Bone Density, Bone Strength & Balance
How Yoga Postures Help
It’s incredibly uplifting to know that each pose we hold is gently strengthening our bones, enhancing our balance, and helping to create a resilient, sustainable foundation for the long run. Bones respond to weight-bearing, and yoga offers this in a low-impact, nourishing way that also works to improve our flexibility, alignment and balance – making them a great practice to help prevent falls. When practicing we can often feel the bones working and how good the weight bearing, stabilising and strengthening is for them. As we age, especially for women, our bones naturally change and may become less dense—but the good news is, we have powerful tools to support bone health – and yoga is one of them.
My Go-To Yoga Postures For Building Healthy Bones
Here’s some yoga postures I include in my own practice and classes that cultivate bone density, strength and stability.
Downward-Facing Dog - Adho Mukha Svanasana
Downward Facing Dog Pose engages the arms, shoulders, legs, and core — all while being a gentle inversion. It distributes weight across the body and creates a full-body weight-bearing shape that’s great for bone support.
Plank Pose - Phalakasana
Plank builds core stability, upper body strength, and improves bone density in the wrists, arms, and shoulders. Start small and build up — it’s worth it.
Mountain Pose - Tadasana
It might look like “just standing,” but Mountain Pose teaches alignment and awareness, strengthening the core and postural muscles that support your spine and pelvis.
Tree Pose - Vrksasana
This standing balance pose is wonderful for strengthening the legs and hips, while also helping to develop stability and prevent falls. I always remind students: every time you engage your standing leg, you’re sending signals to your bones to stay strong.
Warrior II - Virabhadrasana II
A grounding, energising pose that strengthens the legs, ankles, and thighs, while opening the hips and chest. Holding this posture with awareness creates gentle pressure on the bones — exactly what they need to stay resilient.
Triangle Pose - Trikonasana
This pose is a beautiful way to strengthen the legs and spine, while giving a good stretch through the hamstrings and side body. When done with proper alignment, Triangle brings both activation and space to the skeletal system.
Powerful Intense Pose - Utkatasana
This is essentially a controlled squat — and squats are gold for bone strength. Utkatasana strengthens the thighs, hips, and spine, while building endurance and boosting balance.
Cobra Pose – Bhujangasana
Cobra gently strengthens the spine, back muscles, and shoulders. Backbends like this are especially helpful for the vertebrae, which are vulnerable in age-related bone loss.
Locust Pose - Salabhasana
This is one of my favourites for building strength in the back, glutes, and hamstrings. It’s a simple but effective posture to protect the spine and boost the muscles that stabilize the pelvis.
Bridge Pose - Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
Bridge activates the hips, glutes, and lower back — all important areas for maintaining bone and muscle mass as we age. Plus, it’s deeply grounding and restorative.
Corpse Pose - Savasana
Yes — rest matters. Savasana allows the nervous system to shift into healing mode and helps your body absorb the benefits of all the strength-building work you’ve done.
Consistency Is Key
If bone health is a focus for you, try to include a few of these poses in your regular practice — ideally 3 to 5 times per week. You don’t need to do long sessions; just 10–20 minutes of mindful, aligned movement can make a big difference over time.
Here’s to moving mindfully, standing tall, and aging with strength and grace.
If you’d like to try some of my online yoga classes, that offer a range of bone strengthening and balance sequence suitable for all levels you can click here to find out more.