Posted on April 6, 2026 at 01:25 pm
If you have tightness in your back, whether it’s something you wake up with or you struggle with throughout the day, these stretches will help. These short 15-minute yoga exercises for the upper back routine aim to return ease of movement to your spine so you can feel free through your shoulders and upper body as well as your mid and lower back.
The stretches are not too strenuous or demanding. It’s challenging enough to target the stabilizing muscles along the spine in positions not traditionally thought to target the upper back. Instead, you’ll experience innovative ways to target the upper body, a primary focus, by backbending, side bending, twisting, or curling during a 15-minute yoga practice for your upper back.
15 minutes of yoga for the upper back
This practice is available to almost anyone, regardless of whether you have tried yoga before or not. Once you feel the relief that a simple 15-minute yoga routine can bring you, you’ll want to practice it on a regular basis. You will only need a mat for this practice. No props required.
Cat-cow-child pose
Start on your hands and knees. Instead of doing a traditional version of Cat and Cow, we’re going to shake things up a bit. Walk with your hands just a few inches in front of your shoulders. As you inhale, lower your belly, arch your back, and look inward Cow pose.
As you exhale, rotate your spine inward Cat pose And start pressing your hips again Child’s position. Your hips may not return to your heels, and that’s okay. Try to keep your palms exactly where they are to emphasize the expansion of your shoulders.
Then repeat. So inhale, lower the belly and raise the sight. Exhale in a circular motion and extend it backwards. Try to get as much movement as possible through your upper back, mid-back and lower back. Follow your own pace as you do several more rounds, inhaling and exhaling through your nose.
Extended child’s pose
Let your hips return to your heels in Child’s Pose. Come to your tiptoes until your elbows no longer touch the mat and see if you can lower your forehead to the mat. Think about pushing your armpits down toward the mat.
Stay here or release your arms onto the mat, bring your palms together in prayer, and bend your elbows to send your thumbs toward the back of your neck. Try pushing your chest down toward the mat. Breathe here.
When you are ready, release your prayer hands.
Rabbit pose
Still in child’s pose, bring your hands back behind you and grab your heels. Slowly swing at the crown of your head, lift your seat off your heels, and keep your heels in place to create a stretch along your spine in bunny pose. Don’t put too much weight on your head here. Keep most of your weight in your lower body.
Variety of sentence positions
Release your heels, let your hips drop to your heels, and lift your upper body until you’re kneeling. Bring your left fingertips behind you for support, and continue to reach your right arm up and up as you lift your hips and press them forward so there is a gentle stretch of the thigh here as you reach a version of the backbend known as Camel pose. Release it down and switch sides. So your right hand goes down and your left arm extends up and up.
Puppy pose
Return to center, still kneeling, and keep your hips over your knees as you walk your hands in front of you and melt your chest down toward the mat Puppy pose. Again, you do a more active version of the pose by pushing your hands into the mat and keeping your elbows off the mat. Keep trying to push your chest down toward the mat. Take another breath here.
Sphinx pose
Slide forward in Sphinx poseBring your lower body to the mat, raise your upper body, and bring your forearms to the mat. Roll your shoulders back, press your shoulder blades toward each other, and push into the tops of your feet and pubic bone so there is no pressure or pinch in your lower back.
Downward facing dog
Push your hands into the mat, tuck your toes, lift your hips up and back in Downward facing dog. You might walk your feet, bend one knee then the other, or do whatever movements feel good to you. You can almost exaggerate the bend in your knees to emphasize pushing your chest back toward your thighs and lengthening your arms.
Three-legged dog
Extend your right leg toward the ceiling, bend your right knee, and pause here to open your hip.
Low impulsion
Step your right foot forward between your palms Low impulsion. So, your back knee comes down to the mat, your back toes are not bent, and you’re going to push into your feet to lift up when you reach your arms next to your head. Bend your elbows and make a little cactus shape here. Staying strong through your core and pressing your shoulder blades toward each other behind you in a small backbend.
Warrior 2
Place your palms or fingertips on the mat on either side of your front foot. Lift your back knee off the mat, rotate your back foot parallel to the short edge of the mat, and then lift it inward Warrior 2 With your front knee bent.
The humble warrior
Clasp your hands behind your lower back, roll your shoulders down away from your ears, lift your chest, and dive into Humble Warrior pose, raising your knuckles above your head as high as you can.
Spin rush
Bring your hands to the mat, lift your back heel off the mat, and reach your right arm toward the ceiling while keeping your left shoulder stacked over your left wrist in a roll. Press your left shoulder away from your ear.
Downward facing dog
Exhale as you bring your right hand down and return to Downward Facing Dog position.
Plank position
Inhale as you move your shoulders forward Plank position.
Snake pose
Exhale as you lower into your belly, then inhale as you push your palms into the mat, lifting through your chest, keeping your elbows bent and hugging toward you. Snake pose. Continue pressing through the tops of your feet. Stay here a little longer than you normally would in a vinyasa class. Make sure to keep breathing.
Slowly lower yourself back down and press back into Downward Facing Dog. Then do the same sequence on the other side, from Scorpion Dog to Warrior 2 to Humble Warrior to Revolved Lunge to Downward-Facing Dog to Plank to Cobra.
Locust situation
From here, extend your arms back, palms facing down. As you inhale, raise your upper body inward locust pose, If your back is okay, you can also lift your legs off the mat as well. You want to still be able to breathe here. If you can’t, you’re putting in too much effort. Stay here for another breath and then release.
Thread the needle
Get back to your hands and knees. Extend your right arm toward the ceiling and then pass it under you, reaching across the mat toward your left side, while taking your right shoulder and ear to the mat. Stay here or move your left arm straight ahead toward the front of the mat. Keep your hips over your knees and push your arms into the mat. The further you reach your right arm to the other side of the mat, the more you will feel the stretch between your shoulder blades. Try to create some breathing space in your upper back.
Draw your left hand under your left shoulder, push it into the mat, then return to your hands and knees.
cat cow
Take a regular Cat and Cow tour here. So inhale, lower your belly, arch your back, and raise your gaze to the cow.
Then push the floor away from you, round your back, and release your neck into cat pose. Then go back to neutral and thread the needle on the other side. Take another cat and cow.
Back kneeling
Sit on your heels and bring your toes behind you. Staying on your tiptoes, press your shoulder blades together, and keep your elbows bent as you lift your chest toward the ceiling. Keep your chin slightly tucked.
closing
Sit in any way that is comfortable for you. With your eyes closed, take a moment to do a quick body scan, paying particular attention to how your shoulders, upper back, mid-back and lower back feel. You’ve probably noticed how even a short exercise can have profound effects on your physical, mental and emotional health.
Thank you so much for doing this short 15 minute yoga for the upper back He practices with me. I hope you feel really liberated through your upper body and that this was a helpful sequence for you.
