Powerful Yoga Poses to Release Strong Emotions

Child’s Pose

How To:

1. Start by sitting on your heels and knees, with your toes pointing to the long sides of your mat. 
2. Bring your knees to the edges of your mat and start to walk your hands to the top of your mat.
3. Spread your fingers wide
4. Press your forehead down, press your palms down 
5. Take a deep breath in and as you exhale, stretch your fingers even closer to the top
6. Start to take long, slow,  deep breaths in and out of your nose, keeping your mouth closed the entire time
7. Stay here for as long as you need

Why:

Child’s pose is a great way to calm the mind, body, and spirit because it helps to reconnect all three. Most people like to start their practice with this pose but you can also just do it at any time you feel stressed or anxious. This pose is especially useful for people who live with anxiety or panic disorders. Child’s Pose is considered a beginners pose but is also commonly used as a resting pose.

Physical Benefits:

• Stretches thighs
• Stretches ankles
• Stretches hips
• Stretches spine
• Stretches shoulders
• Stimulates internal organs like your kidneys, gallbladder, stomach, intestines, and pancreas
• Strengthens knees
• Relieves pain in the lower back and neck
• Improves blood circulation
• Slows down your heart rate and blood pressure

Mental Benefits:

• Slows down your breath
• Slows down your thoughts
• Calms the central nervous system
• Improves concentration
• Improves patience
• Teaches breath control
• Teaches you to slow down

Extended Puppy Pose

How To:

1. From child’s pose, shift your butt and hips up and back over your heels.
2. Keep your chest and forehead on the mat
3. You can curl your toes under or keep the tops of your feet flat to the mat
4. Keep extending your fingers and arms to the top, short edge of your met, stretching out your spine
5. Keep the long, slow rhythm of your breath and stay here as long as you need to

Why:

Extended puppy pose is considered a heart opener or a heart-melting pose. This pose calms down the nervous system to help you feel calm and peaceful. Extended puppy is a mash-up of downward facing dog and child’s pose.

Physical Benefits

• Stretches and opens chest and shoulders
• Extends the spine
• Reduces tension in the lower back

Mental Benefits

• Relaxes the mind
• Calms the nervous system

Downward Facing Dog

How To:

1. From child’s pose, lift your hips up and straighten your arms and legs, keeping a small bend in your elbows and knees, you should look like an inverted “v”
2. Let your head hang towards the mat
3. Ensure your hands are shoulder-width apart and your feet are hip-width distance apart
4. Lift your tailbone towards the ceiling
5. Press your heels down 
6. Stay for 3-5 deep breaths, in and out of your nose

Why:

Downward Facing Dog is another great option to start a practice or to use as an active resting pose. This pose has a bit of an inversion element to it and it helps shift your energy and perspective, both physically and mentally. Downward Facing Dog has an effect on every muscle group in the body and is one of the most versatile and effective yoga poses.

Physical Benefits:

• Strengthens and stretches legs and arms
• Strengthens and stretches shoulders and back
• Stretches your spine and neck
• Tones your core, waist, arms, and legs
• Tones your shoulders and back, thighs and hamstrings
• Improves blood circulation

Mental Benefits:

• Increases concentration
• Improves mood
• Relieves stress

Chair/Thunderbolt Pose

How to:

1. Start in a standing position with your big toes touching and your heels apart.
2. Bend your knees and lower your bottom to as much as you can.
3. Bring your palms to the heart center or up toward the sky with your pinkies out and thumbs in.
4. Press your shoulda down and back.
5. Engage your core.
6. Press your knees together but don’t exactly let them touch.

Why:

Chair pose can elicit a lot of emotions before, during, and after the practice. It strengthens each muscle in your body as it challenges you to stay. In the beginning, this pose can feel hard and uncomfortable, however, the longer you stay, the more you being to feel strong and powerful.

Physical Benefits:

• Strengthens and tones thighs and glutes
• Strengthens core muscles
• Strengthens and stretches the spine
• Strengthens and stretches your arms, shoulders, and back
• Opens the chest

Mental Benefits:

• Teaches strength and stamina
• Teaches patience and perseverance
• Develops focus
• Reduces stress

Tree Pose (both sides)

How to:

1. Come into a standing position.
2. Press your right foot into the mat and bring a slight bend into your knee.
3. Engage your core,
4. Use your core to bring your left foot up to your ankle, shin, or thigh, anywhere above or below your knee.
5. You can bring your hand to the heart center you up above your head.
   >switch sides

Why:

This standing pose teaches you balance, both mentally and physically. It can also help you improve your posture and concentration. Tree Pose is meant to help you feel rooted and grounded. 

Physical Benefits:

• Stretches and strengthens your legs
• Strengthens core
• Improves balance

Mental Benefits:

• Improves focus and concentration
• Generates feelings of being grounded and rooted

Rag Doll

How To:

1. From downward-facing dog, you can either walk your feet up to meet your hands or walk your hands back toward your feet
2. Fold from your waist and wrap your hand around your opposite elbow
3. Let your head fall between your arms
4. Keep a small bend in your knees to protect your joints
5. Press your heels down
6. You can stay still or sway side to side, in circles or front to back
7. Stay here for 3-5 breaths

Why:

Ragdoll is another pose that is great for beginners and also has an inversion element to it. Another active resting pose, ragdoll offers many benefits to the mind and body. Ragdoll is a great pose for releasing tension and changing views. This pose can easily be practiced anywhere at any time for a nice stretch.

Physical Benefits:

• Releases tension in your lower back
• Stretches the spine and neck
• Stretches calves
• Stimulates internal organs
• Aids indigestion
• May help relieve sinus pressure

Mental Benefits:

• Reduces stress and anxiety
• Shifts perspective
• Calms the mind
• Can relieve insomnia
• Can aid in depression

Shoulder Stand

How To:

1. lay flat on your back
2. Straighten your legs up towards the sky
3. Press your heels high and flex your toes towards your face
4. Press your shoulders down
5. Lift up through your feet so that your lower back peels off the mat
6. Press your shoulders and back of your head into the mat
7. Stay here for 5 breaths

Physical Benefits:

• Can help relieve swelling in the feet and ankles
• Stretches back of legs
• Improves blood flow and circulation
• Can help reduce period pain
• Can help relieve lower back pain
• Relieves neck and shoulder pressure

Mental Benefits:

• Calms the mind and body
• Can help insomnia
• Slows your heart rate down
• Can help relieve some depression symptoms

Legs Up the Wall

How To:

1. Back the short edge of your mat up to a wall and lay flat on your back
2. Straighten your legs and rest them up on the wall
3. Press your heels high and flex your toes towards your face
4. Press your shoulders down
5. Stay here for as long as you want

Physical Benefits:

• Can help relieve swelling in the feet and ankles
• Stretches back of legs
• Improves blood flow and circulation
• Can help reduce period pain
• Can help relieve lower back pain
• Relieves neck and shoulder pressure

Mental Benefits:

• Calms the mind and body
• Can help insomnia
• Slows your heart rate down
• Can help relieve some depression symptoms

Half Pigeon (both sides)

How to:

1. Come into a seated position on your mat, with your right shin parallel to the top, short edge of your mat.
2. Swing your left leg behind you, keeping it straight and long and the top of your foot flat against the mat. If this is too much on your knee, you can tuck your toes under
3. Start to walk your fingertips to the top edge of your mat and drop your chest towards your bent leg.
4. If this is too much, you don’t have to bend over.
   >switch sides

Why:

Half Pigeon is a hip-opening pose and thus releases many emotions. It’s not uncommon to come into this pose and start crying, not because it’s hard or hurts but because this is where your body stores a lot of stress and tension. 

Physical Benefits:

• Opens, stretches, and strengthens the hips

Mental Benefits:

• Releases built up emotions

Supta Bhadda Kanasana

How To:

1. Lay flat on your back and bring your heel together
2. Let your knees fall towards the long edges of your mat
3. Place one hand over your heart and the other on your belly
4. Press your shoulders into the ground
5. Press your lower back down
6. You can use blocks under your knees for extra support
7. Stay here and breathe deeply for as long as you need

Why:

Supta baddha konasana is a restorative yoga pose that helps reconnect the mind and body. It is another great pose for people who suffer anxiety and panic attacks as it can instantly relieve symptoms. 

Physical Benefits:

• Stimulates organs like the ovaries and prostate, kidneys, liver, large and small intestine, and pancreas
• Improves blood flow and circulation
• Lowers heart rate
• Stretches groin and thighs
• Opens hips
• Can help menstrual cramps
• Relieves tension in the lower back
• May reduce the number of headaches and migraines
• Promotes better posture

Mental Benefits:

• Relieves anxiety 
• May help depression
• Calms the mind and body
• Calms the central nervous system
• Teaches you to slow down
• Improves concentrations
• Improves  patience

Supine Twist

How to:

1. Start in Supta Baddha Konasana, extend your left leg straight out in front of you. 
2. Bend your right knee into your chest
3. Flex your toes towards your face
4. Press your hands into your shin
5. Take a few deep breaths in then drop your knee to the left side of your mat
6. Extend your left arm to the side and look over your left shoulder
   > switch sides

Why:

Supine twists are also considered heart openers and combined with a twist adds extra benefits. Twists allow you to detox your organs and heart openers stretch your chest and open your heart to invite in better energy like love.

Physical Benefits:

• Stretches hips and lower back
• Rings out organs, helping to detox them
• Stretches shoulders, stomach, and chest

Mental Benefits:

• Calms the brain down
• Relaxes the nervous system

Savasana

How To:

1. Lay flat on your back
2. Close your eyes
3. Let your arms and legs fall towards the edges of your mat
4. Let your palms face up
5. Let your breathing slow down
6. Let the ground support you
7. Stay here as long as you need to

Why:

Also known as final resting pose, this is best practiced at the end of a rigorous practice. It provides whole-body relaxation both mentally and physically. 

Physical Benefits:

• Slows down breath and heart rate
• Improves blood flow
• Provides rest and relaxation for your muscles
• Relieves tension in the back and shoulders
• Stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system

Mental Benefits:

• Relieves stress and anxiety
• Calms the central nervous system
• Can help relieve headaches and migraines
• Improves memory and concentration