Stretches to manage your A1C (5 min)
Yoga instructor Dana Taft walks you through stretches to get your heart rate up and help you in your everyday life.
Transcript
Hi. My name is Dana Taft, and I'll be your yoga instructor today. I want to help you as you manage your A1C.
It'll be important for us to not only train the body to get the heart rate up and moving, but to bring it back down with control.
So here are some stretches to help you in your everyday life.
Step wide so you are solid in your heels, and we'll begin by reaching over our head
across your body for a stretch. Left arm up and over. Bring it back down.
Right arm up and over. Bring it back down. Left arm up and over.
Bring it down. Again, right arm, left arm.
Add your breath with each movement, so your inhale is a reach. As you bring it down, exhale.
Inhale is a reach. Bring it down. Exhale. My parents told me after pricking
themselves a few times a day, this movement really helped. Reaching felt good to expand across your side body.
Nice job. Now we're going to cross the front of your body. Take that left arm across and reach over.
Turn your torso as you do this. Right arm across and reach over. Again, with your breath, inhale, reach, exhale, drawback.
Inhale, reach, exhale, drawback. Let's add a little heel lift as we reach across the body.
Left arm reaches, lift your left heel. Exhale, bring it back. Right arm reaches, lift your right heel.
Bring it back. One more time, each side. Reach, exhale, inhale.
Nice. Full body turn this time. Turn your whole body with your hand around.
Exhale. Whole arm around. Good. Two more, each side.
Get moving a little bit quicker. Last one, here we go.
Nice. Now that you've lifted your heart rate, we're going to bring it down in a squat. Hands together, sit back.
Breathe in. Breathe out. Again like that.
Nice. From your heels, stand back up. Let's do another round, but add some power in our movement,
pushing away from you. Using the palm of your hand, I want you to push, push.
Good. Nice. Let that heart rate pick up.
One more time each side. Inhale. Exhale. Exhale.
Bring it back down in your squat. This time, let's drop your hands in the center of your body. Relax your shoulders.
Breathe in. Breathe out. One more time.
Nice. Press through your heels to stand. Now we're going to move up and down in the squat. Pivot your toes out and your heels in.
Brace your hands together. Using the power in your legs, squat. Lift.
Squat. Lift. Core is pulled in, and use your breath, even here.
Inhale, up. Exhale, sit. One more, nice and low.
We'll end in another squat position. You can bring your feet back forward, get really low,
and draw your elbows to your thighs. Can you round your back and tuck your chin
into your chest to breathe?
This Pose can also be done sitting in a chair or right here on your mat, so good.
Stand back up. Bring your legs back together. Great job. Thanks so much for joining me today.
yoga
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