Honestly, a good posture makes your life so much easier. People take you more serious, and you yourself feel more confident, too!
But our modern lifestyle doesn’t really lend itself to improving our posture. Unfortunately, it does the opposite.
So what is the solution? You’ve guessed it: My answer is yoga!
Let’s find out how to use yoga to improve posture!
Does yoga improve posture?
If you want to fix posture problems, you first need to understand which components play the biggest role in that. Unfortunately, we can’t simply work one single muscle and magically stand upright like an admiral.
To have good posture, you need several muscle groups to work together. This means, there needs to be a base level of strength. And these muscles also mustn’t be too tight to pull your bones forward or backward. (Rounded shoulders, anyone?!)
How yoga improves posture
Yoga is amazingly effective at improving your posture because it works on your strength and flexibility at the same time.
Related: Yoga for the inflexible: 5 poses anyone can do
A regular yoga practice will automatically do things like loosening up your hip flexors, improving core strength, and getting you into the habit of holding your body up in its natural way.
But when you get started, you might want to target your personal posture issues directly. For that, check out the following yoga poses to improve your posture!
Yoga for core strength and posture improvement
Let’s start with some strengthening yoga poses for posture improvement!
Boat pose
Boat pose is one of the best core exercises for posture. It doesn’t only strengthen your core. It also challenges your balancing abilities and hip flexors. All of these things together contribute to an improved posture.
When attempting this pose, make sure to sit on your sit bones, not on your tailbone! If this doesn’t work yet, you can keep your knees bent. Definitely prioritize a straight spine and unrounded lower back over the looks of the asana!
Plank pose
Plank pose is another great option for strengthening your core while working the whole body.
To be able to hold this pose for a while without completing cooking your shoulders, you have to use body tension. Tensing your whole body. What better way to work on your posture, one minute at a time?
Locust pose
Most people think of ab training when they think of core exercises. But a strong back is also part of your core. And extremely important for good posture!
Locust pose works those back muscles. Simply lay on your belly, with your arms alongside the body and the palms down.
Then, on an inhale, peel your upper body and your legs off the ground. Feel that tension in the back! That is those posture muscles working.
Bonus points for gently drawing your shoulder blades towards each other while in locust pose. That action is what makes you stand upright, so you want to train it!
Yoga poses for rounded shoulders
Unfortunately, you might have a super strong core, and still struggle with your posture. Rounded shoulders are becoming increasingly more common as we hunch over our phones and desks all day.
But don’t worry!
There are quite a few yoga poses to help you counteract rounded shoulders and improve your posture!
Cobra pose
Cobra pose is one of the best posture exercises for your upper back. It directly counters the rounded shoulder posture by strengthening your upper back muscles.
To make it most effective put as little weight as possible in your hands when lifting your head and chest off the floor. Let your back muscles work!
When those muscles get stronger over time, they’ll pull your shoulders back without you even noticing.
Related: Upward facing dog and cobra pose – step by step
Fish pose
Fish pose is one of my favorite stretches to do after a long day of working at my desk. It stretches the whole front of the body. Yes, exactly that part that we’ve been collapsing all day!
And it strengthens those upper back muscles that are essential for a better posture. Make it a habit of practicing fish pose every evening for a week and you’ll already feel the heart-opening benefits.
To get into fish pose, lay down on your back. Keep your legs active, so they don’t fall out to the side. Now press into your lower arms (palm to elbow), and “puff” your chest out.
This means, lifting your shoulder blades and your upper spine by contracting your back muscles. (You’ve guessed it, those posture improving muscles again!)
Once your chest is lifted as far as it can go, you can carefully let your head move towards the floor.
To get back out of it, press strongly into your hands and use your chest rather than your neck muscles to lift your head up.
Stretches to improve posture
Alright, we already did the strengthening yoga poses to improve posture. Now it’s time to stretch a little!
Shoulder stretch with a strap
Part of a good posture is an open chest. And to have an open chest, you also need open shoulders.
This strap shoulder stretch is a super-effective way to get there !
Simply grab your yoga strap with your right hand and stretch your right arm straight up above your head. Then bend your right elbow and let the hand sink down along your back.
Your right palm should be facing your back now. Let the strap hang down loosely.
Now straighten your left arm, rotate it back slightly, and slowly move your left hand up on your back. The palm should be facing outwards and the back of the hand towards your back.
Grab the strap from below, moving up as far as you can. Remember to repeat the stretch on the other side!
Related: How to use a yoga strap to improve your practice (+free PDF)
Eagle arms
Eagle arms is one of my favorite upper back stretches! While the strap stretch above mostly targets the front of the shoulders, eagle arms open up the whole upper back.
Be careful when doing this stretch, you can easily overdo it. It really is intense, yet also one of the best yoga poses for upper back pain.
To make sure you get some guidance through this intense stretch, have a look at the video below!
Related: Yoga for upper back pain: 5 easy stretches that will bring relief
Enjoy practicing these yoga poses to improve your posture!
I hope you found this helpful and you enjoy improving your posture with these exercises. Believe me, using yoga to correct posture is a great idea!
If this helped you, please share it with someone else to help them, too!
Hi, I’m Leo, the Yogi behind Yogabullet. I’ve been practicing Yoga for over 10 years now.
My goal with this blog is to show people how Yoga can help anyone, no matter how fit they are, to love their body and their life more.
I’ve experienced the life-changing power of Yoga myself and made it my mission to share this with as many people as possible.
I am a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with Yoga Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with a Registered Yoga School (RYS).