Excellent Thigh Workout from Yoga

Workout for Thighs

Yoga Exercises for Thighs

A wonderful thing about yoga workouts and poses is that they work on you at many different levels at once. Not only are they great for your physical dimension, but are also often designed to work on your emotional or mental dimensions as well.

Yoga Crow Squats with Arm Raises is a great example of such a workout. It will not just help you tone and strengthen your thighs and buttocks, but it will also help you develop emotional and mental balance. In addition, this exercise is excellent for your cardiovascular and circulatory systems as well.

Later this month I will provide some exercises and poses which are great for female sexual health, and these squats will certainly be a part of that workout. The strengthening, toning and flexibility provided by this exercise to the hips, thighs and pelvic region are excellent for female reproductive and sexual fitness.

This particular exercise also targets the entire thigh and quad region. This includes the difficult to reach inner thigh as well, so if you are interested in having completely toned legs, then I would strongly recommend including this series into your workout. You will note, that being able to squat deeply will give you a great stretch in the groin region, along with targeting the muscles of the inner thighs. Be sure to be careful of your knees though and only go down as far as comfortable.

There are also a number of other excellent yoga exercises for toning and strengthening your thighs and buttocks and I have listed them below for you.

Below are illustrations on how to practice this technique. There are some variations to this exercise as well, which I have also provided. Overall this exercise is quite fun to do, which is always ! nice . This workout will be integrated into our free online Kundalini Yoga Exercises and Hatha Yoga Galleries on the website.

#1: Yoga Crow Squat Down

#2: Crow Squat Right Arm Up

#3: Yoga Crow Squat Down

#4: Crow Squat Left Arm Up

Yoga Workout for Firm Toned Thighs:

To do this exercise follow the steps below:

The start! ing posi tion is to have your feet spread a little more than shoulder width apart, have you hands in namaste pose and to come down into a deep squat. Exhale in this position. This is shown in Illustration #1 above.

Then rise up smoothly, and as you come up extend your right up at a 60 degree angle as shown. Inhale as you come up. Illustration #2. You will feel your thigh muscles starting to work as you rise up.

Now come back into the deep squat and namaste pose. The deeper you squat the more you will feel the stretch and also, the more you will target the inner thigh muscles. Exhale. Illustration #3.

Next inhale again and as you come up extend your left arm up at a 60 degree angle as shown. Illustration #4.

Continue this movement for the duration of the exercise. You can start with 1 minute or less and build up from there. You can also use the level of burn in your legs and thighs to pace yourself. Try to get to a point where it is challenging, but without overdoing it.

Mantra Variation: This exercise can be done with an accompanying mantra as well. This boosts the mental and emotional benefits of the exercise. You can do OM Namah Shiva Ya or SA TA NA MA for each of the parts of the exercise. Do the mantra mentally as you do the movements. For example, in position 1 say SA mentally, in position 2 say TA, back in position 3 say NA and then say MA for position 4. And repeat.

Arm Variation 1: A variation with the hands is to have your arms stretched overhead with the fingers interlaced with palms facing down and keep them there as you squat up and down. This is obviously harder to do, and engages the shoulder ! muscles more.

Arm Variation 2: An easier variation with the arms is to have the fingers interlaced again, with the palms facing up and just having the arms simply hang down straight in front of you as you squat. This variation is called Utthan Asana.

Benefits of Yoga Crow Squats:

Excellent pose for toning and strengthening your thighs and buttocks.

Works to promote emotional and mental balance, especially when done with a mantra.

Increases vitality and sexual fitness, especially for women.

Helps develop your cardiovascular and circulatory system and strengthen the heart.

Promotes healthy weight loss.

Improves flexibility in the groin.

Helps strengthen the lower back and helps relieve lower back pain.

Strengthens the ankles and feet.

Works on your shoulders.

Helps clear your root chakra.

Cautions and Tips for Yoga Crow Squats:

Be careful of your knees when you do this exercise and only go as far down as comfortable. Same caution should be exercised for the ankle joints as well.