Yoga For Stress
By Jennifer Purwin, PT, DPT, CSCS
There are many ways that yoga can help reduce stress. There are vigorous yoga flows to sweat away anxiety and breath work to release pent up emotions that can cause issues like postpartum hair loss and even painful sex.
Today, however, I am offering a less effortful approach to yoga for stress relief. In fact, these restorative yoga poses can help maximize your relaxation without any movement at all.
Best 3 yoga poses for stress relief
1.) Legs on a chair
Legs on chair yoga pose for stress relief (Photo Source)
For this pose, you can use a chair, couch or even a coffee table to support your legs.
Lie down on a yoga mat, blanket or plush towel. Scoot close to your chair so that you can rest your calves on top of it.
You can throw a folded blanket under your calves or under your head if that feels good.
If you have access to a weighted eye pillow, this is a great time to use it. Let yourself settle in for 5-10 minutes of peace.
This is a great yoga pose for stress relief.
2.) Reclining butterfly with long towel roll
Reclining butterfly with long towel roll yoga pose for stress relief (Photo Source)
For this yoga pose for stress relief, have two yoga blocks and a towel roll handy for this pose. If you don’t have blocks, you can easily substitute firm pillows.
Roll your towel to form a tube that is about as long as the distance between the base of your neck and your low back and about 2 inches in diameter.
You can play around with the thickness of the roll to see what feels right for your body. Lie on your mat or blanket, place the towel roll lengthwise under your spine.
Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees gently fall out to the side to form a diamond shape with your legs. Your diamond can be as elongated as you like.
Position your yoga blocks or pillows under your knees for support. Relax and let gravity ease your hips open for 5-10 minutes.
Take care to come out of this gently by rolling to your side into fetal position before pushing yourself up to sit.
3.) Heart bench with towel roll
Heart bench with towel roll yoga pose for stress
In this simple but powerful yoga for stress relief pose, you just need a short towel roll and a comfortable surface to lie on.
Roll up a small towel to about 2 inches in diameter. Ideally, the towel roll is about as long as the width of your mid back.
Lie down and position the towel roll horizontally under your back, a little lower than armpit height. Let the slight pressure of the towel roll open up the front of your rib cage for 5-10 minutes.
Keep in mind the intent of these restorative poses is to fully support your body so that you can relax.
If you feel like you have to hold yourself up in the pose, experiment with more props to take the effort out of posture!
About Dr. Jennifer Purwin
Dr. Jennifer Purwin
Jennifer Purwin PT, DPT, CSCS, is a Physical Therapist at FemFirstHealth who specializes in pelvic health and orthopedics.
A long-time practitioner of traditional heated yoga, Ashtanga, and Vinyasa, Jennifer has completed yoga teacher training with Yoga College of India and Integral Yoga Institute and has been instructing private and group yoga classes in New York since 2013.
Jennifer especially enjoys teaching yin and restorative classes and utilizing meditation techniques to decrease stress. Additionally, Jennifer completed Pilates Mat Immersion for Rehabilitation training with Polestar Pilates in 2018.
In her free time, Jennifer enjoys doing HIIT, yoga, Pilates, barre, and strength training. She lives in Brooklyn with her two adorable cats.
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