Beginner
The Yoga Fundamentals
Learn about the fundamental parts of yoga – and create a solid foundation in your yoga practice and your inner self.
In English with Brooke Elliston
Length7 weeks
Access12 months
Lessons15
Learn about the fundamental parts of yoga – and create a solid foundation in your yoga practice and your inner self. You'll get tools and techniques suitable for beginners as well as more experienced practitioners.
BeginnerYoga
Program content
15 lessons
1Part 12 lessons · 1H5Min
Part 1: The Rebound Effect
Welcome to the very first part of the course!The Rebound Effect is the principle that when we use the downward pull of gravity to stabilize our roots, there's a simultaneous energetic ricochet from the earth, generating an upward release! In the modern vinyasa practice, we spend a lot of time bearing weight on our hands. Taking the time to build solid architecture here is key to the longevity of our well-being and practice.
We’ll begin this tutorial with wrist warm-ups before moving into detailed hand placement and alignment and end with some forearm, wrist, and finger stretches. In the following class, we put the teaching from the first tutorial into our flow.
- Tutorial20 min
- Class45 min
2Part 22 lessons · 1H15Min
Part 2: Freedom inside form
We typically learn that freeform equals freedom, which can be true. But form applied intelligently can also be an incredibly powerful vehicle to freedom.In the tutorial, we will explore the concept of freedom inside form through the use of blocks. Working within the limits of any medium inspires us to grow creatively in order to progress. In the following class, we will keep exploring forms and limits by using blocks.
- Tutorial30 min
- Freedom inside form - class45 min
3Part 32 lessons · 1H
Part 3: Divine pivot
In this third part, we will dive deeper into the practice of balance. Divine Pivot is the idea that practice, like life, is constantly fluctuating and in order to cultivate balance, something new is needed in each moment. In this part, you'll learn how you can find more stability and be more in balance.The dynamic state of balance requires us to stay open to what life is asking of us at each moment. Are you ready to explore balance as a process rather than an outcome?
- Tutorial15 min
- Divine pivot - class45 min
4Part 42 lessons · 1H20Min
Part 4: Subtle breathing
In our yoga practice, it's not just breathing that’s important; it's how we breathe that matters. This will be the main practice in this fourth part!We’ll start with an introduction to the physiology of breathing. Knowledge and understanding are powerful tools in self-soothing and maintaining a feeling of safety when you are changing habitual patterns of breathing that are sub-optimal.
It can feel uncomfortable and scary to change what is familiar and habitual. When you're first getting accustomed to lengthening, stretching, elongating, and refining the breath, it can be a process that takes time. Try to recognize the bumps part of the process, often even providing gateways for insights and growth.
- Tutorial20 min
- Class60 min
5Part 52 lessons · 1H15Min
Part 5: Alive with awareness
In this part, you'll get to explore the yogic perspective that your inner world is more real and alive than your outer world. Most of us spend a lot of time casting our awareness out into various corners of the earth and becoming fixated on the external world. Our practice is a means of lowering the volume on the relentless stimulation and distraction around us, to focus the lens of our attention inside.Getting familiar with your inner landscape is fundamental because true human empowerment means you're no longer waiting for something outside of yourself to make you feel a certain way.
- Tutorial15 min
- Class60 min
6Part 62 lessons · 1H30Min
Part 6: The energy informs the physical
The yoga system offers many ways to balance, retain and direct energy. Part of the yogic model is that the body is not just a physical form, but is comprised of multiple sheaths or layers of consciousness.In this part, you will learn about the three fundamental bandhas and how they can be used to direct energy in the body. In the class, you will then apply the three main energetic bandhas in a sequence of lovely heart-opening backbends.
- Tutorial30 min
- Class60 min
7Part 73 lessons · 1H20Min
Part 7: Equal effort in all directions
We have now arrived at the final part, good job making it this far!Equal effort in all directions is a concept that invites us to distribute our awareness evenly throughout the body. When we do this, we prevent overworking one body part or over-efforting in any one direction. Cultivating a more evenly spread activation, allows the whole body to collaborate in a beautiful and elegant symphony.
Well done for making it through the entire course! Hopefully, you'll return to the videos and repeat them many times with fresh perspectives and new insights each visit.
If you want to try out some more classes with Brooke – please have a look at Yogobe's video library (requires a subscription).
- Tutorial20 min
- Class60 min
- Course evaluation
Summary
The Yoga Fundamentals – online course
Welcome to The Yoga Fundamentals – an online series for anyone looking to refine their understanding and embodiment of the bedrock tools, techniques and ideas of the practice. The fundamentals are the most powerful part of the practice - their potency exists in their simplicity. The key to a powerful, graceful practice, and a practice with longevity, is always intimacy and reverence for the essence of the practice.Whether you are stepping on the mat for the very first time, or you have been practicing and teaching for years, this course is intended to be illuminating and exciting for you! Why? The essential components of a yoga practice are always more challenging than the final destination. If there is a peak posture in a sequence, the preparatory phases require the most effort and attention. The journey prepares us physically, mentally, and spiritually, so that the final destination is not a fixed outcome, shape or form, but an energetic sense of ease, spaciousness, and relief. A solid foundation is the basis of all that we do, become, and create.
Learn more about the course and its content in the course outline, which is important to take part in before purchasing a course.
Included in the course
- Guidance by Brooke Elliston
- 7 parts – each part presenting a new fundamental teaching of the yoga system
- 14 yoga classes – 7 tutorials & 7 classes
- Learn the fundamental aspects of the yoga practice
- Lay the mind-work for your home- and self-practice
- Access for 12 months
Let's experiment, play and enjoy the practices. The classes are intended to be repeated over and over, with room for new challenge, insight, and growth each time.
In some of the classes in the course, yoga blocks are being used to strengthen the body and gain contact with the muscles. Yoga blocks can be replaced with thicker books. You can also find yoga blocks in Yogobe Store.