Alignment Guide for Home Yoga
Tadasana is the blueprint for every standing pose. Root through your feet, lengthen through your spine, and engage your core, with your hips stacked over knees and ankles for clear alignment.
Table Top is the foundation for hands-and-knees work. Build a stable “table” with a neutral spine, wrists under shoulders, and knees under hips.
Many of us practise at home with videos. Without a teacher present, it’s even more important to take responsibility for your own alignment. Pay attention to your key joints—wrists, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles—because good alignment protects you from injury and makes the practice more effective.
When you do attend in-person classes, use the opportunity to ask your teacher for specific alignment cues.
One area that often trips beginners up is the neck. When in doubt, keep it long and neutral.
A simple but powerful way to build self-awareness is to focus on the feel of two key poses in each class: Tadasana and Table Top.
Though they look basic, practising Tadasana and Table Top with attention is how you develop the core skills of yoga: proprioception, the sense of how your joints relate to each other, and interoception, the ability to feel what’s happening within your body. This mindful awareness is what turns a routine stretch into a meaningful practice of yoga.
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