In your efforts to exercise, chances are you’ve worked on improving the four components of physical fitness. The problem is there are actually five. Criminally overlooked in the pursuit of big-ticket goals like strength, endurance, lung capacity and body composition is flexibility.
“Often people, when they work out, they prioritize cardio, prioritize strength, and then we would joke that they leave the gym,” says Jessica Matthews, RYT500, professor of kinesiology at Point Loma Nazarene University. “There’s no kind of cool down, no stretching, or flexibility training.”
People walking out of a yoga studio, however, don’t draw those guffaws. If you’ve ever strained a back muscle sneezing or pulled a hammy bounding too quickly out of bed, you know the travails of inflexibility. Learn how yoga can help promote mobility and help prevent injury.
Why is stretching so important?
Imagine souping up a sports car—you turbocharge the engine, reprogram the transmission, upgrade the electrical—but the wheels are rusted. Even if you boost heart, lung, and neuromuscular function, you won’t get very far if your joints are fossilized.
Flexibility training improves range of motion at the joints, which can facilitate freer movement, help mitigate pain, reduce injury risk, and generally make us more capable in our everyday lives, whether it’s performing a side lunge or getting out of that sports car.
“Think about the muscles on each side of a joint; you want an equal degree of pull, but when we see issues with range of motion, often there’s an imbalance,” says Matthews, author of Stretching to Stay Young. “Habitual patterns, like carrying your child on the same side, can promote improper body mechanics” that lead to these imbalances.
“The body is intended to move as one integrated unit,” she continues. “With stretching, what we’re looking to do is support the body in being able to move as it’s actually designed to move with the right degree of pull between both sides of each joint action.”
Why should you do yoga for flexibility?
Yoga is a holistic activity, involving strength, mobility, balance, and, if you ramp up the intensity enough, cardiovascular function. And, as opposed to static stretching, which requires holding the end range of a muscle, most yoga movements are dynamic, taking joints through a full range of motion, which is generally more effective at readying you for activity.
“In many yoga styles, there’s movement or flow between the postures, some of which themselves are dynamic,” Matthews says. “That’s another key aspect of what helps to improve flexibility: moving the joints through a functional range of motion at controlled speeds.”
An example is cat-cow (see below). It’s not a stretch in the traditional sense, but it primes the spine for activity, taking it, dynamically, through a range of motion at a controlled pace.
“That’s where we have more injury-prevention research, and where some of the greatest benefit lies,” Matthews adds.
13 Yoga Poses for Everyday Flexibility
Matthews recommends the following yoga poses from her book, Stretching to Stay Young, to help relieve tension, prevent or pacify pain and restore overall mobility.
1. Cat-cow pose (marjaryasana bitilasana)
Benefits: Promotes spinal flexibility, upper-back mobility and proper posture.
- Start on all fours, with your wrists aligned below your shoulders and your knees aligned below your hips. Keep your spine extended and your shoulders from shrugging.
- On an inhale, gently arch your back, lifting your tailbone and chest toward the ceiling while dropping your belly toward the floor.
- On an exhale, round your spine, tuck your tailbone, and draw your chin toward your chest.
- Repeat the sequence.
2. Low cobra pose (bhujangasana)
Benefits: Helps counteract the effects of hours spent seated, which can cause rounding of the upper-back and pain in the lower-back.
- Lie on your stomach, with your legs extended, the tops of your feet hip-width apart on the floor and your palms on the floor beneath your shoulders.
- Keeping your shoulders away from your ears, press your palms and the tops of your feet into the floor and inhale as you lift your chest up, engaging your glutes and straightening your elbows as much as is comfortable.
- Exhale as you lower your chest back to the floor, and repeat.
3. Reclined spinal twist (supta matsyendrasana)
Benefits: Introducing a rotational element of mobility, this movement relieves tension in the spine by stretching the muscles supporting it.
- Lie on your right side, with your hips and ankles stacked on top of one another, and bend your knees while keeping your heels in line with your spine. Extend your right arm on the floor to your right, palm facing the ceiling.
- Bring your left palm over to your right palm and then slowly drag it down your right arm and across your chest as you rotate your upper body to the left.
- Continue rotating until you feel your left knee start to lift. Hold for five seconds. Options: extend your left arm out to your left and/or use your right hand to hold down your left knee.
- Return to the starting position, performing an equal number of stretches on both sides.
4. Standing crescent moon (parsva urdhva hastasana)
Benefits: Targets lateral (side-to-side) movement of the spine, which is underrepresented in many fitness routines, promoting better posture and less lower-back pain.
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart and your arms at your sides.
- Keeping your left shoulder down, sweep your left arm out to your left side and toward the ceiling with your palm facing right.
- Reach up and over to your right side, leaning your torso to the right, and stretch the left side of your body. Hold for a breath or two.
- Repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
5. Half lord of the fishes (ardha matsyendrasana)
Benefits: Another rotational stretch, this pose loosens the muscles of the lower back.
- Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you and bend your right knee, stepping your right foot over your left thigh. Plant your right foot on the floor beside your left knee.
- Place your right hand on the floor behind your right hip with your fingers pointed away from your body, and lift your left arm toward the ceiling.
- Keeping your chest up and your shoulders down, gently rotate your torso to the right, hugging your right knee with your left arm or bracing your left elbow against the outside of your right knee. Gaze over your right shoulder and hold.
- Gently return to the starting position and repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
6. Bound angle pose (baddha konasana)
Benefits: This seated pose promotes mobility at the hips and back, stretching the adductor muscles of the inner thighs.
- Sit on the floor with the soles of your feet together, allowing your knees to release to the sides.
- Place your thumbs on the balls of your feet, and wrap the rest of your fingers around the tops of your toes, as if holding a book, while keeping the outer edges of your feet on the floor.
- Draw your heels as close to your groin as is comfortable, and lean slightly forward, drawing your chest toward your heels and pressing your elbows gently into your thighs.
- Hold for three to five breaths.
7. Reclined pigeon (supta kapotasana)
Benefits: Also known as a figure 4 stretch, this pose helps loosen up the hips and glutes.
- Lie on your back with your feet flat on the floor, and cross your right ankle over your left knee.
- Keeping your right foot flexed, thread your right arm through your legs and your left arm around your left leg, interlacing your hands behind your left thigh or around your left shin.
- Gently draw your left knee toward your chest, and hold for a few breaths.
- Slowly release the hold, returning your feet to the floor.
- Repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
8. Wide-legged forward fold with chest expansion
Benefits: This multi-muscle movement targets the hamstrings, inner thighs, spinal erectors and the chest.
- Stand with your feet parallel and greater than hip width apart.
- Keeping your knees slightly bent, reach your hands behind your back and interlace your fingers (optional modification: grasp a strap in both hands, palms facing back).
- Keeping your back straight and your shoulders down, hinge at your hips to fold forward, drawing your torso toward your thighs and your hands directly above you.
- Hold for several breaths and slowly return to the starting position.
9. Reclined hamstring stretch (supta padangusthasana)
Benefits: Overlooked in the relief of back pain are the hamstrings which, along with the muscles of the calf, receive direct attention here.
- Lie on your back with your legs extended, and draw your right knee toward your chest.
- Loop a strap or towel around the arch of your right foot, and hold one end of the strap in each hand, palms facing each other.
- Keeping your left leg extended on the floor, straighten your right knee toward the ceiling until your right leg is as perpendicular to the floor as possible.
- Apply gentle pressure on your right foot using the strap by bending your elbows and drawing your toes toward your shin while keeping your head and shoulders on the floor.
- Hold for a few breaths before slowly bringing your right leg back to the floor.
- Repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
10. Assisted low lunge (anjaneyasana)
Benefits: Runners, cyclists and anyone who spends protracted periods sitting may especially benefit from this pose, which targets the quads and hip flexors.
- Kneel on a mat or folded towel with your toes tucked and the balls of your feet pressed against a wall.
- Step your right foot forward, bending your right knee 90 degrees and keeping it in line with your ankle. Make sure your hips are square in all planes.
- Slide your left knee back slightly so the top of your foot is now resting against the wall, toes pointed toward the ceiling.
- Engage your core as you hold your torso upright and gently press your hips forward to maximize the stretch. Hold for several breaths.
- Slowly release the pose and repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
11. Downward facing dog (adho mukha svanasana)
Benefits: This foundational yoga pose stretches the hamstrings and calves while strengthening the arms.
- Start on all fours, with your knees aligned below your hips and your hands aligned slightly in front of your shoulders, fingers spread wide.
- Press your palms firmly into the floor, tuck your toes and lift your hips toward the ceiling, creating an inverted V with your body.
- Straighten your legs as much as you can while drawing your heels to the floor or as close to it as possible.
- Avoid shrugging your shoulders by externally rotating your arms, keeping your elbows straight without locking them.
- Hold for up to a minute before slowly returning to the starting position.
12. Thread the needle (parsva balasana)
Benefits: The shoulders, upper back and neck all get relief from the tension and pain associated with overhead activity.
- Get on all fours with your knees aligned below your hips and your hands aligned slightly in front of your shoulders.
- Keeping your palms planted, sink your hips back toward your heels, settling into child’s pose.
- Slide your right arm along the floor underneath your left arm with your palm facing the ceiling, pressing your right shoulder into the ground until you feel a stretch.
- Hold for several breaths and repeat on the other side, performing an equal number of stretches on each.
13. Reverse tabletop (ardha purvottanasana)
Benefits: The muscles along the front of your body that spend all day languishing as you sit at a desk—neck, chest, hip flexors—get corrective attention here.
- Sit with your feet flat on the floor and place your palms on the floor behind you with your fingers pointed forward.
- Press into your palms and feet as you lift your hips off the floor and toward the ceiling.
- Draw your shoulder blades together to open your chest while gently lowering your head.
- Hold for several breaths and slowly return to the starting position.
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