Yoga Stretch for Lower Body Flexibility & Strength | Release Tight Quads & Hip Flexors

Hey there, welcome back. My name is Liberty, and we're doing our series for the lower body. In today's class, we're gonna be targeting the quads and the hip flexors. We're gonna use two blocks for today's class, so let's go ahead and get started. If you're in a place where you're gonna practice with me right now, save this on your watch later, and join me whenever you can. Okay, y'all, let's go ahead and get started. We'll start today in a child's pose. So go ahead and bring your big toes to touch, open your knees as wide as your mat, send your hips to sit on your heels. Walk your hands to the front of the mat, and then bring your forehead on the ground. Once you're here, take a deep inhale through the nose. Open mouth, let it go. Good, a few more just like that. Deep breath in, fill out the belly. And let it out. Beautiful, last one. Take a deep breath, inhale. Maybe you walk your fingertips slightly more forward. As you exhale, see if you can bring your heart closer to the ground. Take one more deep inhale. Let it out. Good, with the next inhale, slowly start rolling your body away from your heels and into your tabletop position. Walk your hands slightly back so they can be right underneath your shoulders. Make sure your knees are slightly in so they can be underneath your hip bones. Really spread your fingers wide. Take an inhale to bring your belly down, shoulders up, gaze up, find your cow pose. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest. Nice, a few more like that. Inhale, belly down and open. Exhale, push the far away. Continue there, inhale to open. Exhale, push away. Nice. Find a little bit of flow. Continue here moving. You can move your hips side to side. Maybe you move your body in some rotations. One way and the other. Allow for your body to just find a little bit of flow. Close your eyes and follow your intuition. Noticing which way your body wants to move today. Good, slowly start walking your hands to the right side of your space. Keep your hands shoulder width apart. Take an inhale, lean towards that right side, shoulders on top of your head. Exhale, press your hips towards the back left corner. Sink your shoulders down. Good, few more, inhale forward. Exhale, press back. Breathe in, lean forward. Breathe out, press back. Last one, lean. Exhale, send it back. Good, inhale, slowly start lifting. Exhale, walk your hands through center and all the way towards the left side of your space. Same thing here, your palms are shoulder width apart. Take an inhale, lean towards your wrist. Exhale, press your hips back to the right corner. Inhale, forward. Exhale, press back. Two more, leaning forward. Exhale, lean back down. Last one, inhale forward. Exhale, press back. Take an inhale, hold there. Exhale, walk your hands back into center. Breathe in to slowly start coming out of this pose. Exhale, walk your hands as forward as you can. Keep your hips on top of your knees and start sinking your heart down to the ground. Maybe you bring your forehead on the mat, maybe your chin, maybe your chest. Take a few seconds here. Opening the front side body. Take a deep breath in, deep breath out. Few more rounds of breath. Deep inhale and let it go. Good, as you're breathing slowly, bring yourself back into center. Breathe out, readjust your pose for your tabletop. Take an inhale, tuck your toes. Exhale, lift your knees off the ground, send your body up and back, downward facing dog. Take a few seconds to pedal your feet here, allow for the body to move side to side. Good, with the next inhale, slowly start looking forward. Exhale, start walking your hands to the back of your space for a forward fold on the back of the mat. Inhale, grab opposite elbows. Exhale, relax your head and start moving your torso slightly side to side. You can keep your knees micro-bended. Maybe you lengthen one leg and then the other as you wiggle your torso from one edge to the other. Good, take one more inhale here. As you exhale, release your hands back down on the ground. Take an inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, forward fold. Two more breathing, halfway lift. Exhale, forward fold. Inhale, come all the way to the back, vertebrae by vertebrae. Last thing to roll up is your neck. Nice, once you're up, reach your hands to the sky. Exhale, bring your hands onto your heart center. Again, inhale, reach your arms up. Exhale, hands to the heart. Bring your feet together, breathe in, reach your arms high. Exhale, grab your left wrist with your right hand. Breathe in, pull up. Exhale, lean to the right side. Inhale, lift your left heel. Exhale, step the left foot behind the right, bend the right knee, pull to the right side of your space. Big stretch on the left side of your body. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Inhale, bring yourself back into center. Exhale, change the grip. Inhale, pull your right wrist up. Exhale, send your right wrist to the left side. Inhale, lift the right heel. Exhale, step the right foot behind the left, bend the left knee, pull as far left as you can. Deep stretch through the right side body. Deep inhale, bigger exhale. Inhale, come back into center. Exhale, release your hands behind your back, interlace your fingers. Take an inhale, push the hands away, open your heart. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest. Send your hips back, tiny bend on the knees. Relax your torso all the way forward and down for a forward fold with a bind. Keep pressing your hands away from you. If at some point this feels too intense, you can grab opposite elbows. Take one more inhale as you stay. Exhale, release your hands down to the mat. Take an inhale, halfway lift. Exhale, forward fold. Breathing, walk your hands all the way to the front of the mat, finding yourself in a high plank. Exhale, slowly bend your elbows, come all the way down into your belly. Untuck your toes. Keep your hands where they are. Take an inhale to lift your chest. Good, as you exhale, make your chin go down to your chest to keep the neckline long and straight. You can stay here with the next inhale, left hands and feet off the ground. Start powering through the back body. Breathe out, can you lift your thighs even higher? Good, take one more inhale. Notice your glutes engaging towards each other, heels to touch. Breathe out to stay. Last inhale. Exhale, bring everything down on the ground. Walk your hands slightly towards your low ribs. Breathing to push the front away, lift your torso for high cobra. Your elbows can stay slightly bent. If you feel ready for more challenge, press with the top of your feet. Lengthen the arms, engage your glutes for up dog. Roll the shoulders down and back. Take an inhale, gaze up. Exhale, roll over your toes. Find yourself in downward facing dog. Take a deep inhale, send your sit bones to the sky. Breathe out, send your belly to your thighs. Inhale, reach the left leg high. Exhale, step the left foot in between your hands. Bring the back knee on the ground. Inhale, reach your arms high, finding yourself in your low lunge. Exhale to sit a little deeper. Good, take one more inhale here. Exhale, bring your right hand outside of your left knee, left hand outside of your right thigh. Breathing, lengthen the torso. Exhale, twist a little deeper. Good, take a deep inhale. Deep breath out. Last breath in. Exhale to release your twist, frame your left foot. Inhale, lengthen the left leg, flex your toes. Exhale, bring your hands onto your blocks around your left foot. Take an inhale, point your left toes. As you exhale, lean as far forward as you can. Start pulsing and lifting that left foot for five, four, three, two, you got this, and last one, bring it down. Flex your foot, pull your hips back. Take an inhale to revenge your left knee. Bring your right hand inside of your left foot. Inhale, lift the back knee off the ground, twist to the left side of your space. Exhale, draw circles with your left shoulder, one direction, and the other. Good, as you inhale, re-lengthen the arm up. Exhale, frame your left foot. Inhale, stand in splits. Send the right leg as high as you can. Breathe out to hold. Take one more deep breath in. Exhale, bring your right knee to your nose. Inhale, power with that left leg, send your body all the way up. Good, take an inhale, grab onto your right knee, pull it even closer to you. Exhale, send your right foot all the way to the front of your space. You can keep your knee bent, or maybe you extend the leg. Turn your shoulder slightly forward. Hold here. Good, deep breath in. Deep breath out. One more full inhale. Exhale, send the foot all the way back with control. Kick the foot to the back while finding warrior three. Deep breath in here. Deep breath out. Can you lower your right hip slightly? Good, one more deep inhale. Exhale, release your right toes to the back of the mat. Inhale, raise your arms to the sky. Exhale, open your arms in cactus. Breathe in, raise your arms up. Exhale, open arms in cactus. Two more, breathe in, up. Exhale, arms in cactus. Last one, up. Exhale, arms in cactus. Hold there, take an inhale. Exhale, bring both elbows to touch. Breathe in, lift your elbows high. Breathe out, bring your elbows inside of your left knee. Maybe you bring them all the way down to the ground. Keep your legs strong here. Take a full breath in. Deep breath out. Last inhale. Exhale, release your hands to the mat. Take an inhale, send the left leg back. Hips go up and back, downward facing dog. Good, pedal your feet here. Take a deep breath in. Big exhale. Nice, with the next inhale, send the right leg up and back. Three-legged down dog. Flex your toes, lift it higher. Breathe out, bring your left, right foot in between your hands. Slowly land the back knee on the ground and tuck the back toes. Take an inhale to reach your arms and torso to the sky for your low lunge, just like we did before on the other side. Breathe out, try and keep sinking your hips a little lower. One more deep inhale, reach higher. Exhale, bring your left hand outside of your right knee. Breathe in, reach back with your right arm. Breathe out, right hand outside of your left thigh. Use this connection to try and twist your torso just a tiny bit more. Take a deep inhale, deep exhale. Good, once more, fold it in and let it out. Last inhale. With the next exhale, slowly release your twist. Frame your right foot, flex your right toes and lengthen the front leg for your halfway splits. Good, slowly reach for your blocks again, just like we did before. Take an inhale, prepare, flex or point your toes. Just make sure that your leg is very engaged. As you breathe out, use your core and hip flexor. Start left in the heel, higher up. Five, four, three, two, you got it. And one, nice. Re-bend your right knee. Bring your left hand inside of your right foot. Tuck the back toes. Take an inhale, lift the back knee. Twist to the right side of your space. Exhale to draw your circles with that arm. Two in one direction, you got it. And the other side. Nice, slowly bring yourself back into center. Relengthen the arm. Exhale, top hand goes down outside of your right foot. Inhale, lean all the way forward. Stand in splits, send the left leg high. Breathe out to stay. Two more rounds of breath. Maybe you try and challenge yourself by grabbing onto the bottom ankle with one hand or maybe both hands. Take one more inhale here. Exhale, bring your left knee to your nose. Power with that bottom leg. Take an inhale, push the foot away. One single movement all the way up into standing. Take an exhale, grab on the shin of your front leg. Inhale, pull it even closer to your left, your left knee to your left armpit. Inhale, revert. Exhale, see if you can kick the foot all the way forward. Using your core and hip flexors a lot. Good, hold there, take an inhale. Maybe you pulse up and down. Exhale, can you send your hands up? Good, one more deep breath in. Exhale, slowly start kicking the left foot to the back of your space. Hands can go back to your blocks. Maybe you bring them onto your heart. Try to make a capital T shape with your body. Left hip is going slightly lower. Deep inhale. Deep breath out. Two more rounds of breath here. Notice maybe you're wiggling a tiny bit. Come back into it if you do so. You got this. Last breath in. Slowly release the left foot all the way to the back of the mat. Breathing, reach your arms high, high crescent. Breathe out, cactus arms. Inhale up. Exhale, cactus. One more, breathing up. Exhale, cactus. Good, last one up. Exhale, cactus. Hold there, take an inhale. Exhale, connect both of your elbows, forearm to forearm. Breathe in, see if you can lift them up. Breathe out, see if you can bring your elbows inside of your right knee or maybe all the way down to the ground. Take a deep inhale. Deep breath out. One more full breath in. Exhale, bring your hands on the ground. Push the foot away. Send the right foot back, high plank. Exhale, send your hips up and back. Downward facing dog. Good, pedal your feet a tiny bit here. With the next inhale, lean all the way forward. High plank, option to bring your knees on the ground for more support. Wherever you are, make sure your shoulders are on top of your wrists. Take an inhale, lean slightly forward. Exhale, bend your elbows, chaturanga. Inhale, open your heart up. Dog or baby, cobra, engage your glutes. Good, exhale, send your hips up and back. Downward facing dog. Continue pedaling your feet here. Take a deep breath in and deep breath out. Nice, we'll do that whole thing breath to movement. Take an inhale, send the left leg up and back. Three-legged down dog. Exhale, left foot in between your hands. Right knee on the ground. Inhale, reach your arms up to the sky. Exhale, can you sink a little deeper? One more deep inhale here. Exhale, right hand outside of your left knee. Breathe in, reach up. Breathe out, lean back. Inhale, grab onto your right leg with your left thigh. Exhale, sink a little deeper. Last inhale in your twist. Exhale, halfway splits. Release your hands outside of your left foot. Flex your toes. Breathe in, lean, look forward. Breathe out, re-bend the left knee. Tuck the back toes. Inhale, lift the back knee. Twist to the left side. Exhale, top hand down. Breathe in, standing splits. Lift the foot higher. Exhale, knee to nose. Inhale, come all the way up. One leg is standing. Exhale, can you kick your foot forward? Breathe in, hold there. Exhale, Warrior III, send it back. Breathe in, stay here. Exhale, with control, land it down. Inhale, reach your arms high. Exhale, arms in cactus. Breathe in, reach your arms high. Good, exhale, arms in cactus. Breathe in, reach your arms up. Exhale, arms in cactus. Hold there, take an inhale. Exhale, connect your elbows. Breathe in, elbows up. Breathe out, use the power of your legs. Lean forward, forward, forward, and then down. Try not to fall. Keep your legs very engaged. Take a deep inhale. Deep breath out, can you go a little lower? Last breath in. Exhale, release your hands on the ground. Inhale, this time, send your left leg all the way up and back to release the hips. Exhale, bring your left foot down, downward facing dog. Good, pedal your feet a tiny bit. Take a few seconds here to catch up with your breath. Same thing on the other side. Take an inhale, send the right leg high. Exhale, bring your right foot in between your hands. Slowly land it on the ground. Bring the back knee on the mat. Untuck the back toes. Inhale, reach your torso high up for your low lunge. Exhale, stay. One more deep breath in. Exhale, left hand outside of your right knee. Inhale, retire with the right arm. Exhale, twist to the back. Inhale, grab onto your left thigh. Exhale, try and twist a little deeper. Can you try and inhale, lengthen your chin? Exhale, look to the back. Last, bring in your twist. Breathe out to lengthen the front leg. Bring your hands on the ground, halfway space. Good, flex your toes. Take an inhale, try and find more length in your spine. Exhale, re-bend the right knee. Tuck the back toes. Left hand is down on the mat. Inhale, lift the back knee. Twist to the right side of your space. As you exhale, can you try and sink your hips a little lower? Breathe in to stay. Exhale, top hand goes down outside of your right foot. Inhale, big jump forward, standing splits. Left leg as high as you can. Good, and as you did on the other side, maybe you try and challenge your balance by bringing both hands around the bottom ankle. Take one inhale here. Exhale, bring your left knee to your nose. Power with that bottom leg. Come all the way up to standing. Bring in the left leg with you. Inhale to find stillness. Exhale, maybe you kick your foot. Breathe in, hold there. Use your core and hip flexors. Breathe out, kick the foot to the back of your space. Flex the back foot. Take an inhale in your warrior three. Breathe out. Last one in. Exhale, release the foot on the ground. Inhale, high crescent arms to the sky. You got this. Exhale, open arms in cactus. Two more, breathe in, reach. Exhale, open. Last one up. Exhale, down. Stay here. Take an inhale, open your elbows. Exhale, connect. Keep your legs very engaged. It's just the torso that goes forward and down. Your legs are staying exactly the same. Find the balance. Find your breath. Deep inhale. Maybe you go a little deeper as you exhale. Last breath in. Exhale, release your hands on the mat. Send the right leg all the way up and back. Three-legged down dog, lengthen up. Exhale, bring the right foot back down, down dog. Take an inhale, lean all the way forward, high plank. Exhale, bend your elbows, chaturanga. Breathe in, up dog. Open your heart, engage your glutes. Send the heart up. Exhale, child's pose. Toes together, knees apart. Take a few seconds here. The heart is moving a little faster. Full breath in, deep breath out. As you inhale, slowly lift your body away from your heels. Exhale, walk your knees a little bit more apart from each other. Toes are still connected. Take an inhale, walk your hands one palm more forward. Keep your navel in, take a breath out. Inhale, lean forward, shoulders on top of your wrists. Exhale, allow for your hips to fall. Your feet will lift, king cobra. Roll the shoulders away from your ears, sending back heart forward. Point your toes, take an inhale. Maybe your head goes to your toes. Take an exhale. Last breath in. Exhale, come back into your child's pose. Take a few seconds here to calm down the breath. Deep inhale, and deep breath out. One more round, full breath in. And let it go. Good, the next inhale, slowly walk your hands to your knees. Exhale to flip your feet towards one side or the other. Send your feet towards the front of the mat. Keep your feet as wide as your mat. And then moving your blocks away, bring your hands behind you, and just rock your knees a little side to side. Good, eventually allow for both of your knees to fall to the right side of your space. Take an inhale, reach your left arm high. Exhale, left hand outside of your right knee. Breathe in, use it to pull and twist. Look about your right shoulder. Breathe out to stay. One more deep inhale. Keep the neck lengthened. Breathe out. As you inhale, slowly start coming out, both hands high. Exhale, lean to the other direction. Release your left hand behind you. Take an inhale, reach high up with your right arm. Exhale, right hand outside of your left knee. Inhale, pull and twist. Exhale, look to the back of your mat. Deep inhale, deep breath out. Last breath in. Slowly start coming back into center. Take an inhale, grab the back of your thighs. Pull your heart forward. Exhale, slowly start bringing your body all the way down to the ground. Take an inhale, give yourself a squish, pressing your legs closer to your thighs. As you breathe out, kick your feet all the way to the sky. Take an inhale, grab your right leg. Extend the left leg forward. Inhale to pull your right leg even closer. Exhale, option to hold or to connect your forehead to your knee. Deep inhale, point the bottom toes. Breathe out. Last breath in. Exhale, change legs. Release the right leg all the way down. Point those toes. Inhale, bring the left leg close to you. Press the left leg a little closer. You can keep your shoulders on the ground if you want more intensity. Left of the shoulders connect forehead to your knees. Keep the whole rest of the body on the mat. Take one more inhale. Exhale to slowly release. Allow for your legs to start lengthening. If you notice that there's any other post-twister stress that your body may need, go ahead and take that. But if you're ready to let go and surrender, just expand your body. Start noticing the energy going up and down through your body. If you feel safe, close your eyes. And go ahead and surrender for your Shavasana, last resting pose. Thank you so much for practicing with me. If you like the top that I'm wearing today, make sure you check the shelf below so that you can purchase 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. 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