15 Standing Yoga Poses – How to Do It and Their Benefits

Standing yoga poses are a type of exercise you can perform anywhere that increases stability and body balance. Including it in your daily workout regime will provide a healthy mind and body. Therefore strengthening various body parts and maintaining proper blood circulation.

To know more about these various yoga poses, keep scrolling through the article.

The Mountain pose is one of the easiest poses, which is also the base of many standing yoga poses. This pose requires you to keep your ankles, knees, and hips in a straight line. This, in turn, helps to improve your overall posture and maintain proper blood circulation throughout the body.

How to Do Mountain Pose (Tadasana)?

Step 1: Stand by keeping your feet parallel and maintain a gap of a few inches between them.

Step 2: Keep your head straight and stand firmly.

Step 3: Start lifting your arms upwards and keep the shoulder parallel to your ears.

Step 4: Hold this position for a few moments and keep your arms down.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Mountain Pose?

• Do not practise for a long time if you have pain in your legs.
• Refrain from putting excessive pressure on your knees.

Who Should Avoid Practising Mountain Pose?

• People with joint pain and low blood pressure.
• People with insomnia and migraine.

Virabhadrasana 1 or Warrior 1 is another  beneficial standing yoga pose for beginners. The posture is mainly helpful for improving cognitive function and concentration power. However, as it involves full body stretching, it leads to better body flexibility.

How to Do Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)?

Step 1: Start with downward-dog position and keep your right knee near your nose.

Step 2: Touch and hold the ground with the help of your arms and keep your right leg between them.

Step 3: Keep your knees bent and lift your arms upwards.

Step 4: Hold this position for a few moments and release.

Step 5: Repeat the same with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)?

• Avoid practising this asana for a long time.
• If you have neck pain, try to keep your neck in a neutral position.
• Avoid if you have any spinal injury.

Who Should Avoid Practising Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1)?

• People with heart issues, high blood pressure, and chronic illness.
• People who have serious neck, shoulder, or knee pain.

This is a part of the Virabhadrasana series, where you need to extend your hands right from your shoulder. You must keep your gaze fixed throughout the posture, calm your mind, and concentrate, which in turn provides mental freshness. In addition, it involves full body stretching, which helps gain a better physique and better body balance.

How to Do Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)?

Step 1: Stand straight and stretch your arms wide apart, parallel to each other.

Step 2: Keep your ankles beneath your knees.

Step 3: Stretch your right leg forward, bend your knee and keep body balance on your ankle.

Step 4: Remain in this position for a few breaths, release, and repeat with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)?

• Ensure even distribution of body weight on both legs.
• Avoid it if you have neck and knee pain.
• Avoid practising if you have any spinal ailment.
• Avoid practising diarrhoea.

Who Should Avoid Practising Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)?

• People who have neck, shoulder, or hip surgery.
• People with high blood pressure.

Warrior 3 is the advanced pose of the Warrior series, where you need to stand on one leg while the other is firmly grounded. The pose is beneficial for strengthening leg and back muscles,thereby balancing, and improving your posture.

How to Do Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana 3)?

Step 1: Start with Virabhadrasana 1 pose.

Step 2: Ground your right leg firmly, lift your lower abdomen and keep your tailbone down.

Step 3: Strengthen your arms and lift your left leg and swing your arms towards your back.

Step 4: Hold a few breaths and release

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)?

• Do not force your body to perform the posture.
• Stop practising if you feel pain.
• Avoid practising if you have balance issues.

Who Should Avoid Practising Warrior 2 (Virabhadrasana 2)?

• People with ankle and knee injuries.
• People who have back and shoulder injuries.
• Patients with high blood pressure.

Uttanasana is a traditional yoga pose that involves full-body stretching. In this pose, the knees should be straight, and you need to bend your body downwards to touch the ground. As the posture involves extreme body bending, it helps strengthen core and leg muscles and helps in reverse blood flow.

How to Do Forward Fold (Uttanasana)?

Step 1: Stand straight on a yoga mat, keeping your hands by your side.

Step 2: Lift your hands upwards and bend your body to your feet with a deep exhale.

Step 3: Touch the ground with the palm and your forehead with the knees.

Step 4: Hold this position for a few breaths and stand up again.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)?

• Avoid taking a meal before practising Uttanasana.
• Stop practising if you feel pain.
• Refrain from performing this posture if you have glaucoma.

Who Should Avoid Practising Forward Fold (Uttanasana)?

• People with back and neck injuries.
• Who has pain in the ankle or knee joint.
• Pregnant and menstruating women.

Utthita Trikonasana, or triangle pose, is a beneficial standing yoga pose where you need to form a triangle shape with your body. This beginner’s friendly pose involves the exercise of body parts such as the hamstrings, chest, groyne, and hips. The posture strengthens these muscles and is a good warm-up for more advanced yoga poses.

How to Do Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)?

Step 1: Stand and spread the legs wide apart.

Step 2: Spread your arms in a T structure.

Step 3: Bend your right on the right side.

Step 4: Raise your left arm and hold the position for a few moments.

Step 5: Release and repeat with the opposite side.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Triangle Pose?

• Avoid it if you have a migraine.
• Avoid practising if you have diarrhoea.

Who Should Avoid Practising Triangle Pose (Utthita Trikonasana)?

• People with severe back pain or neck injury.
• People with vertigo and dizziness.

Tree pose, as its name suggests, helps to gain the firmness of a tree by giving you a better body balance. The posture is extremely beneficial for strengthening your core, glutes, legs, and back muscles.

How to Do Tree Pose (Vrksasana)?

Step 1: Stand straight on a flat surface.

Step 2: Keep one of your feet firmly on the ground and lift the other one.

Step 3: Bend the knee and bring the lifted foot to the thigh or leg muscles of the other leg.

Step 4: Keep your hands folded near your chest or raise upward and hold the position for a few breaths.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Tree Pose (Vrksasana)?

• Do not practise it after taking a meal.
• Do not practise if you have balance difficulty.
• Avoid practising if you feel pain or discomfort.

Who Should Avoid Practising Tree Pose (Vrksasana)?

• People with low blood pressure.
• Insomniac people.
• People who have severe leg pain.

Yogi squat or Malasana is a great exercise for the hip, lower abdomen, and leg muscles. The pose is also called the ‘pose of youth’ as it denotes the youth of our body. Further, you can get the benefits like opening and stretching your hips, mighty legs, and stronger back muscles.

How to Do Yogi Squats (Malasana)?

Step 1: Stand straight on a flat surface and keep your feet wide apart.

Step 2: Fold your hands similar to the prayer posture and bring them near your chest.

Step 3: Sit down in a squatting position and hold the position for a few breaths and stand erect again.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Yogi Squat (Malasana)?

• Do not perform if you have knee pain.
• Perform it on an empty stomach.
• Do not hurry while squatting.
• Do not perform just after running.
• Refrain from excessive practising of this posture.

Who Should Avoid Practising Yogi Squat (Malasana)?

• People with neck or back injuries.
• Sciatica or patients with hip surgery.

Peaceful Warrior pose is a transitional posture between downward-facing dog and warrior 2 traditionally. The posture involves backward body stretching and full body movement, which is very helpful in retaining body flexibility. Further, it helps to calm your nerves, stretches your shoulders and arms, and gives better body balance.

How to Do Peaceful Warrior (Shanti Virabhadrasana)?

Step 1: Start by warrior pose.

Step 2: Bring your left foot forward and lift your left hand towards the ceiling.

Step 3: Inhale and bend your body backward gently.

Step 4: Hold the position for a few moments and release.

Step 5: Repeat with the other leg

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Peaceful Warrior (Shanti Virabhadrasana)?

• Avoid if you have a serious knee or back injury.
• Stretch your arms carefully to avoid any injury.

Who Should Avoid Practising Peaceful Warrior (Shanti Virabhadrasana)?

• People with slipped discs, herniated discs, or any kind of spinal injury.
• People with heart diseases.
• Cervical Spondylosis and vertigo patients.

Triangle Twist is a variation of the Triangle pose where you need to lift your hands perpendicular to the ground. Your pivot joint should be towards the front leg with an open chest. Triangle Twist posture is beneficial for stimulating your organs, eliminating stress, and increasing body balance and stability.

How to Do Triangle Twist (Parivrtta Trikonasana)?

Step 1: Start with the Triangle pose.

Step 2: Keep your right arm down to the ground.

Step 3: Twist your body and open your left side.

Step 4: Lift your left arm towards the sky and gaze upwards.

Step 5: Hold the position for a few moments and release.

Step 6: Repeat the same with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Triangle Twist?

• Beginners should keep their heads in a neutral position instead of rising upwards.
• Stop practising if you face any pain during the posture.
• Avoid it if you have neck or back pain.

Who Should Avoid Practising Triangle Twist (Parivrtta Trikonasana)?

• People with low blood pressure, breathing trouble, and heart diseases.
• People who have sleeping disorders and migraines.
• Who has recently undergone spine, back, or neck surgery.

Astha Chandrasana can be considered as the preparatory pose for Virabhadrasana. In this posture, you need to bend one knee and stretch another leg backwards while keeping the hands at a 90-degree angle upwards. Therefore, this standing yoga asana is helpful for body stretching and body balance.

How to Do Crescent Lunge (Astha Chandrasana)?

Step 1: Stand straight and stretch your right leg forward and left leg backward.

Step 2: Bend your right knee and lift your left toes.

Step 3: Slowly lift your hands overhead and fix your gaze on your front.

Step 4: Hold the position for a few moments, release, and repeat with the opposite leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing a Crescent Lunge ?

• Aged people should take help from a wall.
• Avoid practising if you have a back or neck injury.
• Avoid it if you have a tendon injury.

Who Should Avoid Practising Crescent Lunges (Astha Chandrasana)?

• Menstruating women should not perform this posture.
• People who have hip surgery.
• People who have severe neck pain and headaches.

Dancer Pose is a traditional yoga pose reflecting a deep connection with spirituality. The posture helps to stretch your body and strengthen your legs and arms. Further, it is also helpful in strengthening your glute and core muscles.

How to Do a Dancer Pose (Natarajasana)?

Step 1: Start with Tadasana and stretch your left leg to the front.

Step 2: Raise your left hand upward.

Step 3: Lift your right leg behind you and grab it by your big toe.

Step 4: Bend down forward to take your right leg upward while maintaining body balance.

Step 5: Hold this position for a few moments and release.

Step 6: Repeat with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Dancer Pose (Natarajasana)?

• You should refrain from practising this pose if you have poor body balance.
• Do not twist your hip; instead, just pull your legs properly.
• Stop practising if you face any pain while performing the posture.

Who Should Avoid Practising Dancer Pose (Natarajasana)?

• Arthritis patients.
• People with injured legs, neck, hip, or back.
• People with slipped disc and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Utkatasana is a simple yoga pose where you need to bend your lower back  resembling the shape of a chair. The pose energises your body and helps tighten your leg muscles, strengthen your core muscles, and boosts your mental freshness.

How to Do Chair Pose (Utkatasana)?

Step 1: Stand in the Tadasana position.

Step 2: With lifted arms, keep your hips down.

Step 3: Do a half squat as if sitting on an imaginary chair.

Step 4: Hold this position for a few breaths and release.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Chair Pose (Utkatasana)?

• Keep your posture correct while performing the pose.
• Avoid if you have knee pain.

Who Should Avoid Practising Chair Pose (Utkatasana)?

• People who have insomnia or headaches.
• People who have arthritis or low blood pressure.

Figure-4 chair pose is an extreme body balancing pose where practitioners should fold one leg and pose like sitting on a chair. The pose is beneficial for getting better balance, strong legs, and toned hip muscles.

How to Do Figure-4 Chair Pose (Eka Pada Utkatasana)?

Step 1: Stand straight on a yoga mat.

Step 2: Keep the left leg rooted on the ground.

Step 3: Lift your right leg and put it under the left thigh.

Step 4: Lower into a chair pose.

Step 5: Hold for a few moments, release and repeat with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Figure-4 Chair Pose ?

• Do not bend your knees too much.
• Do not arch your hip too much.

Who Should Avoid Practising Figure-4 Chair Pose (Eka Pada Utkatasana)?

• People with low blood pressure.
• Pregnant women.

Crescent Lunge and Cactus Arm is a variation of Astha Chandrasana. In this posture, the practitioner opens up the chest and keeps the lower part of his body like Astha Chandrasana. This yoga pose is also helpful for body balance and strengthening the muscles like the glutes, hamstrings, hips etc.

How to Do Crescent Lunge and Cactus Arm (Astha Chandrasana and Cactus Arm)?

Step 1: Stand in the high lunge position, putting the right foot forward.

Step 2: Place your left toe behind and press your toes on the mat.

Step 3: Raise your arms and slowly lower down your elbows.

Step 4: Hold for a few moments, release and repeat with the other leg.

What Are the Safety Precautions to Take While Performing Crescent Lunge and Cactus Arm (Astha Chandrasana and Cactus Arm)?

• Avoid practising if you have poor body balance.
• Take care of weak ankles, knees and shoulders while performing.
• Do not practise if you have a knee injury.

Who Should Avoid Practising Crescent Lunge and Cactus Arm (Astha Chandrasana and Cactus Arm)?

• People with short breath issues
• Surgical patients
• Pregnant and postnatal women
• Aged people