How Yoga Can Help Reduce Stress

Woman on a yoga mat in a studio doing child's pose
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Yoga has long been known as a great antidote to stress. The ancient practice combines modern stress-reducing techniques like moving your body, learning to control your breath, and clearing your mind.

Establishing a consistent yoga routine is the best way to experience the difference yoga can make. It can be helpful to start with a simple stress management yoga routine intended for beginners who think they don't have time for yoga. Keep reading to learn more about how different aspects of yoga can help you relax and decompress.

Exercise

Hatha Yoga is the physical practice of yoga postures. There are many types of hatha yoga: some are slow and more focused on stretching, while others are more fast-paced to create a more intense workout.

No one yoga style is best for reducing stress, so pick one that meets your level of physical fitness and personality. Any type of exercise will relieve stress as it keeps the body healthy and releases endorphins, hormones that improve your mood.

Yoga also relieves stress through stretching. When you are stressed, you store tension in different places in your body. This can make you feel tight and cause pain.

The stretching in yoga releases tension from problem areas, including the hips and shoulders. Relief of low back pain is another common benefit.

Breath Control

Pranayama, or breath work, is an important part of any yoga practice that translates to life off the mat as well. At the very least, yoga increases your awareness of the breath as a tool for relaxing the body. Although breathing is an involuntary act (you have to keep doing it to stay alive), you can choose to regulate your breath more by bringing attention to it. Simply learning to focus on taking deep breaths is an incredibly effective way to combat stressful situations.

Clearing the Mind

Yoga offers several techniques for taming the racing mind. One is breath work, as outlined above. Each breath is tied inextricably to the present moment; you are not breathing in the past or the future, but only right now. Focusing on each inhale and exhale to prevent the intrusion of other thoughts is one way to clear the mind. It is also a basic meditation technique.

The performance of yoga poses, or asanas, can also act as a form of meditation. The poses require a lot of physical effort and brain power, so other thoughts and worries are pushed to the side. This will activate a different part of your brain and give it a much-needed break.

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Relaxation

Each yoga session ends with five to ten minutes spent in savasana, or corpse pose, where participants lie in a comfortable and simply relaxing. While this forced relaxation can be difficult at first, it eventually serves as a total release for both the body and mind. Savasana provides yogis with an opportunity to practice clearing the mind and focusing on their breath. This allows you to go back into the world feeling refreshed and equipped with the tools to combat stress in your daily life.

Yoga Nidra is a practice that offers an opportunity for a longer, deeper period of relaxation and an introduction to meditation, which can also be a great stress reducer.

2 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Woodyard C. Exploring the therapeutic effects of yoga and its ability to increase quality of lifeInt J Yoga. 2011;4(2):49–54. doi:10.4103/0973-6131.85485

  2. Perciavalle V, Blandini M, Fecarotta P, et al. The role of deep breathing on stress. Neurol Sci. 2017;38(3):451-458. doi:10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8

Additional Reading

By Ann Pizer
Ann Pizer is a writer and registered yoga instructor who teaches vinyasa/flow and prenatal yoga classes.