Best Yoga Poses for Beginners
January 16, 2023
Yoga is one of the best calming hobbies one can practice. According to an astonishing study, over 300 million people around the globe practice yoga. Where it improves flexibility, balance, and strength, it’s also known to relieve back pain and ensure better sleep. There are an overwhelming amount of benefits and this is what keeps so many people practicing yoga every day!
If you are inspired by the benefits of practicing yoga and wondering where to begin; we have got you covered. Below we have compiled a comprehensive list of the best yoga poses for beginners. So roll out your mat, take a deep breath and let’s begin.
Yoga Equipment for Beginners
Before getting straight into the best yoga poses for beginners, why not first learn about the equipment you will need? Yoga clothing, a yoga towel, and a yoga mat are the three most basic things one needs to practice yoga. Other optional equipment includes yoga sandbags, blocks, blankets, straps, resistance bands, bolsters, wheels, and more.
The Best Yoga Poses for Beginners
Most beginners might find tricky poses like arm balance and inversions tempting when seeing yoga experts performing them on social media. However, you can’t directly start from them, as these postures demand balance training and some serious strength.
Wondering what poses you can try out then? Let us guide you.
1. Sukhasana – Easy Pose
Spread your yoga mat, and sit cross-legged on it with your hands on your knees and palms up. Try keeping your spine perfectly upright and push the “sit bones,” the bones you are sitting on, down into the floor. Close your eyes and breathe.
According to most yoga teachers and experts, it’s a great pose for beginners. It helps relieve stress and improve back flexibility. Isn’t it amazing how just sitting on the floor in a specific pose enables you to feel the pelvis opening with the external rotation on the legs.
2. Tadasana – Mountain Pose
Stand with your heels slightly lifted, and toes joined together. Now, spread your toes with your weight evenly distributed through the soles. Just relax your shoulders and roll them back and down. Take in your breath and press down on your feet when reaching your arms overhead. Take long, slow, and deep breaths and hold for three to five breaths.
This yoga posture helps create a sense of calm and inner peace. You improve your body’s alignment, posture, and balance by standing steady and centered in this pose. This, in turn, can benefit your daily movements and other yoga poses.
3. Chakravakasana – Cat-Cow Pose
Hop onto your mat with your knees below your hips and hands below your shoulders. Follow up with spreading your fingers wide as you equally dispense your weight between your hands. Let the air in and round your back when lowering your chin to the chest. When exhaling, lift your head, tilt it backwards, and lower your back down, forming a scoop shape.
This pose is for stretching and awakening the spine, mainly relieving back pain. It also enhances the flexibility of the shoulder, chest, neck, and entire spine. Most yoga coaches recommend repeating it five to ten times and even more.
4. Uttanasana – Forward Fold
Inhale when lifting your arm overhead and exhale, releasing your arms and folding your torso over your legs. Have at least a slight knee bend on your first time. Regardless of how flexible you are, you will want to be gentle with your hamstrings when starting out.
Straighten your legs as much as you can, when you relax into the pose and try to force the fold, do not pull yourself down. Bending the knees here is perfectly ok and will relieve any pressure in the lower back. You can put your hands on your feet, shins or on the ground. This pose helps improve balance and passively lengthens your hamstring and spine.
5. Vrksasana – Tree Pose
Stand up straight, bring your hands together in the prayer position, and lift them over your head. Bend your left knee out to the left side, balancing on your right leg. Proceed with pressing your left foot to your right leg’s inner thigh. Hold on for thirty seconds in the same pose, switch legs, and repeat.
According to several Dallas yoga studio teachers, this pose will assist you in stretching your back body from the tips of your fingers to the heels. Although this pose is pretty easy, it doesn’t mean it’s not challenging.
6. Virabhadrasana II – Warrior II
Stand up straight and widespread your feet, around three to four feet apart. Turn your left foot out ninety degrees and your right foot in a little. Relax your shoulders and bring your hands to the hips. Now, extend your arms out to the sides with palms down. Keeping the left knee over the ankle, bend it ninety degrees, and gaze out over your left hand. Hold for five full breaths, switch sides, and start over.
This yoga is best for strengthening hamstrings, quads and shoulders. It also proves helpful in loosening up your shoulders, calves and hips.
7. Viparita Karani – Legs-up-the-Wall Pose
Lie on the floor with your buttock lining up against the wall. Make an L shape by moving your legs straight up the wall with your torso perpendicular to the wall and flat on the floor. For this pose, you must place a rolled-up yoga blanket under your lower back for additional support.
Flex your toes, breathe deeply; you can hold the position for how long you like. Bring your knees to the chest and flip over to your side to release. Several yoga Dallas experts believe this pose revitalizes weary and tired legs.
Uptown Yoga Dallas – The Best Dallas Yoga Studio to Rely On
Besides practicing these poses at home, it’s better to get guidance from yoga coaches. Dallas, a beautiful city in Texas, is lined with several Dallas yoga studios; however, if you want to choose one, go with the Uptown Yoga Dallas. It’s where you can find the best and most friendly yoga Dallas teachers offering in studio and online yoga classes. Check their website now!
Wrapping It Up!
That was all about the yoga poses beginners should begin with. Where some of them are bound to relieve pain and stress, others improve balance, and more. In short, what you expect from yoga may also influence your choice of beginner yoga poses. Come to Uptown Yoga Dallas to get guidance from our experienced yoga teachers.
