With the holidays over and work and school starting back up again, you may be feeling a bit of stress from the new deadlines and assignments. Yoga is a great way to battle stress and even reduce tension in the body to help you tackle your work with a clear mind. Whether at home or a dorm room, yoga can be practiced anywhere. If you are looking for a 10-minute stress reliever, then check out my list below of yoga poses to center the mind, relax breathing and eliminate stress from your day!
1. Child's Pose
Kneel down on the floor and bend forward into the stretch. You can extend your arms forward or lay them on your sides reaching toward your feet. This pose allows your nervous system to relax with slow, consistent breathing. This pose is a great reset button to relax at the end of the day.
2. Pigeon Pose
Start in a neutral downward dog and extend a leg forward bending at the knee and rotating your foot to the opposite side of your hips. Your back leg should be stretched behind you. You can either stay upright as seen in the photo above or bend forward and lay down on your elbows. This stretch is a great hip opener after a long day at work or school and can help relieve a lot of tension in the lower body.
3. Seated Forward Bend Pose
This pose is pretty simple and just requires you to sit down and bend forward toward your feet. The pose is great for decompressing by calming the mind and can even help reduce the pain from a headache.
4. Tree Pose
Begin by standing straight up with arms in prayer. Then bring one foot up to rest on your inner thigh. This pose is perfect for increasing balance and allows you to center yourself .
5. Bridge Pose
To achieve this pose, lay on your back with your feet placed on the ground. Gentle push your hips into the air and use your arms and feet for stabilization. The bridge pose is great way to stretch your back and can help with reducing anxiety.
6. Cat Pose
Another great pose to stretch the back is the cat pose. Start by kneeling down with hands also placed down. Then gently lift your back upward, rolling back down and repeat. The pose helps with back tension and helps relieve a stressful day.
7. Eagle Pose
Begin in a chair pose with legs slightly squated down and arms above your head. Then brings arms in and place one arm bent above the other. Bring one leg up and bend it over your other leg. The double twist helps open your hips and back, as well as, release toxins from the body.
8. Corpse Pose
This pose is probably the easiest on the list and just requires you to lay on your back with legs and arms outstretched. This pose is great for taking a slow moment of breathing and calming your nerves. If you are in need of some great inspiration, this a great way to just lay back and think.
9. Legs Up The Wall Pose
Start by laying on your back and rest your legs upward against a wall. This pose works well in relieving lower body stress and can help with lower back pain.
10. Seated Spinal Twist Pose
This pose is wonderful for a full-body tension reduction, and it's greatly at releasing toxins. Begin seated in butterfly position and gently bend one leg over the other leg bent on the floor. Then raise your opposite arm, twist your body and bring the arm down to rest on your bent knee. As you breathe, twist deeper into the pose.
11. Toe Squat Pose
To end your yoga routine, squat down resting your arms in prayer on your bent knees. Take a few deep breathes to center your mind and body.
So that was my quick list of yoga poses to help relieve stress and anxiety. Continue to practice the poses on a daily basis to see long-term results. Let me know if you try these in the comments below.
