The benefits of the ancient practice of yoga are well-documented. Yoga is an excellent way to reduce stress, regulate blood pressure, manage or prevent diabetes, to improve heart health, but its positive impact on your body doesn’t stop there. A study from the Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine found that yoga is an appropriate and successful intervention for weight maintenance, prevention of obesity, and risk reduction of obesity-related diseases. But here’s the pleasant twist, yoga doesn’t only help you lose weight, but it also tones your body. Isn’t that amazing? Since everyone wants to have a sexy and toned body, this article will demonstrate five easy yoga poses you can achieve that goal.

Mountain pose

(Image by Today-News)

This is the easiest yoga pose you can do, but it comes with a lot of benefits. Mountain pose is one of the proper posture, but it also strengthens and tones your abdominal muscles, arms, knees, ankles, and thighs. It’s particularly beneficial for beginners and women who want to try yoga but aren’t ready to start with difficult postures. Here’s how to do it:

  • Stand up straight with spine erect and feet together
  • Hands should be along your side, and palms face the thighs
  • Inhale deeply lifting your hands atop the head
  • Allow your palms to join similar to a greeting gesture
  • Stretch as much as you can
  • Tilt the head backward and look upward i.e. focus on your fingertips
  • Hold the pose until you take five deep breaths
  • Exhale slowly and return to the starting position

To mix things up, you can stand on your toes once you get used to doing this. If uncertain you’ll perform correctly, you can just repeat what people in YouTube videos do.

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

Chair pose

Chair pose(Image by kul.vn)

Chair pose tones your thighs and calf muscles as well as abdomen. Other reasons to practice this pose is because it improves heart health, and has a beneficial impact on abdominal organs and diaphragm. You can easily transform from mountain pose to this one. Below, you can see how to perform chair pose:

  • Stand in mountain pose position
  • Spread your legs shoulder-width apart
  • Stretch out your hands to your front without bending the elbows
  • Bend the knees slowly while pushing the pelvis down simultaneously i.e. your posture should resemble that of person who’s about to sit on a chair
  • Suck the navel in as much as you can
  • Spine should be erect while hands are parallel to the floor
  • Hold the pose for five breaths
  • Return to the starting position
  • Do 5 reps without a break

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

Revolved triangle pose

Revolved triangle pose(Image by Satya Live Yoga)

Revolved triangle pose will tone and strengthen your lower body; it works on waist, hips, knees, hamstrings, but it’s also good for your arms. To perform revolved triangle pose, you should:

  • Stand in mountain pose with hands stretched to both sides of the body and parallel to the floor
  • Inhale deeply
  • While exhaling, bend to the right allowing the fingers of your left hand to touch the toes of right foot
  • Focus on fingertips of the right hand
  • Stay in that position for five deep breaths
  • Exhale slowly and return to the starting position
  • Do the same process on the left side
  • Do five reps without a break

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

TIP: you shouldn’t underestimate the power of proper nutrition to tone your body faster than expected. There’s no need to follow some diet trend. The best diet plan is well-balanced and contains a variety of food groups while consumption of foods with little to no nutritional value is limited. Eat fruits and vegetables, Omega-3 fatty acids, olive oil, green tea, and many other healthy foods to lose weight and tone body. The combination of yoga and healthy diet is the real deal.

Cobra pose

Cobra pose(Image by WikiiHealth)

This yoga posture is easy to perform and has a tremendous potential to strengthen your upper and lower back and spine. Additionally, Cobra pose tones and strengthens abdomen as well. Here’s how you should perform this maneuver:

  • Lie down on the stomach with legs together, and hands stretched above the head while palms are joined in gesture pose
  • Place the hands under your shoulder and spread arms shoulder-width apart
  • Press palms firmly onto the ground and take a deep breath
  • Push the body away from the hips and off the ground
  • Stretch as much as you can
  • Tilt the head backward
  • Hold the position for five deep breaths
  • Return to the starting position
  • Do five reps

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

TIP: The perfect cobra position is when you feel the stretch in the abdomen without pressuring the spine.

Downward facing dog pose

Downward facing dog pose(Image by YouQueen.com)

Downward facing dog is one of the most beneficial yoga poses that everyone can do. It’s a wonderful back and spine stretching exercise and full-body toning poses. Yes, this simple pose can help you tone your arms, back, legs, abs, and you don’t need to be an expert to do it. Instructions are below:

  • Start with the child’s pose; tutorial is here
  • Bring the hands above your head and rest them on the ground
  • Palms should face the ground shoulder-width apart
  • Inhale and lift the head from the floor and torso from the thighs
  • Inhale again, push yourself off the floor balancing your body on toes and palms
  • Stay in that position as you’re taking five deep breaths
  • Do five reps without breaks

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

TIP: If you want super toned and flat stomach, your digestion matters. Opt for high fiber diet that not only regulates metabolism but flushes toxins away from the organism. Also, when you’re comfortable with one pose, you can always increase the number of reps or do some variations. One of the greatest advantages of yoga is a multitude of variations to each pose.

Conclusion

Yoga has been around for centuries; its health benefits are numerous, and the scientific studies also proved it can help you lose weight and tone the body. This article showed five easy yoga poses you can do even if you don’t have yoga experience, so get your mat and yoga pants and try them out.