8 Relaxing Yoga Poses to Unwind

Reasons You Should Practice Restorative Yoga

This sequence will help you to relax and release all your worries and tensions.

Restorative yoga is a form of yoga that is beneficial for both the body and mind, as it helps to prevent stress and anxiety. The use of props (e.g. blankets, bolsters, etc.) in restorative yoga can help you to hold poses for longer periods of time, and deepen the relaxation and stretch response in the body.

The Benefits of Restorative Yoga

Benefits from full and deep stretches
Increase your flexibility safely
Boost your immune system through deep relaxation
Balance your nervous system
Quiet your mind
Recover from illness
Heal emotional pain
Carve a path towards a meditation practice

This calming and relaxing yoga sequence is special because it is sequenced to help you feel restoration. Grab any props you might need to help support your body in a full, long, and comfortable stretch. You can spend as little as a few minutes in each pose, or up to 15 minutes.

Here Are 8 Relaxing Yoga Poses to Calm Your Body and Mind:

There are several yoga poses that can help you relax. You can do a full sequence of poses, or just choose a few poses to do the next time you need to relax.

1. Baddha Konasana (Cobbler’s Pose)

If you want a more vigorous stretch than what Easy Pose provides, but still want to maintain a certain degree of stillness, Cobbler's Pose is an ideal option.

You can intensify the stretch in your hips by bringing your heels closer to your body.

Let’s try it:

Begin in a seat with both of your sitting bones rooting evenly into your mat
Lengthen your spine and reach the crown of your head up high toward the ceiling
Join the soles of your feet together and open your knees, encouraging them toward the mat
Bring your hands either to your calves or the inner arches of your feet
Maintain length in your back body – if you feel your back beginning to round, ease out of the pose by moving your heels farther away from your body

If your knees are not touching the mat while in this pose, place yoga blocks under your knees to create the space between your knees and the mat. (If you’re practicing at home without blocks, pillows would work too!)

2. Cat (Marjaryasana) and Cow (Bitilasana)

Benefits of Cat and Cow Pose

Cat Pose (Marjaryasana) is often paired with Cow Pose (Bitilasana) for a gentle warm-up. The two poses help to stretch the body and prepare it for other asanas when practiced together.

Warmer weather means grilling season is upon us! The cat-cow pose warms the body and brings flexibility to the spine. It stretches the back torso and neck, and softly stimulates and strengthens the abdominal organs. It also open the chest, encouraging the breath to become slow and deep. The spinal movement of the two poses stimulates the kidneys and adrenal glands. Coordinating this movement with your breathing relieves stress and calms the mind.

This sequence can help improve posture and balance, and prevent back pain.

How to Get Into Cat and Cow Pose

Start in table top position, take a moment to find yourself on your mat. Ensure that the shoulders are aligned over the wrist, hips over knees.
As you inhale, press the mat away from you as you lift your chest and tailbone towards the sky. Let the belly sink towards the earth. Lift your head to look forward. You are now in Cow Pose.
As you exhale, round the spine, continue pressing the mat away as you tuck the chin towards your chest and tailbone in. Keep the belly drawn in and spine curved towards the sky. You are now in Cat Pose.
Repeat this sequence 3 – 5 times.

3. Prasarita Padottanasana (Wide-Legged Forward Bend)

Yoga poses where your heart is higher than your head are called inversions. They are believed to be calming and relaxing.

Let’s try it:

Take a wide stance standing on your mat. You can always adjust your feet later, but a good rule of thumb is to take your arms out to your sides and align your ankles underneath your wrists
Align the outer edges of your feet with the short edges of your mat. Another option is to turn your feet in slightly
Place your hands on your hips, and with a flat back, hinge forward. Maintain a long spine as you fold
When you’ve folded forward as far as you can, bring your hands down to the mat, yoga blocks, your ankles, or your shins – wherever they comfortably reach
Release tension from your head and neck, letting them hang heavy

If you experience low back pain during this exercise, pause halfway down and maintain a wide-legged halfway lift. Relax your head and neck while doing this.

4. Child’s Pose or Balasana

Benefits of Child’s Pose

The yoga pose known as Child's Pose is a common beginner's pose, and is often used as a resting position in between more difficult poses during a yoga practice. The word “Balasana” comes from the Sanskrit words “bala” (meaning “child”) and “asana” (meaning “pose”).

The Child's Pose is a restorative yoga position that can help to ease stress and fatigue while gently stretching the hips, thighs, and ankles. This pose works by relaxing the front body muscles while passively stretching the muscles of the back torso. The Child's Pose is known to be calming and soothing for the mind, making it an ideal posture for relieving stress.

Child's Pose can help relieve back and neck pain when the head and torso are supported by a block or bolster. It is sometimes used as a counter-pose to backbends to restore balance and equanimity to the body.

How to Get Into Child’s Pose

Begin on your hands and knees.
Spread your knees as wide as your mat while keeping your big toes touching towards the back of your mat. Exhale and rest your buttocks on your heels. Those with very tight hips can keep their knees and thighs together.
Sit up straight and lengthen your spine up through the crown of your head.
On an exhalation, bow forward, dropping your torso between your thighs. Your heart and chest should rest between your thighs. Allow your forehead to settle onto to the floor.
Keep your arms long and extended, palms facing down. Press back slightly with your hands to keep your buttocks in contact with your heels. Lengthen from your hips to your armpits, and then extend even further through your fingertips. For deeper relaxation, bring your arms back to rest alongside your thighs with your palms facing up (embryo pose). Completely relax your elbows.
Broaden your shoulders away from the spine. Soften and relax your lower back. Allow all tension in your shoulders, arms, and neck to drain away with every exhale.
Keep your gaze drawn inward (umpada drishti) with eyes closed.
Hold for up to a minute or longer and breathe deeply but gently.
To release the pose, gently walk your hands back to your knees and sit the torso upright over your heels.

5. Parivrtta Sukhasana (Easy Seated Twist)

This action forces your body to work overtime to cleanse and rejuvenate itself. The benefits of twists are many, but they are perhaps most well-known for their detoxifying properties. By entering into a twist, you compress some of your organs and restrict blood flow throughout the body. This action forces your body to work overtime to cleanse and rejuvenate itself.

When you release the twist in yoga, it helps improve circulation and gets rid of waste in the body.

Energetically, twists help get rid of stagnant energy and get it moving again. Spiritually, allow the release of your twist to symbolize letting go of anxieties and worries that the body and mind don't need to hold onto.

Let’s try it:

From a cross-legged position, inhale to sweep your arms up over your head
As you exhale, bring your right hand to your left knee and your left hand to the mat behind you
Extend your left arm long to help you to sit up tall – imagine this arm functioning as a second spine
On your inhales, sit up taller
On your exhales, twist deeper
After a few breaths, use an inhale to return to center
On your next exhale, twist the other way

If sitting cross-legged doesn't feel comfortable, you can try extending your legs out in front of you or lying on your back and twisting from there.

6. Seated Forward Fold or Paschimottanasana

Benefits of Seated Forward Fold

Seated Forward Fold is a relaxing yoga pose that helps to relieve stress. It is often done later in a sequence when the body is warm.

This asana is commonly referred to as Seated Forward Fold, but its Sanskrit name, Intense West Stretch, comes from four Sanskrit words: Paschima (west), Ut (intense), Tan (to stretch), and Asana (pose).

The ancient yogis would practice facing the sunrise and stretching their bodies deeply with Paschimottanasana as they folded forward towards the sun. The pose can feel intense, but it is important to remember never to force it or push too hard. The more you can relax in this pose, the deeper your stretch will be.

Paschimottanasana stretches the spine, shoulders, pelvis, and hamstrings. And while traditional yoga texts say Paschimottanasana can cure disease, modern-day yoga teachers agree to its many other benefits, which include:

Relief from stress
Improved digestion and appetite
Relief from menstrual pain and symptoms of menopause
A calmer mind
Reduced anxiety and fatigue
Improved sleep and relief from insomnia

The Half Camel Pose is said to be therapeutic, good for relieving high blood pressure, infertility, and sinusitis, and treating obesity.

How to Get into Seated Forward Fold

Sit on the edge of a firm blanket with your legs extended in front of you in Staff Pose (Dandasana). Reach actively through your heels. Beginners should bend their knees throughout the pose, eventually straightening the legs as flexibility increases.
Inhale as you reach your arms out to the side, and then up overhead, lengthening your spine.
Exhaling, bend forward from the hip joints. Do not bend at the waist. Lengthen the front of your torso. Imagine your torso coming to rest on your thighs, instead of tipping your nose toward your knees.
Hold onto your shins, ankles, or feet — wherever your flexibility permits. You can also wrap a yoga strap or towel around the soles of your feet, holding it firmly with both hands.
Keep the front of your torso long; do not round your back. Let your belly touch your legs first, and then your chest. Your head and nose should touch your legs last.
With each inhalation, lengthen the front torso. With each exhalation, fold a bit deeper.
Hold for up to one minute. To release the pose, draw your tailbone towards the floor as you inhale and lift your torso.

7. Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Bridge)

Bridge Pose can invigorate the body by opening the chest and increasing blood flow to the head, or it can be soothing by releasing tension in the back and providing a stretch for the hips.

A backbend is an arching of the spine away from the body. The backbend can be done while standing, sitting, or lying down. There are many benefits to backbends, including increased flexibility, improved circulation, and reduced stress. However, backbends can also be dangerous if done improperly. If you use a prop to support you while doing a backbend, it takes away much of the pose's active component. However, you will still get some of the benefits of a backbend, such as increased flexibility, improved circulation, and reduced stress.

Let’s try it:

Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat to the mat, close to your sitting bones
Place your feet about hip-width apart and align your thighs, knees, and ankles
Push down through all four corners of your feet to lift your hips off of the mat and slide a yoga block under your sacrum (the top of your pelvis)
Rest your arms long by your sides with your palms facing the ceiling

If you don't have a yoga block, you can use folded towels or blankets, a pillow, or a book to support your body during yoga poses.

8. Supine Pigeon (using the wall)

Benefits of Supine Pigeon Pose

Supine Pigeon Pose, also called Eye of the Needle, helps relieve stiffness in your outer hips and lower back. If you spend a lot of time sitting, those muscles can become tight and short. This pose is often taught near the end of a yoga class to help relax your spine, hips, and low back.

Supine Pigeon is a pose that helps improve circulation and range of motion in the lower body, as well as reducing pain caused by stiffness and inactivity. It also has the added benefits of helping to calm the mind, relieve stress, and ease anxiety. For women, Supine Pigeon can also help reduce digestive discomforts and menstrual pain.

How to Get into Supine Pigeon Pose

Bring your mat to the wall and begin by lying on your back with your legs extended up the wall. Leave about 1′ of space between your buttocks and the wall.
Bend your knees, placing the soles of your feet flat on the wall. Separate your feet so they are hip width apart and the thighs are parallel to one another.
Straighten your left leg upward, extending your heel toward the ceiling. Then bend your left knee and cross your left ankle over your right knee. Bring your left, outer ankle to the outside of your right knee so your foot hovers in the air. Then flex your left foot, actively pressing through your heel while simultaneously pulling your toes back toward the left.
On an exhalation, draw your right knee in toward your chest. Slide your left hand and forearm through the space between your legs and clasp both hands around the back of your right leg’s thigh. If it is possible for you, hold onto your shin, instead.
Keep your back flat on the mat (includes shoulders and tailbone). Release your shoulder blades down toward your waist. Broaden across your collarbones.
Draw your tailbone and sacrum down toward the mat to lengthen the spine even more.
Tuck your chin softly and gaze down the center line of your body. Close your eyes.
Hold for up to one minute. Keep your breath smooth and even.
With an exhalation, release your leg and place your right foot on the floor. Extend your left leg straight up to the ceiling again, and then bend your knee and place your left foot on the floor. Repeat the pose on the opposite side for the same amount of time.