5-Minute Full-Body Yoga to Feel Good (Standing Poses Only)

Yoga teachers often assume that students can easily get up and down from the floor. But that’s not always the case.

For some students, getting down onto the mat can feel physically demanding. For others, it’s simply not practical, whether they’re navigating joint pain, recovering from an injury, coming off a long work day, or they simply don’t feel like sitting or lying down.

That’s where standing yoga poses come in. They offer a way to move your body without the added pressure of getting onto the floor or making your way to standing from kneeling. A standing yoga sequence is also one of the most adaptable ways to practice, whether you’re in a classroom, a hotel room, or at the airport. And you don’t even need a mat.

5-Minute Standing Yoga Pose Practice to Feel Good

This quick standing yoga practice helps release tension and ensures you get your yoga fix without disrupting your day.

1. Mountain Pose

Stand with your feet together or hip-width apart. Press your feet into the floor and reach the crown of your head toward the ceiling. Rest your arms at your sides in Mountain Pose. Take a few long, slow breaths here.

2. Side Stretch

Inhale, sweep your arms overhead, and touch your palms together. As you exhale, lower your arms back down. Inhale and sweep your arms overhead again, and this time, interlace your fingers and point your index fingers toward the ceiling. Exhale as you lean your torso toward the right, then inhale as you return to center. Lean toward the left, then return to center. Repeat that a few times.

Exhale and bend your torso a little more toward the right as you lean your hips toward the left. Squeeze your thighs together and keep your arms straight. Take a few breaths here, then return to center. Exhale and repeat on your left side.

3. Standing Backbend

With your arms overhead and your hands clasped, lift your gaze toward the ceiling and arch your back. Reach your hands toward the ceiling or, for a more intense backbend, reach your arms toward the top of the wall behind you and shift your gaze there as well. Take a few breaths here, then return to standing.

4. Standing Forward Fold

With your arms overhead and your hands clasped, lean forward as you draw your chest toward your thighs. Lower your hands to the floor, blocks, or stacks of books in Standing Forward Fold. Settle into the pose—bending one knee, then the other, and releasing your neck. Take a few breaths here.

To come out of it, reach your arms upward and keep a flat back as you return to standing. Lower your arms at your sides.

5. Chair Pose

Bend your knees and sit your hips back as if you’re going to sit down in a chair. Shift your weight into your heels, reach your arms in front of your chest with your palms facing the floor, and draw your shoulders away from your ears in Chair Pose. Take a few breaths here.

Return to standing, shift your weight into the balls of your feet, and lift your heels off the floor. Bend your knees and lower back into Chair Pose. If you fall out, try again. Take a few breaths here, then return to standing. Lower your arms at your sides. Swing your arms forward and back to release any tension.

6. Knee Bends

Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart. Place your hands on your hips. Slowly bend your right knee, then straighten it. Bend your left knee, then straighten it. Repeat that a few times on each side, ending with both legs straight.

7. Wide-Legged Forward Fold

Press your feet into the floor as you hinge from your hips and lower your chest toward the space between your legs in Wide-Legged Forward Fold. Lower your hands to the floor or grasp the backs of your heels, ankles, or legs. Take a few breaths here. Slowly roll up to standing.

8. Hip Circles

Stand with your hands on your hips. Sink your hips toward the left, then forward, then toward the right, then back. Repeat the hip circle in the same direction a few times. Then take a few hip circles in the opposite direction.

Step your feet together in Mountain Pose. Draw your arms overhead with your palms together, then lower your hands to prayer position at your chest (anjali mudra). Take a long, slow breath in followed by a breath out and notice whether you feel a little more relaxed than before you started the practice.