Yoga for Core Conditioning

Strong Core – Strong Body

People choose to perform yoga for a variety of reasons such as stress relief, breath control, to clarify the mind or to relax tense muscles and joints. If you’ve never performed yoga, you may doubt its healing prowess and the power of first rate core conditioning.

In fact, nearly all the yoga postures - from standing, sitting, kneeling, lying down, twisting, balance and inverted poses - require abdominal strength, and so performing them builds core muscles. Studies published on yoga and its benefits detail how the core of the human body is the key source for adding strength to many of our daily activities. Take golfing for instance, over 95-percent of the muscular effort involved in golf’s torso movements (a golf swing) originate in our abdominal muscles. Yoga firms the abdominal area with holding poses and rotational poses, so the core muscles become strengthened and well balanced.

Postures like the yoga Headstand, Shoulderstand and Handstand lift, as well as the repeated movements of lowering the legs into inverted poses result in a serious yoga workout for the abdominal muscles. The seated twists and standing poses - such as Warrior II and Triangle Pose – engage the oblique muscles (the muscles located along the sides of the abdomen) and the transverse abdominals (the muscle that wraps around the center of the body’s trunk from the front all the way to the back) which help to stabilize the spine and torso. Folding postures – which allow practitioners to lift their thighs close to their chests - involve sit-up-like movements that also target and firm your most visible tummy muscles.

Therefore, a comprehensive yoga workout will get you much more than a flat, firm belly. Since your abdominal muscles support the proper curves of your spine, a conditioned core will improve your posture and diminish any existing back pain.

To make the most of your yoga core conditioning, there are three points you need to keep in mind:

  1. Before starting a yoga session, warm up your abdominal muscles for 5 to 10 minutes.
  2. Start with yoga exercises that work your inner thighs and pelvic floor first. Then move up the body targeting the other core muscles.
  3. Exhale after every pose, for example breathing out with a sharp “ha” will ensure you’re exhaling properly each time.