If you want to stay flexible as you age, a yoga instructor says you should make sure you're practicing these three poses

A woman sits in a park on a yoga mat, with her legs crossed, her left forearm on the mat next to her and her right arm reaching up and across. She is smiling and we see leafy trees and grass behind.

From standing and seated poses to backbends and inversions—there are many different types of yoga poses to bring into your practice.

But according to yoga instructor Sommer Sobin, co-founder of Thousand Petals Yoga, if you’re struggling with tightness and tension in your spine, hips, and shoulders, there’s one particular type of posture worth rolling out your mat for—and that’s lateral side bends.