A beginner's guide to yoga stretches

Stretching is a great way to increase your flexibility and stay in shape. Here are some basic yoga stretches you should know.

This is a medium-challenge routine for healthy, active people who currently lack any formal exercise in their lives. It's designed for:

• Middle-aged people with busy lives
• Sedentary people in good health
• Active, healthy seniors
• People who have noticed a recent decline in energy

What's needed:

•  Light dumbbells
•  Towel
•  Mat, bed, or daybed
•  Supportive chair
•  Wall space

This technique stretches glutes and lower back.

• Lie on your back and cross your right leg over the left.
• Lightly grasp your right knee with your left hand and your left knee with your right hand.
• Gently pull your knee toward your chest as far as comfortably possible.
• Hold, then release and repeat on the opposite side.

This technique stretches calves.

• Stand at arm's length from a wall and place your palms flat against the wall.
• Extend your left leg 0.6 to 1 metre (2 to 3 feet) behind you and press your left heel to the floor.
• Your right knee will bend naturally as you extend your left leg.
• Keeping both heels flat on the floor, press against the wall until you feel a nice stretch in your calf.
• Hold, then repeat with the other leg.

This technique stretches hamstrings, glutes and calves.

• Kneel on all fours with your feet flexed.
• Press your hands and feet into the floor, raising your hips toward the ceiling (your body should look like an upside-down V).
• Keep lifting your tailbone toward the ceiling as you lower your heels to the floor as far as comfortably possible.

This technique stretches quadriceps and hips.

• Stand (with your right hand resting on a wall for support, if needed) and bend your left leg behind you.
• Grasp the top of your left foot with your left hand, keeping your back straight.
• Slowly pull your heel toward your rear, stopping when you feel tension in your quads (the front of your thigh).
• Keep your hips and knees in alignment and tilt your pelvis slightly forward to deepen the stretch.
• Hold, then switch sides.

Keep these easy techniques in mind and start stretching the right way.