The Pose Guide

Want to touch your toes? This helps. This stretch targets the hamstrings and calves to improve flexibility, reduce soreness, and relieve pressure on the lower back. You can use this to warm up for a workout, relieve soreness the day after a workout, or loosen tight muscles after long periods of sitting.

This is a challenging, full-body pose that improves spinal mobility and strengthens your core, spine, and lower body. It’s a great way for athletes and fitness enthusiasts to take core strength to the next level. Full locust should be a slow and controlled movement of every inch—don’t jerk your body off the floor.

This is a great beginner’s stretch to release glute soreness and counteract muscle imbalances caused by sitting. It can also alleviate pressure on the sciatic nerve by stretching the piriformis muscle, a small gluteal muscle. This stretch is a good alternative to Pigeon, because it requires less hip mobility.

Pyramid is a very effective pose for increasing mobility in the hamstrings. This makes it ideal for athletes trying to reduce their risk of injury, office workers who spend most of their day sitting, as well as people with chronic lower-back pain. If you want to be able to touch your toes, this is a good pose to work on.

This is an all-purpose pose to relax your body and release tension in your spine, back, and hips. It’s a great cool down to return your breathing to normal, or a warm up to activate the core, upper back, and shoulders. Child’s pose also helps relieve stiffness in the spine after sitting for an extended period of time.