Yoga for Hypermobility: Learning to Engage Muscles and Practice with Stability

Yoga is often associated with flexibility — long, open shapes and deep stretches. For hypermobile people, this can feel like a natural advantage. You might move easily into postures others struggle with, receive compliments on your flexibility, or feel at home in deep stretches.

But hypermobility requires a very different approach to yoga.

I’ve worked with many students who are hypermobile — and I’ve also lived parts of this experience myself. What looks like ease on the outside can hide instability on the inside.

Without proper muscular engagement, yoga can reinforce joint stress, chronic pain, and fatigue rather than support long-term wellbeing.

Hypermobility doesn’t mean something is “wrong” with your body. It means your joints move beyond the typical range — and that movement needs support, strength, and awareness.

Why Stretching Alone Isn’t Enough for Hypermobility

If you are hypermobile, your ligaments often provide less passive stability. This means your muscles need to work more, not less, to protect your joints.

Traditional yoga cues like “relax into the stretch” or “sink deeper” can actually increase joint strain. Instead, hypermobile bodies benefit from:

• Active muscle engagement

• Slower transitions

• Smaller, more controlled ranges of motion

• Resting in stability rather than depth

Yoga becomes less about how far you go, and more about how present and supported you feel.

Learning to Engage Muscles: The Foundation of Safe Practice

One of the most important skills for hypermobile yogis is learning how to engage muscles before moving into a posture.

This might feel unfamiliar at first — especially if you’re used to relying on flexibility. But muscular engagement creates a sense of containment, safety, and clarity in the body.

Helpful cues include:

• Hugging muscles toward the bones

• Activating around the joints before stretching

• Gently drawing energy inward rather than collapsing outward

• Moving with the breath instead of hanging in end ranges

For example, in forward folds, bend the knees slightly and engage the legs rather than dropping weight into the joints. In backbends, focus on strengthening the back body and core instead of pushing into the spine.

This approach builds functional strength, not tension.

Stability Is Not Restriction — It’s Freedom

Many hypermobile people fear that stability will feel limiting. In reality, stability creates freedom.

When the body feels supported:

• The nervous system relaxes

• Movement becomes more fluid

• Pain and fatigue often reduce

• Confidence in the body increases

Somatic yoga practices are especially supportive here. They encourage subtle engagement, slow exploration, and deep listening rather than forcing shapes.

At Asana Tribe Yoga Spain, I often invite students to work at 60–70% of their available range. This allows muscles to stay awake and responsive, rather than switching off at the extremes.

Common Yoga Poses to Approach with Care

Hypermobility doesn’t mean avoiding poses — it means modifying how you enter and hold them.

Be mindful with:

• Deep hip openers (like pigeon)

• Passive backbends

• Long-held yin poses

• Locking out elbows and knees

Using props, reducing depth, and engaging surrounding muscles can make these poses supportive rather than destabilising.

Restorative yoga can also be beneficial — as long as joints are supported and not left hanging in extreme ranges.

Listening to Fatigue and Nervous System Signals

Hypermobility often comes with increased nervous system sensitivity. You may feel exhausted after what looks like a “gentle” class or notice delayed soreness.

This is your body asking for:

• More rest

• Less intensity

• Better pacing

Yoga should leave you feeling grounded and integrated, not drained. Building awareness of subtle signals is just as important as physical strength.

A New Relationship with Yoga

For hypermobile people, yoga becomes a practice of embodiment rather than expression. It’s not about showcasing flexibility — it’s about developing inner support, self-trust, and sustainable movement patterns.

When you learn to engage muscles and honour your body’s needs, yoga transforms from something that wears you down into something that truly supports you.

Your body doesn’t need to be pushed.It needs to be listened to.

And when you meet it with patience and care, it will meet you with resilience.