Beginner Yoga Poses
New to yoga? These yoga poses for beginners will help you create a strong foundation and build a love for the practice.
Latest in Beginner Yoga Poses
7 Ways You Can Modify Yoga Poses for Low Back Pain
Because you shouldn't have to suffer through your practice.
10 Basic Yoga Poses That Benefit Everyone (Including You)
No matter where you are in your practice, these fundamentals provide you with what you need.
Cat Pose
How to avoid falling into autopilot while practicing this basic—but beneficial—stretch.
Cow Pose
Bitilasana is an easy, gentle way to warm up the spine before a more vigorous practice.
Wide-Legged Standing Forward Bend
Open wide into Prasarita Padottanasana to increase flexibility by leaps and bounds.
These 4 Restorative Yoga Poses Will Completely Reset Your Mood
When you need to approach any situation—or, let's be honest, life—from a calmer place, this quiet practice is your solution.
Warrior 2 Pose
Named for a legendary warrior, Virabhadrasana 2 strengthens your quads, shoulders, and core—not to mention your stamina and inner resolve.
Staff Pose
It might look straightforward, but there's more to Dandasana than meets the eye.
Seated Forward Bend
A simple pose that's anything but easy.
Legs Up the Wall Pose
There's a general consensus among modern yogis that Viparita Karani or Legs Up the Wall Pose may have the power to cure whatever ails you.
Pyramid Pose | Intense Side Stretch Pose
Parsvottanasana encourages balance, body awareness, and inspires confidence.
This Yin Yoga Practice Encourages You to Create Space—In Your Body and Mind
Sometimes you need to clear out what you no longer need to let in everything that you want.
8 Common Yoga Poses That Are Easier to Teach (and Learn) at the Wall
The prop you never even knew you needed can transform how you (and your students) find alignment.
Easy Pose
Don't let the name fool you. If you're used to sitting in chairs, Easy Pose (or Sukhasana) can be quite challenging.
Bridge Pose
Setu Bandha Sarvangasana can be whatever you need—energizing, rejuvenating, or luxuriously restorative.
Chair Pose
Utkatasana powerfully strengthens the muscles of the arms and legs, but it also stimulates the diaphragm and heart.
Standing Forward Bend
Uttanasana will wake up your hamstrings and soothe your mind.
Extended Side Angle Pose
Find length in your side body, from your heel to your fingertips with Extended Side Angle Pose.
Warrior 1 Pose
Virabhadrasana 1 is a foundational yoga pose that balances flexibility and strength in true warrior fashion.
The 8 Best Yoga Poses for Beginners
Want to get into yoga, but don’t know where to start? These foundational poses will set the stage for your evolving practice.
Child’s Pose
Take a break. Balasana is a restful pose that can be sequenced between more challenging asanas.
Why Is Child’s Pose So Insanely Calming?
We've seen an explosion of memes about Child's Pose over the last year and a half. Coincidence? We think not.
Corpse Pose
Savasana is a pose of total relaxation—making it one of the most challenging.
Mountain Pose
It seems so simple as to hardly be a pose. But this basic posture contains the secrets of how to hold yourself in countless other poses.
Plank Pose
Nurture your love-hate relationship with Plank Pose. A beginner's best friend, it's the perfect precursor to more challenging arm balances.
Challenge Pose of the Month: Utthita Parsvakonasana
Each month, YJ editors and contributors share the pose that they've been working on.
Rest Your Way to Self-Love
Try this variation of Savasana to give your mind, body, and spirit a break from everyday stress and a view into contentment.
Master Warrior 1 Pose (Plus Four Adaptions)
Warrior Pose I Virabhadra = a hero or warrior from the Mahabharata asana = pose
Have a Wrist Injury? These Pose Swaps Will Help You Maintain Your Yoga Practice
Try these alternatives to get all the same benefits without bearing weight on your hands and wrists.
A Safe, Core-Supported Backbending Sequence
Move into backbends more safely, knowing you can consciously engage the muscles needed to protect the lumbar spine.
4 Poses to Prevent + Heal Shoulder Injuries
Practice these four poses to heal an injury or strengthen your shoulders to prevent one.
A Hero (Pose) for Every Home Practice
The intensity of Virasana can feel as daunting as the hero’s journey in your favorite adventure story. Choose the variation on the pose, ranging from gentle to fiery, to fit the narrative of your personal story on the mat today.
A Home Practice for Open Hips
Maintaining flexibility and stability in the hip joints is crucial for lower-back health and cultivating overall freedom and ease in our bodies.
Jason Crandell’s Top 10 Poses to Practice Daily
Jason Crandell struggles to make time for his home practice just like the rest of us. Here, the poses he deems essential to feel balanced when he’s looking for shortcuts.
4 Ways to Satisfy Your Urge to Side Bend
Try these four poses to lengthen and stretch your side when the urge hits you.
The Best Yoga Pose For Your Enneagram Number
Your yoga mat is the perfect place to explore and reconcile the core dilemma your Enneagram number has revealed. Start here.
3 Unconventional Ways to Warm Up For Garudasana (Eagle Pose)
Warm up for Eagle Pose with these three prep poses that will open your shoulders and hips.
Prevent Yoga Injuries: 3 Risky Poses You Can Make Safer
We look at three of the riskiest poses commonly practiced in yoga and how to modify them for your and your students’ safety.
Love Trikonasana? Learn How to Avoid This Common Knee Injury
Alignment is essential for the health of the knees. Unfortunately, practicing Triangle Pose too often without its counterpose can create an imbalance in the joint. Lean how to stay safe.
Yoga for Lower Back Pain: Skillfully Deepen Seated Forward Bends
Strengthen your lower back, free yourself from back pain in seated poses, and skillfully deepen your forward bends.
Happy Baby Pose
This pose gently brings a greater awareness to the hip joints.
Low Lunge
Low Lunge, or Anjaneyasana in Sanskrit, stretches the thighs and groins and opens the chest. It provides recovery post-workout, and boosts energy while consciously working to improve posture.
High Lunge, Crescent Variation
This variation of High Lunge, sometimes called Crescent Pose, is a great preparation for the full version of Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I Pose).
Standing Half Forward Bend
Find length in front body before forward folding in Ardha Uttanasana.
High Lunge
Counteract the effects of Modern-Day Sitting Syndrome by lengthening your hip flexors in High Lunge.
Conqueror Breath
Ujjayi is the beginner-friendly springboard for all other formal pranayama.
Extended Puppy Pose
A cross between Child's Pose and Downward-Facing Dog, Extended Puppy Pose lengthens the spine and calms the mind.
Malasana (Garland Pose or Squat)
An excellent facilitator of good pelvic floor health, Garland Pose, called Malasana in Sanskrit, stretches the ankles, groins, and back while stimulating proper digestion. No worries if your heels don't reach the floor—simply rest them on a folded blanket.
Sphinx Pose
Sphinx Pose is the infant of backbends. It can be practiced with either an active or passive approach.
Lion Pose
Blow off some steam, wake up your face, and lighten up your practice in silly Simhasana.
Locust Pose
Salabhasana or Locust Pose effectively preps beginners for deeper backbends, strengthening the back of the torso, legs, and arms.
Fish Pose
Boost the body's energy and fight fatigue with Fish Pose, or Matsyasana in Sanskrit, while building confidence with a loving stretch in the shoulders. It is said that if you perform Matsyasana in water, you will be able to float like a fish.
Cow Face Pose
Can't see the cow face? Notice that the crossed legs look like the lips. The bent-elbow arms, one up and one down, are the ears.
Wide-Angled Seated Forward Bend
Upavistha Konasana is good preparation for most of the seated forward bends, twists, and the wide-leg standing poses.
Reclining Bound Angle Pose
A classic restorative posture, Supta Baddha Konasana or Reclining Bound Angle Pose can be modified for any level of hip and groin resistance.
Hero Pose
Virasana is a balm for tired legs at the end of the day, as well as an alternative to Lotus for seated meditation.
Salutation Seal
Practicing Anjali Mudra is an excellent way to induce a meditative state of awareness.
Bharadvaja’s Twist
Bharadvaja's Twist, or Bharadvajasana in Sanskrit, is a gentle and loving twist that inspires postural and body awareness.
Half Lord of the Fishes Pose
Also called Seated Twist Pose or Ardha Matsyendrasana in Sanskrit, this pose energizes the spine and stimulate proper digestion while improving postural and body awareness.
Cobra Pose
By providing a conscious opening in the chest and stretch in the shoulders, Cobra Pose, called Bhujangasana in Sanskrit, fights fatigue and relieves lower back pain, boosting both the energetic and the physical body.