Yoga For Better Posture

Why It Matters + The Best Asanas For Good Posture

Whether it’s spending hours at our computers or hunching over our phones 24/7, modern life has resulted in an influx of postural problems. Poor posture leads to many health problems, including chronic back pain, headaches, labored breathing, and fatigue. 

Thankfully, yoga helps us cultivate better spinal alignment on the mat and improved posture in our daily lives. Let’s explore how yoga can improve our posture and the best asanas for this purpose. 

Why Is Good Posture So Important

Before we delve into the link between yoga and better posture, let’s discuss why posture is so important for our health.

Reduced Pain & Tension

Our posture determines the condition of our musculoskeletal system. People with bad posture are much more likely to experience muscle tension, particularly lower back pain, common in office workers who sit in slouched positions for long periods. 

Along with the back, poor posture can cause shoulder and neck tension, leading to chronic headaches. 

Better Breathing

Slouched positions compress our lungs, resulting in faster and shorter breaths. When we stand or sit up straight, our respiratory system functions more efficiently, improving our breathing, which, as you know, is essential in yoga.

Higher Energy Levels

Along with improved lung capacity, good posture improves blood circulation, directly affecting our energy levels. Sitting or standing in a position where your joints are correctly aligned increases blood and oxygen flow, helping your muscles function optimally and preventing fatigue.

Increased Confidence

Studies have found that good posture can increase confidence. This is because our body position and gestures can significantly affect how we think and feel. 

Highly confident people naturally walk tall with their chests open. In contrast, those with low self-esteem typically try to make themselves appear small by hunching their shoulders and rounding their spine.

If you are the latter, test it out for yourself. Challenge yourself to stand tall and notice how you feel more confident and self-assured.

How Does Yoga Help To Correct Your Posture?

Various research studies have found that practicing yoga benefits spinal flexibility and posture. Yoga helps to improve posture in many ways, including strengthening and lengthening muscles and increasing body awareness.

Body awareness & alignment

Yoga increases body awareness, so over time, you become more conscious of any bad postural habits you have. Yoga also has a significant focus on correct alignment and form. In all seated and standing poses, the yoga instructor will cue you to find a straight spine by relaxing your shoulders away from your ears, opening your chest, and engaging your core.  

With these two things combined, you’ll start noticing how a pose feels differently in your body when the alignment is correct and incorrect. For example, you may see how you can breathe better when you open your chest in a high lunge pose; or that your back doesn’t hurt when you keep a straight spine in a forward fold. 

Flexibility

Of course, one of the top benefits of yoga is flexibility. But did you know that improved flexibility also improves your posture? This is because tight muscles and immobile joints make you more likely to slouch or round your spine due to the stiffness you feel. 

Core Strengthening

Yoga’s focus on core strengthening also directly improves posture. The abdominal muscles stabilize your body through the spine. However, the weaker these muscles are, the poorer stability you will have. By strengthening these muscles in asanas like plank and boat pose, your spine will feel stronger, reducing the tendency to slouch. 

Top 5 Yoga Poses For Better Posture

While yoga, in general, helps you develop better posture and spinal alignment, some poses are specifically beneficial for posture improvement. 

1. Mountain Pose 

Mountain pose is a foundational standing posture practiced towards the beginning of the class. It helps you find the correct spinal alignment by stacking all the joints. 

• Stand with your feet together, big toes touching, and heels slightly apart. If this foot position is uncomfortable, place your feet hip distance apart.
• Find equal weight distribution by pressing into the four corners of the feet.
• Engage your thigh muscles by energetically lifting the kneecaps.
• Pull your belly button into your spine to engage the core muscles.
• Relax your shoulders away from the ears and slightly press your chest forwards.
• Lift up through the crown of the head to lengthen the spine while grounding through your lower body. 

2. Downward Facing Dog

Downward-facing dog is one of the best poses for finding a straight spine and improving flexibility in the back (and the rest of the body).

• From an all-fours position, place your hands directly under your shoulders. Spread and activate the fingers, trying to connect each part of the hand to the mat.
• Tuck your toes, lift your knees, and push your hips back and up to straighten your arms and legs. 
• Notice the shape of your spine here – many yogis compromise a straight spine for straight legs. To avoid rounding your back, bend your knees slightly and press your chest to your thighs.

3. Plank Pose

Plank pose builds strength and stability in the core to improve spinal health while teaching you how to maintain a straight spine and stack your joints in a weight-bearing position.

• From downward dog, rock your weight forwards until your shoulders stack over your wrists. 
• Ensure your hips align with your spine; they should not be pointing up like a downward dog or dropping down. 
• Draw your belly button into your spine to engage your core and maintain spinal alignment. 

4. Staff Pose 

Staff pose is a foundational seated posture that teaches correct spinal alignment in a sitting position.

• Sit with your legs together and outstretched. Flex your feet towards you and press the backs of the legs into the mat. 
• Drop your shoulders away from your ears and press your chest forwards. 
• Place the palms of your hands on the mat beside your hips to find a straight spine. Or place a block or pillow under your sitting bones if you still feel your spine rounding.

5. Seated Forward Fold 

This seated forward fold teaches you how to move your body without rounding the spine or slouching the shoulders.

• From the staff pose, reach your arms up alongside your ears. 
• Keeping a straight spine, slowly tilt forwards from the hips. Keep your arms alongside the ears as you come down, as this will prevent slouching.
• If you cannot fold forward much, slightly bend the knees, then try to go a little deeper.
• Once you reach your maximum, release your hands to your legs without rounding the spine.

Final Thoughts On Yoga For Better Posture

So there you have it. Yoga may just help you say goodbye to consistent low back pain, annoying neck tension, and lack of energy. Backbends, forward folds, and core work are all fab for cultivating better posture (and better health) so be sure to include plenty of these in your practice. 

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