A 12-Minute Hard Things With Ease Yoga Routine, From Tara Stiles

Welcome to mbg moves! We've been working out at home more than ever—and we know our readers are, too. To help keep your fitness routine feeling fresh, we're releasing a new at-home workout to start your week off strong. Each month will feature routines from a different incredible trainer we adore. Now, let's get moving with our spotlight trainer: Tara Stiles.

Life is inevitably challenging, and some days are certainly harder than others. This truth was the inspiration for the "hard things with ease" yoga flow I've created for mindbodygreen.

The idea of this routine is to approach challenging yoga movements with softness rather than strain.

Before you even begin your yoga movements, try to think about moving your body with a bit more ease. Let everything soften, and start to notice your breath-body connection.

Throughout the flow, rather than holding tension in your body—from your fingers to your face—allow yourself to let it go. Move your focus inward and let your whole self soften a bit. Notice as your inhales fill you up, and let your exhales release stress in your entire body.

When you do reach a challenging posture, instead of thinking When is this hard movement over? try to relax into it and go through the ride. Then the work goes from being strenuous to invigorating and exciting.

This practice can start any time, even before we begin moving—and after we bring the flow to a close. In fact, I highly encourage bringing these principles and mindsets into your daily life, to help take better care of yourself mentally and physically. So let's go forth and approach all hard things with ease—yoga and otherwise.