7 Yoga Poses for Better Posture

Not only that posture reveals a lot about your personality, but it also says about the function of your joints and muscles. It determines your appearance, and affects your feelings. You may know that posture is very important for your health but still not doing anything to improve it. Bad posture affects your joints and muscles, and leads to ligament imbalances. This in turn can make your hips imbalanced and your back hunched, making your walking hard and painful. In this post you will find seven simple yoga poses that that will help correct your body posture.

1. Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

This challenging pose will teach you how to stand properly, as most of us stand with rounded shoulders and with a slight tilt in the hips. Stand straight with feet hip wide apart, and placed parallel to each other, and toes pointed forward. The crown of your head should be aligned with the center of your pelvis, and your chin parallel to the ground. Then, as you tighten the calves and quadriceps, gently pull the tailbone inwards. Keep your shoulders leveled, relaxed, and wide, and lift your arms over the head at shoulder width distance. Stay here for a minute.

2. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

This pose teaches how to stand tall and remain balanced all the time. Stand tall, and balance your weight on your right foot. Then, slowly raise your left one and place it on the right inner thigh, or the right calf. Breathe slowly while trying to balance your body in this pose. Once you feel balanced, lift your hands towards your chest as shown in the image. Your neck and shoulders should be relaxed, head straight, shin parallel to the ground, while gazing in front of you. Stay here for a minute and then do the same thing with the opposite leg.

3. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana)

This yoga pose is best performed right after the Mountain pose. Stand with your hands on your hips. Breathe out and bend down not from your waist but from your hip joints. Let your upper body go as deep as possible by pulling your stomach inwards, and placing your palms beside your feet on the floor. If you can’t place them on the floor, grab your ankles and hold. This pose will lengthen your spine. While bending forward, you can cross your forearms and hold your elbows to modify this asana.

4. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

Cobra pose reverses rounded shoulders while gently stretching the spine. Lie on your stomach and place your palms on the floor besides your hips with elbows aligned below your shoulders. Support your head on your chin to gaze forward, and slowly lift your head and chest by tightening the back muscles. Don’t use your arms to lift but only your back muscles. While here, relax your shoulders, and keep your head a bit tilted upwards. Stay in this position up to minute or as long as comfortable.

5. Cow Face Pose (Gomukhasana)

Gomukhasana is an intense shoulder and chest yoga pose which will stretch all your muscles. It’s great after long hours of desk-work or driving as it will help relieve your tight muscles. Sit on the floor with straight back, lift your right arm, and bend it behind you. Then, reach your left arm from below to meet the right one and clasp your hands together. Your head should remain high while gazing forwards. Stay here for a minute and then repeat with the opposite side.

6. Hero’s Pose (Virasana)

This asana will help you keep a proper posture while sitting. To start, sit on your heels with straight torso. Position the crown of your head to be parallel to the ground. You can use a pillow or cushion if your heels start to hurt. This pose is not recommended for those with knee problems.

7. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

To perform this resting pose, sit as in Hero’s pose (on your heels), exhale, and extend your arms forwards so that your torso falls between your thighs. Then, relax your arms, leaving them in front of you or bringing them down alongside your body. Via Cure Joy