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I’ve had generalized anxiety disorder for many of my life. While I’m a giant believer in therapy and pharmacology, yoga has also been a robust tool. I notice an incredible difference in my nervous system on the times once I move my body versus the times I don’t.

We frequently think of tension as fear of the unknown future. Dr. Becky Kennedy, writer of Good Inside, explains that anxiety is definitely less about our fear of what may occur and more about our fear that we won’t find a way to handle that circumstance. I really like this reframing since it reminds us to reclaim our power. When I feel back on all of the things I actually have weathered in my life, I see just how resilient I’m. That provides me more confidence that I can handle whatever comes my way. This lesson is reinforced on my yoga mat where I can explore my edges kindly and learn easy methods to pick myself up repeatedly if and once I fall. It’s a place where I can face my biggest anxieties and fears head on.

Here’s a sequence that takes an anxiety-busting approach to a few of our favourite and most familiar poses. Practicing yoga for anxiety will help us feel courageous and resilient again.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

1. Balasana (Child’s pose)

Once we are feeling anxious, there will be an impulse to curve in and conceal. Freeze is one in every of our primal responses to attack, so it is sensible that we feel that way. On more anxious days, I like starting in Child’s Pose since it embraces the “freeze” impulse. Fairly than throwing my body into the gauntlet of opening up, I curl up small to send my body and nervous system the message that we’re meeting one another where we’re at. Nothing is being forced; nothing is to be feared. This variation uses a rolled blanket to create an anchoring sensation and to ask tight hip flexors to release. (Gripping within the tops of the thighs is a typical physical response to emphasize.)

The right way to: Come onto your knees. Bring your big toes together and separate your knees. Grab a blanket or towel and make a small roll on one edge (about one inch in diameter) and place it within the crease where your thighs meet your pelvis. Allow the remaining  of the blanket to put in your lap. Take a giant inhalation and, as you exhale, fold over to come back into Balasana pose. Reach your arms out in front of you alongside your ears or back toward your feet. You might want to put a block under your brow. Remain here for 10 long breaths.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

2. Marjaryasana/Bitilasana (Cat/Cow Pose)

This pose combination has quite a lot of specific advantages for this sequence. First, movement is a stunning approach to get the breath flowing. Once we’re anxious there’s an inclination to carry our breath. Second, it’s a well-recognized pose since it’s practiced so often in yoga classes. Familiarity can feel comforting and supportive. But we’re going so as to add in a 3rd step for an extra profit. When you’ve accomplished a full round, pause with a neutral spine for a complete breath. This represents finding that place of presence between the future-facing, open-hearted Cow and the recoiling, protective energy of Cat.

The right way to: From Child’s Pose, inhale and are available into Tabletop position. For this practice, keep your hands barely in front of your shoulders, so you possibly can really feel the movement of your spine. On an inhalation, lift your chest and arch into Cow. On an exhalation, press your palms strongly into the ground and dome your back into Cat. Now come right into a neutral spine, where you might be neither arched or rounded. Pause here for a full breath cycle. On the subsequent inhale, return to your dynamic Cat/Cow. Repeat this full sequence (with the pause in between rounds) for five cycles.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

3. Low Lunge variation

Our body often speaks our feelings even before we’ve got had a likelihood to process them. Once we’re anxious, it might feel like we’re bracing for motion. We may unconsciously puff our ribs forward and jut out the chin, as if able to pounce or run (think fight or flight). Holding a block in front of you will help guide the body back to center. It’s a chance to practice drawing our front body in toward our back body, integrating into the moment.

The right way to: From Tabletop, step your right foot toward the front of your mat and align your front heel under your knee. Pad your back knee for comfort. Grab your block and lift your torso upright. Hold the block between your palms and reach your arms in front of you, away out of your body, in keeping with your chest, and parallel to the ground. Use your exhalation to attract your front ribs back away from the block, as in case you could move your front body to your spine. Widen your collarbones, loosen up your shoulders, and reach through the highest of your skull. Do that for five breaths, keeping the block chest high. Place your block back onto the ground and return to Tabletop before repeating with the left foot forward.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

4. Plank Pose

It could be easy to practice yoga in a relaxed space like within the yoga studio or on our mat at home. But what happens after we are in the actual world and intensity is heightened? Well, Plank offers us the very best of each worlds. We are able to observe that very same “sandwiching” of our front ribs toward our spine that we practiced within the lunge, but in a way more intense moment. Yet since it remains to be a yoga pose at the top of  the day, we also know we’re held and guarded by our mat.

The right way to: From Tabletop, step your feet toward the back of your mat, straightening your legs and coming into Plank position. If Plank feels too intense, place your knees down behind your pelvis in a supported variation. Press your palms into the ground and practice the feeling of lifting your front body into your back body as you probably did within the Low Lunge. At the identical time, reach your crown away out of your heels to elongate your spine and mitigate any rounding. Stay here for five to 10 breaths.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

5. Virabhadrasana 2 (Warrior 2 Pose), variation

One in all the important thing features of tension is the need to fold in upon ourselves. Evolutionarily, defending the belly is a approach to protect our most significant organs–and we honor that. This variation of Warrior 2 encourages us to open up from the within out. We are going to wrap our arms around ourselves as an emblem of the comfort and protection we seek, but we may also work to search out length and strength throughout the shape.

The right way to: From Plank, bend your knees, walk your hands to the back of your mat, and slowly come as much as standing. Come to the center of your mat and face the long side, stepping your feet a couple of feet apart. Turn your right leg out, so your toes face away out of your body, and switch your left foot and hip barely inward. As you exhale, bend your right leg, aligning your knee either behind or over your ankle. In case your knee is bending well beyond your foot, lengthen your stance. Inhale and lift your arms right into a T-shape. Exhale, round your spine and wrap your arms around your chest, crossing at your elbows to present yourself a hug. Stay in the form for five breaths but use every inhale as a chance to expand. After your final breath, release your arms, turn your feet parallel, and arrange in your left side.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

6. Ustrasana (Camel Pose)

Backbends corresponding to Camel or Standing Drop Backs, which involve arching back from an upright position, could also be a few of the strongest poses for teaching us easy methods to place confidence in the unknown–and in ourselves. They teach us easy methods to find equilibrium so we don’t fall. If we do fall, we trust we’ll find a way to stand up and check out again–and still love ourselves all the identical.

The right way to: After the Warrior 2 sequence, you could consider doing a Surya Namaskara A from the front of your mat to assist reset the body after such asymmetry. Otherwise, come directly onto your knees for Ustrasana, separating your legs and feet hip-width apart. Bring your hands to both sides of your sacrum just at the highest of your buttocks and point your fingertips down. This helps open the chest more by enhancing the external rotation of our upper arm bones. So as to add more challenge to this Camel, close your eyes or, if that’s too uncomfortable, lower your eyelids and look toward your cheeks. On an inhalation, lengthen your spine from tail to crown; in your exhalation, begin to arch back toward Camel Pose. You might take your head back or keep your chin to your chest if you’ve any neck discomfort. Breathe here for five full breaths. Keep your eyes closed as you press into your shins and inhale to lift your spine back to upright. Sit back in your heels and pause for a couple of breaths before repeating yet another round.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

7. Baddha Konasana B (Sure Angle Pose B)

Our heart is one other source of courage. The Latin root word for courage is cor-, which translates to ‘heart.’ Because the saying goes, courage shouldn’t be an absence of fear, but a doing something despite the fear—a very important adage to recollect after we’re experiencing anxiety. Practicing a more rounded version of Baddha Konasana allows us to take a gaze inward upon the symbolic cave of our heart. Many ancient teachings talk metaphorically about this space containing an ever present flame. This flame can light even the darkest paths we must traverse. On a physical level, this pose releases all of the muscles along the spine, upper back, and neck, all of which are likely to grip after we are under stress.

The right way to: Come to take a seat together with your legs in front of you. Bend your knees, open them out wide to the edges, and touch the soles of your feet together. Pull your heels toward your pubic bone. Holding your feet together with your hands, take an inhalation, and on an exhalation, round your spine as if you would touch your brow to the bottoms of your feet. Allow the rounding to originate out of your tailbone and are available all the way in which as much as the bottom of your skull. Stay here for 10 breaths, respiration into the back of your rib cage and upper spine. On an inhalation, slowly come upright. Bring your knees together and stretch your legs straight.

(Photo: Sarah Ezrin)

8. Savasana (Corpse Pose)

Once we’re able to face whatever comes our way, there could be a level of pleasure. We don’t need to encourage the type of “bring-it-on” energy that sometimes leads to creating decisions prematurely. This version of Savasana, using a blanket as a weighted anchor, allows us a moment to pause and ground in the current. By accepting stillness after such a dynamic sequence, we’re capable of notice what it looks like to be able to move without having to act.

The right way to: Grab a blanket and fold it in order that it’s a heavy square. If you’ve thin blankets or towels, you could need a couple of to create some weight. Lie down and place the folded blanket over your chest. It should cover you out of your shoulders right down to your waist or below. It will help to release the shoulders toward the ground. Close your eyes or just lower your eyelids and soften your gaze. Remain here for at least three minutes. All the time rest longer in case you are able.

Once you’re ready, remove your blanket, roll to 1 side and press as much as a seated position. Pause here in the current moment and honor the things that made it possible so that you can do that practice today. Observe the results of your work.

More Practice Rx Sequences:

About Our Contributor

Sarah Ezrin is an writer, world-renowned yoga educator, popular Instagram influencer, and mama based within the San Francisco Bay Area. Her willingness to be unabashedly honest and vulnerable along along with her innate wisdom make her writing, yoga classes, and social media great sources of healing and inner peace for many individuals. Sarah is changing the world, teaching self-love one person at a time. She can be the writer of The Yoga of Parenting. You possibly can follow her on Instagram at @sarahezrinyoga and TikTok at @sarahezrin.