How to Improve Flexibility with Yoga – Try 6 Poses

One of the essential aspects of excellent physical health is flexibility. Over time, your body may lose flexibility due to aging, a sedentary lifestyle, stress, or poor posture and movement patterns.

If you’re looking to improve your flexibility, practicing yoga daily, whether in a class or at home, could be one of the most effective ways to do it.

Specific yoga positions can help you improve muscle strength and alleviate stress or anxiety, in addition to increasing your flexibility.

Reasons Flexibility Is Important To Your Health

Increasing your flexibility benefits you in a variety of ways. The following are some of the most significant advantages:

• Flexibility improves your ability to move your joints regularly with less effort.
• Stretching your muscles can help you move more freely by releasing tension and tightness.
• Tight, stiff muscles can cause muscle strain and bad posture.
• When your muscles are relaxed, there is less stress and strain on certain portions of your body, and as a result, your back, neck, and shoulders experience less pain.
• You may be less prone to injuries if your muscles and joints have more strength and flexibility.
• It’s possible that releasing tension in your muscles will make you feel more relaxed. As a result, your stress levels may decrease.

Health Benefits of Yoga

Yoga can aid in the healing process by feeling more grounded and less distressed when experiencing symptoms.

• Yoga helps you gain strength, balance, and flexibility
• Relieve backache
• Improve your sleep
• Improves posture
• Strengthens muscles
• Boosts metabolism
• Aids in blood sugar control
• Increase blood flow
• Prevents sickness
• Improves self-esteem

The Best Yoga Positions for Flexibility

If you’re short on time or prefer to do your yoga at home, the poses below can help you stretch many of your key muscles and increase flexibility. Hatha, Vinyasa, and Yin yoga types are excellent options if you want to try a yoga session to improve flexibility. Go at your own pace with each pose.

Instead of focusing on how the stance seems, concentrate on how it feels. You can do each posture as many times as you want as long as it doesn’t hurt or is too tough to master.

6 Best Yoga Poses to Become More Flexible

1. Intense side stretch

The spine, legs, and hips are all long-drawn-out in this frontward end. Your balance, posture, and digestion all benefitted from it.

How to do

• To achieve this pose, stand with your left foot front and your right foot back, with your toes turned out at a slight angle.
• Face forward by squaring both hips.
• Make a fist with your hands and place them on your hips.
• Fold your torso forward by bending at the hips and burying your chin into your chest.
• Place your hands on a block or drop them to the ground.
• Hold this position for 30 to 1 minute.
• Switch your feet to the opposite side and repeat the exercise.

2. Head to knee

This position is suitable for people of all abilities and helps to increase flexibility in the back, hips, and thighs. It can also help decrease stress by increasing blood flow in the lower abdomen.

How to do

• Sit on the ground or on a yoga mat to perform this pose.
• Extend your right leg and press the inside of your thigh with your left foot.
• Take a deep breath and raise your arms overhead.
• Exhale and fold toward your outstretched leg by bending your hips.
• Hold on to your outstretched leg or foot with your hands on the floor.
• Hold the position for 1 to 2 minutes.
• Switch legs and repeat on the other side.

3. Cat-Cow

This pose’s fluidity helps to improve mobility and flexibility in the core, neck, shoulders, and spine.

How to do

• Initiate on your knees and hands, with your knees beneath your hips and wrists under your shoulders.
• Inhale as you allow your belly to sink toward the floor, keeping your weight equally distributed throughout your body. As your tummy slides downward, raise your chest and chin.
• Breathe out as you circle your back up toward the top limit with your hands, tucking your chin into your chest as you do so.
• Carry on in this manner for 1 minute.

4. Low lunge

This position is suitable for all levels since it lengthens your spine, opens your hips, and strengthens your muscles. It may also aid in the relief of sciatica.

How to do:

• Kneel on your left knee on the floor. Place your right foot flat on the ground before you, bending your right knee.
• Lengthen from the base of your spine to the crown of your skull.
• Raise your arms and torso. You can also stretch your arm to the parallel side or the ground.
• Gently press your right hip against the ground.
• At least 30 seconds should be spent in this position.
• Switch legs and do the same thing on the other side

5. Wide-angle seated forward bend

This forward bend can help loosen up your hips and lower back while increasing the flexibility of the hamstring and calves. You can sit on the edge of a cushion or block to tilt your pelvis forward and get deeper into the posture.

How to do

• To perform this pose, sit on the floor with your legs as wide as they will allow.
• Raise your arms above your head.
• Fold forward at the hips, walking your hands along toward your feet.
• Maintain this position for 1 to 2 minutes.

6. Cow Face Pose

This position extends your shoulders, chest, and arms and is suitable for all levels.

How to do

• To perform this pose, get into a comfortable seated position. Allow your chest to open and your spine to lengthen.
• Extend your left arm above your head, then bend your elbow so that your fingers point down your back.
• Draw your left elbow over to the right with your right hand, allowing your left hand to travel further down your spine.
• You can clasp your left hand by bending your right arm upward along your spine if it’s comfortable.
• Hold this position for at least 30 seconds.
• Switch arms and repeat the process on the opposite side.

Conclusion

Flexibility and ease of movement are crucial aspects of physical wellness. Stress, aging, lack of exercise, and poor posture, on the other hand, can cause your muscles to become rigid and tight, limiting your flexibility.

Regularly practicing yoga poses is a highly efficient approach to relieving muscle tension and increasing flexibility. The key is to start slowly and gradually increase the time you can hold a position with proper form.