Frankie Culpin gives us an insight into the practice she turns to when she's getting back on the mat and why it works for her; and some tips on how you can get back into your practice.

So many things can take us away from our practice and I'm sure that most long-time yoga practitioners have had periods of hiatus. I have a short and accessible practice that I enjoy and therefore use to coax myself back on the mat if for one reason or another I’ve not managed to practice for a while.

I won’t write out the whole practice in full, but it includes:

Starting in Easy Pose (Sukhasana) or sitting on my heels in Vrjasana and doing some chest and shoulder openers, gentle side stretches and twists.

Before making my way into Mountain Pose (Tadasana), I like to dangle and sway in a rag doll forward fold before taking my time to slowing roll up to stand.

Sun Salutations with low lunges

Core warm-up work such as Sphinx roll-ups

Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Lunges-low lunges then high lunges...

by Frankie Culpin

Hanumanasana or Splits Pose may seem more appropriately called Hamstringsasana to many, especially as we tend to focus primarily on the front leg. We shouldn’t forget the range of motion required in the fronts of the hips or fronts of the thighs however, but while I’ve been preparing for teaching a workshop structured around this Monkey God Pose, I’ve been thinking a lot about the backs of my legs.

When I first started yoga I felt really inflexible and I think most people can relate to feeling like their hamstrings were holding them back from being able to ‘do yoga’ well. My knees were bent in Downward Facing Dog and my heels were high and my standing forward fold or Uttanasana more closely resembled the half-way lift of Ardha Uttanasana. I honestly couldn’t get my feet to touch the floor in Plough Pose or Halasana for what felt like decades. And then there were the seated forward folds...I tried to pride myself on keeping my...