and straighten your back leg and bring your palms in front of the chest. Bring your back foot in a little so you can ground your back heel at a 45-degree angle and press into both feet evenly. Your hands can stay at your heart or move to your hips as you come into Pyramid Pose. Inhale as you lift and lengthen through your spine and exhale as you hinge forward. Maybe you’re going to work at being parallel to the ground and hold a flat back, making this more active. Or you can make this a more passive forward fold by letting your upper body round forward and relax in this intense hamstring stretch.

Half Sun Salutation

Inhale and press into both feet as you lift yourself halfway to standing. Then bring your hands to your hips and come all the way up to standing. Step to the top of the mat and take another half Sun Salutation from here. Inhale as you lift your arms, exhale as you fold forward, inhale as you lift halfway and bring the body weight more into the balls of the feet, exhale and fold forward. Inhale as you press to stand all the way up, hands at your heart.

Step your right foot back and repeat High Lunge, taking Cactus Arms and a slightly back bend if you’d like and Pyramid Pose on this side.

Warrior 2

From standing at the front of the mat, keep your right leg where it is and step your left foot back into Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana II) with your chest facing the long side of the mat. Bend your right knee and extend your arms straight as you squeeze your shoulder blades behind you, palms facing up. Really feel this engagement through your upper back and maintain this squeeze even as you turn your palms to face down.

Reverse Warrior

Come into Reverse Warrior by releasing your left hand down and reaching your right arm up.

Standing Wide-Legged Forward Bend

Come all the way back to center and straighten your right leg and turn your right foot in so both feet are parallel and facing the long side of the mat. Bring your hands to your hips, inhale as you lift, and exhale as you fold all the way down into Wide-Legged Forward bend. You can do any arm variation that you’d like during your hands-free yoga practice.

Try to let go of tension through your neck so your head can just be heavy, decompressing along the spine, stretching through the back of your legs.

Inhale as you lift back up halfway, bring your hands to your hips and push your feet into the floor to come all the way up to standing. You’re going to come into Warrior 2 on the other side by turning your left toes to point toward the back of the mat and bend into your left knee. Come into Reverse Warrior for a big side body stretch.

Goddess Pose

And then come back through to center, straighten the left leg, and this time, you’re going to have your heels in, toes out, so kind of pointing towards the top corners of your mat. And we’re going to come into Temple or Goddess Pose so the elbows and the knees bend. This is like a really wide, deep squat. Think of lengthening your tailbone down, drawing the lower belly in, and still squeezing your shoulder blades behind you.

Half Sun Salutation

Turn and step forward to stand at the top of the mat. Inhale as you reach your arms alongside your ears and exhale as you fold forward and continue with that until you’re back to standing with your hands at your chest.

Squat

Widen your feet and angle your feet outward as you lower down into a squat. Press your palms together at your chest and use your elbows to push your knees a little wider, lifting the crown of the head.

Easy Pose

From here, slowly come to sit in any way that is comfortable for your hips and your lower back, tryin to keep it a hands-free yoga transition. When you’re seated, lengthen through your spine, relax your shoulders, and find your breath here.

Pause here. You might want to choose a word that captures how you want to feel today, a simple one word intention as you take another moment to breathe deeply before you return to your day.

RELATED: 10 Easy Ways to Stretch and Strengthen Your Wrists