Yoga Poses for Beginners: 15 Basic Poses With Names

The best yoga poses for beginners are simple shapes like Mountain, Cat-Cow, Child’s Pose, Downward Dog, Warrior II and Bridge. Learn these 15 basic poses with names, hold each for 3 to 5 slow breaths, and use a block, a wall or bent knees whenever a pose feels out of reach.

First, an honest note. I’m a NASM certified trainer and corrective exercise specialist, not a certified yoga teacher. I coach these poses the way I coach any movement: joints in good positions, steady breathing, and no forcing.

How to Practice Yoga Poses for Beginners Safely

You don’t need to be flexible to start yoga. Flexibility is something yoga builds over time, not a ticket you need at the door.

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A few simple rules make every pose below safer and more comfortable.

1. Hold for 3 to 5 breaths. Inhale and exhale slowly through your nose. Resting poses can last a minute or more.
2. Find your 70 percent. Go to a point where you feel a clear stretch, then back off a little.
3. Protect your knees. In lunges and warriors, keep your front knee over your ankle, not drifting past your toes or caving in.
4. Spread your hands. In poses where your hands carry weight, press through your whole palm and fingers to take pressure off your wrists.
5. Skip what hurts. There is always another pose that works the same area.

Many women I coach tell me they avoided yoga for years because they couldn’t touch their toes. That’s exactly who these beginner poses are for.

Standing Yoga Poses for Beginners

Standing poses build leg strength, balance and body awareness. Practice them near a wall or a sturdy chair if your balance feels shaky.

1. Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

Stand with your feet hip width apart and your weight spread across your heels and the balls of your feet. Let your arms hang, lengthen through the crown of your head, and soften your shoulders away from your ears.

It looks like just standing, but it teaches the posture that every other standing pose builds on.

2. Chair Pose (Utkatasana)

From Mountain, bend your knees and sit your hips back as if lowering onto a chair. Reach your arms forward or overhead and keep your chest lifted.

Keep your knees tracking over your toes. Hold for a few breaths, then stand up and shake out your legs.

3. Warrior I (Virabhadrasana I)

Step one foot back about a leg’s length and turn the back toes out slightly. Bend your front knee over your ankle and reach your arms up, with your hips facing forward.

If your back heel won’t stay down, shorten your stance. A shorter stance is still a real Warrior.

4. Warrior II (Virabhadrasana II)

Open your stance wider, with your front foot pointing forward and your back foot parallel to the short edge of your mat. Bend your front knee, stretch your arms out at shoulder height, and look over your front hand.

This pose builds strong thighs and teaches your knee to stay steady under load.

5. Triangle Pose (Trikonasana)

From a Warrior II stance, straighten your front leg. Reach forward, then tip your torso over the front leg and rest your hand on your shin, a block or a chair seat.

Keep both sides of your waist long. Your hand placement doesn’t matter nearly as much as a long spine.

6. Tree Pose (Vrksasana)

Shift your weight onto one foot. Place the other foot on your ankle, calf or inner thigh, never pressing on the side of the knee.

Keep a hand on the wall for the first few weeks. Balance improves fast with practice.

Floor and Kneeling Poses

These poses mobilize your spine and hips and build upper body strength. Put a folded blanket under your knees if kneeling feels hard.

7. Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana Bitilasana)

Start on your hands and knees with your wrists under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Inhale as you lift your chest and tailbone, then exhale as you round your back and tuck your chin.

Move slowly for 5 to 8 rounds. It’s one of the kindest warm ups for a stiff back.

8. Child’s Pose (Balasana)

From hands and knees, bring your big toes together, widen your knees and sit your hips back toward your heels. Rest your forehead on the mat, a block or a pillow.

This is your home base. You can return to Child’s Pose any time you need a rest.

9. Downward Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

From hands and knees, tuck your toes and lift your hips up and back into an upside down V. Bend your knees as much as you need to keep your back long.

Your heels don’t need to touch the floor. Pedal your feet to loosen your calves.

10. Low Lunge (Anjaneyasana)

Step one foot forward between your hands and lower the back knee onto a cushion. Rest your hands on your front thigh or on blocks and gently move your hips forward.

This pose stretches the front of the hip, which gets tight from long hours of sitting. For more ways to loosen that area, see my hip flexor stretches.

11. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana)

Lie on your belly with your hands under your shoulders. Press the tops of your feet down and lift your chest a few inches, using your back muscles more than your arms.

Keep your elbows bent and your neck long. A low Cobra is plenty for most beginners.

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Lying and Seated Poses

These poses strengthen your back body, stretch your legs and help you wind down.

12. Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat, hip width apart. Press through your feet and lift your hips until your body makes a slope from knees to shoulders.

Squeeze your glutes at the top and lower slowly. It’s a great pose for women who sit a lot.

13. Seated Forward Fold (Paschimottanasana)

Sit with your legs out in front of you, on a folded blanket if your lower back rounds. Hinge forward from your hips with a long spine and rest your hands on your legs.

Bend your knees as much as you like. A strap around your feet helps if you can’t reach.

14. Supine Twist (Supta Matsyendrasana)

Lie on your back, hug your knees in, then let them drop to one side. Stretch your arms out and look the other way if your neck is comfortable.

Put a pillow under your knees if they don’t reach the floor. Switch sides after a minute.

15. Corpse Pose (Savasana)

Lie flat on your back with your arms by your sides and palms up. Let your feet fall open and let your whole body get heavy.

Stay for 2 to 5 minutes. It may be the hardest pose of all, because it asks you to do nothing.

Yoga Poses for Beginners at a Glance

Use this quick chart to see what each pose does and plan your own short practice.

Easy Modifications for Stiff Bodies

If a pose feels impossible, the pose isn’t the problem. It just needs a different setup.

• Tight hamstrings: Bend your knees in Down Dog and Forward Fold, and sit on a folded blanket.
• Sore wrists: Come onto your forearms in Down Dog or use fists instead of flat palms.
• Sensitive knees: Pad them with a folded towel, or swap kneeling poses for standing ones.
• Shaky balance: Keep a hand on the wall in Tree and Warrior poses.
• Can’t reach the floor: Use a block, a thick book or a chair seat under your hand.

Many women over 40 I work with feel stiff in the hips and hamstrings at first. That’s exactly why these tweaks exist, and why yoga can feel good from day one.

Men are welcome here too. The same tweaks help guys with tight hamstrings and hips, which is a very common combination in the men I train.

A Simple 15-Minute Beginner Sequence

Put the poses together in this order for a short, balanced session.

1. Mountain Pose for 5 breaths.
2. Cat-Cow for 8 slow rounds.
3. Child’s Pose for 5 breaths.
4. Downward Facing Dog for 5 breaths, pedaling your feet.
5. Low Lunge for 5 breaths each side.
6. Warrior II for 5 breaths each side.
7. Tree Pose for 5 breaths each side near a wall.
8. Bridge Pose, lifting and lowering 6 times.
9. Supine Twist for 5 breaths each side.
10. Corpse Pose for 2 to 3 minutes.

Not sure whether yoga alone covers your fitness needs? Read my honest take on whether yoga is enough exercise.

Your This-Week Plan

1. Day 1: Read through the poses and practice Mountain, Cat-Cow and Child’s Pose for 5 minutes.
2. Day 3: Add Down Dog, Low Lunge and Bridge for a 10-minute session.
3. Day 5: Do the full 15-minute sequence above.
4. Day 7: Repeat the sequence and notice which poses already feel easier.

Quick Questions

This guide is part of my yoga for beginners at home guide, where you’ll find gentle routines, chair yoga and honest answers about starting yoga at any age.

The Bottom Line

These 15 yoga poses for beginners give you a solid base for any class, video or home routine. Learn them slowly, breathe through your nose, and adjust each one to fit the body you have today.

Practice a few times a week and you’ll notice steadier balance, looser hips and a calmer mind within a month. For a look at the bigger benefits, read about yoga and the mind-body connection.

This article is for general education and isn’t medical advice. Check with your doctor before starting yoga if you have a recent injury, surgery, osteoporosis, glaucoma, high blood pressure or a heart condition. Stop and get medical help for chest pain, dizziness, numbness or sudden swelling.