Beginners' Yoga Sequences

This sequence is designed to help you ease tension by putting your spine through its full range of motion.

If you’re feeling congested, this sequence of twists, sidebends, inversions, and heart-opening backbends can help clear your lungs and brighten your mind.

These twisting, folding, wide-legged poses aim to provide enough challenge to satisfy any desire for deep stretching, while simultaneously relaxing the body and refreshing the mind.

Explore these meditative, grounding postures to ease tension, replenish juiciness, and invite lasting serenity.

Practicing this twisting sequence is beneficial for anyone who sits for a good portion of the day, suffers from chronic back pain, or loves activities like running, cycling, and hiking.

Align your yoga practice with the elemental energies of nature to balance your primary dosha for overall health, wellbeing, and natural beauty.

Boost energy flow in the body with this dynamic practice, representing the air element to counterbalance Kapha’s earthy and watery nature.

Move built-up fire energy from the belly through the rest of the body to balance the Pitta dosha and combat its tendencies for competition and overheating.

Balancing the air and ether of your Vata dosha with the opposing energy of the earth element can help ease the anxiety, nervousness, fatigue, and digestive issues Vatas are prone to.

Infuse each asana with an empowering affirmation to fully embody the qualities of each pose both physically and mentally. Practiced daily, this sequence may repattern your mind, body, and spirit.

Los Angeles-based yoga teacher Clio Manuelian offers an inversions-focused plan to prepare the body and mind to open to the insight of meditation.

In honor of National Yoga Month, Two Fit Moms is offering you this eight-pose flow that will help you reap the cardiovascular benefits of yoga.

This five-day practice will help you discover and embrace the power of sitting every day.

Practice moving your attention into your chest and heart space, where you receive and give love.

Putting a twist on your go-to poses can breathe new life into your practice. Try this sequence, packed with nontraditional variations on classic asanas.

To work on activating the muscles of the hips to find more balance, try this sequence.

Make home practice a habit by committing to your mat for the next 30 days with fresh sequences and daily practice plans for each week of the month from esteemed teachers and YJ contributors.

Check out Colleen Saidman Yee's author page.

You'll feel calmer and more relaxed in minutes.

Enjoy robust breathing, a free mind, and a bird’s-eye view with a light heart.

This 
sequence will free up space for energy to flow, helping 
your organs function optimally for greater 
mental clarity and endurance.

Feel 
the relationship between your core and steadiness in preparation for meditation.

Consider this grounding sequence a reorientation to your foundation.

Colleen Saidman Yee, who leads Yoga Journal's upcoming Yoga for Inner Peace online course, discusses the importance of letting yourself feel sad, and demonstrates a sequence to release grief and other festering emotions.

Colleen Saidman Yee, who teaches Yoga Journal's upcoming Yoga for Inner Peace online course, demonstrates a rocking sequence for fighting fear and promoting positive thinking.

The mudras and the Reiki hand positions can be used in tandem with the Yees’ asana sequence or separately to help you find calm.

This combination of restorative yoga, meditation, essential oils, and Reiki—
from dream team Colleen Saidman Yee and Rodney Yee—will help 
ease anxiety and insomnia to deliver your best night’s zzz’s.

This strong-core sequence will move you in every direction to work your middle from each possible angle, building strength and ease of movement, naturally.

In Yoga Journal's upcoming online course, Yoga for Inner Peace, Colleen Saidman Yee offers yogic practices to transform your body, mind, and heart, and support YOU in your personal journey toward inner peace.

Finding inspiration on the mat when practicing alone can be difficult. The following sequence will help you work with both abhyasa and vairagya.

Open your chest and find proper alignment after a tough standup paddleboard workout. This beginner SUP yoga sequence will get you started.

Do you practice yoga regularly but somehow still feel “stuck” in certain spots?  Senior Yoga Medicine teacher Allison Candelaria created this muscle- and fascia-freeing flow to tune up the whole front line of your body.

This flow helps foster both self-love and compassion for others.

Not only do props help you find more space, freedom and stability in your poses, they’re also great teaching tools with endless uses if you get creative. Dedicate some time to playing with props.

This soothing and contemplative Yin Yoga practice invites us to balance the outward focus of summer's fiery energy with an inward glance during the solstice.

Listen to your body to find your natural limits and healthy boundaries—along with core power, strength, and inner peace.

These two sequences are designed to empower you to set an intention for your day, and then to let go at the end so you can relax deeply before bedtime.

Do you practice yoga regularly but somehow still feel “stuck” in certain spots? Senior Yoga Medicine teacher Allison Candelaria created this fascia-freeing flow to find more mobility in the backside of your body.

Just as nature enters a cycle of renewal, growth and expansion in spring—so does the energy within us. Embrace the opportunity to shed old unwanted layers and make a conscious choice to begin again.

Unleash your creative potential with this hip-opening sequence that will ignite your second chakra.

It takes creativity and fearlessness to adventure into our heart’s deepest desires, and this Kundalini Yoga practice can help you find both.

Celebrity yoga teacher Mandy Ingber says healing grief starts by recognizing where you’re holding stress and emotions and breathing into that space to release the tension. Reset with her 20-minute sequence.

Kathryn Budig offers YJ readers a sample of her signature Artemis-inspired yoga sequence. Grab your imaginary bow and take aim at your deepest intentions.

Discover how a single sequence, when practiced consistently, can provide grounding, openness, and a greater sense of stability in all aspects of your life with this routine from Sonima.

Next time you find yourself bogged down with emails and to-dos, take 10 minutes to disconnect from the computer screen and practice this short yoga sequence.

Master Baptiste Yoga teacher Leah Cullis, who leads YJ's online course Pillars of Power Yoga, demonstrates 10 poses that will help you love and accept your body.

Yoga Medicine founder Tiffany Cruikshank offers four tricks for fine-tuning your body’s digestive process with yoga.

After a long day at school, there's always more to do. Before hitting the homework, take a yoga break to reset mind and body for better focus.

When we’re happy, we can thrive in our work. This desk-side practice will make your whole body happier in just a few minutes.

Yoga Medicine founder Tiffany Cruikshank offers her favorite bedtime ritual to settle the nervous system in preparation for deep sleep.

Practicing yoga and meditation in water brings us back to basics.

Build strength through the belly, side waist, glutes and back with core strengtheners for those of us who don't have all day to hit the gym.

Whether or not you ever find yourself in the full expression of Monkey Pose, you can still enjoy the journey with these very effective preps from Two Fit Moms.

Stimulate chi and restore vitality with a practice focusing on Kidney and Urinary Bladder meridian pair, primary organs that move water through the body.

By integrating simple, two-minute embodiment tools several times daily, you’ll see profound changes in your health and wellbeing.

While yoga can often be a quick fix, these postures will help to methodically alleviate the root cause of back pain.

Start to ease lower back discomfort and counteract the effects of too much sitting by swapping some of your standard Surya Namaskars for this core-focused variation.

We spend hours in front of our computers and phones, and the repetitive movement patterns can cause neck and shoulder strain. This sequence will help.

Relieve hard-to-release back tension by unlocking your QL muscles.

Chronic stress 
and anxiety 
signal the brain to wreak havoc on your body. The secret to hitting reset? Yoga.

In this excerpt from The Art of Attention, Elena Brower embodies MC Yogi's wise words on the practice of forgiveness in a tender asana sequence.

A playful practice 
can bring you 
more joy on and 
off the mat.

There’s no time like right now, the start 
of a new year, to harness your energy and find 
joy in a fresh perspective.

No matter where you are in your yoga practice, drink in the delight of having a “beginner’s mind” and let it inspire this practice.

This Kundalini Yoga sequence supports ideal digestion by increasing energy at the navel point and keeping the digestive organs strong and flexible.

For the times you need a physical prep for your gratitude practice, Kathryn Budig offers a meditative flow sure to make your heart feel full.

A practice that combines energizing and calming principles (brahmana and langhana) has a balancing, or samana, effect to quiet that monkey mind.

Sitting for meditation at the end of a hectic day can feel difficult. This sequence can help you shift gears and transition smoothly into calm.

Keeping your eyes open if your body is listless, your mind dull, or your heart heavy can be a challenge. This 5-pose flow will help awaken your energy for meditation.

Author Susan Verde’s new book sends kids the message that imagination makes anything possible—and the yoga mat is a perfect place to explore it.

At any age, balance, agility, speed, coordination, and power are vital for daily living and optimal for athletic performance. This sequence works it all.

Are you Type A? Is work more central to your day than breath? This 14-minute practice eases stress by boosting endorphins and dopamine—right at your desk.

Rina Jakubowicz wants you to let the season inspire your practice and make a commitment to let something go. Get centered with her sequence

Looking for the courage to open your heart? Power everything you do with love using these mudras from Dana Trixie Flynn.

Our writer spent a day with Annie Carpenter at YJ LIVE! and came away with a newfound respect for her feet. Use this sequence as your owner’s manual.

This is a practice for mothers, focused on building your core—physical and 
emotional—to sustain you through the overwhelming love and challenges of motherhood.

This sequence is designed for mothers. The seated poses will fire up your core and help balance out a stressful day of parenting.

Designed especially for mothers, this core work with leg lifts and lunges is for those moments when children push you to your very edge.

This practice focuses on building core—a strong physical core and 
a strong emotional core to sustain you through the love and challenges of motherhood.

With plenty of hip and abdominal work, this sequence is meant to stoke the digestive fire during an Ayurvedic cleanse.