People who do not practice yoga often assume that yoga is mainly for relaxing and that it doesn't offer as much benefits as a workout. While a few forms of yoga may involve less physical exertion, others can be rigorous, thus helping our muscles engage and become stronger.
Yoga is so diverse that you can find poses to suit every need and goal, either to relax or break a sweat. It is better to switch between yoga poses that help engage the entire body and at times the ones that target specific muscles.
Here are a few yoga poses that can help engage the core muscles and thus strengthen them.
1. 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. It also helps manage stress.
Follow the steps:
Lie on your stomach and place your hands under your shoulders with 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 part way, 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
2. 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 strengthen the core. Practice the pose like this:
Bend forward 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 your 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.
3. Cat-Cow Pose
The cat-cow pose is a gentle, simple pose that includes backbend stretches and helps mobilise the spine as well. This pose helps stretch your torso, shoulders, and neck. It helps the core muscles to engage and relax, helping them work and strengthen.
This yoga pose focuses on various muscle groups like erector spinae, rectus abdominis, triceps, serratus anterior, and gluteus maximus.
You can follow these steps:
Go on all fours
Your wrists go underneath your shoulders, and your knees should be placed underneath your hips
Make sure you balance your weight evenly on all fours
Breathe in and look up, let your stomach drop down toward the mat
Breathe out and tuck your chin into your chest, draw your navel toward your spine, and your spine should be arched towards the ceiling
Maintain focus while you practise this pose
Focus on releasing tension in your body
Hold the pose for at least one minute
4. Warrior Pose
The warrior pose is another traditional pose practiced by people with various medical conditions, one of which is weak pelvic muscles. This yoga pose helps in strengthening the arms, legs, core, and lower back as well. You can:
Stand up with your legs 4 to 5 feet apart
Place your right foot at a 90-degree angle and your right toe should point out at an angle of 45 degrees
Place your hands at shoulder level, parallel to the ground
Bend your right knee and look towards your right
Your hips should be square and the right thigh should be parallel to the ground
Hold the pose for 10 to 15 seconds and release the posture
5. Boat Pose
The position of your neck during Boat Pose has a positive effect on the thyroid glands in the human body. It helps:
Tone the muscles of the abdomen
Strengthen the lower back
Opens the chest and engages the core muscles
Strengthens the hip flexors and abductor muscles
Stretches the hamstrings
Alleviate tightness in the hamstrings
To practice this pose, you will have to sit on the floor and extend your legs in front of you. Place your hands on the floor beside you, and let your upper body lean back slightly. Make sure your spine is straight and your chin is tucked in toward your chest.
Slowly try to balance on your two sitting bones and tailbone. Bend your knees before you lift your legs in the air and straighten your legs.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)