Whenever I see this title, I think back to the Elton John song circa 1983 and the very colourful and vivid video! There is plenty of dancing, jumping and controlled falling throughout the video. We don’t need that level of joint mobility and muscle strength for day-to-day life, unless you are a professional dancer, but we all require a certain level to maintain our independence and daily lives. This is where our yoga practice and asana can be explored in its basic component and related to function.
But what makes these movements functional?
Put simply, movements that have a purpose in our daily lives or serve a purpose. Functional movements are identified as pushing, pulling, twisting, squatting, balancing, reaching and walking. These movements maintain a range of movement either with our bodies or in our joints that enable us to be independent. Think about our daily movements from waking up and getting out of bed, washing, dressing, cooking, and shopping. Has the ease with which you did these activities changed as you have gotten older? Often it isn’t noticed until we find a specific task we could always do, a bit more difficult.
To perform these activities, we need a range of movement in our joints, and our muscles are required to have strength. Previous injuries, genetics and ageing can affect joint mobility and loss of muscle mass. Advice from the NHS to participate in activities that provide resistance to help maintain or build muscle mass and bone density. Even as young as menopausal women are advised to commence resistance work, all towards our ‘healthy ageing’.
Why do we need joint mobility and strength in our muscles?
Weakness in our muscles affects our ability to maintain balance while standing and walking, which in turn impacts our independence in personal and social lives, confidence, and self-esteem. A fear of falling can result in risk avoidance, a reluctance to leave the home, leading to isolation and reduced social connections. Maintaining strength in the muscles required for standing and walking through a regular yoga practice, which includes asanas that target the necessary muscle groups for walking and standing, can benefit participants significantly. The introduction of interoception, noticing how the body feels in each asana, the activation and relaxation of the muscles, brings awareness to the changes in the centre of gravity and maintenance of balance in many positions that mimic daily activity, such as narrow leg stance, or one leg stances and walking up steps.
Does yoga asana build strength in our muscles?
What our body feels in these movements is unique to us, and yoga has historically professed the benefits of each pose and the improvements in muscle strength. How does what we feel translate into what is happening in our body? Research conducted by Ni et al. (2014) used muscle electrical impulse activation(electromyography) in a laboratory setting to identify the muscles activated in 11 yoga asanas. The muscle groups studied were the external oblique abdominis, gluteus maximus, and longissimus thoracis, and the asanas: Halfway lift, Forward fold, Downward-facing dog, Upward-facing dog, High plank, Low plank, Chair, Mountain with arms down, Mountain with arms up, and Warrior 1. What appeared to be key in their study was the positioning of the trunk and pelvis during each asana and their impact on muscle activation. They identified the specific muscle groups strengthened in each asana. The High Plank, Low Plank, and Downward Facing Dog poses were effective for strengthening the external oblique abdominis. Chair and Warrior 1 poses targeted the gluteus maximus, and Chair and Halfway Lift poses strengthened the longissimus thoracis. All three muscle groups were strengthened when performing Upward-Facing Dog. Kelley et al. (2017) corroborated these findings and identified activation of the anterior tibialis, gastrocnemius, rectus femoris, and biceps femoris in five different yoga asanas: Downward-Facing Dog, Half Moon Pose, Tree, Chair, and Warrior 3. Although all muscle groups were activated in each asana, the greatest activity in the anterior tibialis was identified in Down Dog, Tree and chair poses, whilst gastrocnemius had the greatest activity in Half moon and Warrior 3.
More recently, Veneri et al. (2025) studied the activation of muscles in standing and seated asanas. This is the first study that compares muscle activation in standing and seated asana. They studied muscle activation in the Goddess pose, Warrior 1, Peaceful Warrior, and Extended Side Angle in both standing and seated variations, using electromyography to examine the rectus femoris, biceps femoris, external oblique, and erector spinae muscles. Their findings demonstrated that muscle activation was significantly greater for standing asana, particularly for the rectus femoris and biceps femoris, and core activation was higher during seated asana. Anomalies were observed with the seated goddess poses, where there was asymmetrical activation of the external oblique and erector spinae muscles. Potential due to the asymmetry of the person in the seated goddess pose, which was not picked up during the assessment.
These studies support the long-held physical benefits of these different asanas and provide additional evidence to support findings from other yoga research that use different tools to assess muscle strength improvements in various asanas.
Conclusion
Yoga provides an opportunity for people to get to know their bodies and how they feel in movements. Yoga asana involves moving the body in many positions that aid movements in daily life. These functional aspects of yoga help us to maintain mobility in our joints and strength. Research has aided our knowledge in the muscles activated in different asana enabling yoga teachers to plan yoga classes to target specific areas.
By Lisa Harwood
References
Kelley, K., Slattery, K. and Apollo, K. (2018) ‘An electromyographic analysis of selected asana in experienced yogic practitioners’, Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 22(1), pp. 152–158. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2017.05.018.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/physical-activity-guidelines-older-adults/
Ni, M. et al. (2014) ‘Core muscle function during specific yoga poses’, Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 22(2), pp. 235–43. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ctim.2014.01.007.
Veneri, D. et al. (2025) ‘A Comparison of Muscle Activation between Select Standing and Seated-Equivalent Yoga Poses among Healthy Adults’, International Journal of Yoga, 18(1), pp. 38–44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_132_24.
