Many yoga poses and exercises can help you tone your stomach muscles. The American Council on Exercise (ACE) maintains that strong abdominal muscles help your posture, relieve back issues and improve overall fitness. Be sure to maintain even, deep inhales and exhales through the nose throughout your abdominal yoga exercises.
Dolphin Plank
Lie on your stomach, then prop yourself up onto your forearms. Your shoulders should be directly above your elbows. Get onto the balls of your feet so that their bottoms face the wall behind you. Using your core strength, lift your body up so that you become parallel to the floor. Look slightly upward so that your head does not droop down. Work on contracting your abdominal muscles to maintain the body in Dolphin Plank. Also, try to get your inner thigh, back and calf muscles to slightly contract so that the entire body works. If this is too intense, you can let your knees stay on the floor. Hold for up to a minute. With rest in between, try two more sets.
Full Boat Pose
Full Boat Pose is one of the most intense stomach-toning yoga exercises. From a seated position, lean back and lift your feet off of the ground until your lower legs are parallel to the floor. Your body should look slightly like a V-shape. Keep a strong posture during the pose as you balance your body on your sit bones. Yoga Journal reiterates that students should avoid rounding the back in Full Boat Pose. In a more intense variation, you can straighten your legs. Your hands can float by your sides or you can rest them on the floor for support.
Twisting Boat Pose
Use Twisting Boat Pose to tone the stomach and waist muscles. Start in Boat Pose, then raise the arms straight up. Allow your torso to twist toward your right as you allow your right hand to tap down to the floor behind you. Raise your right arm back up, then begin the same twist toward your left side. Try exhaling as you twist and lower and inhaling as you raise an arm back up. If the exercise is too intense with your feet off of the floor, then you can try it with your toes lightly touching the ground. To make it more challenging, straighten your legs, making your body into a full V-shape. ACE emphasizes to work an abdominal exercise, such as Twisting Boat Pose, 10 to 20 times in up to three sets.
Yoga Leg Lifts
Yoga Leg Lifts are another exercise that you can easily make more or less challenging with simple modifications. Lie flat on your back with your legs pointed straight up to the ceiling. For the duration of the exercise, keep your lower back pressed into your yoga mat or the floor. Start with your arms by your sides. On an exhale, keep your feet together and lower your legs toward the floor. Inhale to draw them back up to the starting position. Try this up to 25 times for up to three sets. For less intensity, keep one foot on the floor and just lower one leg. For more work, experiment with stretching your arms out in a T-shape, lifting your shoulders off of the ground or getting your legs to a hover just above the floor each time you lower them down.
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