One of the many reasons that yoga is so amazing is that it’s for anyone and everyone!  It does not discriminate when it comes to age, size, flexibility, body type, gender, etc.

You simply need to choose a practice that suits your body type and fitness level.

Yoga poses for plus size beginners:

1. Cow Pose

Cow pose is usually performed as a flow or “vinyasa” with Cat pose, below.  They are great poses to start with to warm up the body.

Begin on your and knees, with your hands directly below your shoulders and your knees hip-width apart.  As you inhale, round your back as much as you can. Tighten the abdominals, and imagine that there is a rope around your belly, pulling it up towards the ceiling.

Breathe in deeply and as you exhale, go into Cat pose (below).

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2. Mountain Pose

Using a wall for added support is ideal for plus-size women or anyone with any balance worries. In her book “Yoga at Your Wall,” Stephanie Pappas suggests the exercise “mountain at the wall” as a good beginner wall position. It’s good for aligning posture and improving steadiness. Stand with your back to the wall and your buttocks touching the wall. Focus on one still point in front of you. Gently ease your shoulders and your triceps back against the wall. Lift your arms up, with your elbows bent at 90-degrees. Keep them flat against the wall. If you have a yoga block, try squeezing that between your legs while in position.

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3. Cobra Pose

This is another great one for stretching the back and shoulders. To do Cobra Pose, lie flat on your belly with your legs stretched out. Using your hands, gently press up your shoulders and upper back so that your hips remain on the ground as well as your legs. Lower yourself and go up slowly again, breathing throughout. Inward breath is up and downward breath is down.

4. Cat Pose

Cat pose begins in the same position as Cow pose.

These 2 poses are ones that you can choose to really work the body in or just go through the motions without feeling anything.  Make sure that you are consciously moving your body and feeling the stretch.

As you exhale, arch your back.  Focus on pushing the butt out and the shoulders back to intensify the stretch in the back.

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5. Tree Pose

 This one can be very hard to do for some people who don’t have a lot of coordination, but I think it is a great balance pose for learning to do this in yoga and less challenging than many others.If you want, find something to lean against something until you can balance on your own. I think tree pose is good for learning balance, though so it is definitely worth trying. For Tree Pose, place one foot as high up on your thigh or leg as you can and balance on the other foot. Place your hands up to the sky (or some people do a more rounded version like myself) and balance this way, practicing your breathing for as long as you can or want to.

6. Half Lord of the Fishes

Spinal twists such as this one are great for decompressing the spine and improving posture.

We could all use a little better posture in our lives, right?

As you exhale, twist your body to the right.  You can increase the stretch further by putting your left elbow on the outside of your knee and pressing against it as you twist. Make sure you turn your head in the direction that you are stretching so that you don’t put any strain on the neck.

Make sure to repeat on both sides.