5 Yoga Poses for Glowing, Healthy Skin

Try these easy and simple yoga poses at home to get glowing and healthy skin.

Try these yoga poses to attain healthy and glowing skin.

(Photo: iStock)

Many across the world practise yoga to stay healthy as it has proven benefits for physical and mental health.

Yoga works on your health inside out and gives you glowing and radiant skin. Research proves that there is a correlation between yoga and skincare. Yoga helps attain bright and healthy skin while protecting it from stress. Yoga curbs health issues from the inside and imparts a healthy radiant glow.

Let's know more about the yoga poses that can help one attain brighter and healthy-looking skin.

1. Camel Pose 

The camel pose helps the front body stretch out, and the parts involved include the chest, abdomen, and quadriceps. It helps flush out toxins from the body and promotes skin rejuvenation. Practise the pose like this:

Bend forwards to your knees and place your legs hip-width apart. Keep your hips over your knees, squeeze your thighs toward each other, and inhale while you engage your belly. Then reach your tailbone toward your knees and create a space between your lower vertebrae.

Inhale again while you lift your sternum and draw your elbows back, toward each other, behind you. Let the ribcage expand. The chest should be raised, the core engaged, and the chin tucked in. Press the heels of your hands into the heels of your feet while you drape the fingers over the soles. Lift your shoulders and let the trapezius muscles between the shoulder blades rise up and cushion the cervical spine. Extend the head and neck backward.

2. Bow Pose 

This is an easy and quite effective pose that strengthens the abdominal muscles. According to the Yoga Institute, it is an effective pose to maintain healthy skin and adds a glow as well. It puts pressure on the abdominal portion and helps in detoxifying. It is an advanced pose; so do not push your body too hard.

• Lie flat on the stomach, use a soft surface or a yoga mat.

• Bend your knees slowly.

• Slowly extend your arms backward and try to clasp the ankles.

• Now gently raise the chest off the floor, as far as you can go.

• While using the tension between the arms and legs, lift the thighs and upper body off the floor.

• Hold the pose for a few seconds, then release.

3. Shoulder Stand 

A shoulder stand is one of the first poses that a trainer might ask you to try if you are someone who likes to try new and fun poses. It's an inversion pose and that is why it stimulates blood flow to the glands of the upper body and good blood flow promotes good skin.

It is believed that this yoga pose also has a positive effect on the efficiency of the thyroid. Your chin tucked into your chest for this yoga pose is believed to benefit thyroid function as well.

You can try this at home by bending your elbows and placing your hands on your lower back in such a way that your fingertips point up toward the ceiling. Place your elbows on the ground, shoulder-width apart. Make sure your elbows do not splay out to the sides. When you get comfortable, slowly lift your thighs in a vertical position while keeping your knees bent.

4. Plow Pose 

Plow pose is also great for digestion and a healthy gut in turn helps maintain healthy and glowing skin naturally.

If you want to try the plow pose, follow the steps given here:

Press your arms to the floor, and lift your legs over your head towards the floor while inhaling. You will have to stretch out through the heels. Now slowly walk your shoulders towards each other while your chin is up and hands are placed on the lower back for support. Press through the arms, shoulders, and feet if they are on the floor.

This yoga pose helps in stretching the neck, thus stimulating the thyroid glands. It also prevents and relieves tightness in the neck, shoulders, and back. The pose helps strengthen the shoulders, arms, and legs, and enhances flexibility, improves muscle and joint mobility. It also makes the spine more supple to help ease muscle tension and improve posture.

5. Cobra Pose 

This stretches your abdomen, chest, and shoulders. It strengthens your spine and may soothe sciatica. It helps the muscle groups: hamstrings, gluteus maximus, deltoids, triceps, and serratus anterior. When it comes to skin, it helps manage stress, and less stress in general means healthy and glowing skin.

Follow the steps:

• Lie on your stomach and place your hands under your shoulders and your fingers facing forward.

• Draw your arms to your chest and your elbows should not go out to the side.

• Press into your hands and slowly lift your head, chest, and shoulders.

• Lift partway, halfway, or all the way up.

• Slightly bend your elbows.

• Let your head drop back to deepen the pose.

• Release back down to your mat and breathe out.

• Bring your arms by your side and rest your head.

• Slowly move your hips from side to side to release tension.