5 Best Gentle Yoga Workouts You Can Do on a Relaxing Day

Stress affects everyone, but how we respond to it varies from person to person. Both novices and experienced practitioners can benefit from gentle yoga workouts on a stressful day.

It's a fantastic technique to unwind your body and mind when you're feeling tight. It's the sequence to do before bed or at any other time during the day.

Try a handful of yoga inversions, forward folds and reclining poses the next time you need to relax after a long day.

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Gentle Yoga Workouts to Relieve Stress

The sequence is created to gradually warm up your body, increase mobility, enhance core stability and relieve tightness in certain regions, including your arms, shoulders, hips and back. These gentle yoga exercises are particularly good for releasing tension.

This technique is really beneficial if you're already feeling tight and worried and just need a release.

However, you can also use it to prevent physical and mental stress from developing in the first place.These gentle yoga exercises can be performed every day, as they're rather easy on the body. Here's a look at five such stretches:

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1) Easy Seated Twist

Every aspect of morning gentle yoga is included in Bharadvajasana: Along with helping with digestion and easing back pain, it lengthens and opens up your spine, back, hips, shoulders and chest.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start seated with your arms at your sides in a comfortable position.
• Position your right hand behind your sacrum on the ground.
• Keep your left hand on your right knee for support. Lengthen your spine as you inhale. Right-tilt your torso with your hands as you exhale.
• Take five to ten full, deep breaths in this position.
• Repeat the procedure on the other side.

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2) Cat-cow Pose

Your neck, torso and back are stretched during the cat-cow pose. It's just the yoga stance you need for the morning after be a stiff night's sleep. Think of it as a gentle yoga massage for your spine.

Here’s how to do it:

• Start on all fours with your knees under your hips and hands under your shoulders.
• Take a deep breath; arch your back; roll your shoulders away from your ears, and look up for the cow.
• When you exhale, curve your spine like an angry cat, and push the floor away with your hands and knees.
• Perform at least five full breath cycles.

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3) Locust Pose

While opening up your chest and lengthening your spine, the locust position develops the muscles in your legs and lower back. It can also help work your core.

Locust backbends, like other backbends, give you a surge of energy and get you going. That's just what most of us need in the morning from a gentle yoga pose.

Here’s how to do it:

• Lie on your stomach, and place your arms next to your body with your palms facing up.
• Detach your legs, arms, and upper torso from the ground.
• Depending on your flexibility, keep your arms and legs moving while you look forward or slightly upward.
• Hold the position for 45 seconds before letting go and tilting your head to one side.

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4) Bow Pose

The Bow is a fabulous and gentle yoga pose, as it's a backbend that helps increase energy and keep your metabolism going vigorously, just like Locust. It also strengthens your back muscles while opening up and stretching the front of your body.

Here’s how to do it:

• Place your hands next to your body while lying face up on the ground.
• To grab ankles, bend your knees, and reach back with your hands. Don't hold onto your feet.
• Lift heels up and away from the body while keeping the legs hip-distance apart to lift the chest off the floor.
• Keep your shoulder blades down and away from your ears at all times.
• Turn your head to the side, and let go after holding for 30 to 45 seconds.

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5) Eagle Pose

The eagle posture can enliven your mornings by waking up the entire body and aiding with digestion in addition to developing strong, lean leg muscles. It's a great gentle yoga pose that may help in relieving stress.

Here’s how to do it:

• Begin by standing up straight and bending your knees just a little.
• Hook the foot and ankle of your right leg behind your left calf after lifting the right leg up and around the standing leg.
• As though you were going to sit on a chair, lower your hips, and arch your back.
• For about one minute, cross your arms at the elbows and wrists in front of your chest.
• Shake your legs out of their position, and switch sides.