Table of Contents

• What is the Core, and How Can Yoga Strengthen It?
• Best Types of Yoga for Core Strength
• 10 Core Yoga Poses to Build a Strong Center
• A 15-Minute Yoga Sequence for Core Strength

Core yoga poses can do more than just give you six-pack abs and a cinched waistline. Yoga for your core can lead to better posture, improved balance, and reduced pain. 

What is the Core, and How Can Yoga Strengthen It?

Since yoga engages the full body, it’s easy to find yoga poses for core strength in most practices. But if you want to build muscle, consider a specific sequence of core-strengthening yoga poses and increase the frequency of your practice in order to improve your strength. Yoga for the core targets so much more than just your abdominals.

The core comprises all of the muscles in and around the whole trunk, including: 

• Rectus Abdominis (“six-pack” abdominals)
• Transverse Abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle)
• Spinal Extensors (including the Erector Spinae and other deep back muscles)
• Internal & External Obliques (muscles on the sides of the abdomen)
• Hip Flexors (including the Psoas)
• Gluteal Region (muscles of the buttocks, including Gluteus Maximus)
• Pelvic Floor Muscles (forming the base of the core muscles; they are involved in all movement)

Best Types of Yoga for Core Strength

Is it possible to get a strong core yoga workout while getting your Zen on in a relaxing Yin yoga class with a bolster? Definitely not. Although this passive style requires a degree of physical effort, yin postures target the connective tissues rather than the muscles.

If you are seeking effective core strengthening, you’ll need more active practices that focus on dynamic movement and include postures that both stabilize and support the core.

When looking for yoga poses to strengthen your core, opt for more intense styles, including:

• Ashtanga 
• Power Yoga
• Vinyasa Flow
• Yogalates (a combination of yoga & Pilates)

While these practices are more vigorous, they still include yoga poses for beginners. Use YogaGo, a yoga app, to find yoga sequences for core strength.

10 Core Yoga Poses to Build a Strong Center

Plank Pose (Phalakasana)

Target Muscles: Rectus Abdominis, Gluteus Maximus, Spinal Extensors, Transverse Abdominis

How to Practice:

• Start on all fours (Tabletop Pose) with your shoulders stacked over your wrists and hips stacked over your knees.
• Step both feet back into a high push-up position, imagining a straight line from your head to your heels.
• Press the mat away with your hands, and keep your thighs lifted, glutes strong, and abdominals engaged.

Side Plank (Vasisthasana)

Target Muscles: External Obliques, Gluteus Maximus, Transverse Abdominis

How to Practice:

• Begin in plank pose, with your wrists aligned under your shoulders and your spine fully extended.
• Shift your body weight onto your left hand and roll onto the outer edge of your left foot, stacking your right leg on top of your left.
• Reach your right arm up towards the ceiling while pressing the mat away with your left hand. Keep your legs strong and your feet flexed.
• Come back to plank pose and repeat on the other side.
• To modify, place the bottom knee gently on the mat and keep the sole of the foot (of the extended leg) on the floor.

You may also like: Yoga For Belly Fat

Dolphin Pose (Ardha Pincha Mayurasana)

Target Muscles: Gluteus Maximus, Rectus Abdominis, Psoas, Spinal Extensors

How to Practice:

• Begin on all fours and place your forearms on the ground with your hands clasped together.
• Tuck your toes under and lift your hips up towards the ceiling, straightening your legs.
• Keep your legs parallel and press your heels towards the ground.
• Gaze towards the navel.

Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana)

Target Muscles: Spinal Extensors, Rectus Abdominis, Transverse Abdominis, Psoas

How to Practice:

• Start seated with your legs parallel, knees bent, and your feet flat on the mat in front of you.
• Lean back slightly and lift your feet off the mat, working to extend your legs, with feet at eye level.
• Reach your arms forward and lift the chest.
• To modify, bend the knees and place the palms behind the thighs or on the mat beside the hips.

Try other sitting yoga poses to get the most out of your practice.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

Target Muscles: Spinal Extensors, Gluteal Region

How to Practice:

• Lie on your back. Keeping your arms by your sides, bend your knees with your feet on the mat, hip-width apart., Press your feet and arms firmly into the mat and lift your hips up.
• Maintain space between the chin and chest and breathe smoothly.

Upward Facing Dog Pose (Urdhva Mukha Svanasana)

Target Muscles: Transverse Abdominis, Spinal Extensors, Gluteus Maximus

How to Practice:

• Lie face down on the ground with your palms flat on the mat next to your ribs. Hug your elbows in, close to your sides.
• As you press your hands and the tops of your feet into the mat, lift your chest, hips, and thighs up off the ground.
• Straighten the arms and gently arch your back. Keep your chest elevated, knees and thighs off the floor, and legs strong.
• Gaze slightly upwards.

Locust Pose (Salabhasana)

Target Muscles: Erector Spinae, Gluteus Maximus

How to Practice:

• Lie prone (on your stomach) with your arms alongside your body and your forehead resting on the mat.
• Inhale as you lift your chest, arms, and legs off the ground, maintaining extension throughout the whole body.
• Keep the neck long, the chin slightly away from the chest, and the core engaged. Breathe smoothly as you hold the pose.

Feel back stiffness after this pose? Try yoga wheel back stretches to get relief.

Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

Target Muscles: Erector Spinae, Rectus Abdominis, Gluteal Region

How to Practice:

• Stand in Mountain Pose with your feet together and your arms down by your sides.
• Bend your knees and lower your hips as if sitting back into a chair. Raise your arms overhead. 
• Press the shins and knees back and lengthen your tailbone towards the floor.
• Draw the navel in and up and keep the chest lifted.

Warrior III (Virabhadrasana III)

Target Muscles: Gluteus Maximus, Spinal Extensors, Transverse Abdominis

How to Practice:

• Start in Chair Pose. Balancing on your right foot, lift your left foot off the ground.
• Hinge your torso forward and extend your left leg back keeping it strongly lifted t.
• Flex the left foot, lift the inner thigh, and reach your arms forward.
• Transition through Chair Pose and repeat on the other side.

Reverse Table Pose (Ardha Purvottanasana)

Target Muscles: Spinal Extensors, Gluteus Maximus, Rectus Abdominis

How to Practice:

• Sit up well with your legs extended in front of you and your hands behind your hips. Point your fingers towards your feet.
• Bend your knees and press into your hands and feet as you lift your hips up. .
• Stack your knees over your ankles and shoulders over your wrists. Keep the gluteal muscles engaged and the spine fully extended.

A 15-Minute Yoga Sequence for Core Strength

1. Tadasana, Mountain Pose – 15 seconds 
2. Urdhva Hastasana, Upward Hands Pose, on an inhale
3. Uttanasana, Forward Fold, on an exhale
4. Phalakasana, Plank Pose – 30 seconds 
5. Vasisthasana, Side Plank Pose (Right) – 15 seconds 
6. Phalakasana, Plank Pose – 30 seconds. Repeat steps 4-6 on the left side 
7. Balasana, Child’s Pose – 30 seconds 
8. Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog – 30 seconds 
9. Bharmanasana, Tabletop Pose – 15 seconds
10. Ardha Pincha Mayurasana, Dolphin Pose – 30 seconds 
11. Bharmanasana, Tabletop Pose – 15 seconds 
12. Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog – 30 seconds 
13. Uttanasana, Forward Fold – 15 seconds 
14. Urdhva Hastasana, Upward Hands Pose, on an inhale
15. Samasthiti, Equal Standing Pose, on an exhale
16. Tadasana, Mountain Pose– 15 seconds 
17. Utkatasana, Chair Pose – 45 second 
18. Virabhadrasana III, Warrior III (Right) – 30 seconds 
19. Utkatasana, Chair Pose – 15 seconds. Repeat steps 16-19 on the left side
20. Tadasana, Mountain Pose – 15 seconds
21. Utkatasana, Chair Pose – 45 seconds
22. Virabhadrasana III, Warrior III (Left) – 30 seconds 
23. Utkatasana, Chair Pose – 15 seconds

Core Yoga Flow – Part 2

Practice this flow as a part of the previous sequence or as an independent flow.

1. Tadasana, Mountain Pose – 15 seconds 
2. Urdhva Hastasana, Upward Hands Pose, on an inhale
3. Forward Fold, on an exhale
4. Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog – 15 seconds 
5. Phalakasana, Plank Pose, on an inhale
6. Chaturanga, on an exhale
7. Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Facing Dog Pose – 30 seconds 
8. Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog – 15 seconds 
9. Balasana, Child’s Pose – 15 seconds
10. Salabasana, Locust Pose – 30 seconds 
11. Balasana, Child’s Pose – 30 seconds 
12. Navasana, Boat Pose – 30 seconds
13. Ardha Purvottanasana, Reverse Tabletop Pose – 30 seconds 
14. Navasana, Boat Pose – 30 seconds
15. Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, Bridge Pose – 45 seconds
16. Savasana, Corpse Pose – 2 minutes 

Ready for another challenge? Practice yoga for latissimus dorsi and trapezius to stretch and strengthen your back.

Wrapping Up

• Core yoga poses can not only sculpt your muscles, but improve your posture, enhance your balance, and reduce pain.
• Yoga engages the whole body, but you can use a specific sequence of core yoga exercises to strengthen your abdominals, hips, and lower back.
• Not all kinds of yoga will include postures for abs. Choosing the styles that incorporate yoga poses for your core is essential if your goal is enhancing overall strength.