The stress bug bites anyone know matter how in-the-zone you can get, you will never know when your horse spots a snake and gallops off track. The hesitance, uncertainty and/or spell of discouragement can completely blow you off track or fire up your stress levels to the point that activity is counterproductive.
Stress has a good and bad version, when bad stress is prolonged overall health and vitality shoots down. Unhealthy stress opens the body up to ailments since this kind of stress shoots down the immunity and disrupts our mental rhythm and even our soul’s rhythm.
Highly likely to cause depression or a poor health condition, exercise is a great way, one of the best ways to feel in control and actually be truly strong and healthy. Everyone needs it especially to toughen them out. Starting can be tough more so for the softies at heart, so why not start with softer exercises? Yoga comes in many forms and its flow and tempo along with difficulty level can easily be customized and turned up or down. Starting with soothing and non-intimidating basic poses ideal for meditation, breathing and posture realignment is an ideal way to start if you do not really like working out at first.
Here are 6 examples of relaxing, stress-fighting yoga poses that will ease down the flickering circuits:
- Easy Pose- can actually be challenging for the feet and ankles if you are not very mobile or flexible. Start seated on a matted surface with your legs crossed, Indian sit style. Straighten your back and shoulders with a slight curve on your spine going inwards. Make sure your butt is out as you straighten your back and your knees are fully extended so that your hips get loosened up. Breathe from your stomach, feeling your abs contract, in and out for up to as long as you like. It is nice to start off with this pose.
- Child’s Pose- another calm and restorative pose even people with questionable knee conditions can slowly get into to repair bone, muscle and ligament aches. Start off by kneeling on a mat with the front of your feet flat on the mat as well. Proceed to bring your behind down and sit on your feet, and then lift and stretch out your arms in front of you and onto the floor. Lastly stretch your back to full extension on the floor with your arms still stretched out to the fullest and your head tucked in front of your knees. This will help gently crack and realign your shoulders and back. Your arms get a good stretch too. Never forget to breathe consistently and from the gut, while tucking in tour gut. Yoga can be serious ab work, quiet and graceful yet brings strength.
- Corpse pose- a good starter or ender for extra stressful days or if your workout is very strenuous. Just lay straight on the mat, on your back with your body relaxed but properly aligned and stretched out. Arms on your sides, straightened out with your hands roughly 30 degrees away from your hips. Relax, breathe in and out slowly, in large quantities of air you really feel is filling up your lungs and exhale just as long getting out as much gaseous toxins as you can. Fun bit, you can flex your abs and butt.
- Legs up the wall- great for sick days or days you are just overwhelmed. Simply sit in front of the wall as close as you can, slide your bottom to the wall like you are sitting on it. Lay back on the floor straight with your legs fully stretched out and aligned to the wall. It may hurt or ache a bit at first especially behind the knees and lower legs, this is awesome for more clear circulation and clarity of mind as well.
- Forward bend- a basic stretch everyone should do. Legs, hips and back get stretched and realigned. From a stretched out standing pose like mountain pose or tree pose, bend your upper body as straight and as low as you can. Breathe properly the whole time with your tummy always tucked in and your butt out, fully extended. Strengthen your entire set of legs, rely on your muscles or your knees, hips or ankles can get injured.
- Cobra pose- wonderful for your back. Get down in the most proper pre-push up position you can do, a basic floor plank. And then lay your hips and stomach down to the floor with your feet flat and stretched, like a washed up mermaid but graceful. Arms and shoulders straight and high, this really stretches your gut too and eases cramps or bloating. You can even bring your shoulders up and down for more efficient stretching.
