10 yoga stretches for beginners to boost your flexibility

You don't need any equipment for this this beginner-friendly 10-move routine from a certified yoga instructor

Yoga stretches for beginners are a great way to ease into practice without taking on a whole class. If you've been looking for an accessible way to start, we spoke to an expert yoga teacher for the moves you need to move your body and improve your flexibility.

Boosting your mobility is one of the benefits of yoga, alongside strengthening your mind-body connection and developing mindfulness. You don't need loads of equipment either; one of the best yoga mats can help, but it's optional.

Despite the upsides, some people worry they aren't flexible enough to try it. But certified yoga teacher Felicity Wood says the practice is for everyone. "You wouldn't say you have to be able to play Mozart to take music lessons, and it's the same with yoga — you don't have to be flexible to start."

"Yoga is not about being good or bad; it's about being with your body without trying to change anything," says Felicity. Her sequence of ten yoga stretches for beginners is a great starting point, including many fundamental poses and building blocks for yoga.

Felicity Wood is an award-winning yoga teacher and founded the on-demand yoga platform Felicity Wood Yoga. She has completed 1,000 hours of training, including the 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification, and began teaching in 2014. Her mission is to make yoga feel less intimidating and more accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they can touch their toes.

Wood's 10-move routine is designed to improve your flexibility and mobility. This will help you get used to the positions, gradually building strength and confidence as you repeat the poses.

Wood has offered instructions and tips for each move to get the most from these stretches. And if you want another short routine to add to your practice, this core yoga session strengthens your mid-section to develop stability.

Cat-cow is a gentle yoga stretch for beginners and helps develop an awareness of your breath, allowing you to tune in to how you feel, and offers a whole back stretch for improved spine mobility.

The puppy pose is an excellent warm-up pose for the well-known yoga stretch, downward dog. It helps lengthen your spine and opens your chest and shoulders.

Lunges are a classic workout move, and a fundamental part of several yoga poses, including the low lunge. This position helps stretch your hip flexors and quads, which is helpful if you've been sitting down for a while.

If you feel pressure on the back knee, roll your mat slightly to double up or use a cushion or blanket.

The child's pose is a restorative resting pose that promotes spinal flexion and allows your back and shoulders to stretch. It's also an ideal exercise for the end of your regular workouts.

For a good reason, this is one of the most famous yoga stretches for beginners and experienced practitioners—downward dog benefits your whole body, strengthening your arms, lengthening your spine, and giving your hamstrings and calves a stretch.

This stretching exercise is relatively straightforward but helps stretch your legs, including your hamstrings and calf muscles, and offers a release along your spine.

As you'd expect for a pose with this name, Warrior 2 is a great strengthening yoga pose. It develops your legs and opens your hips and chest, and improving your shoulder's range of motion.

The triangle pose stretches your inner leg and hamstrings while opening the chest and improving the range of motion for the spine.

This soothing wide-legged forward fold is like the earlier standing forward fold but also helps stretch the back of your legs and offers a spine and neck release.

The bridge pose strengthens your legs, activates your glutes (the large muscles in your upper leg), lengthens your hip flexor and quads, opens your chest, and helps improve your spinal range of motion.

According to Wood, after the sequence, you can stretch your legs out and spend a few moments lying on your back, focusing on your breathing. Resting here can also be the ideal time to learn how to meditate.

Yoga helps strengthen the connection between your mind and body physically, while meditation lets you focus on your breath so that you notice your thoughts but can let them pass by without getting distracted by them.

Annabel Lee is a freelance writer specializing in wellbeing with over a decade of experience. Her work has appeared in titles like Glamour, Business Insider, and Huffington Post. Although she no longer teaches, Annabel trained as a yoga and mindfulness teacher and is also a co-host of the Selfie Development podcast, which explores the world of wellness, self-development, and spirituality.