Micro Exercises: The best beginner yoga for you

Yoga is a timeless pragmatic science that evolved over thousands of years dealing with man’s physical, moral, mental, and spiritual well-being as a whole. Asanas will help you a lot to awaken the dormant powers in life. Yoga practice makes your body healthy, the mind happy and the intellect sharp. The qualities demanded from an aspirant are discipline, faith, tenacity, and perseverance to practice regularly without interruptions. Even if you are a beginner or a seasoned yogi, Micro Exercises has no replacement in your routine.

Micro Exercises are also termed Sukshma Vyayama. In this post, you will get to know some of the micro exercises that are easy to do and give a full-body workout, indeed a beginner’s yoga.

What are the micro exercises? Why is it the best beginners’ yoga?

Micro Exercises are simple exercises that stimulate every part of the body within a few minutes. Besides that, these exercises are so simple that almost anyone can do them effortlessly. And therefore, it is known as the best ‘Beginners Yoga’. For people who find it difficult to perform asanas, micro exercises are a good choice to start with. Micro exercises help stimulate blood flow through various body parts and lubricate the joints by removing air bubbles formed in the joints. Now let’s stop your quest for beginner yoga and get started.

Most of the asanas mentioned below need to be done in the Dandasana pose. Now, what is Dandasana pose?

Sit down on the yoga mat. Spread your legs to the front. Keep your both legs straight and joined to each other. Place both palms facing downward on the mat beside your hips with fingers pointing to your backside. Keep your back and arms straight. See the below image for reference.

To learn more about ‘Dandasana or Stick Pose’ and a few more seating postures, Click here.

1. Exercise for Toes:

2. Exercise for Heels:

• Sit in the Dandasana pose.
• Join both legs completely.
• Slowly press your feet forward and then backward.
• There will be friction between the mat and your heels during this exercise.
• Repeat this 7-8 times.
• This practice is useful for knees and Sciatica also.

3. Micro Exercise for Feet:

• Sit in the Dandasana pose.
• Keep a little distance between your legs.
• Now start rotating your feet from the ankles in a clockwise direction and then in an anticlockwise direction.
• Rotate at least 5 times in both directions.

4. Micro exercises for Knees:

Exercise No. 1

• Sit in the Dandasana pose.
• Intertwine fingers of both hands below the right knee.
• Lift the right knee by folding your right leg such that the right heel comes near your hips.
• By holding the knee with your hands, complete the forward rotation of your leg like you use a cycle pedal.
• Repeat this with the opposite leg now.
• You can practice this 3-4 times with each leg.

Exercise No. 2

• Stand straight.
• Now place your palms on the knees.
• Without moving your feet, rotate the knees in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction.
• Knees should be joined to each other while rotating.

5. Exercise for Thighs and Hips:

• Sit in the Dandasana pose.
• Fold your right leg and place it on your left thigh.
• Hold the foot of the right leg with your left hand and place your right hand on the right knee.
• Now with the help of the right hand, lift the right knee to touch the chest with it and then press the right knee downwards to touch the ground.
• Repeat the same with the opposite leg now.
• You can practice this exercise for 1-2 minutes.

6. Micro exercises for the Waist and Abdomen:

Exercise No. 1

• Sit in the Dandasana pose.
• Cross the fingers of both hands and hold the hands above your thigh muscles.
• Keeping both arms straight, start rotating your upper body from left to right.
• While rotating, bend the waist forward and try to touch your feet with your hands.
• When your hands come towards thigh muscles, slightly bend your waist backward.
• Now going from right to left, repeat the same steps.
• You can do this exercise 4-5 times in each direction.
• People who are suffering from lower back pain should not perform this exercise.

Exercise No. 2

• Sit in Dandasana pose.
• Stretch your legs as far as possible.
• Extend your arms to the sides at shoulder height.
• Try to hold your left toe with your right hand by moving your left hand backward. 
• Keep your eyes on the left hand.
• Hold this pose as long as you can.
• Repeat this with the opposite hand now.
• People who are suffering from lower back pain should not perform this exercise.

7. Exercise for Shoulders:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect or stand straight.
• Extend your arms to the front.
• Now by folding your hands, place the fingers of both hands on the respective shoulders.
• Start rotating your elbows from in to out and out to in.
• Once you finish this, extend your arms to the sides.
• Again by folding your hands, place the fingers on the shoulders.
• Now rotate your elbows from front to back and back to front.
• You can practice this 5 times.

8. Micro exercise for Back:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect. (Or you can practice this in a standing position also)
• Raise both your hands.
• Hold the wrists of both hands with the opposite one.
• Inhale, and try to pull the right hand towards the left side behind the head.
• Exhale and return to the previous position.
• Now inhale, and try to pull the left hand to the right in a similar way.
• Exhale and return to the previous position.
• You can repeat this cycle 3-5 times.

9. Micro exercises for Neck:

1) Forward and backward bend:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect. (Or you can practice this in a standing position also)
• Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath, while exhaling bend your neck forward and try to touch the chest with your chin. This is the starting position.
• Now while inhaling, slowly bend your neck backward as much as possible. Try to hold the position.
• With exhaling, slowly bring your neck back to the starting position.
• Repeat this 3-5 times.
• It is important to synchronize neck movement with breathing. Inhale while bending backward and exhale while bending forward.

2) Side rotations:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect. (Or you can practice this in a standing position also)
• Close your eyes.
• Inhale and slowly rotate the neck to the right as much as possible. Try to hold this pose.
• While exhaling, slowly bring the neck back to its normal position.
• Now inhale and slowly rotate the neck to the left as much as possible. Try to hold the pose.
• While exhaling, bring it back to its normal position. This completes one cycle.
• Repeat the cycle 3-5 times.
• It is important to synchronize neck movement with breathing. Inhale while rotating to the sides and exhale while rotating inwards.

3) Side bends:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect. (Or you can practice this in a standing position also)
• Close your eyes.
• Inhale deeply.
• While exhaling, slowly bend your neck to the right as much as possible. Try to hold this pose and feel the stretch in the neck muscles on the opposite side.
• While inhaling, slowly bring your neck back to its normal position.
• Now do this to the left side.
• This will complete 1 cycle. Repeat the cycle 3-5 times.
• It is important to synchronize neck movement with breathing. Exhale when bending to the sides and inhale when coming back to normal position.

4) Full rotation:

• Sit on the yoga mat with your spine erect. (Or you can practice this in a standing position also)
• Close your eyes.
• Take a deep breath, while exhaling bend your neck forward and try to touch the chest with your chin. This is the starting position.
• Start rotating your neck slowly from the right to the left. Inhale during the first half of rotation. After that, exhale.
• Now rotate the neck slowly from the left to the right. Inhale during the first half of rotation. After that, exhale.
• This completes 1 cycle. Repeat the cycle 3-5 times daily.
• It is important to synchronize neck movement with breathing. Inhale during the first half of a rotation and exhale during the second half of the rotation.

10. Micro exercise for Eyes:

• Close your eyes tightly such that your eyeballs get squeezed a little bit. Now open your eyes wide as much as possible. Do it 3-5 times.
• Keeping your neck and head straight, rotate the eyeballs from left to right and from right to left 3-5 times.
• Now move your eyeballs up-down, left-right. Do this 3-5 times in each direction.

11. Micro exercise for Wrists:

• Sit on the mat or stand straight.
• Extend your hands to the front and make fists.
• Rotate both fists from inside to outside direction.
• Now rotate them from outside to inside.
• Rotate 5 times in each direction.

12. Exercise for Fingers:

• Sit on the mat or stand straight.
• Extend your hands to the front.
• Start clenching the fist and relaxing it.
• Do it slowly 3-5 times.

Conclusion:

To Conclude, Micro Exercises can be a great warm-up for any yoga session or any kind of workout regime you follow. As seen above Micro exercises are for each part of the body. Thus, they lubricate and stimulate every organ. Even if the exercises do not include any heavy movement, the benefits you will be getting are priceless. Let’s start your yoga journey with these exercises.

To learn more about beginners’ yoga, please visit yogtastic.