Prone Yoga Poses are poses for the heart chakra. They help to open up our hearts and lift our chests.
These Yoga Asanas are great for people that have a lot of stress, have an office job, and/or are tensed up due to collapsing in their chest area.
Prone Yoga Poses are also great to fight anxiety and to increase self-love and compassion. As you stretch out your chest and heart to make space for new energy, love, and compassion.
What are Prone Yoga Poses?
Prone Yoga Asanas are poses practiced with your belly or torso touching the ground, or facing the floor. Most of these are backbends or heart-opening poses.
Prone Yoga Poses are beginner-friendly; however, they can also be challenging if you hold them for a longer time.
How to Practice Prone Yoga Poses
- Use props if needed, for example, a blanket under your hip bone, when the pressure is too much.
- Breath deeply and calmly and gently release the muscles for a deeper stretch.
- Engage your core and glute muscles to prevent back injury.
- When releasing one prone yoga pose, first go into a neutral position before entering the next pose.
Caution!
- When you are pregnant you should avoid deep backbends and should not lie on your belly.
- When you had abdominal surgery you should rather avoid doing prone yoga poses
- People that suffer from severe symptoms of spondylitis or a slipped disk should be careful when practicing prone yoga poses.
- Don’t continue any asanas when experiencing pain. Modify where you need to or stop the pose altogether and try the pose again on another day.
Benefits of Prone Yoga Poses
- They build strength in the leg-, hip-, and back muscles.
- They are great poses to build heat and improve endurance
- Prone Asanas increase flexibility in the hamstrings, the shoulders, and the chest
- These poses are great to build off stress
- They can improve your body awareness and posture and therefore also improve confidence
- By lying on your belly it can aid in digestion
- Heart opening poses are generally very good to reduce anxiety
- They increase blood circulation
12 Great Prone Yoga Poses
Even though Yoga Prone Poses can be practiced by beginners or advanced yogis, some poses are more tricky to get into or need a bit of flexibility, therefore I have separated the Poses into Beginner Poses and Intermediate Poses.
Don’t be scared to give all of them a try though, just be mindful when entering the more advanced asanas and listen to your body.
8-Limbed Pose
Level: Beginner
Ashtangasana or eight-limbed pose is a great backbend, and a shoulder- and hip opener, where you have 8 points of contact with the floor. (The feet, the knees, the chest, the chin, and the hands.)
How To Do Ashtangasana:
- From tabletop position, come into a strong plank pose. Engage your core.
- Lower your knees, chin, and chest so that it makes contact with the floor.
- Keep your elbows pressed against your side and your tailbone lifted towards the ceiling.
- Try to pull your shoulder blades together.
- Try to hold this pose strongly while taking deep breaths.
- Gently exit the pose and rest in child’s pose.
Downward Facing Frog
Level: Beginner
Adho Mukha Mandukasana is a funny-looking, yet powerful pose to open up and stretch the hips and groin.
How To Do Adho Mukha Mandukasana:
- From tabletop position, walk the knees out to the side as far as you can, but still comfortable to hold.
- The ankles should be in line with your knees and your feet turned out to the outsides.
- Bring the elbows and forearms on the floor, palms either facing downwards, or pressed together.
- Take a deep inhale.
- On your exhale gently press the hips to the back, until you feel a deep stretch in the hips and inner thighs.
- Breath deeply and hold this asana for 5-8 breath cycles.
- Gently rock your hips back to the front, come back onto your hands and exit the pose.
Crocodile
Level: Beginner
Makarasana is a basic prone yoga pose that can reduce stress, anxiety and tension and regulate blood pressure.
How To Do Makarasana:
- Lie on your belly with your arms crossed under you head.
- Rest your forehead on the wrists of your hands.
- Close the eyes and start to relax all of your muscles completely.
- Allow your legs flop open to the side.
- Breath deeply and press your belly into the floor on each inhale.
- On each exhale try to relax even more.
- Hold for 5-8 breaths.
- Slowly get out of the pose.
Half-Locust
Level: Beginner
Half-Locust or Ardha Shalabhasana strengthens the core, and stimulates the nervous, reproductive and endocrine systems.
How To Do Ardha Shalabhasana:
- Start off by lying on your belly with your chin resting on the floor, the legs together, and the arms resting alongside your body with palms facing down.
- Walk your hands underneath your thighs and your forearms on the inside of the hip bones, by rocking your hips from side to side.
- Take a deep inhale, whilst you elongate your spine, lengthen your legs, pointing your toes, pull up your kneecaps, engage your core and glutes together with mula bandha.
- Now press the arms down into the floor and lift you legs up to the ceiling.
- Hold this pose for 5-8 deep breaths.
- On your next whale gently bring back your legs to the floor, release each muscle one by one, slide your arms out to the side, turn your head to one side and rest.
Cobra
Level: Beginner
Bhujangasana or cobra pose, aligns the spine, opens the heart and energises the kidneys and the nervous system,
How To Do Bhujangasana:
- Lie on your belly. Legs together. Chin on the floor and hands underneath your shoulders, palms facing the floor.
- Lift your kneecaps, squeeze the thighs and glutes and press your pubic bone into the floor.
- Engage your core together with mula bandha.
- On an inhale lift the chest and head off the floor, without using the strength of your arms.
- Keep your neck in line with your spine.
- Keep your elbows in and press into the floor with your palms.
- Now use your arms to lift you even higher.
- Push your chest to the front and pull your shoulders down and back.
- Hold whilst taking 5-8 deep breaths.
- Gently ease out of the pose on your next exhale and rest on your belly with your head facing to the side or resting you your underarms.
Half Bow
Level: Beginner
Ardha Dhanurasana is a beginner-friendly variation of full bow pose. It is a great pose to strengthen the whole body and to stimulate the kidneys and reproductive system.
How To Do Ardha Dhanurasana:
- Lie on your belly, with your forehead on the floor, hands underneath your shoulders, palms facing down and elbows close to your sides.
- Bend your right knee and reach the left hand back to hold onto your ankle.
- Lift your chest up, engage your back muscles and core muscles and press down into your right forearm.
- Inhale and kick your right foot back into your left hand.
- Breath deeply for 5-8 breath cycles.
- Release gently and rest.
Sphinx
Level: Beginner
Salamba Bhujangasana is the sphinx pose. Sphinx opens the heart, strengthens the back and core and activates the nervous system, aswell as the kidneys.
How To Do Salamba Bhujangasana:
- Lie on your belly with your elbows underneath your shoulders, palms facing onto the mat.
- Keep the legs together.
- Engage your core and glutes and lift your upper body up, neck in line with your spine.
- Press down into your forearms and pull down your shoulders.
- Press the pubic bone into the mat and engage mula bandha whilst engaging the leg muscles.
- Push your chest to the front and pull your chin in slightly toward the back of your neck.
- Gaze up inward onto your third eye.
- Breath and hold for 5-8 breaths.
- Exhale and gently release the pose by lowering your upper body down slowly. Rest before practicing the next pose.
Locust
Level: Intermediate
Shalabhasana is the more advanced version of Ardha Shalabhasana. It strengthens the legs, glutes and back muscles aswell as activating the reproductive and digestive systems.
How To Do Shalabhasana:
- Start off by lying on your belly with your chin resting on the floor, the legs together, and the arms resting alongside your body with palms facing down.
- Take a deep inhale, whilst you elongate your spine, lengthen your legs, pointing your toes, pull up your kneecaps, engage your core and glutes together with mula bandha.
- Now press the arms down into the floor and lift your legs up to the ceiling whilst lifting your upper body and reaching your arms backward towards your feet..
- Hold this pose for 5-8 deep breaths.
- On your next whale gently bring back your legs to the floor, release each muscle one by one, slide your arms out to the side, turn your head to one side and rest.
Snake
Level: Intermediate
Sarpasana opens the chest and stimulates the heart and lungs. It aids in digestion and helps in breathing more deeply.
How To Do Sarpasana:
- Lie on your mat with your forehead on the floor.
- Clasp your hands behind you, above your tailbone.
- Point your toes and press your feet together.
- Lift your kneecaps, engage your glutes and core, aswell as mula bandha.
- Press the tops of your feet into the floor.
- Take a deep inhale and lift your head, shoulders and chest off the ground, by “pulling” your arms towards your feet.
- Hold for 5-8 deep breaths.
- Gently release the pose and rest in a neutral prone position. (lying on your belly.)
4-Limbed Staff Pose
Level: Intermediate
Chaturanga builds upper body strength, aswell as core and back strength.
Usually you practice Chaturanga during your sun salutations or other yoga flows. You can, for example, jump into a plank position after your standing forward fold and then lower yourself down that your body stas in the straight line and your ellbows are tucked into your sides in a 90 degree angle.
You can hold chaturanga for 5-8 deep breats before continuing your flow. A sequel position can be upward facing dog.
Upward Facing Dog
Level: Intermediate
Urdhva Mukha Svanasana is an intermediate prone yoga pose that strengthens the whole body, opens up the chest and energises the nervous system aswell as the kidneys.
How To Do Urdhva Muka Svanasana:
- From Chaturanga: On your next inhale, after you held your chaturanga, you can drop your hips towards the floor whilst lifting your upper body by straightening your arms.
- Push your chest forward, reach the crown of your head to the ceiling and pull your shoulders back and down.
- The thighs are lifted of the floor and mula bandha and the core muscles are engaged.
- Hold this pose for about 5-* deep breaths.
- Take a rest in childs pose.
Bow
Level: Intermediate
Dhanurasana is the full bow pose. Which activates the adrenal glands, opens the chest, strengthens the back and aids in digestion.
How To Do Dhanurasana:
- Lie on your belly.
- Press all your toes into the mat, then bend your knees whilst keeping the toe activity.
- Grab the other edges of your ankles with your hands and flex your feet strongly.
- Lift your chest by the next inhale.
- On the next exhale kick back your legs into our arms.
- Elongate your head and push your chest forward.
- Hold for 5-8 deep breaths.
Final Thoughts
Prone yoga poses are a great way to stretch and strengthen the muscles in your back, chest, and abdominals. They can also help improve your posture and relieve tension in your neck and shoulders. If you’re looking for a simple way to add some healthy stretches to your day, try adding some prone yoga poses to your yoga practice every day for a week and see if you notice a difference in how you feel.
FAQ’s
What are the benefits of prone yoga poses?
The benefits of prone yoga poses include improved spinal alignment, increased flexibility, and stronger muscles.
These poses are also therapeutic for conditions such as sciatica, herniated discs, and scoliosis if these are not too severe.
What are the best prone yoga poses for beginners?
There are a few different poses that are good for beginners. The child’s pose is a great calming and relaxing pose. Another good beginner pose is the cobra, which strengthens the back muscles.
Are there any risks associated with doing prone yoga poses?
If you have any health concerns, it is always best to consult with a doctor before starting any new exercise routine.