Yoga is more than just stretching your body and chanting 'Om'. Regular practitioners of yoga can account for the many benefits of yoga with regard to the body and the mind. Yoga not only challenges the body, but also the mind, and helps in creating a strong connection between the two.
Many practitioners of yoga have become more aware of their body, and can identify spots of tensions, releases, balances, and more. Therefore, yoga helps with different bodily ailments like back pain, muscle pains, headaches, and more. This practice of slow relief through posture correction helps you to keep your body healthy and fit in the long run.
Here are seven best yoga poses for natural pain relief in your body.
- Bird Dog Balance or Dwipada Marjariasana
The bird dog balance yoga pose is meant to relieve pain from your shoulders and your spine, while simultaneously strengthening the muscles in the focused area. This is one of the best yoga poses for natural pain relief because it primarily engages your core.
- Start in a tabletop position
- Extend your right leg back, and slowly lifting it off the ground bring it to align with your hips
- You can also raise your left hand out to balance on your limbs
- Pull the navel towards your spine
- Do not sink at your lower back
- Child Pose or Balasana
The child pose engages your spinal extensors and rotator muscles. It helps to relieve stress and fatigue from the back as well as the neck, and increases relaxation.
- Extended Child Pose or Nikunjasana
Another great yoga pose for pain relief in the shoulders and upper back is the extended child pose, or the Nikunjasana. This asana (pose) is meant to engage your upper back in a way that corrects your posture through stretching, leading to a buildup of muscle endurance as well.
- Start in the tabletop position
- Walk your hands forward until your forehead has reached the ground
- Pressing your hands into the ground, be sure to keep your spine neutral
- Crescent Lunge or Astha Chandrasana
The yoga pose to relieve a sore chest is a crescent lunge. This position is meant to stretch your hip flexors. Most of us spend ample amounts of time sitting down for multiple study hours, classes, work, and more. Our busy schedules give us an inactive lifestyle and a whole lot of slouching. This lifestyle leads to muscle tension and more serious issues rising from a crooked posture. This affects the hip flexors and puts negative pressure on the same. The crescent lunge is meant to relieve the pressure in the tight muscles of the hips and shoulders.
- Lunge forward on one leg
- Make sure your knee is bent at a 90-degree angle directly above your ankle
- Your back leg should be straight
- Extend your spine and tuck the pelvis under
- Clasp your hand behind your back
- Half Locust Pose or Ardha Shalabhasana
The half locust pose is meant to relieve knee pain and strengthen your glutes and hamstrings. Although sitting is a major part of our busy lifestyle, oftentimes, the sudden jerks in our knees from hyper movement, and the slouching of the back during classes or long study hours, can lead to lower back pain and knee pain. This yoga pose for natural pain relief from both can easily become a favourite part of your routine as it's quite a useful pose, even though it isn’t as simple to master!
- Start by crossing your arms in front of you in a prone position
- Let your forehead rest on your forearm
- Point the legs back
- Pull the navel in strong and start lifting one leg off the ground
- Try to take your leg as high as you're comfortable
- Don't tilt your body when you're lifting your leg
- Dolphin Pose or Ardha Pincha Mayurasana
The dolphin yoga pose is meant to counter pain in the shoulders. With a busy lifestyle, stress often finds a way to manifest through the body, more often than not in the shoulders. Tense shoulders are the first sign of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion. The dolphin pose helps to engage the shoulder muscles for slow relief.
- Begin in a forearm plank and interlock your fingers
- Start walking your feet towards your hands
- Once you feel like you've reached your limit, hold your position
- Try to rest your heels on the ground
- Your elbows must stay shoulder-width apart
- Hold this pose for five to nine breaths
- Rest in child pose after
This pose helps to stretch the hamstrings. While it might be uncomfortable, you'll see the results in the long run.
- Legs Up the Wall Pose or Viparita Karani
Another brilliant yoga pose for stress levels, restoration of blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and more, is the legs up the wall pose. This inversion pose helps relieve headaches by increasing circulation and is also said to help with boosting energy. It engages multiple muscles like the pelvic muscles, front torso, back of the neck, lower back, and more.
- Fold up a blanket or towel to sit on
- Sit such that your right side is against the wall
- Swing your legs up along the wall and lay flat on your back
- Form a 90-degree angle with your body
- Relax your neck, chin, and throat, and stretch your arms out to the side
- Your palms should be facing up
- Remain in this pose for five to 15 minutes
- Slowly slide your legs down to the side to release
Although these are some of the best yoga poses for natural pain relief, most yoga poses are meant to help the body with ailments in the joints, muscles, and even some health conditions like diabetes. To wrap up, understand your body's concerns, practice yoga on the basis of what your body needs, and you'll have a tool for a healthy and comfortable life.
If you’re looking for professional help with yoga, contact us for a FREE one-on-one consultation. Ohmayoga is a registered Yoga Alliance school and certification provider whose aim is to educate and relay valuable information on yoga and wellness. Helping you to advance in your practice, Ohmayoga provides online yoga teacher training courses and guidance from certified gurus from Rishikesh – the birthplace of yoga. You can also subscribe to our newsletter for latest news, knowledge resources, and promotions.
