5 Yoga Poses For Anxiety And Stress
If you suffer from anxiety and often feel overwhelmed, you need to try these 5 Yoga Poses for anxiety.
Yoga has become one of my favourite things in my self care routine.
To be honest, I wasn’t much of a fan until recently.
When I had tried Yoga before, I couldn’t relax and had the familiar feelings of wanting to rush through it all – it was too slow and I wanted to be doing something else more productive!
Once I started doing it daily was when I started to feel the benefits.
Taking the time for myself every day to fit Yoga into my daily self care routine has had a huge impact on my mental health.
So even if you’re tried it before but weren’t that keen, try again!
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The purpose of Yoga is to build strength, awareness and harmony in both the mind and body.
If you suffer with anxiety you probably will agree with me that you could do with a little splash of harmony in your life!!
One of the most difficult things for me to do whilst living with anxiety is to switch off and stop all those negative thoughts.
That is why I recommend trying these Yoga poses as they bring a sense of calm to my day and a bit of relief from those thoughts.
If you also suffer with depression, try these 5 yoga poses.
Benefits of Yoga
Yoga has many physical and mental benefits. Not just the ones below, but it is also fun!
PHYSICAL BENEFITS
- Improves Flexibility
- Builds core strength
- Can contribute to weight loss
- Helps improve posture
- Prevents from injury
MENTAL BENEFITS
- Decreases stress
- Reduces feelings of anxiety
- Helps connect with inner self
- Increases awareness
Yoga Equipment
One of the things I love most is that I can do Yoga whenever I feel like it without any equipment at all!
But if you are going to take Yoga seriously, there are a few things that might make your practice a little more fun.
- Nice yoga outfit
- Quality yoga mat
- Yoga block (or blocks…)
- A Yoga belt (great for increasing flexibility!)
- A calm environment
- A Yoga towel (for extra grip)
5 Yoga poses for Anxiety
Make sure you have fun with Yoga!
A lot of the time it makes me feel like a kid again.
If you want to be that little bit EXTRA, play some soothing sounds in the background whilst you practice to really set the scene.
There are so many different types of Yoga poses for you to try and I’m excited for you to get started!
I have picked these as my top 5 for anxiety as they bring me the biggest sense of calm and help me to connect with my breath.
1. EASY POSE
This one is a great one to start with.
Really eases you into it and starts to connect you to your breath.
It is useful to get comfortable with this sitting position before you start doing the more complicated Yoga moves! No Headstands or Crow poses yet please.
Sukhasana helps you improve your posture and has a relaxing effect on your mind and body.
It may feel a little uncomfortable it you are someone who always needs to be productive doing everything in a rush. Try to push through those feelings and focus on being present during Yoga practice.
2. FORWARD FOLD
This one is really good for getting a stretch down the back of your legs. It stretches hamstrings, calves and hips.
If you are very inflexible (like me…) try this pose whilst bending your knees slightly for some relief.
If you practice this one daily you will be amazed to see how your flexibility increases!
3. WARRIOR 1
Warrior 1 is great for working most muscles in your body, but in particular the calves and hamstrings.
Adriene always says this pose is lifting your chest and opening up your heart.
I think it is a great yoga pose for anxiety as it is also a power pose.
If you feel anxious, doing power poses can help you reclaim some confidence that you may be lacking. You can learn more about them from Amy Cuddy in my post on TED Talks for Confidence.
4. CHILD’S POSE
It’s always a nice relief when going into child’s pose.
This position makes me feel relaxed, comfortable and safe.
It helps when I have loads of thoughts constantly swirling through my mind by touching my head to the ground.
Child’s pose reduces stress and anxiety, whilst opening up the hips and gently stretching the muscles down your whole back.
5. LEGS UP THE WALL
One of my favourite Yoga poses.
I can just feel the tension and fatigue draining away through my legs as I hold them up against the wall.
This calming pose helps you slow your breathing and reduce stress.
So there are my top 5 Yoga poses for Anxiety! I hope you love them as much as I do!
If you enjoyed them, here is another 20 minute video I love from Adriene.
Namaste.
