Upward Table Pose

How to do Upward Table Pose

1. 1Sit on the floor with your legs extended in front of you and your spine tall.
2. 2Bend your knees and place your feet flat on the mat, hip-width apart and roughly a foot in front of your sitting bones.
3. 3Position your palms on the floor behind your hips, shoulder-width apart, with your fingers pointing forward toward your heels.
4. 4Press firmly through your palms and all four corners of your feet to lift your hips toward the ceiling.
5. 5Draw your shoulder blades onto your back and elevate your pelvis until your torso and thighs form a straight line parallel to the ground.
6. 6Stack your knees directly over your ankles and align your shoulders directly over your wrists.
7. 7Keep your neck in a neutral line with your gaze toward the ceiling, avoiding letting the head collapse backward.
8. 8Lower your hips back to the floor with control on an exhalation to release the posture.

Benefits

• Stretches the anterior shoulders, chest, and front of the neck.
• Strengthens the glutes, hamstrings, and lower back muscles.
• Builds wrist stability and upper-arm strength.
• Opens the hip flexors and relieves compression from prolonged sitting.
• Expands the rib cage to support deeper, fuller breathing.

Common mistakes and cues

• Splaying the knees

  Keep your inner thighs engaged and knees tracking parallel over your middle toes rather than falling outward.

• Collapsing in the shoulders

  Press actively through your hands to elevate your chest away from the floor and keep space around your neck.

• Dropping the head backward

  Maintain length along the back of the neck by gazing straight up or slightly forward rather than letting the head hang unsupported.

• Sagging hips

  Fire your glutes and hamstrings to bring your pelvis fully in line with your knees and shoulders.

Modifications and props

• Block between thighs

  Squeeze a yoga block between your inner thighs to maintain proper leg alignment and activate the adductors.

• Turned-out fingers

  Angle your fingers slightly outward to the sides if you feel pinching or restricted mobility in your wrists.

• Blocks under hands

  Place flat yoga blocks under your palms to reduce wrist extension and create more space for the lift.

• Dynamic lift and lower

  Move smoothly between lowering and lifting the hips dynamically with your breath instead of holding statically.

Cautions

• Wrist issues

  Avoid bearing full weight on extended wrists if you have carpal tunnel syndrome or acute wrist pain.

• Shoulder impingement

  Limit the depth of hip elevation to avoid pinching sensations across the front shoulder capsule.

• Neck sensitivity

  Keep the chin gently tucked toward the chest rather than extending the cervical spine backward.

If you are working with an injury, pregnancy or a medical condition, check with a qualified professional before practising this pose.

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