When you are stressed, your body holds tension in your shoulders, jaw, hips and breath. Yoga gives you tools to release that tension — often in a matter of minutes.
How Yoga Lowers Stress
Slow, mindful movement and extended exhalations activate the parasympathetic nervous system — your body’s rest-and-digest mode. This lowers cortisol and heart rate, shifting you out of fight-or-flight.
Seven Calming Poses
- Child’s pose — surrender and breathe
- Standing forward fold — release the spine
- Cat-cow — soothe the nervous system
- Legs up the wall — gentle inversion that calms
- Reclined butterfly — open the hips
- Supported bridge — release the lower back
- Corpse pose — complete relaxation
Breathe Your Way to Calm
Try extended exhale breathing: inhale for four counts, exhale for six. Longer exhales signal safety to your brain and slow your heart rate almost immediately.
Our Restorative Yoga and Breathwork classes are designed specifically for stress recovery.
The American Institute of Stress explains why breathing is one of the fastest ways to reduce stress.