Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It’s a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and meditation or relaxation. There are a ton of Yoga exercises to help strengthen your body and we have picked some of the most popular exercises that you can do from the comfort of your home.
It’s highly recommended to switch your form of workouts, so your body doesn’t get bored from one specific routine. Alot of accomplished athletes prefer Yoga to provide them with activating muscle groups that they normally would not bite into with their normal exercise routine.
Here are the yoga mats recommended by our experts based on rigorous testing and customer feedback.
There are more than 100 different forms of yoga. Some are fast-paced and intense. Others are gentle and relaxing.
The following are body strengthening yoga poses;
- TREE POSE
Bend the left knee slightly and stand up, ideally without letting the right foot touch the floor. When you are upright, bring the sole of the right foot to the inside of your left thigh, or to the calf if that’s not possible. This is tree pose (Vrksasana).
You can use your hands to place the foot. Bring your hands to your heart and find a focal point ,on the floor to help you maintain your balance. If you want, bring the arms overhead. Try to stay 10 breaths before releasing the right foot to the floor.
- STANDING SPLITS
Forward fold over your legs, then lift the right leg into a standing split (Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana). If your hands don’t comfortably reach the floor, you can use blocks under them. You can work on your balance by bringing one or both hands to your left ankle. Do this three times.
- BOAT POSE
Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you. Press your hands on the floor a little behind your hips, fingers pointing toward the feet, and strengthen the arms. Lift through the top of the sternum and lean back slightly. Exhale and bend your knees, then lift your feet off the floor, so that the thighs are angled about 45-50 degrees relative to the floor.
Stretch your arms alongside the legs, parallel to each other and the floor. Spread the shoulder blades across your back and reach strongly out through the fingers. At first stay in the pose for 10-20 seconds. Gradually increase the time of your stay to 1 minute. Release the legs with an exhalation and sit upright on an inhalation.
- EXTENDED TRIANGLE POSE
Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation, step or lightly jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your left foot in slightly to the right and your right foot out to the right 90 degrees. Align the right heel with the left heel.
Exhale and extend your torso to the right directly over the plane of the right leg, bending from the hip joint, not the waist. Anchor this movement by strengthening the left leg and pressing the outer heel firmly to the floor.
Rotate the torso to the left, keeping the two sides equally long. Stretch your left arm toward the ceiling, in line with the tops of your shoulders.
Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale to come up, strongly pressing the back heel into the floor.
- HANDSTAND
Perform Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) with your fingertips an inch or two away from a wall, hands shoulder-width. If your shoulders are tight, turn your index fingers out slightly; otherwise arrange them parallel to each other. If you’re uneasy about this pose, you’re not alone.
To ready yourself for and secure yourself in this inversion, firm your shoulder blades against your back torso and pull them toward your tailbone. Then rotate your upper arms outward, to keep the shoulder blades broad, and hug your outer arms inward. Finally spread your palms and press the bases of the index fingers firmly against the floor.
Now bend one knee and step the foot in, closer to the wall (we’ll say it’s the left leg), but keep the other (i.e. right) leg active by extending through the heel. Sweep your right leg through a wide arc toward the wall and kick your left foot off the floor, immediately pushing through the heel to straighten the left knee. As both legs come off the ground, engage your deep core abdominal muscles to help lift your hips over your shoulders.
To start stay in the pose 10 to 15 seconds, breathing deeply. Gradually work your way up to 1 minute. Stand in Uttanasana for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- PLANK POSE
Come forward to a plank pose with the shoulders over the wrists. Stay five to 10 breaths and you will really feel this in your arms.
Make sure to maintain good alignment throughout by not letting your hips stick up or sag down. Instead, keep a nice, straight line from the crown of your head to your heels. Remember, you can rest in child’s pose between poses if you need to.
- CHAIR POSE
Step the left foot next to the right. Bend your knees and lift your arms to awkward chair (Utkatasana). Stay here five breaths, challenging yourself to sit a little lower with each breath.
- DOWNWARD FACING DOG
Come onto the floor on your hands and knees. Set your knees directly below your hips and your hands slightly forward of your shoulders. Spread your palms, index fingers parallel or slightly turned out, and turn your toes under.
Lift your knees away from the floor. At first keep the knees slightly bent and the heels lifted away from the floor.
Then with an exhalation, push your top thighs back and stretch your heels onto or down toward the floor. Straighten your knees but be sure not to lock them.
Firm the outer arms and press the bases of the index fingers actively into the floor. From these two points lift along your inner arms from the wrists to the tops of the shoulders. Firm your shoulder blades against your back, then widen them and draw them toward the tailbone. Keep the head between the upper arms; don’t let it hang.
Stay in this pose anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes.
- DOLPHIN POSE
From downward facing dog, lower your forearms to the mat, coming into dolphin pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana). You can bring the knees to the floor during the transition if you need to, but once you have arms set up return the legs to a down dog position.
- SIDE PLANK POSE
Perform Adho Mukha Svanasana. Shift onto the outside edge of your left foot, and stack your right foot on top of the left. Now swing your right hand onto your right hip, turn your torso to the right as you do, and support the weight of your body on the outer left foot and left hand.
Position the hand slightly in front of its shoulder, so the supporting arm is angled a bit relative to the floor. Straighten the arm by firming the triceps muscle, and press the base of the index finger firmly against the floor. Align your entire body into one long diagonal line from the heels to the crown.
Stay in this position for 15 to 30 seconds.
- WARRIOR POSE( I )
Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose). With an exhale, step or lightly jump your feet 31/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your arms perpendicular to the floor (and parallel to each other), and reach actively through the little-finger sides of the hands toward the ceiling. Firm your scapulas against your back and draw them down toward the coccyx.
Turn your left foot in 45 to 60 degrees to the right and your right foot out 90 degrees to the right.
Keep your head in a neutral position, gazing forward, or tilt it back and look up at your thumbs.
Stay for 30 seconds to a minute. To come up, inhale, press the back heel firmly into the floor and reach up through the arms, straightening the right knee.
- WIDE-LEGGED FORWARD BEND
Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), facing one of the long edges of your sticky mat, then step or lightly hop your feet apart anywhere from 3 to 4 1/2 feet (depending on your height: taller people should step wider). Rest your hands on your hips. Make sure your inner feet are parallel to each other.
Lift your inner arches by drawing up on the inner ankles, and press the outer edges of your feet and ball of the big toe firmly into the floor. Engage the thigh muscles by drawing them up. Inhale and lift your chest, making the front torso slightly longer than the back.
Extend your elbows fully. Your legs and arms then should be perpendicular to the floor and parallel to each other. Bring your head up, keeping the back of the neck long, and direct your gaze upward toward the ceiling.
Bend your elbows and lower your torso and head into a full forward bend. Rest the crown of your head on the floor.
Press your inner palms actively into the floor, fingers pointing forward. Be sure to keep your arms parallel to each other and widen the shoulder blades across the back. Draw your shoulders away from your ears.
Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1 minute.
In conclusion; there’s a type of yoga that will suits your needs and fitness level. It’s a great choice, if you want a holistic approach to mind and body strength as well as boosting your mood.
