Yoga for Beginners: Three Basic Yoga Poses to Improve Concentration and Balance

Standing yoga poses are ideal poses to help you develop your concentration, balance, and flexibility skills. Through them, you learn to connect with all parts of your body. They also develop strength, confidence, and focus.

When you’re new to yoga, it can be quite difficult to stay still, focus, and balance in a standing pose.

The following standing sequence is designed to help you develop the inner strength and focus needed to do standing balance poses.

As with all forms of exercise, be careful and respect your body.

1. The mountain pose / Tadasana

The mountain pose forms the basis for all standing poses. It teaches you to stand correctly and is the starting point for the sun salutation and for all standing postures. If you think about how strong and solid a mountain is, this image will come in handy while practicing this pose.

Entering the pose:

a) Stand with your feet together. If it’s comfortable, touch your big toes, the inside of your ankles, and the inside of your heels. Distribute the weight evenly on the feet.

b) Squeeze your kneecaps and lift your thigh and lower abdomen muscles.

c) Breathe in and feel your spine lengthen, let your tailbone sink in and rise up in the front of your body. Feel your chest open. Let your arms hang at the sides of the body with your palms facing your legs and your fingers gently extended towards the floor.

d) Relax your shoulders, let your shoulder blades slide down. Relax your face, lengthen your neck and look straight ahead

e) Stay stable in this pose for 3 to 10 rounds of deep abdominal breathing.

2. Tree pose / Vrksasana

This pose tones and stretches the leg muscles and teaches balance. It also encourages calm and inner balance.

a) Stand in tadasana / mountain pose and ‘root’ your left leg on the mat.

b) Gently lift your right leg up and place the sole of your right foot high on your inner left thigh (or anywhere between your ankle and thigh, if that’s more comfortable).

c) Inhale and stretch your arms over your head with your palms facing each other. If this feels uncomfortable or unstable, bend your elbows and gently bring your palms together in a prayer position.

d) Stay in this pose for 3 to 10 rounds of deep abdominal breathing.

e) Keep the tail bone tucked underneath and feel the sole of your foot while connecting with the ground.

f) Get out of the pose and repeat on the opposite side.

3. Standing Forward Bend Posture / Uttanasana

This pose gives your spine an intense stretch. Develops flexibility in legs, hips and spine. Because the head is down, increased blood flow to the head calms the brain. This is a lovely pose to release pressure and tension on your back, shoulder, and neck muscles.

a) Stand in mountain pose with your feet slightly apart, directly in line with your hips. Your arches are next to each other and your toes are level. Keep your knees and legs straight.

b) Raise your arms above your head, bend your arms and place each hand on the opposite elbow. Inhale and straighten your knees, thighs, lower abdomen, and spine.

c) Exhale and extend your truck forward from your hips. Bend forward and extend your trunk toward the floor, keep your legs straight and extend your trunk and arms closer to the floor.

d) Take 5 to 15 breaths, relaxing and releasing the tension from your back, shoulders, and neck each time you exhale (if this pose overloads your back, spread your feet a little further, turn your toes inward, and support your front of ribs).

Practice these three standing yoga poses regularly and over time you will notice that you feel much calmer, more relaxed and balanced. When you feel like this, it becomes much easier for you to focus and focus and life flows with ease.