The Benefits of Different Yoga Positions

Different yoga positions offer different benefits of course. We'll discuss some basic yoga positions and what their specific benefits are. This page will be pretty general as there are other more specific pages detailing the poses throughout the website.

When I teach I like to talk about which muscles you are looking to stretch or focus on in each basic yoga position. I do this so you'll know what benefit the pose is designed to give you. I sort of break down the anatomy of the pose so that you not only know you are doing it correctly but so that you can breathe into it to intensify the stretch in the right area of your body.

Breathing is an important aspect of any yoga pose. Generally you want to exhale into a stretch and inhale for a transition. This can change during different yoga positions and breath work will be discussed at length on another page. Let's talk about the benefits of the basic upward facing dog (up-dog) and downward facing dog (down-dog) poses.

Up-dog ~~ The benefit to this pose is to open the whole front side of your body. Many people sit at a desk all day, or perform repetitive tasks in a forward motion. We all need to open the front side of our bodies. Let the shoulders roll backwards and out here - no slouching allowed!!!

Down-dog is the opposite ~~ The benefit to this pose is the entire back side of your body stretches from your hands to your heels. Many people have poor posture and this is a posture straightening pose. It also strengthens and stretches shoulder muscles and stretches the low back and hamstrings ~ both of which can cause bad posture if they are too tight.

downward facing dog pose

Let's move on to twists. Twisting massages your inner organs, invigorates your spine and releases tension in your lower back.

Inversions increase blood flow to your brain and your upper body. A flush of nourishment goes to your brain in different yoga positions where your head is upside down. You don't need to be in a headstand to reap the benefits here. A simple forward bend is an inversion and your feet stay safely on the floor!

Forward Bend pose

Hip openers like the pigeon pose (my favorite) stretch the muscles in the back of your hips often freeing up tightness in your lower back. We also store tension in our hips and don't even know it. Hip openers release that tension and leave us feeling a little lighter.

Opening the front of the hips in poses such as lunge or crescent pose allows you to stand straighter, especially if you are a professional sitter.

Warrior poses promote strength and confidence. Warrior positions also strengthen the legs, feet and ankles and open the hips. Different Warrior positions open the hips at different angles providing a well rounded stretch.

Warrior 2 pose

I could go on and on but there will be more specific information on other pages detailing everything about the poses so you can practice them at home. If you know what you are supposed to be feeling you can really get more of a benefit from each pose.

Generally speaking here, different yoga positions offer different benefits. Some may be easy for you and others may be challenging. Ease into the more challenging ones to open up tight areas. Modify the poses to fit your body and as you get more comfortable in them you can slowly move into the suggested alignment.

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