5 Simple Yoga Poses & Exercises to Relieve Tension

Research suggests doing yoga poses and exercises can relieve tension and stress, which are the major contributors to poor mental health and fatigue. They can negatively impact productivity at work and your health.

Besides helping relieve tension, yoga poses also provide several other benefits, such as stimulating the digestive system, strengthening muscles, torching fat, toning the body, relieving tightness from the muscles, and enhancing the overall health and fitness.

Regularly performing yoga poses also provides mental health benefits, such as improved focus, feeling of rejuvenation, relaxed mood, calmness of the body, and improvement in depressive episodes and anxiety attacks.

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Best Yoga Poses to Relieve Tension

We have curated a list of the five best and most effective yoga poses you can incorporate into your daily routine to relieve tension and stress:

1) Supine Spinal Twists or Supta Matsyendrasana

Supine twists stretches the obliques, chest, and glutes. Regularly doing this pose can help in boosting the digestive process and spinal mobility.

How to do it?

Start off by lying on your back with your knees bent and pointing towards the ceiling while your feet are pressed onto the floor. Draw one knee towards your chest while extending the other leg to the front.

Cross your knee over to the opposite side of your body so that one hip is stacked above the other. Feel the stretch in your back and hips. Keep your arms extended on the sides. Repeat.

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2) Forward Fold

The forward fold targets the posterior chain of the body and releases tightness from the back, neck, and hips.

How to do it?

Start off in an elongated standing position, with your legs slightly apart and back upright. Bring your arms over your head in a straightened way before hinging down at the hips to bring the upper body towards the legs.

Without bending your knees, try to press your wrists on the ground, and feel the stretch in your spine. Release after a few moments. Repeat.

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3) Eagle Pose

Besides helping relieve tension, the eagle pose can also help improve balance, build awareness, enhance posture, and stretching muscles.

How to do it?

Start off in an elongated standing position with an upright back and feet slightly apart. Bend your knees, and raise one leg off the ground to wrap around the other leg. Bring both hands to the front at face level, and wrap one arm over the other. Stay for a few moments before releasing. Repeat.

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4) Cow Face Pose

This pose helps relieve tension by stretching the body and enhancing posture by counteracting the effects of slouching.

How to do it?

Start off in the sitting position with your back upright. Cross your left leg over the right to stack the knees one over another. Bring the right heel to the outside of the left.

Rotate your palms such that they are angled towards your back before bringing them at the back by bending your elbows. Your right elbow should be pointing towards the ceiling and the left one should be towards the floor.

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5) Simple Seated Twist

This is one of the simple yet effective yoga poses to relieve tension by stretching the muscles.

How to do it?

Assume a cross-legged position on the ground. Slowly rotate your body towards one side along with your neck, keeping the spine straight. Release, and repeat on the other side.

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Bottom Line

Incorporation of the aforementioned yoga poses and exercises into your daily routine can relieve tension and stress. These are extremely versatile poses that do not require a lot of time or any equipment to do.

These poses also provide many benefits, including improved stability, increased flexibility, better balance, enhanced posture, and more. Regularly practicing them can do wonders for both your mental and physical health.

However, it's important to follow the proper technique, including breathing practice, to reap the maximum benefits. Considering all these points, yoga is a great way to relieve tension and tightness from the body.