Anatomy

Arms Control
Build strength in your upper arms and discover newfound power and ease in Sun Salutes, arm balances—and everyday life.
By Julie Gudmestad

Bearing Up Under Pressure
We ask our wrists for strength and fexibility in yoga. Here are some pointers for keeping these complex joints safe and for rehabbing them if they've been strained.
By Julie Gudmestad

Break Out of Your Slump
Yoga can help prevent slouching—and the depression, shallow breathing, tension, and headaches that often go with it.
By Julie Gudmestad

Breathing Room
Yoga allows you to pay attention to the breath—and brings greater awareness to the parts of the body that allow us to exhale and inhale fully.
By Julie Gudmestad

Changes in Latitude
Strengthen weak latissimus dorsi (the lats) and feel your shoulders open for Upward Dog and Pendant Pose.
By Julie Gudmestad

Dump the Slump
Good posture is possible even without your mom nagging you. One key is stretching and strengthening the muscles around your shoulder blades.
By Julie Gudmestad

Face Your Fears of Falling
If you are avoiding arm balances, bear in mind that they develop core strength, keep the bones sturdy, and sharpen mental discipline.
By Julie Gudmestad

Feet First
If you want your yoga to build strong, stable, balanced legs, it's important to work the feet properly—even when you're not standing on them.
By Julie Gudmestad

Forget Six-Pack Abs
Healthy abdominal muscles are strong, not hard.
By Fernando Pagés Ruiz

Free Your Pelvis
Strengthening your side waist muscles may not eliminate your love handles, but it will unlock your pelvis and protect your lower back.
By Julie Gudmestad

From the Ground Up
Getting to know the mechanics of your feet and the pivotal role they play in yoga is the first step to establishing a solid foundation in your practice.
By Tias Little

Get Hip about Flexors
Stretching hip flexors can relieve the tension built up from daily sitting and ease all-too-common lower back pain.
By Julie Gudmestad

Get to the Root of Neck Problems
Changing how your head sits on top of your spine can reduce back and neck pain, improve your posture, and revolutionize the way you breathe.
By Richard Rosen

Help for Standing Balances (Take a Stand)
Toppling over in Tree Pose? Build a solid foundation with your feet, then allow your pose to grow from there.
By Julie Gudmestad

Hip to Be Square
The hip adductors create stability in inversions and arm balances as well as in standing poses. Here's a primer on these little-known muscles.
By Julie Gudmestad

Hips Too Tight?
If you're having difficulty with forward bends, don't assume it's your hamstrings. Inflexible rotator muscles may be to blame.
By Judith Lasater

Let's Twist Again
Twisting Poses will help restore your spine's natural range of motion, cleanse your organs, and stimulate circulation.
By Julie Gudmestad

Looks Are Deceiving
Upavistha Konasana is a quieting and deeply introspective pose, for some. For others, it's pure torture.
By Julie Gudmestad

Loosen Up Your Calves
Tight calves can interfere with your practice in ways you might not suspect, but frequent stretching can improve calf flexibility.
By Julie Gudmestad

Mission Possible
Is Gomukhasana nearly impossible for you? These tips can help you come closer to clasping your hands.
By Julie Gudmestad

On Your Knees
Yoga can either strengthen your knees or blow them out. It all depends on your alignment.
By Julie Gudmestad

Release Your Psoas
These 10 poses can help you create the internal awareness needed to access the muscle that is the key to your structural ability.
By Liz Koch

Save Your Neck
Practiced with careful alignment, yoga poses can help alleviate past neck problems and prevent future ones.
By Julie Gudmestad

Shouldering Responsibility
If you are having difficulty in backbends, you may not be doing the right preparatory shoulder-openers.
By Julie Gudmestad

Smooth Sailing
Try this version of the classic Navasana (Boat Pose) to strengthen your belly, back, and pelvis, and stand tall.
By Julie Gudmestad

Spin Doctor
Tight external hip rotators can be a pain in the butt, literally, and give you lower back pain. Loosen them up to rebalance your body.
By Julie Gudmestad

Spinal Trap
Weak, tight hips can throw your spine out of line. By balancing the muscles that flex and extend your hips, yoga promotes a healthy spine and efficient movement—and prevents back pain and injury.
By Julie Gudmestad

Spread Your Wings
With inversions, the position and stabilization of the scapulae set the stage for the alignment and lift of your entire pose.
By Julie Gudmestad

Stand and Deliver
Strengthening the piriformis, a muscle located under the gluteus maximus, can help stabilize the pelvis and knees in many standing poses.
By Julie Gudmestad

Step Lively
Strong and supple feet and ankles can reduce the risk of sprains.
By Laura Shin

Straighten Up
Some workouts can strengthen certain muscles while leaving others weak, contributing to poor posture. Yoga can help you stand tall.
By Alisa Bauman

Take a Deep Breath
Tight pants, tight abs, and poor posture all can constrict your diaphragm—but yoga can set your breath free.
By Julie Gudmestad

The Anti-Chaturanga Dandasana
If you teach a flowing style of yoga that employs frequent Chaturanga Dandasanas, you may be strengthening the fronts of your students' bodies far more than the backs. Here's how to use Purvottanasana as an effective counterbalance.
By Roger Cole

The Gripping Truth
Here's how to avoid tightening the buttocks in backbends, which can lead to compression and pain in the lower back.
By Julie Gudmestad

The Hyperextended Knee
Overly flexible knees can cause injury, but yoga can help stabilize loose tendons and ligaments by strengthening the muscles around the joint.
By Julie Gudmestad

The Learning Curve
Maintaining a proper cervical curve by strengthening weak muscles can ease many common pains in the neck.
By Julie Gudmestad

The Long and Short of Legs
Many people struggle to lengthen their hamstrings, but working too aggressively can lead to injury. Here are some crucial tips for getting a safe stretch.
By Julie Gudmestad

The Psoas is:
(A) A remote tribe in Papua, New Guinea. (B) A revolutionary computer operating system. (C) The muscle that is the key to your structural stability.
By Liz Koch

Thigh Master
To release your hamstrings and enjoy the stretch this pose offers, you have to firm your quads.
By Julie Gudmestad

Thighs Matter
Strong quads are key to many yoga poses, knee health, and a mobile,active life. So work 'em out—but don't forget to stretch them too.
By Julie Gudmestad

Upside Down
Looking for relaxation? Reclining in Viparita Karani can help you find serenity.
By Judith Hanson Lasater

Use Your Head About Shoulders
Practicing a few simple stretches can result in new freedom of movement in many standing poses, backbends, and inversions.
By Julie Gudmestad

Way of the Warrior
Protect your knees and build strength and stability with this crucial standing pose.
By Julie Gudmestad