If you are interested in learning about yoga then you will want to know some basic hatha yoga poses. Hatha yoga (or active yoga) is a holistic form of exercise that benefits both the body and mind, often in surprising ways.

Most of the different forms of yoga that you will see advertised are simply different styles of hatha yoga, some more physically demanding than others. All of them involve yoga postures or asanas which are traditional methods of stretching the body to increase flexibility. Many yoga postures are common to all forms of yoga.

Sukhasana - Seated Pose

Sukhasana is one of the most basic and easy yoga poses. It is the position from which most yoga classes start. It helps you to center your mind and relax at the beginning of your practice, focusing on awareness of your body and your breathing. It is a good posture for meditation, and it helps to strengthen the back muscles and open the hips.

For this posture you sit cross-legged and focus on your breathing. Ideally you would be in the lotus position with each foot turned up and resting on the opposite thigh, but for many Westerners this is not possible. You may be able to sit comfortably with one foot up and the other on the ground, or both feet and both knees on the ground. Whatever you do, try to have the legs arranged so that the feet are not under the thighs, and the knees can descend as low as possible. The knees should not be higher than the hips: if they are, you should sit on a block or cushion.

Keep the spine straight from the level of the navel and press the sit bones down into the floor. Hands are on the knees, facing upward, with the fingers together and curled so that the thumb touches the first finger.

In order to complete this position you need to sit cross-legged with your hands on your knees, and focus on your breath. Make sure that you keep your spine straight and push the sit bones down into the floor. Allow the knees to gently lower, and remember that if the knees rise above your hips, you need to sit on a cushion or block in order to fix this.

Cat and Dog

This is a movement between two postures which you can use as a stretching exercise. It increases flexibility of the spine and can be helpful for mild back and neck stiffness.

Begin on your hands and knees, with your legs about hip width apart and the heel of your hands just below your shoulders. Inhaling, tilt the tailbone and pelvis upward, letting the middle of the spine come down so that the spine forms a U shape. Lift the head and look up as far as you comfortably can. Do not over-stretch. This is the dog pose.

Then, exhaling, slowly and smoothly move into the cat position by lowering the head and raising the mid-section of the spine to reverse the bend. You are now curving in the opposite direction, looking between your legs.

As you inhale, curl back the other way to the dog position. In both cases the movement lasts the whole length of the breath and is very steady and slow. Hold each pose for a couple of seconds only, between breaths.

If you practice these very basic hatha yoga poses for a few minutes every day, you should soon notice their benefit.

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