~Tree pose is a great standing balance pose where you have one foot on your opposite leg’s inner thigh (if you are doing the most advanced version) with your knee positioned outward.   This pose is an excellent thigh opener and really helps to increase strength in your legs!   When I am really calm this pose does feel incredibly grounding and I can imagine myself as a tree taking in nourishment from my roots.   

~Another standing balance pose, this time you have your foot in your hand (on the same side, so right foot in right hand) and your opposite arm leaning in front of you as you lean forward.   It is an excellent heart opener and stretch for your thigh.   This is actually also the first pose I ever learned in yoga when I was just a kid, making it a favorite for that reason as well!   I think I was attracted to this pose as a child because it was called Dancer’s Pose and it truly did remind me of ballerinas! 

~Sphinx pose is a heart opener where you lay on your stomach and have your elbows level with your shoulders.   It gently opens your upper back as you rest on your arms.   I love this one for its gentle nature, it is great for early mornings when you may be stiff as you wake up!

~Wild Thing makes this list because it is such a fun pose!    Essentially Wild Thing is a pose you come into from either Downward Dog or Plank, where you flip over balancing on one hand with the foot of your leg closest to the ground planted and the foot of the leg you have kicked over to open up your spine lightly touching the ground.   You have an excellent opening of your whole front body in this pose!    I really love the freedom I feel when Wild Thing comes up in a flow.   

~Goddess Pose is essentially just a standing squat with your legs wide apart and your feet splaying to each corner of the mat.   It is an excellent hip opener and great for strengthening the whole lower body!   I love this pose for how grounding and strengthening it is in equal measure.

~Butterfly Pose is when you have your feet meeting and your knees opened wide and can be performed seated or reclined.   My favorite version is seated and folding over the Butterfly Pose as it is a very soothing release of the inner thighs!   I am sure it is obvious that I really love hip-opening poses by this point in the list.

~Frog Pose is a bit extreme, and can be very difficult for some people, but I adore it!   Frog Pose is a very deep hip opener where you lay on your stomach with each of your legs bent and opening out in opposite directions at hip level.   Now, you obviously do not have to come onto your stomach (as shown in the clip art image here), but I love the feeling of sinking into this intense hip release fully!   It is definitely a pose I take slow if I am sore, but it is very worth the opening the pose provides.

~Pigeon Pose is another excellent hip opener.   In Pigeon on knee is brought just behind the wrist (right knee to right wrist for instance) and the foot is brought parallel to the front edge of the mat, with the back leg long behind you and then you fold forward over the knee (if you are doing the most advanced version of the pose).   Again, it is intense, but it is such an incredible release and is also great for unlocking stored emotions in the hips.  In fact, one of the reasons that I really love it for how much emotional release can come from this pose!

~Yogi Squat is a low squat where you open your feet to the mat width apart with feet splaying outward slightly and sinking all the way down!   I always feel very grounded and fully opened in my hips and lower back when performing this pose, which is why it just had to be in my top two!

~My number one is a bit of a cheat, as it is not a static posture like the others, instead being a Kundalini Yoga movement.   However it is my very favorite Yoga Exercise, so I had to have it as number one!   This is an exercise performed in a simple crossed-legged posture with hands cupping the knees.   You move your spine in a circular motion, grinding in a dance-like motion to fully open your spine.   It is so fun and also so beneficial for the health of the spine, which is why I love doing this exercise regularly!