Fitness
Featuring power yoga flows and extra-twisty poses.
Once you get comfy with the basics of yoga, you might want to kick things up a notch and try a more advanced class. Typically, that means flowing through the usual downward-facing dogs and forward folds before moving onto trickier poses that require a little more strength, flexibility, and focus.
One of the best yogis to take you there? Certified yoga instructor Adriene Mishler, whose popular YouTube channel, Yoga with Adriene, is a super welcoming place for people just starting off, as well as folks who want something that’ll push them outside their comfort zone. In the latter category, the more advanced Yoga With Adriene videos will definitely make you sweat as you bend your body into all different twisty postures.
Of course, Mischler reminds you in each and every one of her classes that you should always “find what feels good” instead of pushing yourself into a pose that your body isn’t loving. Sure, you probably want to try mastering the headstand or crow, but it’s way more important to take your time, build strength, and work your way up to it.
As you venture into the more challenging flows, go easy on yourself — even if you fall. With that in mind, here are nine advanced Yoga With Adriene classes to try if you want to add a little extra oomph to your practice.
45-Minute Power Yoga
If you’re looking for a challenge, try this long vinyasa flow. Mishler starts things off with a deep forward stretch before warming up with cat-cows and downward dogs. You’ll then move on to heart-pumping dancer poses, warriors, and deep goddess squats, as well as cardio exercises like jumping jacks, all of which will make you sweat as you build strength in your legs, glutes, and core.
22-Minute Core Burner
Though this session is short, these poses — think plank toe taps and butterfly crunch variations — will have you twisting and turning in a way that strengthens abs so that your whole body feels more stable. It’s tough, but totally worth the burn. (BTW, Mishler says these postures are great for your butt, arms, and shoulders, too.)
40-Minute Strengthening Flow
Here’s a fast-paced practice that’s chock full of poses meant to open your hips and shoulders, tap into your core, and tone your legs and arms. You’ll flow through postures like goddess squats, twisted lunges, and crow pose to really challenge your full-body strength.
Hour-Long Total Body Workout
While this video starts off with a lush savasana to set your intention, you’ll soon move through tougher poses that touch on all the major muscle groups. You’ll do the classics, like downward dog, as well as more advanced poses like a tabletop with lifted knees, high planks, and V-sits. By the end, you’ll definitely have a sweaty glow.
30-Minute Empowering Practice
The goal of this video is to help you connect the mind/body/heart via deep, cleansing breaths and movement. You’ll tone your muscles with a whole list of juicy moves — think half splits, extended side angles, and forward folds — before ending with a crow pose to really test your balance and upper body strength.
55-Minute Shakti Power Flow
In this fiery session, you’ll spend an hour focusing on alignment, action, and breath as Mishler guides you through asanas designed to “strengthen your energy or shakti.” Think twisted peaceful warrior, twisted chair pose, and an extra-spicy balancing boat pose variation.
50-Minute Deepening Yoga
This sequence focuses on intermediate and advanced postures that move with your breath, vinyasa-style. Your balance and strength will come into play as you hold a standing figure-four, warrior III, and humble warrior, but you’ll finish feeling more open and limber.
24-Minute Crow Pose Practice
This video is meant to get you ready for flying crow, a pose you’ll only want to attempt after a nice, long warmup. Mishler kicks things off with ankle rotations, happy baby, and twists. As she moves into crow, she recommends keeping a sense of humor as you play around with the pose, first by lifting up onto your toes and eventually trying to balance your knees on arms. If you topple over or can’t quite do it, just laugh it off.
50-Minute Self-Love Flow
Need a little self-love? Then give this video a go. Mishler offers tons of variations to the more challenging postures (like warrior III to high lunge and plank shoulder taps), making this a great practice for advanced yogis as well as folks that are well on their way. As long as you feel stretchy and sweaty at the end, you did it right.
