7 Best Standing Yoga Poses That Help Work Your Core

Standing yoga poses are generally meant to strengthen your lower body and core so that you have impeccable balance. Balance is an important aspect to maintaining overall fitness, as it plays a significant role in your daily life and in everything you do.

Balance standing yoga poses bring awareness to your weight distribution and also builds strength, stability and alignment. It's extremely important for athletes, sportspersons and gymnasts.

Standing yoga poses involve anchoring one or both of your feet on the ground. Yoga is an ancient practice that involves syncing of your breath with your body and mind. Standing yoga poses are seen as a way to align all three of them through your connection to the ground.

What are the benefits of standing poses in yoga?

Standing yoga poses serve to strengthen your lower body, particularly your ankles, glute muscles, hamstrings, and quads. They also play a role in improving your core stability and balance, and with that your mobility and flexibility.

There are some standing yoga poses, which along with building strength, also hone your balance, such as Warrior III, Eagle, Tree and Dancer’s pose. Standing balance poses require you to stand on one leg train and engage your ankle muscles.

Best Standing Yoga Poses That Work Your Core

Standing yoga poses for beginners can be challenging. They require leg strength, upper body flexibility, and the ability to balance on one leg. You must engage your core during the exercise to get the most benefit out of it.

On that note, here's a look at seven standing yoga poses you can perform for a good core workout:

1) Awkward Chair Pose - Utkatasana

Utkatasana pose. (Image credits: Pexels/ Antoni Shkraba)

The Utkatasana Pose strengthens the ankles, calves, thighs and spine. It stretches the shoulders and chest and reduces flat feet.

Here's how you can perform this standing yoga pose:

Stand upright in Tadasana.
Raise your arms such that your biceps are facing your ears. You can keep the palms facing each ,other, parallel or join them together.
Exhale and bend your knees as if to sit back on an imaginary chair, keeping your thighs as parallel to the floor as possible.
Your knees should be stacked over your feet and your trunk leaning forward slightly to balance your body.
Firm your shoulder blades against your back, and keep your inner thighs parallel to each other.
Hold the pose from 30 seconds to a minute before standing up with an inhalation and releasing your arms with an exhalation.

2) Eagle Pose - Garudasana

The Eagle Pose helps improve balance and focus as well as postural and body awareness. It stretches your shoulders and upper back while strengthening your core, lower back thighs and ankles as well.

Here's how you can perform this standing yoga pose:

Stand upright in Tadasana, with your feet ever so slightly apart, under your sit bones.
Bring your weight onto your right leg, and lift your left foot off the floor.
Bend the right knee slightly, and wrap the left thigh over the right by bringing your left foot to hook around behind the right calf.
After stabilising yourself, incorporate your arms into the pose by wrapping your right arm over the left and touching your palms together.
Hold the position for five breaths.

3) Warrior III - Virabhadrasana III

Virabhadrasana pose. (Image credits: Freepik)

The Virabhadrasana III pose strengthens the ankle, legs, shoulders and muscles of your back. It also tones your abdomen and improves your posture.

Here's how you can perform this standing yoga pose:

Start off by standing in Tadasana.
Bringing both your hands to your hips, straighten your left leg, and stretch it back behind you.
Keep your hips square with the floor; at the same time, bring your lifted left leg and torso parallel to the ground.
You may keep your hands on your hips, or extend them straight out in front of you.
Hold the position for up to five breaths.

4) King Dancer Pose - Natarajasana

The Natarajasana Pose helps strengthen your chest, ankles, hips and legs.

Here's how you can do this standing yoga pose:

Stand upright in Tadasana.
Raise your left foot from the floor, and bend your knee.
Hold the inside of your foot with your left hand, and extend your back, moving your torso forward and raising the left leg till it's almost parallel to the floor.
Hold your right arm ahead of you.
Maintain this position for up to five breaths.

5) Tree Pose - Vrksasana

The Vrksasana strengthens the legs, opens the hips and improves your neuromuscular coordination. It also helps improve your balance, muscular endurance, alertness and concentration.

Here's how you can perform this standing yoga pose:

Stand tall in Tadasana with your arms by your side and your feet shoulder-width apart.
Raise your arms overhead such that your biceps faceyour ears and your palms are joined together.
Raise your left leg from the ground, and place your left foot against your right inner thigh (try doing this without using your hands).
Hold the position for up to five breaths.

6) Standing Split - Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana

The Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana helps improve your balance, strengthens and stretches your hamstrings, calves, quadriceps and groins, and stretches your spine.

Here's how you can perform this easy standing yoga pose:

Stand tall in Tadasana, with your hands at your sides and your legs close to each other.
Bend over, and bring both hands to the floor. Forward bend over your right leg, lifting the left leg high.
Your hips must be square to the floor.
Hold this position for five breaths.

7) Forward Bend - Uttanasana

Forward bend pose. (Image credits: Pexels/ Marta Wave)

The Uttanasana helps improve posture, relieve tension in your back and neck, and increase hip flexibility, among other benefits.

Here's how you can do this standing yoga pose:

From the Urdhva Prasarita Eka Padasana, let your left foot come down to the floor next to your right.
Keep your torso folded over both your legs.
Hold this position for five deep breaths.

That concludes your session of standing balance yoga poses.

Edited by Bhargav