There are really three main tools you can use for building full-body strength via your yogic practice:

Repetition

Starting the day with a few rounds of sun salutations and vinyasas is a simple and effective way to build strength over time. The salute to the sun warms up the entire body and is a staple of yoga. You might find it a little crunchy to begin with but after a few weeks, you should find yourself moving with greater ease – a sign that your muscles are adapting!

Position hold

Increasing the length of time that you hold certain poses for (particularly in the warrior sequence) is one of the simplest ways to build strength and endurance. Balance poses such as tree pose, which involves balancing your entire body weight on one leg, get every single lower body muscle working from toe to hip. Rather than staying in a position for 30 seconds, why not see if you can start to increase the amount of time spend under tension. Set a timer and work up from 20 seconds to two minutes. I guarantee that you’ll feel every muscle in your shoulders if you were to spend two minutes in dolphin pose!

Experimentation

Holding the postures longer, doing more repetitions, and learning new yoga poses can make your yoga practice more challenging. The key is to keep switching things up. If, for example, you committed to doing 20 goblet squats at the same speed, at the same weight every day, you’d plateau pretty quickly. In yoga, you want to keep on learning, moving and trying new things to keep the brain active and the body strong. When we practice new skills and movements with regular repetition, the brain gets a workout too.

Bodyweight benefits: can you get stronger via bodyweight alone?