5 Puppy Pose Yoga Variations to Try

Puppy pose or Uttana Shishosana in Sanskrit is a deep backbend that opens up the chest (and heart chakra) and stretches all the areas that affect posture. If your posture is poor, or you have rounded shoulders or have started to slouch a bit, this is the perfect pose for you.

The puppy pose stretches the spine, shoulders, upper back, arms, and abdominal muscles. As a slight inversion, with the heart just above the head, this pose can help the body feel calmer and less stressed by putting the heart above the head. Relaxes your upper arms, shoulders, and neck. This pose also makes the chest bigger and hips wider.

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Puppy Pose Variations

Check out the following five puppy pose variations to improve posture:

1) Regular Puppy Pose

Start in a tabletop position on your hands and knees. Keeping your hips over your knees (the thighs should stay vertical), walk your hands forward as you lower your head, chest, and armpits toward the floor.

Keep your arms straight, and hug your shoulder blades to the front of your ribs or chest (instead of squeezing together towards your spine). Think about hugging the outside edges of your armpits down towards the floor to help you make sure the shoulders are rotating.

The goal is to feel the stretch in your shoulder girdle. Depending on how flexible you're, this could be at the tops of your shoulders, in your armpits, or even in your lats, just behind or below your armpits.

The stretch in the puppy pose should feel good. If you feel pinching in your shoulders or tingling in your hands or arms, you might be pinching a nerve. If you feel either of them, ease up, and try to set up your puppy pose again, hugging the outside of your armpits towards the floor but not sinking quite as low. Just relax a bit and stay here for 20–30 seconds.

Walk your hands back toward your knees as you lift back up to tabletop position. Gently bend one elbow and then the other, to release some of the tension, or do one or two rounds of the Cat Cow. Think of that as a quick reset before doing your next round of puppy work.

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2) Active Puppy Press

Start in the regular puppy pose (see above), making sure to hug the outside edges of your armpits down towards the floor. Keep your head and chest low to the ground, and press your palms into the floor as if you were trying to push the floor away from your face.

Push hard, and make your shoulders work. If you push so hard, your arms might even shake a little. Perform ten slow counts of this active press into the floor. Calm down: stop actively pressing your palms into the floor, and go back to your regular puppy pose, where you're relaxed. Stay in the puppy pose for another 10-20 seconds.

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3) Puppy Pose with Neck Extension

Start in your regular puppy pose, with your forehead relaxing down towards the mat. If you're flexible and can usually get your chin to the ground in puppy pose, put your hands on blocks so that you can feel a nice stretch even as your head drops to the floor.

Keeping your chest and armpits low, slowly lift your head up, either looking at your fingertips or trying to look up at the ceiling. You may find that when you lift your head, you’re able to relax your armpits even a half inch closer to the ground

Bring your head back down to the mat slowly. Repeat slowly lifting and lowering your head, about the speed you would do a Cat Cow stretch. Repeat the pose for 6–10 head lifts.

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4) Bent Elbow Puppy Pose

Start on all fours, on your hands and knees. Put your elbows on the floor with your arms bent and shoulder-width apart.

You can cross your fingers, or make a prayer pose with your hands. Put your chest all the way to the floor. Keep still for 20–30 seconds.

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5) Puppy Arm Lift

Start in your regular puppy pose, with your forehead resting on the mat. Shift your weight to your left side, and press hard into your left hand so that you can lift your right arm.

Don't let one shoulder drop towards the ground. Instead, keep your chest square with the ground, and don't twist. As you only have one hand to hold on to, you may need to lift your chest a little. That will feel much harder than the regular puppy pose.

Turn your raised right hand so that the palm faces you and your thumb points up. Lift, and lower your right arm slowly 5–10 times, trying to keep it straight and with your thumb pointing up. Repeat on the left side.