While you should always speak to a professional if you’re struggling with your mental health, studies have long shown that having a regular yoga practice is great for both anxiety and insomnia—and specific poses can be extra beneficial for treating it. Here are three (relatively easy!) yoga poses for anxiety.
Yoga poses for anxiety
The pose: Child’s pose How to do it: From a hands and knees position, bring your knees to the edges of your mat with your feet together. Bring your forehead to the ground, your butt back to your heels, and let your arms spread out in front of you. Why it works: Child’s pose is booth soothing and grounding thanks to all the contact we have with the ground while we’re doing it, allowing us a moment of introspection. “In child’s pose, we activate the insula part of the brain, which calms down the heart rate and puts us in a more relaxed state,” explains yoga instructor Emma Sothern. “In doing so, we also can switch from the sympathetic nervous system (our ‘fight or flight’ response, linked to stress and high cortisol levels) to the parasympathetic nervous system, our state of ‘rest and digest’. The more time we spend in child’s pose, breathing deeply, the longer we can rest in that more relaxed, less anxious, state.” The pose: Tree pose How to do it: From an upright standing position, bring one foot to the opposite angle, calf, or inner thigh—just be sure to avoid the knee, as that can cause injury. Once stable, extend your arms upward with your palms facing one another. If this is too difficult, bring your hands to a prayer position at your heart. Why it works: Tree pose is an incredible grounding posture. “Especially if you’ve been feeling anxious, more ‘in your head’ than your body, this pose is great for connecting again with yourself,” says Sothern. “You’re literally rooting your foot down into the earth, you’re focusing on your breathing (and your balance) and even if you feel wobbly that particular day, it is great for bringing your concentration elsewhere. Follow it up with malasana (squat) for an extra grounding practice.” The pose: Legs up the wall How to do it: Find a wall and lie flat on your back facing it. Scoot yourself toward it until your butt is touching it, and then extend your legs up the wall. Stay as long as you want. Why it works: With legs up the wall, you’re giving your heart a break. “With the legs elevated, it places less effort on the heart to pump blood around the body and instead, blood flows to the heart from the legs. This means a lowered heart rate, which again triggers our relaxation/rest and digest response, helping to lower anxiety,” explains Sothern. “This is also a great pose to do if you’ve trouble sleeping or if you’ve problems like hypertension/restless leg syndrome as it’s great for circulation and gets fresh, oxygenated blood moving around the body to relieve aches and pains.” Next up, here are the best quotes about yoga.
