Best Yoga Poses For Hikers: Feel Stronger & Recover Faster

best yoga poses for hikers and backpackers

Practicing yoga helps me so much in feeling good and strong when I go hike and backpack. Even more, it helps me recover faster so that I can get out on the trail more often. Personally, when I hike, I like to be on the trail at sunrise and I tend to push my hikes so long that the only thing I’m doing afterwards is opening up a cold one. I find that focusing on my yoga and stretching on my non-hiking days works best for me, but you absolutely can add this routine before or after you hike.

Yoga is not about being flexible in body. It’s more about being flexible in mind. Don’t limit yourself by being too atttached to what your poses look like. Use the time on your mat to connect with how your body feels and letting go of the ruminating thoughts that might be weighing your down.

Not Just For Hikers

While this yoga sequence is great for hikers, it’s greatness lies in the fact that it targets the muscles of the outer hips, hip flexors, and the chest. If you read my blog Train for a Strenuous Hike, you’ll see how the repetitive nature of walking and stepping up causes a shortening in the hip flexors and often a rounding through the upper back causing shortening in the chest and shoulders.

But so does sitting, especially sitting in front of a computer or even sitting on the couch staring at a phone.

This sequence is great for anyone who finds themselves spending a lot of time in a seated position. As a blogger myself, this is my go-to yoga flow because no matter how much I try to change positions while working, I’m still spending an obscene number of hours in hip flexion with rolled in shoulders and a forward head.

Before I get into the best yoga poses for hiker, here a few quick reminders when practicing yoga:

The breath matters more than the form

The biggest benefit you can get from yoga is learning to breathe deeper. When holding these poses, it’s important to only go so deep that you can still regulate your breath work. If you find yourself struggling to breathe deeply or holding your breath, you are going too far.

Steady the breath

Seal the lips and breathe slowly through your nose taking about 5 seconds on the inhale and matching it with 5 seconds on the exhale. On the exhale, think about releasing tension and relaxing the muscles. With practice, you will feel like the breath is helping you melt into each posture.

Posture up

When we hike (myself included), we tend to let our posture slump. The shoulders roll forward, the neck drops down to keep and eye on the trail, and our lower backs tend to arch. When doing these postures, think about these postural tips:

Align the ears with the shoulders
Draw the shoulder blades down your back and towards each other
Keep the spine long especially through the neck
Lift the chin slightly
Draw the belly in toward the spine

Open and Twist

The repetitive hip flexion and the weight of a heavy backpack tends to cause your chest, hip flexors, and quads to tighten up. Also, the side to side movement of the hips and spine while you are hiking make the paraspinals (the muscles on the side of your spine in your lower back) have to work hard. My favorite yoga postures involve a lot of hip and chest openers with lots and lots of twisting to counteract this natural swagger while I’m on the trail.

These are advanced postures so please go into them slowly and be mindful of your breath when holding them.

Make It Flow

I’ve linked these poses together to create a full practice for you. The poses are sequenced to help you twist and untwist the spine and to alternate stretching different muscle groups. You should feel amazing by the end!

Yoga for Hikers: Hips + Chest Sequence

Yoga pose 1: Angled Child’s Pose

Starting on your knees, bring your toes to touch
Take your knees out wide
Drape your belly on your thighs and extend your arms out in front of you
Hold here first to connect with your breath
Walk your hands off your mat to the left side
With some pressure in your left hand, try to press your right hip onto your right heel more
Hold for 5 breath cycles before switching sides
Then, step forward with your right foot and go through pose 2-8

Yoga pose 2: Runner’s Lunge With Chest Opener

Step your right foot between your hands
Mure your right ankle is directly underneath your right knee
Interlace your hands behind your back (or use a strap)
Keep your hips tucked under and abs pulled in while lunging forward
Hold for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 3: Quadriped With Quad Opener

Place your left hand under your left shoulder
Extend your right leg back behind you
Reach back with your right hand and capture your right foot
Open your chest towards the ceiling while kicking your foot into your hand
Maintain lightness in your left hand by engaging your left obliques
Hold for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 4: Runner’s Lunge With Twist

Step your right foot up even with your left hand
Lift your back knee and straighten your back leg
Keep hips square to the front of your mat
Rotate your shoulders trying to stack your right on top of your left shoulder
Extend your right arm and spin your chest to the ceiling
Keep your core engaged while holding for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 5: Half Split With Pronator Stretch

Drop the back knee down on the mat again
Straighten the right leg and push your right hip back in line with your left hip
Flex your right toes towards your face as you hinge over your right leg
Place both hands on the outside of your right leg
Hold for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 6: Runner’s Lunge With Quad Opener

Rebend into your right knee
Bend the left knee and reach back with your left hand
Capture the inside of your left foot with the left thumb pointed toward the left big toe
Hold for 5 breath cycles then

Yoga pose 7: Pyramid

Lift your left knee and straighten both legs
Stand with your right toes pointed forward and left toes turned out 45 degrees
Keep feet hip width distance apart and hip bones square to the front of your mat
With a flat back, hinge forward over your right leg using a blockif needed
Hold for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 8: Reverse Triangle

Stand tall, scooting your back foot back a few more inches
Pivot your left foot to 90 degrees so that it’s perpendicular to the front foot and the arch of the left foot is in a line with the heel of the right foot
Reach the left hand down your left leg and the right arm to the sky
Hold for 5 breath cycles then move to the next pose

Yoga pose 9: Wide Stance Forward Fold With Shoulder Opener or Twist

Turn your hips so that you are facing sideways on your mat
Point all ten toes towards the long edge of your mat (or slightly inward)
Fold forward with a flat back and then hang your head heavy for 5 breaths
Optional: interlace your hands behind your back
Then, grab the outside of your left foot or calf with your right hand
Try to keep your hips even while you extend your left arm to the ceiling
Roll your chest open trying to stack your left shoulder on top of the right one
Hold for 5 breath cycles, then repeat with the left hand and right foot

Repeat pose 2-8 on the other side and add in pose 1 and 9 again if it feels great.

Bonus 1: Repeat both sides only holding for 3 breaths this time

Bonus 2: Add a Sun Salutation or two after you’ve finished going through poses 1-9 on both sides, ending in downward facing dog.

Yoga pose 10: Downward Facing Dog With Quad Opener

Starting in downward facing dog, extend the right leg in the air
Open the right hip by stacking the right hip on top of the left
With the right knee bent, let the right foot fall towards the left hip
Hold here for 5 breaths and add some circles with the right knee if that feels good
Then, place the right foot on the ground and go into the next pose

Yoga pose 11: Downward Facing Dog With A Twist

While in downward facing dog, reach the right hand to the outside of the left calf
Take your gaze under your left armpit
Try to keep your hips and shoulders even while holding for 5 breaths
Then, repeat pose 10 and 11 on the other side

Yoga pose 12: Pigeon

From down dog, swing the right foot forward so that the right knee comes behind the right wrist and the right foot behind the left wrist
Try to keep your hips square by placing a blanket or block under your right hip if needed
If you have very tight hips, your shin may not get completely parallel to the front of your mat
Fold over your right shin and rest your forehead on your forearms
Hold for 5 breaths or if your hips are really tight, set a timer for 2 minutes and just relax

Yoga pose 13: Plow

Lift both feet over head to a comfortable range of motion. If you feel discomfort in your back or neck, skip the pose or support your feet with a blanket or your lower back with your hands or a block
Hold for 5 or more breaths and when you are done, roll out of the pose slowly

Yoga pose 14: Supine Twist

Lie on your back with both legs extended on the floor
Bring your right knee to your chest and give it a squeeze while flexing your left toes towards your face
Take your strap around you right foot and straighten your right leg towards the ceiling
Holding the strap in your left hand, drop your right leg over to the left side of your mat
Tuck your left hip under your right hip
Extend your right arm out to the right, trying to keep the right shoulder on the ground
Hold here for 5 or more breaths then repeat on the other side

Yoga pose 15: Savasana

Lie like a corpse, extending your legs straight on the floor and letting your toes roll outward
Arms lie by your sides with your palms facing upward
Draw your shoulder blades down and toegther, tucking them under you and allowing your chest to expand
Imagine the weight of the world falling away from your body as you soak in gratitude for the epic hikes you’ve done and the gorgeous planet we live on