3 stress relieving yoga poses you should try

You don’t need to be an experienced yogi in order to start reaping the benefits of this ancient Indian practice. While a consistent yoga regime is going to benefit your body, mind, and spirit in profound ways, you can easily incorporate a couple of yoga poses into your daily life to start reaping its initial benefits.

Yoga can be particularly beneficial if you want to relax and quiet down the mind for a few minutes. The following three yoga poses in particular can be executed without any external help, regardless of flexibility or fitness level. You can do them just about anywhere, too. Try these yoga poses out and see how they make you feel.

#01. Child’s Pose

Many yoga instructors begin their session with the child’s pose. This is a fantastic position for quieting down the mind, particularly after a busy day at the office, as it allows you to turn inward and start focusing on your breath as a form of meditation. You can spend a few minutes in this pose, which will help to open the entire back and shoulders, while releasing tension throughout the lower back and hips.

Start by sitting up straight with your butt on your heels. Then simply extend your arms forward in front of you along the floor. Your hands and forearms can be flat on the floor, and your forehead can also rest on the floor as you close your eyes and your chest relaxes down onto the tops of your thighs. Remain there as you start breathing deep, noticing every inhalation and exhalation through the nose. If you want, you can also expand the knees outward on an angle and bring your chest down in between your legs. Start breathing into the bottom of your belly until you feel it expanding into your inner thighs. This deep breathing will relax you and help you go deeper into the pose in a gentle way.

VIDEO IS COURTESY OF THE WONDERFUL ABI CARVER FROM YOGA 15. MORE ABI? CLICK HERE.

Yoga is the art work of awareness on the canvas of body, mind, and soul.

#02. Reclined Spinal Twist

Another great pose that you should try, especially if you are feeling tightness in your lower back and you really need to release the muscles in that part of the body, is the reclined spinal twist. Start by lying on your back on the floor. Elongate your body so that it is in one line, and then bring your right knee into your chest. Hold it there for a couple of breaths before extending your right arm out, keeping your shoulder and your hand flat on the floor. As you do that, twist your knee over to the left, bringing it as close to the floor as possible. Hold there for a few breaths and return to the starting position. Release the right knee and do the same technique on the left side.

VIDEO IS COURTESY OF THE WONDERFUL ABI CARVER FROM YOGA 15. MORE ABI? CLICK HERE.

Exercises are like prose, whereas yoga is the poetry of movements.

#03. Savasana

Savasana, also known as the corpse pose, often time is the final pose that you would go in towards the end of your yoga class. To get to this position, all you need to do is lie down on your back and let your feet fall open with your palms facing the sky as your arms relax to the sides of your body. Even though this is physically an easy pose, it is actually quite challenging when you incorporate the fact that this pose is meant to bring you into a deep state of relaxed meditation.

Focus on relaxing every muscle throughout your body, letting go of any tension you may be holding onto. Let the breathing be natural, as you close your eyes and relax the muscles of the face. Let your bones sink into the floor, allowing the ground below you to totally support you.

Stay there for a few minutes and then gently come out of this pose by slowly bringing your awareness back into the space. Wiggle your toes and fingers gently and then slowly open your eyes before rising to a seated position. Try out these yoga poses the next time you’re feeling frazzled. You may fmd that they’re just what you needed to find your center again.

Savasana (image credits: yoga15.com)

Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

More yoga poses

There you have it. 3 initial yoga poses that are sure to have a positive impact on your body, mind and soul. Are you starting to get hooked on yoga? Eager to master additional yoga poses? A great starting point is YouTube, as there’s a wealth of freely available video content on the matter. Some of the channels I would recommend are Yoga with Adriene, Boho Beautiful and Abi Carver’s Yoga 15.

Do let me know what your yoga experiences have been in the comments below. Looking forward to reading and learning from your experiences. Also feel free to share your own preferred yoga sources.