By Bernie Clark
May 15, 2026
I was recently asked, “What is the best yoga for osteoporosis?”
Such a simple question. Such a reasonable question, and one that is often asked. But, unfortunately, life is rarely simple, black or white, or straightforward. The only truthful answer is, “it depends!” Let me explain…
First, any answer will have to take into consideration the questioner’s current state of health. I would rather try to answer the question, “What is the best yoga for you?” Secondly, I am not sure what the word “best” means.
“Best” can be interpreted in several ways. By “best,” do you mean safest? If someone already has osteoporosis, are they concerned that they may be advised to avoid any yoga and thus lose all the wonderful benefits yoga brings? Is this question asking which yoga is safe to do when someone has osteoporosis? Or are they seeking a form of yoga that will either cure their osteoporosis or prevent it from getting worse? Or, perhaps they are looking for a yoga practice that will prevent osteoporosis from arising.
The answer to the question depends upon the intentions of the questioner and what they mean by “best.” And it depends upon the questioner as well. Do they have osteoporosis already? How severe is it? Where is it? How old are they? Are they post-menopausal or pre-menopausal? What is their current lifestyle like? What diet or drugs are they taking? And, most importantly, what do their health care providers recommend?
There are no black-and-white answers. There are people with osteoporosis who are elderly yet active. Nyk Danu hosted Niamh Daly on her Yin Yoga Podcast, who described a cliff climber who had osteoporosis: she fell off a cliff, from a height of 10 to 15 feet, and did not break a bone.1 This woman would probably find most forms of yoga safe. There may be other people with severe kyphosis of the thoracic spine, for whom any flexion, whether in a yoga class or in daily living, could cause fractures in the front of the vertebrae. Which type of yoga is “best” for you depends upon your unique condition, lifestyle, goals, and intentions.
If the intention is to prevent osteoporosis, the “best” forms of yoga would be active, standing practices with lots of movement and bodyweight-bearing postures. If osteoporosis is already present but not overly risky, and the intention is to increase bone density, well… no form of yoga has been clearly proven to do that. What is required is resistance training and weight-bearing loads upon the joints and bones: walking, weight lifting, running. What yoga may do, however, is slow down the rate of future bone loss. I discussed this on another Yin Yoga Podcast with Nyk.2 I have already written a response to the concern about people with osteoporosis who have been told they should not do yin yoga, which you can read here.
If someone has severe osteoporosis and has been told that they must be careful when doing yoga, then the question has a different answer. The “best” yoga for them may be very mild, restorative styles of yoga with very little stress placed upon the bones and joints. However, this will not slow down or stop the degeneration. The intention is to prevent any fractures from arising during their yoga practice. But even this prescription has its drawbacks. Living life is risky. Just because someone has osteoporosis does not mean they should stop living.
The best answer to this question may be as simple as, “what yoga do you wish to do?” Answering a question with a question is often annoying, but if you can determine what your intentions are—why you want to do yoga in the first place—then you may be able to modify whichever practice you choose to fit your circumstances. Completely avoiding loads upon the body is not possible in daily life. And even if it were possible, that would only be a recipe for accelerating bone density loss. The body needs stress to maintain and regain health. How much and how often is something that has to be discovered through experience, advice, and awareness. Hopefully, with these tools, you will find the best answer to your question.
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1 See https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-podcast/yin-yoga-and-osteoporosis/, around the 33-minute mark.
2 See https://nykdanu.com/teachers/yin-yoga-podcast/bernie-clark-answers-questions/, around the 10-minute mark.