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People who practice basic yoga poses regularly can expand their horizon by including advanced poses in their daily routine.
Challenging yourself in yoga is important to move outside your comfort zone and avoid feeling stagnant and bored. Doing so can help you challenge your body while getting an array of benefits.
Advanced Yoga Poses
We have curated a list of the five best and most effective advanced yoga poses you can incorporate into your daily routine to challenge yourself:
1) Handstand Pose (Adho Mukha Vrksasana)
It's one of the most dynamic and advanced yoga poses you can include in your workout to challenge yourself. The benefits provided by it include improving circulation, enhanced stability, improved upper body strength, and better balance.
How to do it?
- Start off in an elongated standing position with your back upright, legs together, and hands on the side of your body before folding yourself into a forward bend.
- Bring your palms to the ground, and spread them evenly on the ground.
- Raise one leg in the air while keeping it straight and maintaining your bodyweight in the other.
- Bend the other knee before propelling it into the air to come into the handstand position.
- Slowly release.
2) Split Pose (Hanumasana)
It can stretch the muscles, especially focusing on the hips, quads, lower back, and hamstrings. It can also help in building flexibility in the lower body as well as toning the inner thighs.
How to do it?
- Assume a low lunge position on the ground with your rear knee on the ground and front knee bent at 90 degrees.
- Position your hands on both sides of your hips while your back is upright.
- Start gliding with the front foot slowly followed by the back one to assume a split pose.
- Once you feel a deep stretch in your thighs, hold the pose. Slowly release.
3) Forearm Scorpion (Vrschikasana)
This is one of the most advanced yoga poses you can include in your workout routine to challenge yourself. This exercise can help in building balance, strength, and flexibility.
How to do it?
- Keep your forearms pressed on the ground and the rest of the body in a straight line pointing towards the ceiling.
- Create a backbend with your body by lifting your head, dropping your chest, and shifting a bent knee towards your head.
- Repeat the same with your other leg, and bring it to your head while bending your knee.
- Slowly, reach them both towards the ground, and lift your head up.
4) Crow Pose (Bakasana)
It can help build strength in the upper body and core region. This pose can also help in detoxification by stimulating the internal organs and aiding in digestion.
How to do it?
- Assuming the garland pose on the ground by squatting deep with your feet shoulder-distance apart and hands in the praying position at the front.
- Position your palms on the ground directly beneath your shoulders.
- Start shifting the weight forward into your hands and raising the rest of your body off the ground till your arms are completely straight.
- Slowly release.
5) One Legged Crane Pose (Eka Pada Bakasana)
This is a variation of the crow pose that can help in rejuvenating the entire body, strengthening the upper torso, and enhancing balance.
How to do it?
- Assume the crow pose on the ground before pushing your toes towards your hips and pointing your toes.
- Keep your abdominals tightened and shoulders wide open.
- Pull one knee towards the chest before extending the other towards the ceiling in a diagonal manner.
Bottom Line
Advanced yoga poses might seem impossible to do. However, once you try and practice them, you will understand that the limbs can be morphed as required in different asanas with sufficient practice and consistency.
For people who have been performing simple yoga poses, doing advanced variations becomes easier. That's because regularly doing yoga helps in strengthening the muscles, relieving tightness, increasing flexibility, building stability, and more. That better prepares you to do advanced poses.
However, advanced variations involve complicated movements, which is why it's important to assume the proper stance and doing the poses correctly. That will ensure avoiding unwanted injuries and overstraining the muscles.
