6 Yoga Wheel Poses to Build Serious Strength + Stability (Photo Tutorial)

Most of us have heard of a yoga wheel, but have you heard of (or tried) yoga wheel poses?

A yoga wheel is a hollow, circular-shaped yoga prop designed for stretching, releasing tension, and improving flexibility. And there are so many great yoga wheel poses you can try to build strength and stability in your practice!

Yoga wheels can help deepen your practice, add support to new poses, and help your mind-body connection ignite to understand your poses even better.

How to Use a Yoga Wheel (Video Tutorial)

A yoga wheel helps you achieve depth and better muscular functionality with yoga poses and it gives dynamic support while helping to prevent injury.
 

Build Strength and Stability With These 6 Yoga Wheel Poses:

Here are some of the best yoga wheel poses to try! You’ll see why they are so beneficial as you try them out. If you do not have a yoga wheel, you will need one for these poses. We recommend this one.
 

1. Reverse Tabletop (Ardha Purvottanasana)

This variation of Reverse Tabletop with your yoga wheel is practiced primarily to strengthen your shoulders and arms, and give you more depth in your ability to open your chest.

With your yoga wheel, your Reverse Tabletop can be part of a heart opening sequence where your chest, rib cage, upper abdomen, shoulders, and neck are all involved to help with better breathing.

Reverse Tabletop helps us boost energy in our bodies and can be included in many of your flow yoga sequences. After working with a yoga wheel, take a moment to see how much more open your own Reverse Tabletop might feel.

Let’s try it:

• Sit on your mat with your back to your yoga wheel
• Extend through your thoracic spine and reach your arms to the back and base of the wheel
• Bend your knees (you may have to move your glutes slightly to find the most comfortable position)
• Place your palms on the back of the wheel with your fingertips facing you
• Root down into your feet, engage your core and your legs and come up slowly to Reverse Tabletop
• Either let your chin come to your chest and gaze forward, or let your neck rest onto your back, gazing up to the ceiling
• Inhale deeply – don’t contract your shoulders, but send them toward your opened chest

 
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2. Down Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

Downward Facing Dog with your yoga wheel helps deepen your inversion and forward bend, and enhances your stretching and strengthening in this pose.

The extra engagement and stability connection helps deepen the abdominal muscles while also stimulating your mental connection to the pose to keep your balance.

Let’s try it:

• From Plank Pose, place one or both feet on your yoga wheel
• Slowly begin to raise your hips and let the wheel roll forward slightly
• Be mindful to engage your core here
• Inhale, and as your hips push upward, let your chest reach toward your thighs and add a little deeper connection with every exhale
• Remain here for about one minute

3. Wild Thing (Camatkarasana)

Camatkarasana (Wild Thing) is a combination of an intense backbend and arm balance so this pose balances our physical and emotional levels.

When we add in our prop, it engages our core even deeper to help create confidence and fearlessness inside us.

The added yoga wheel helps us take this graceful pose to the next level as you create your own space and feelings.

It’s an invigorating pose like all backbends and can induce feelings of great joy and expansion by bringing a sense of freedom – allowing the wild side of an individual to shine!

Let’s try it:

• With your yoga wheel, it’s safer to come into Wild Thing from Reverse Tabletop
• Start by sitting on your glutes, take one arm behind you, place it into the ground and then lift that same leg onto your wheel
• As you inhale, lift your hips with buoyancy, keeping your opposite side stable and strong into the ground with a bent knee
• Curl back through your upper back to create a sweeping action of your shoulder blades into the back of your rib cage with your non-supporting arm
• As you inhale, lift your hips higher until you curl more into a backbend with your bent leg foot solid on the ground
• Keep breathing and curl your head back, extending your non-supporting arm from your heart to express your power and freedom
• Lower yourself down and repeat on the other side

4. Side Plank (Vasisthasana)

Vasisthasana or Side Plank strengthens your arms and shoulders while engaging your core muscles.

Side Plank increases our attention to alignment and deep connection since the body must balance on one arm. Any change or shift in the spine or hips can take us out of this pose.

Adding in our yoga wheel takes our mindful connection to a whole new level as we must keep ourselves safe and strong in this posee. This pose can help us feel abundant in power and confidence since it requires intense mental focus, concentration, and balance.

Let’s try it:

• Start from a Modified Side Plank with your right knee on the floor
• Make sure your supporting arm is directly under your shoulder
• Place your extended foot on your yoga wheel while you still have your knee down to make sure you are supported properly
• Slowly use your balance and strength to lift up and extend your bent leg out to meet the wheel
• Remain here for about four breaths, watching for balance and alignment
• Make sure your legs are stacked, your chest is active and open, your head stays aligned with your shoulders, and your navel is being pulled in to support your spine
• When you’re ready, release and switch sides

 
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5. Half Splits (Ardha Hanumanasana)

Half Splits helps to improve flexibility in your hips, hamstrings, and low back. This pose elongates your spine and can be used to help calm your mind by reducing stress and anxiety levels.

By adding in a yoga wheel, you’re able to increase body awareness, and safely go deeper into the pose to help open your hips, engage your core, and prevent injuries.

The idea is not to feel the stretch at the legs alone, but to watch your breath as your torso moves forward to ground even deeper into this pose.

Let’s try it:

• From a Low Lunge position, carefully put your wheel under your front heel
• Begin to straighten your front leg as much as you comfortably can
• Keep your hips squared and stacked over your back knee
• Inhale to lengthen your spine
• As you exhale, begin to fold over your front leg
• Energetically draw your back heel back while reaching your chest forward
• Place your hands on either side of your front leg to help balance and protect your body
• Remain in the pose for five to 10 breaths, each time letting gravity help your body reach a little deeper into the pose
• When you’re ready, release and switch sides

6. Upward Plank (Purvottanasana)

In Upward Plank, the entire front portion of the body is stretched to the maximum with a slight backbend.

Upward Plank helps build strength in your wrists while balancing the weight of your body to improve muscular strength without causing injury.

This pose is a great and easy way to learn to improve the balance of the body while simultaneously keeping in mind the alignment of the arms and the feet.

Let’s try it:

• Sit with your legs stretched forward in Staff Pose (Dandasana)
• Place your palms on the floor (or on blocks) on either side of your body behind the glutes
• Lift one foot onto your wheel, and connect with your core to help lift yourself up
• Straighten your elbows and point your fingers back
• Raise your glutes and lift your body upward
• Option to lift your opposite leg or move both onto your wheel
• Keep your arms and legs straight
• Hold this position for as long as you are comfortable

These Yoga Wheel Poses Will Spice Up Your Practice

As you go through these poses and reach a deeper sense of connection and strength with your yoga wheel, take a moment to congratulate yourself for the work you’ve been doing.

Connecting on a deeper level with yourself, you’ll begin to subtly enhance your own work with your yoga wheel.

Working with your yoga wheel has an effect on your strength, muscular functionality, tenacity, and inner power. Everything is connected and beautifully interconnected so enjoy the journey YOU create!