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Using yoga poses for posture is a great way to fix your posture, help prevent back pain, and maintain a healthy body!
These days, so many people suffer from poor posture. This is due to the sedentary lifestyle many people lead, incorrect sitting habits and the lack of exercise.
Poor posture isn’t just something that is visually unappealing and frustrating. It cause a variety of aches and pains all over your body, keeping you from completing even the simplest daily tasks.
If this is the case for you, you probably feel trapped, feeling like there’s no way to fix your problem apart from seeing doctors and spending unimaginable amounts of money for treatment. Well, if your posture is severely damaged, then simple yoga poses for posture may not cut it and probably only professional doctors can help you.
But if you only have a slightly henched back or crooked shoulder blade, you should definitely try out some basic yoga poses for posture!
I must say, one of the main reasons I started out with yoga was the fact that I had poor posture as well and I needed to do something about the way it made me look and feel. Yoga helped me do exactly that and much more! In fact, the benefits of yoga for posture are absolutely endless…
Yoga not only helped me correct my posture, it reduced aches and pains in my body, improved my flexibility, digestion, helped me stop slouching, and just overall made me feel much happier and healthier!
If you don’t believe me, just check out this study proving that yoga makes you happy. Or try yoga and see for yourself! I’m sure you’ll be just as pleasantly surprised by yoga if you give it a try.
Below, you will find a simple routine of easy yoga poses for posture great for beginners in yoga. These are also great yoga poses for back pain. Though if you really suffer from back pain, we recommend checking out our article on yoga for back pain by clicking here. There are a lot of great poses to relieve pain in there.
Now, let’s get into these yoga poses for good posture!
5 yoga poses for better posture:
1.Half forward fold with shoulder opener
This pose is a great starter for a routine because it stretches out your calves and hamstrings and also opens up your shoulders.
Stand on the floor with your feet about hip-width apart. Interlace your hands behind your lower back. Bend forward using your hips, not your waist and keep your back as straight as possible.
Then, bring your hands as far towards the ground as you comfortably can. If it’s too painful, you can use a yoga strap instead of interlacing your hands. Hold this yoga stretch for a few breaths.
2.Reverse table pose
One of the main causes of poor posture is sitting at your desk all day, driving, etc. This pose allows your body to be in a completely opposite position and stretch out the front part of your body, making this one of the most useful yoga poses for posture!
Sit on the floor with your legs bent in front of you, your feet flat on the floor and hands at your sides. Bring your hands a few inches behind you at about shoulder width. Keep your fingers facing forward.
Press your hands and feet into the floor and raise your hips up. Bring your shoulder blades closer to one another and raise your chest. Your knees, torso and chest should be aligned and parallel to the floor.
Hold this yoga position for a few breaths, then return to starting position.
3.Downward dog
This pose strengthens your legs and arms and stretches out your shoulders, calves and hamstrings.
Stand on your hands and knees. Your knees should be below your hips and your hands should be a few inches before your shoulders.
Make sure your feet are placed flat on the floor. Then, lift your knees from the floor and raise them until you form a triangle with your body. If straightening your legs isn’t comfortable, keep them slightly bent at the knees.
Bring your head in between your arms. Bring your shoulder blades closer together and move your shoulders from your ears. Meanwhile, push your butt as far back and upward as you can to increase the stretch.
Hold this pose for a few breaths.
4.Bridge pose
This pose is great for opening up the chest and shoulders. These areas of the body are often tense and rarely stretched which causes poor posture.
Lay on your back, hands at your sides and knees bent with your feet flat on the floor at about shoulder width. Press your feet into the ground and raise your hips and back from the ground. Bring your shoulder blades closer to one another and raise your hips as high as you can.
For stability, lean on your arms and feet. Hold this pose for a few breaths.
5.Plank
This pose is great for improving core strength.
Place your hands beneath your shoulders and place your toes firmly on the ground. Tighten your glutes to remain stable and focus on your core muscles.
A common mistake made by beginners is they stick their butt up too high or hold it almost as low as the floor. Make sure your butt, spine and neck are always in line.
This pose is pretty difficult so just hold it for about 30 seconds and work your way up!
So this was just a short yoga sequence to improve your bad posture. But there are so many more benefits of yoga! From yoga for stress relief to yoga for good posture to yoga flexibility – the list goes on.
So, if you enjoyed these few restorative yoga poses for posture, I definitely recommend learning some more yoga. Zoey Bray-Cotton’s “Yoga Burn” program is perfect for beginner yogis just like you!
This program is perfect for both beginners and intermediate-level yogis. It is composed of 3 phases, each of which contains different videos explaining everything in detail. So the program is very easy to understand and follow!
Probably one of the best parts of this program is the fact that you can use it from the comfort of your own home! No need to go to a yoga studio at a certain time. You can create your own schedule and all you’ll need is a yoga mat and some motivation!
Plus, the “Yoga Burn” program is aimed at women who are trying to lose weight! So if you’ve been trying to shed a few pounds, just combine this program with the correct nutrition and you’ll be sure to reach some amazing weight loss results!
So, enough burying your head in the sand when it comes to exercise!