Yoga postures are a great way to increase core strength and power while keeping the abdominal muscles flexible and supple. The difference between yoga and other forms of exercise is that yoga helps you to tap inner stores of energy that help you to move beyond simple muscle strength and to perform amazing feats of strength, balance and control that otherwise would be impossible.
Leg Lifts
Lie down on your back and lift your legs to 90 degrees. Draw your navel down toward the spine, as you curl your tailbone one inch off of the floor. Bring your arms overhead, palms up. Hold this pose for 20 breaths, concentrating on drawing in the navel on the exhale. Lower your legs to 60 degrees and repeat, then 45 degrees and repeat. This exercise creates abdominal strength, evenly throughout the abdominals, as well as the endurance necessary for advanced core exercises.
Side Plank
Come to a push-up position, with your wrists directly under your shoulders. Lift the waistline, activating the core, and draw the bottom tips of the shoulder-blades toward each other, lifting your heart. Bring the right hand in toward the midline of your body and roll onto the outer edge of of the right foot, stacking the left foot on top of the right so that your weight is balanced on the outer edge of the right foot and the right hand. Extend the left arm up toward the sky. This exercise builds the seratus anterior and obliques.
Reclining Side Leg Lift
Lie down on your right side. Clasp your hands behind your head, pointing your right elbow in line with your body. Lift both legs off the ground and hold them in the air. Keeping your body aligned in a straight line, slowly reach through your left elbow, lifting your right elbow and head as high as possible. This is a great oblique strengthener, and it tones the abductors in the inner thigh.
The Boat
Sit up on your sitting bones with your feet planted on the floor in front of you so that your knees are hugging into your chest. Reach your arms under your thighs and hug your knees to your chest, then lift the shins up, parallel to the floor. Draw your chest towards your thighs, and your thighs toward your chest. If your hamstrings are flexible enough, straighten your legs and point your toes toward the ceiling. Hold this pose for 20 breaths. Advanced students can release their legs and extend their arms straight forward.
Abdominal Stretch
Lie down on your belly. Bend both knees, reaching back with the hands and grabbing the tops of the feet. Press the tops of the feet back into your hands, using the strength of your legs to fully extend the arms. Then, lift through the balls of the feet, lifting your thighs off the ground. Look up at the ceiling, drawing your heart forward and the bottom tips of the shoulder-blades in toward each other. Hold this pose for 10 to 20 breaths.
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