12/11/2025
Can Yoga Keep You Safe❓
Yoga Asanas and Functional Movement: Enhancing Natural Movement Patterns for Lifelong Health 💪💃🍏
Functional movement patterns refer to the natural and fundamental actions humans perform daily, such as squatting, lunging, bending, pushing, pulling, and rotating. These movements are essential for maintaining strength, flexibility, and coordination, contributing directly to physical health and overall well-being.
However, when these movements are performed incorrectly – or when strength and mobility are lacking – pain, dysfunction, and injury can follow. Here, yoga asana plays a crucial corrective role: it improves mobility and flexibility, strengthens underused muscles, corrects imbalances, and fosters body awareness, helping the body move more efficiently and safely.
👉For example the strength and flexibility required to squat underlies many daily activities, from sitting to lifting. A deep yoga squat practiced regularly will help improve stability, posture and balance, all critical factors for long-term mobility, especially with aging.
👉Lunging patterns play a crucial role in movements like stepping forward, climbing stairs, and rising from the ground. Yoga postures such as Crescent Moon, Low Lunge and the Warrior poses effectively target the hip flexors, quadriceps and hamstrings which are key muscles essential for these actions. Strengthening these areas can enhance mobility, refine walking and running mechanics, and help prevent common lower-body injuries.
👉Flexibility underpins functional movement, allowing joints to move freely and muscles to work efficiently. Downward-facing dog stretches the calves, hamstrings and spine, supporting daily actions like bending and reaching. Lunges stretch our hip flexors and hamstrings, which can counter the effects of prolonged sitting and reduce back pain. Rotation in poses like seated spinal twist protect the spine and support us in turning, lifting and reaching.
This is just scratching the surface, but it will hopefully offer you inspiration to continue (or start!) your yoga asana practice and support your body’s well-being. 🧡
We have 9 morning and evening classes to choose from, affordable prices, supportive teachers and a friendly and welcoming space.
We hope to see you in studio soon! 🙏
Timetable and passes: https://asmy.org.au/adelaide/timetable/