The common problem for youngsters and old people is that they are all stressed too much.
Yoga can be a great answer to stress. Practicing yoga can relieve you from symptoms of anxiety. It makes your mind concentrate and focused so that your anxiety flies away.
A study shows that anxiety has affected more than 40 million adults in the US. It accounts for about 18% of the total population.
The following yoga poses are being arranged in a sequential order that can be followed as such. This sequence can relieve you from stress and anxiety. Focus on your breath throughout the performance. You can close your eyes so that you would feel relaxed and get a meditated mind.
The following yoga poses are organized into a sequence that can be practiced together in this order, or individually on an as-needed basis to help alleviate stress and anxiety. Remember to focus on your breath as you move through the poses. Closing your eyes may also help you relax and go within to achieve a more meditative state.
This sequence has been carefully designed for beginners and if you are an expert in yoga, you can still add some complicated postures to benefit out of it.
You can include poses like Half-moon Pose, Eagle pose, Tree pose, etc. Whatever postures you take, you must balance the pose for at least 30 secs on each side for symmetry.
One important thing that everyone should keep in mind is that Yoga must be done carefully. When practiced wrongly, it can bring about negative impacts on your body. Yet, it is always best to do Yoga.
10 Yoga Poses for Stress & Anxiety
1. Anjali Mudra (Salutation Seal)
Anjali mudra is mainly used to practice the meditative stature. This asana is usually done by keeping the hands in the middle of our heart or chest. This is done to fell the balance between the right and left sides of our body.
It also maintains the harmony of all the parts of our body. Not only a physical effect, but this mudra also brings balance to the mind and keeps the emotional balance intact.
This pose can be the best one for meditation. It is good to start the whole sequence with this mudra. You must sit with your legs crossed and straight posture with your eyes closed with full concentration.
2. Sukhasana (Easy Pose)
Though this pose is called the Easy pose, i9t brings a lot of benefits to the body. It brings about inner peace, calmness, and concentration.
It opens your hips, straightens your spine, eliminates anxiety, relieves stress, brings about serenity, and relieves physical fatigue and mental tiredness. Sit straight and focus on your breathing for at least one minute to get at most benefit from this pose.
3. Marjaryasana (Cat Pose)
This pose helps improve the spine and the abs areas. It can also be considered as a powerful stress reliever. You can also include the cows pose when you inhale. You can perform both alternating while inhaling and exhaling.
This asana stimulates the digestion process and improves the spinal fluid and thus improves overall body health. You must take special care to place the wrists directly under the shoulders and the knees under the hip.
4. Bitilasana (Cow Pose)
Like the above asana, the cow pose is also the one to help your spine. This pose can be paired with the cat pose. You can exhale during this asana and inhale during the cat pose. This pose relieves your mind of stress.
It also takes care of the body organs such as adrenal glands, belly, and kidneys. It also provides emotional balance. You must take special care to place the wrists directly under the shoulders and the knees under the hip.
5. Uttana Shishosana (Extended Puppy Pose)
This pose is a combination of the Downwards facing the dog and the child’s pose. It straightens the spinal cord. It calms the mind and body. This posture gets rid of chronic stress, insomnia, and tension.
6. Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)
When you feel that your mind is distracted, you can very well try out this asana. This is performed by sitting and stretching the legs in the front. Bend the whole body and make it parallel to the legs.
This is a strainful asana with lots of benefits. It elongates the lower back, spine and improves digestion. It relieves the symptoms of fatigue, menopause, and PMS.
This asana can stimulate many internal organs such as ovaries, kidneys, uterus, liver, etc. Care must be taken that you must keep your feet flexible and you must reach your head to the legs.
7. Janu Sirsasana (Head-to-Knee Forward Bend)
This asana acts as a spinal twist and can be practiced at all ages. The specialty of this asana is that it calms your brain. It also relieves you from depression, fatigue, headache, insomnia, anxiety, and menstrual weakness.
Extend one of your feet forward by keeping the other one bent. Stretch your whole body and bend your head downwards so that your arm is over your head.
8. Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand)
This is a little difficult asana and needs the practice to be perfect. When you stand upside down over your head, then the blood flow to your brain improves thus improving your freeness.
You must focus on the breathing pattern when you do this exercise. This relieves your heart since there is no need for pumping the blood from downward direction since you are already upside down.
Care must be taken that your shoulders and forearms hold all the weight rather than your head and neck to avoid injuries. To do this pose perfectly, you must not make your head touch the mat. It should be in the air.
9. Balasana (Child’s Pose)
The child’s pose is one of the counterbalances poses to Calamba sirasasana. Try sitting on your legs with bent knees. Bend your body forwards and stretch your hands in front keeping your head bent downwards.
You can rest the forearms on the ground so that your stress would fly away. When you do many tough asanas, you can do this child’s pose in between to relieve yourself.
You can also keep your arms along your body instead of stretching outside.
10. Savasana (Corpse Pose)
Whenever a sequence of asanas is completed, then you can end it with savasana. It gives total relaxation to the whole body. It helps the nervous system to calm down and get ready for the next set of stress that you are going to endure.
You can lie on your back seeing the ceiling. Close your eyes and spread your legs apart. Ease your hands on both sides and make your palms see the ceiling. You can stay in this posture for at least 5 minutes.
