Whether you’re a seasoned yoga practitioner or just starting out, these poses can help strengthen your body and calm your mind. Plus, they’re great for people with cancer!
This pose, or chaturanga, is a key part of the Sun Salutations in most styles of yoga. It strengthens the legs and arms, and helps with flexibility.
Lotus Pose
Lotus pose, or Padmasana, is an important seated posture in Yoga. It strengthens the spine, improves hip and knee flexibility, and stimulates circulation. It also helps to relieve stress and fatigue.
If you have never practiced lotus before, it might be a challenge to sit in this pose for long periods of time. You can build up your capacity gradually by practicing it regularly.
You should also perform hip-opening poses before attempting to enter this pose. For example, you can try cradling your leg in the arm or Hero Pose.
Downward Facing Dog
Downward Facing Dog is a beautiful and relaxing pose that provides many benefits. It strengthens the shoulders, arms, wrists, and feet. It also stretches the back of the body, ankles, hamstrings, and calves. It also energizes the muscles with a constant supply of blood and relieves muscle fatigue.
This pose also helps improve digestion. It encourages blood flow to the brain and can help improve mental clarity and focus. However, because it is an inversion, it can increase head and eye pressure, so those with high blood pressure should avoid this pose.
Child’s Pose
Child’s Pose is a restorative posture that stretches out the spine, hips, knees, and ankles. It also helps re-energize the body by balancing emotions and thoughts. It is a great pose to practice before sleep, as it can induce relaxation.
It is also a good preparatory posture for poses that require open and warmed-up hip muscles. You can even use this posture as a pause during an active class to help you get back into your breath and your center. To perform this posture, sit on the floor and bring your knees as close together as possible.
Warrior II
Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II) is a powerful pose that can stretch the back and legs, while strengthening the core muscles. It also helps to improve posture and alleviate back pain. This posture is also beneficial for people with flat feet, sciatica and carpal tunnel syndrome.
It also helps to open the chest and shoulders, allowing for a better breath. It can also be used as a preparation for other arm balances, such as crane pose and shoulder pressure pose.
Beginners should not attempt to perform this posture without proper guidance from a professional yoga instructor, especially if they have knee or hip problems. It is recommended to use a block between the front knee and the wall to help reduce the risk of injury.
Tree Pose
Tree Pose strengthens the feet and legs and opens up the groin, hips, and chest. It also helps to improve balance and posture. However, you should avoid this pose if you have migraines or vertigo. It is also not suitable for people with a bad back or knee problems.
To perform this pose, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart or hip-width distance apart and bend your knees. Focus on a point that doesn’t move and breathe slowly. This pose is a great balancing yoga pose to practice. Over time, it can help develop good neuromuscular coordination, which will improve other poses.
Headstand
Headstand is a challenging inversion that requires significant core strength and balance. The pose also helps strengthen the arms and shoulders. It improves blood circulation and stimulates the brain, enhancing mental function and focus.
This posture challenges students to overcome fear of being upside down and balancing against gravity. However, the fear fades as yogis acquire more proprioception for being upside down and learn how to enter and exit the headstand gradually and safely.
To prepare for headstand, build up the strength of the upper body with asanas such as Plank and Downward Dog. Then, work on Dolphin Pose and Forearm Stand to build shoulder and arm strength to support the weight of the head.
Wall Pose
This relaxing yoga pose — also known as Viparita Karani — helps to calm the mind and body. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system and encourages deep breathing, which can help reduce stress and insomnia. It also promotes healthy back and leg posture.
The key is to find the right distance between your body and the wall, which will vary from student to student. If students cannot comfortably bring their feet to the wall, they can scoot their hips closer to it or use a bolster.
As students practice the pose, they will naturally learn to move closer to the wall without straining their backs, shoulders or knees. This will help them to feel the full benefits of this restorative yoga pose.