Yoga Poses

If ever there was a time to slow your yoga flow and--let’s face it, take your speed of life down a notch or two--the hectic holiday season is it.

This heat-building sequence with deep squats and advanced variations will turn up your internal temperature and help burn off anything leftover in your system.

No student should have to withstand knee pain in a pose. Here are simple modifications for five basic yoga poses to offer your students.

To clear your mind, energize your body, and focus on all you have to be thankful for, integrate these 8 poses into your practice.

Prenatal yoga has long avoided certain poses, but new research indicates some of them may be safer than once thought.

Janet Stone offers mothers a pose, a writing exercise, and a daily ritual to make every day more mindful.

A practice that combines energizing and calming principles (brahmana and langhana) has a balancing, or samana, effect to quiet that monkey mind.

Keeping your eyes open if your body is listless, your mind dull, or your heart heavy can be a challenge. This 5-pose flow will help awaken your energy for meditation.

Author Susan Verde’s new book sends kids the message that imagination makes anything possible—and the yoga mat is a perfect place to explore it.

Internationally recognized yoga teacher and mother of two Janet Stone offers moms a pose to build strength from the inside out.

A skill that makes everyday movements easier—and safer.

Are you Type A? Is work more central to your day than breath? This 14-minute practice eases stress by boosting endorphins and dopamine—right at your desk.

Movement in your body leads to movement in your life. Shrink Session founder Erin Stutland combines the mindfulness of yoga with heart-pumping cardio.

Master Baptiste Yoga teacher Leah Cullis explains how learning how to breathe helped her tap into her power on and off the mat.

Looking for the courage to open your heart? Power everything you do with love using these mudras from Dana Trixie Flynn.

Our writer spent a day with Annie Carpenter at YJ LIVE! and came away with a newfound respect for her feet. Use this sequence as your owner’s manual.

Feeling frazzled by change? Coral Brown offers a new perspective on transitions and a sequence to keep you centered through them.

Got low back pain? Adopt these three slow, subtle yoga strategies from Tias Little to get more relief out of each practice.

Police officers, firefighters, and others who face extreme stress and trauma on a regular basis can find peace in asana, breath, and affirmation.

Practice these backbends and inversions for increased flexibility and strength and feel the freedom of greater range of motion in your chest and shoulders.

Move inward and quiet your mind as you transition step by step into Kurmasana (Tortoise Pose).

Open your hips and increase hamstring flexibility 
and core strength in these prep poses for Kurmasana.

Modify Malasana (Garland Pose) 
if needed to find safe alignment for your body.

Find freedom and flexibility in your groins, lengthen your spine, and create overall balance and strength in Garland Pose (Malasana).

Reverse the effects of slumping and slouching.

This is a practice for mothers, focused on building your core—physical and 
emotional—to sustain you through the overwhelming love and challenges of motherhood.

This sequence is designed for mothers. The seated poses will fire up your core and help balance out a stressful day of parenting.

Designed especially for mothers, this core work with leg lifts and lunges is for those moments when children push you to your very edge.

This practice focuses on building core—a strong physical core and 
a strong emotional core to sustain you through the love and challenges of motherhood.

Fight frenzied Fall energy with this grounding sequence designed for the outdoors. Go ahead, get your feet dirty and feel the earth between your toes.

Use Kathryn Budig's three-pose prep to wake up Parsva Bakasana's key players in your body and get geared up for takeoff.

Check out Erika Prafder's author page.

Ever try a yoga pose and feel like your body just doesn’t make that shape? Erin Motz has three ideas to help you get your Flying Pigeon off the ground.

I AM Yogi Twist™ Flash Cards, a new game from yoga-teacher-to-the-stars Alanna Zabel, is a fun and silly way to teach kids yoga postures.

Find energetic and physical balance as you twist into Rope Pose.

As simple as Mountain Pose seems, it is immediately grounding—and portable! Keep this pose in your pocket to pull out and practice anywhere this fall.

Is it safe to get your om on at that time of the month? Teens, learn what yoga can teach you about listening to your body and practicing self-care.

Steal these three three core-building balance moves from The YogaSlackers to cultivate slackline-ready strength.

The next generation of boys may play with Yoga Joes instead of G.I. Joes, thanks to a designer determined to spread the word that yoga is for guys, too.

Kathryn Budig breaks down the components of this advanced arm balance then wraps it all together with how-to instructions for getting into this elusive peak pose.

Take 10 minutes today to relax into this restorative posture, Viparita Karani (Legs-up-the-Wall Pose).

Spending quiet time in wooded areas is viewed as good medicine in Japan, and the practice—Shinrin-yoku—is catching on here.

Inversions are a rite of a passage, testing your mental and physical boundaries. Learn how to conquer your fear.

Play with balance and strength as 
you move step by step into Eight-Angle Pose (Astavakrasana).

Work on balance, arm strength, and hip opening 
in these prep poses for Astavakrasana.

Modify Intense Side Stretch (Parsvottanasana) if needed 
to find safe alignment for your body.

Stretch your outer hips and hamstrings, lengthens your spine and encourage quietude and self-reflection in Intense Side Stretch (Parsvottanasana).

While anxiety is natural, experts say certain yoga postures can relieve students’ first-day nerves. Start school stress-free.

Big night out? Nerves are normal. Fortunately, yoga can help you to relax and put your best self forward.

These three mudras will bring you back home to your source, connect you with your heart, and plug you back into your deeper power.

Alexandria Crows teaches Bow Pose in her "new, backwards way," to target all the tight and weak places that might be holding you back.

Looking for a token of your affection? These yoga-themed gifts can reinforce the values you’re looking to instill in your child.

Yoga is known to help relieve stress and calm the body and mind, but it can be especially beneficial for veterans suffering from PTSD.

Yoga poses inspired by the warrior goddess Durga will help you enhance every part of your life.

It's as easy as ABC. The Letter Sound Yoga app makes learning the sounds of the alphabet active.

Understanding the anatomy of the spine is essential for both yoga teachers and practitioners. Injury-proof your practice with these three key tips.

Sure, you could eat watermelon or take a dip in the pool, but yoga can help your body and mind chill out, says Kristen Kemp of Powerflow Yoga.

Mothers sacrifice sleep, diet, love life to care for their kids. Take a moment to pause and recalibrate yourself for better balance.

A yoga practice 
can be an important recovery tool 
for tennis in order to stretch tight muscles and encourage tissue resiliency.

Learn to balance as you move step by step into Pincha Mayurasana.

Increase your shoulder flexibility and develop greater strength with these prep poses 
for Pincha Mayurasana, forearm balance.

Modify Dolphin if needed to find safe alignment for your body.

A feeling of youth, even as you age, requires a flexible spine. In order to stay agile, practice forward bends, backbends, and twists regularly.

In order to stay agile as you age, make forward bends, backbends, and twists a regular part of your practice. Start here.

This sequence emphasizes moving safely into backbends that open the heart and shoulders and challenge balance.

Twisting poses are a top cause of SI joint injury. Learn how 
to safely anchor yourself before moving into your next twist.

The following five poses root down into the ground, allowing you to expand and create more space within your body and mind.

When it comes to injury prevention, what 
you do between poses may be as important as the poses themselves. Here’s how 
to flow safely through tricky transitions.

Tame anxiety with this short meditation and seated sequence.

For those suffering from 
anxiety, yoga can be a lifeline. 
Here’s why doctors are 
increasingly recommending 
it as a complementary therapy.

Readers share photos of their kids practicing yoga.

Yoga teacher Maggie DiPasquale say music is essential for setting the tone in teen yoga classes and offers tips for choosing songs that move teens.

Struggling with arm balances? The secret lies in the hands and forearms. Learn how to support your weight throughout your inversion practice.

Every yogi, it seems, has a tale of a bum knee, shoulder, or hip. But getting injured in practice often means something is out of alignment.

Feeling discontent, dissatisfied or down? Heart-opening yoga poses, such as Wheel (Upward Bow) Pose, are the perfect Rx.

One of the biggest changes in yoga since 1975? The sheer number of poses. Here, we look at how social media and creativity spurs asana innovation.

Here are seven ways Yoga Journal has embodied Eka Pada Urdhva Dhanurasana and its variations over the past four decades.

Lauren Imparato's detoxifying poses will cleanse, strengthen, and inspire you from the inside out and outside in.

Tight or open, your hips need to be strong for injury-free movement. Learn how to build stability in common yoga poses.