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Create a Free AccountA Well-Rounded Challenging Beginner Flow
Beginner II
This challenging, beginner yoga class is a wonderfully-balanced hatha flow that stretches and strengthens the whole body, through standing poses, seated stretches, reclining postures and core work. Rachel helps you understand alignment and core activation, emphasizing the proper way to do the poses to obtain the most benefit and to feel rejuvenated and relaxed as you take on your day or prepare to wind down into your evening.
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Fantastic! Clear guidance, wonderful poses and great smile. Namaste.
Wonderful, thank you!
Excellent class for getting back into yoga! Rachel is a great instructor!
Super Rachel, thank you!
An incredible extensive class! Thank you! I'm realizing the learning I still have to do in becoming aware of where my muscles are moving to. This class created heat, so good and I also feel great. One to return to again and again .
Amazing strengthening class, encourages me to push myself more to then benefit from the extra effort. Ty
Lovely juicy accurate joyful! Thanks!
What an amazing class! Intensive and gets the heartrate up, while still being fully gentle hatha yoga perfect for newcomers.
Was very rewarding to do this class after the 'Establishing Core Strength' Classes, and feel the benefit of all the work that went into learning the subtleties of alignment and feeling strong and grounded and tall from toe to crown.
Definitely got the exercise endorphins flowing and you can feel yourself getting stronger :)
Just what I needed to ground and energize me for the rest of the day.
Fabulous
Hi Rachel,
I've been coming back to this class for years. It is such an excellent class. Your instruction while precise is also calming as if you've somehow blended physio and yoga. I think this class could be for a beginner, but also for an intermediate as its all relevant. You have a unique approach to yoga that's almost with a touch of physiotherapy or kinesiology. I highly recommend this class for just about anyone.
Thank you for your service,
Nick
Rachel makes all the poses seem do-able. Her instruction keeps me focused on the pose not distracted by the things around me.
Great strengthening class
Great strengthening class - enjoyed slowing it down. Thanks very much Rachel
Thanks Rachel. I'm a big fan and this adds to it. Is there a variation to lacing ones fingers? I have arthritis in my wrists and this really hurts.
Thanks Rachel. I'm a big fan and this adds to it. Is there a variation to lacing ones fingers? I have arthritis in my wrists and this really hurts.
Thanks Rachel. I'm a big fan and this adds to it. Is there a variation to lacing ones fingers? I have arthritis in my wrists and this really hurts.
Basic, but good leg strength work
Well thought out class, love the repeated reminders to relax your face, pull in your belly etc. The only part that I didn’t get is around the 33 min mark, shift your hips back, to where? The back of the mat, diagonal, long side of mat? I will be back for this class! Great pace to be able to understand and set up your poses.
I've been doing this class repeatedly for about a month now, once per week, and it's so nice the progression I see in my leg strength!! If anyone is frustrated doing this one because of weak legs...keep at it! It only gets better and you'll just get stronger legs :)
Wonderful Kitty!! That's so empowering ! (This one makes my legs burn, too ;))
Good practice. I appreciated the alignment cues and the length of the practice. In future lessons, please consider spending more time in less-intense variations of stretches. When I look at what you're doing, it's usually to check my alignment on the easiest version of a stretch. It's not helpful to see your body contorted into a shape that I can't come close to achieving. Perhaps you could do a stiff version on one side and a flexy version on the other side.
I thought I had strong legs, but I admit I did feel lots of quivering in my thighs. Such a good strength builder if this one. Thanks Rachel.
This class was exactly what I needed today. Thank you!
Great class! Rachel does such a great job of pace and describing the poses to make sure beginners do the poses correctly.
Wonderful class! It was a fantastic progression from all the Beginner challenges. Nice pace & great instruction. I'll return to this regularly.
Wonderful, and a lot more challenging than I expected. Thank you.
The pace and instruction is good for someone looking to go deeper after gaining familiarity with the poses in beginner's classes. Rachel adds pulses, lots of warriors, knee pushups, and chair poses - all good if you want to build strength!
Really great balance between a mildly challenging workout and some nice stretching/poses. Perfect for a Monday morning before starting the week! I also really appreciate Rachel's teaching style. She's clear, concise, and her voice is very soothing!
Wow! I am impressed. Speechless.
This is one of the best yoga classes I have ever taken, hands down. Rachel has an amazing, almost intuitive, knowledge of how our anatomy works in the asanas. Very smooth class. A treat! Thank you so much. Namaste
This is one of my favorite classes on the site. It is a perfect level for Beg II....challenging and strength building but without the fast pace, where I tend to injure myself. I would echo what someone else said and say more like this one please!!
This is my second or third time with this practice. I'm doing it now within the 7-day inter. I challenge. This is a great class for building arm strength. It has been a while since I did the on your knees push ups. Question - in the push up, should the elbows be pointed to the back body? Or can they be out to the left and right sides of the body?
Thanks,
I had a long day at work and wasnt going to do a class tonight as I was starting much later than usual. I decided to give it a try and I can tell you it was well worth. Slow movements easy instruction just wanted a needed after a long day. Thank you so much
Very good instructions bar "plug your shoulders" - luckily I read through the comments and knew in advance what you meant.
Thank you Rachel - a very good lesson.
Wow! This was a super challenging class,one that I will revisit often.
Namaste.
I've done yoga classes off and on for over 20 years, but have never taken the time to really learn the structure of the poses - have been doing so during the COVID pandemic, starting with the 30 day beginner's challenge, and now this challenge - I've loved both series, and learning the poses and developing both more flexibility and balance - and so far, this has been my favorite class because it still took time to walk through the poses, but also made me sweat with some of the holds and micro pulses - I'll be sure to loop this one into my practice once I have explored all of the challenges at this level!
Question for Rachelle. In Warrior I pose, sometimes I find that my BACK knee is twisting on me as I pull my hips to the front of the mat and it feels uncomfortable. Can you tell me how my BACK foot should be placed on the mat in this pose?
In Warrior II, I do not struggle with this.
Thanks for your help.
Excellent question. You should turn your back foot out slightly (if left foot is back, left foot and toes turned to top left corner). However, you also need to let your left THIGH externally rotate (turn out) the same amount so that you are not twisting your knee. Keep your left thigh rotating out slightly and turn your PELVIS towards the front of the mat. This can be counterintuitive, because you will try to internally rotate your left thigh to "square" your hips. You do not need to square your hips (though we all say so). If that still hurts your knee, shorten your stance, or do high lunge instead (it's practically the same pose, but no twisting of knee!). Try it and let me know if that works.
Thanks Rachel. Your metaphors and instructions continue to help me as I move more into an intermediate level. Loving this challenge.
Wonderful class, I want more like this one.
Quite challenging but so rewarding, those micro moves up and down wow, I felt it in some places I think I never felt it before.
Thank you
What does "plug your shoulders into your back" mean?
Good question, I wondered that too. I took it to mean push them down, away from your ears - but would be interested to know the true answer.
That is an excellent question! It is a metaphor for retracting the scapula, or hugging your shoulder blades closer together. Does that make more sense?
Thanks, I repeated the lesson with that knowledge, and it helps.
One more question: I sprained a ligament in my lower back seven months ago. Sometimes I can hold bridge pose with no problem, but today it aggravated my injury. Can you suggest an alternative to bridge that might be less likely to trigger lower back pain?
I found it a pretty challenging class, those pulses are hard! But lots of interest to keep things moving at a pace and a very knowledgeable authoritative teacher. Thank you!
Thank you for this class.
Thank youI enjoyed this challenge to build strength!!
I will repeat!!
What a great class. Targets all areas and your energy is great. More like this, please!
Wow, the description "challenging" is definitely not an understatement! This was tough for me as a beginner, by the 40 minute mark I was struggling haha. Regardless, I made it all the way to the end and gave myself a bit of grace to rest when I felt I really couldn't push harder. Thanks for this!