By maintaining a good posture and keeping the belly pulled slightly in toward the spine, yoga students can continually work core muscles during almost all yoga poses. There are also yoga exercises which focus directly on abdominals. "Yoga Journal" writer, Fernando Pagés Ruiz, emphasizes the importance of countering abdominal toning yoga exercises through Bridge Pose and Upward Bow Pose. Both of these backbending poses stretch the abdominals so they do not become too rigid. Note that pose names in parentheses are in the yogic language of Sanskrit.
Reclining Bound Angle Crunches
Reclining Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana) by itself is a great stretch for the inner thighs and groin, but it can also be a powerful way to work the core muscles. In this pose students lie on their back, then bring the bottoms of the feet together with the knees splayed out to the sides. With fingers interlaced behind the head and the lower back pulled into the floor, yogis then lift the torso slightly upward toward the ceiling.
Camel
Camel (Ustrasana) works abdominals through their support of the back muscles. As a student leans back into the pose, the abs have to contract to control how far the yogi leans. Yoga instructors often have students counter this pose with Child's Pose, which sinks hips to the floor, toward the heals, and reaches arms straight out to the floor as the back rounds like a pebble.
Boat Pose
Students can practice Boat Pose (Paripurna Navasana) in several ways to challenge abdominal muscles. For a gentle variation, students keep their feet and/or hands on the floor as they lean the torso back. A challenging Boat Pose includes raising the legs out without a bend in the knees so the body looks like the letter "V." The Women's Sports Foundation lists Boat Pose as useful in helping postpartum mothers regain abdominal tone.
Scale Pose
Although Scale Pose (Tolasana) appears to use the strength of the arms alone to lift the body off the floor, it also teaches yogis how to contract all of the abdominal muscles. As yoga students lift off of the floor, they should also feel an upward pull from the groin to the abdominals. All poses which balance on the arms (arm balancing poses) require a contraction of abdominal muscles for successful performance.
Plank
Plank Pose involves contracting all of the major muscles in an isometric hold. Plank variations include dropping the knees down, as one would in a modified push-up, or dropping the elbows down to the floor directly under the shoulders, in what many instructors call a Forearm or Dolphin Plank. Yoga classes often take students from Plank into Chaturanga Dandasana, which lowers the body down to a hover above the floor by bending the elbows in toward the body, rather than out to the sides as with a regular push-up.
Bandhas
Advanced students learn to contract the muscles just under the belly button in Upward Abdominal Lock (Uddiyana Bandha). Getting into Uddiyana Bandha on an empty stomach and after an exhale ensures a safer practice of this lock. Another lock or bind, Root Bond (Mula Bandha), teaches students to contract some of the pelvic floor muscles. Mula Bandha typically helps students hold stronger postures.
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