8 Yoga Poses to Increase Mobility in Your Shoulders, Hips and Ankles
Are you an avid yogi looking to improve your mobility? Or maybe you're a beginner, and you want to know what yoga can do for your mobility. Either way, you've come to the right place.
We've put together a list of eight poses that will help improve flexibility and range-of-motion in your shoulders, hips and ankles. Give them all a shot—and don't forget: never force anything!
What is Yoga Mobility?
Yoga mobility is essentially a practice that helps you improve your flexibility and range of motion. It can help with everyday activities like bending, reaching and lifting. Additionally, yoga mobility can help improve your posture and it can also aid in treating injuries.
Shoulder Mobility
Shoulder mobility is the most neglected aspect of exercise and it's no wonder—the shoulders are the most mobile joints in the body, which makes them vulnerable to injury. The shoulder joint is made up of three bones: humerus, scapula, and clavicle. This means you've got a lot of moving parts to deal with!
Shoulder mobility is a big deal. In fact, it's the most flexible joint in your body and also one of the most vulnerable to injury. Because of this, it's important to regularly incorporate shoulder mobility exercises into your yoga practice so that you can move through all planes of motion with ease and grace.
Here are some great poses for improving shoulder mobility:
Downward Facing Dog - Adho Mukha Shvanasana
High Lunge Variation - Ashta Chandrasana
Side Plank Variation - Vasisthasana
Thoracic Mobility
If you find yourself constantly hunched over, the thoracic spine is likely a culprit. This is the area of your spine that runs between your neck and lower back, so anything that causes you to bend forward like hunching over at work or playing video games can lead to shortness in this region.
The best way to remedy this issue is by practising thoracic mobility exercises on a regular basis. Here are some effective movements that will help increase range of motion in your upper back:
Cat Pose Marjaryasana): Lie on your stomach with arms at sides and palms flat on floor next to hips. Inhale as you lift chest upward toward sky (cat pose), then exhale as you tuck chin down and round spine backward like an angry cat (cow pose). Repeat 10-20 times for 1-2 sets with 5 seconds per rep spent in each position—this helps reset tight muscles.
Hip Mobility
Improving hip mobility is key to improving your yoga practice, as it will allow you to move through a greater range of motion. This means that if a pose doesn't feel right at first, you can try adjusting it so your hips are in the right position for maximum benefit.
It's also important for injury prevention. If a muscle or joint isn't able to move freely, it can lead to repetitive stress injuries or even major injuries like tears and fractures. If your hips aren't moving well, it's likely that one or more of your other muscles are compensating for them—and they'll probably start complaining about it soon enough!
Fortunately, there are yoga poses you can try to improve hip mobility so that this doesn't happen! Here are two examples:
Bowing Warrior - Baddha Virabhadrasana
Lizard Pose - Uttana Pristhasana
Ankle Mobility
Ankle mobility is important for everyday activities like walking and running. It’s also an important component of yoga, because the movements are often performed in a low or wide stance.
The ankle joint itself has a limited range of motion—possible to move forward and backward, side-to-side, but not rotationally. However, what you can do with this limited range of motion depends on how mobile your ankles are: if they aren't very flexible, they'll limit your ability to perform certain postures or poses.
Ankle mobility can be improved through yoga poses that stretch the calf muscles (the muscles behind the shin), which provides greater flexibility at the ankle joint itself and therefore improves overall mobility.
In order to improve your ankle mobility, try these poses:
Tree Pose - Vrksasana
Hero Pose - Virasana
Yoga is a great way to improve your mobility. It improves flexibility, decreases pain, and increases your strength. If you are looking for some new movements to try out in yoga class or at home then consider these exercises. Or better yet, join Ubuntu Bali’s yoga mobility classes for expert instruction. See you on the mat!
