Updated October 29, 2026 01:43PM
Practicing yoga for tight calves is a useful tool for combatting muscle fatigue and making everyday movements feel easier. Longtime yoga teacher Amber Burke, graduate of two YogaWorks teacher trainings and former leader of a teacher training program at the University of New Mexico-Taos, shares her favorite stretches for tight calves. You can also explore other ways to stretch your calves.
Do your legs feel exhausted after a day of standing, walking, running, or even sitting? Is your unofficial middle name Charley Horse? If you answered yes to either of these questions, there’s a good chance that you’d benefit from stretching your calves.
Maybe you haven’t thought about your calves as holding a lot of tension, but they work hard to balance and stabilize your entire body throughout normal everyday activities, including standing yoga poses. The sequence below includes poses that lengthen the calf muscles—the gastrocnemius and soleus—and give you the release you didn’t know you needed.
15-Minute Yoga for Tight Calves
Try this practice as a warm up or cool-down before or after the activities that typically tighten your calves—a run, hike, or an intense yoga class. You can also try the following stretches before bed or pick one or two poses that work especially well for you and practice them several times a day.
For this practice, you’ll want to grab a strap or bathrobe tie and a block or book.
1. Calf Stretch From Your Hands and Knees
Come to your hands and knees. Step your right foot back with your toes tucked and your heel reaching toward the wall behind you. Keeping your hands and feet where they are, glide your chest slightly forward, keeping your foot in place, and then glide back. Repeat this several times. Then lower your right knee to the mat and switch sides. End on your hands and knees.
2. Downward-Facing Dog Variation
From your hands and knees, lift your hips up and back into Downward-Facing Dog. Bend both knees as deeply as you need to in order to feel a comfortable stretch in your calves. Take a few breaths here, then move one leg toward straight. Take a breath here, bend both knees again, and then move the opposite leg toward straight. Pedal your feet, alternating between bending and straightening your legs, for as many times as you like.
3. Yoga “Ball”
From Down Dog, walk your feet toward your hands. Rest your fingertips on the mat or a block in front of your feet, and lower your hips down to “sit” on your heels as you lift your heels off the mat. Round your chest toward your thighs and tuck your chin, as if your body is a ball. Squeeze your legs together. Reach your heels toward the mat without letting them touch it. Rock back and forth a few times until you feel a stretch along the backs of your ankles and calves. To come out of it, lower your heels to the mat as you slowly roll up to standing.
4. Runner’s Stretch at the Wall
Stand about a foot away from a wall. Place your hands on the wall at around shoulder height. Step your right foot back, keeping your toes pointing toward the wall. It’s okay if your back heel doesn’t touch the mat. Keep your back leg straight or bend it, pressing the ball of your foot into the mat. You can stay here or find movement in your back leg by straightening and bending it a few times. Step your right foot to the starting position, then switch sides.
5. Calf Stretch at the Wall
Place a block or book against the wall as if it’s a step. Stand facing the wall, a few inches away from your prop. Step the ball of your right foot onto the prop and lower your heel toward the mat. Place your hands on the wall and bend your arms in a Chaturanga position. Stay here for a few breaths.
To increase the stretch, lift your left heel off the mat, balance on the ball of your left foot, and lean your chest slightly forward. Take a few breaths, then lower your left heel to the mat.
Step your right foot to the starting position, and switch sides.
6. Reclining Seated Forward Bend
Lie on your back and keep a strap or bathrobe tie handy. Draw your knees toward your chest, place the strap around the balls of your feet, and straighten your legs as you reach your feet toward the ceiling. Straighten and bend your knees a few times, then straighten them to the degree that gives you a comfortable stretch along the backs of your legs.
For more intensity, reach your heels toward the ceiling and draw your toes toward you. Gently pull on the strap to provide some resistance. Imagine drawing the outer edges of your feet toward your hips.
Stay here for a few breaths, then release the strap and lower your legs to the mat.
7. Half Shoulderstand
Lie on your back with your arms alongside you, your knees bent, and your feet planted on the mat. Draw your knees toward your chest, then straighten your legs and reach your feet toward the ceiling. Reach your feet toward the wall behind you as you lift your hips off the mat, hover your legs in the air above your head, and catch the backside of your hips in your hands, resting your elbows on the mat. Inch your elbows in so that your upper arms are roughly parallel to each other and press your shoulders and upper arms into the mat in Half Shoulderstand. Make sure your head and neck feel comfortable and do not turn your head to either side. Stay here for several breaths, reaching your heels toward the back wall. To come out of it, let go of your hips as you use your core to slowly lower your hips to the mat.
8. Savasana Variation
Sprawl out on your back with your arms resting at your sides and your feet touching the base of the wall. Let your feet turn out naturally. Relax in Savasana for several minutes, feeling the support of the floor against your back and the wall against your feet.
