8 Relaxing Exercises That Will Release Tension From Your Entire Body
When I’m really stressed, I feel it in my body. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve also been feeling super tense lately. But there are relaxing exercises we all can do to both reduce total-body tension and calm our worried minds. They might not be a cure-all, but they may make you feel better for the moment.
“We tend to separate out the mind and the body, and they’re so linked,” clinical psychologist Charlynn Ruan, Ph.D., founder of Thrive Psychology Group in Los Angeles and New York, tells SELF. Mental stress can cause your muscles to tighten as your body tries to protect itself against injury and pain, according to the American Psychological Association. But relaxing your muscles—say, with a sequence of gentle stretches—can send calming signals to your brain that help alleviate mental stress.
That’s where this sequence of eight relaxing exercises, created for SELF by Marianna DeCaro, D.P.T., C.S.C.S, a certified yoga teacher and physical therapist at SPEAR Physical Therapy in New York City, comes in. These moves are really great for relieving tension, she says, and the sequence is designed to slowly warm up your body, improve mobility, boost core stability, and alleviate tightness in key areas, including your arms, shoulders, hips, and back.
This routine is super helpful for when you already feel tight and anxious and just want a release—like, um, now—but it’s also something you could do to prevent both mental and physical tension from coming on in the first place, explains DeCaro. Because this routine is pretty gentle on the body, it’s okay to do it every day.
As for when during the day is best? Well, that’s really up to you. DeCaro likes doing this stretch routine in the morning as a nice way to wake up. But you can also incorporate some or all of these moves at pretty much any point during the day, whether on your lunch break, after work, before bed, or basically anytime you feel tense and anxious and need help grounding yourself back in the present.
This routine is designed so that you can seamlessly move from one exercise to the other without taking breaks, explains DeCaro. But it’s also totally okay to do this at your own pace, she adds. However you approach the routine, don’t worry about warming up beforehand; there’s a warm-up built in.
To maximize the mental and physical perks of this sequence, focus on controlling your breath throughout. Controlling your breath can help you keep your heart from racing, explains Ruan, which can in turn help ward off this classic physical manifestation of stress.
You could take the mental benefits a step further by reciting gratitudes to yourself as you perform these stretches. Thinking about what you’re appreciative of as you gently move your body can help you stay present in the moment and prevent your mind from anxiously wandering, says Ruan. Simple phrases like “I’m grateful that my friend texted me today” or “I’m grateful that I’m taking the time to do these exercises” can provide a powerful mental and emotional boost.
The Workout
What You Need: Just your bodyweight. For comfort, however, you may want a yoga mat, block, and towel.
The Exercises
- Child’s Pose
- Cat-Cow
- Puppy Pose
- Lunging Hip Flexor Stretch
- Downward Facing Dog
- Forward Fold
- Seated Spinal Twist
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Pigeon Pose
1. Child’s Pose
- Get into a kneeling position with your knees hip-distance apart and feet together behind you.
- Take a deep inhale, and on the exhale lay your torso over your thighs, pressing your butt onto your heels and reaching your arms forward.
- Think about lengthening your neck and spine by drawing your ribs away from your tailbone and the crown of your head away from your shoulders.
- Rest your forehead on the mat. You should feel a stretch on your backside and possibly in your hips. You may also feel a stretch in your arms if they are straight in front. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds.
If you feel any back pain in this position, bring your knees closer together.
2.
- Start on all fours with your shoulders over your wrists and hips over knees.
- Take a slow inhale, and on the exhale round your spine and drop your head toward the floor (this is the Cat posture).
- Inhale and lift your head, chest, and tailbone toward the ceiling as you arch your back for Cow.
- That’s 1 rep. Continue performing reps for 30 to 60 seconds. You should feel a stretch in your spine and possibly your glutes and shoulders as well.
To round your spine even more in Cat position, press into the floor with your hands and knees.
- Get into tabletop position with your wrists under shoulders, knees under hips.
- Walk your arms forward and bring your chin to the floor while keeping your butt lifted above your knees. Your arms should be stretched out in front and your armpits lifted off the floor. You should feel a stretch in your armpits, across the front of your chest, and in your core.
- Hold for 30 to 60 seconds.
If it hurts to rest your chin on the floor, rest your forehead instead.
4.
- Kneel on one knee. Place the opposite foot flat in front of you, front thigh parallel to the floor, ankle underneath your knee.
- Hold this position or, for a deeper stretch, lean forward, stretching your hip toward the floor (just make sure your knee doesn’t extend over your ankle).
- Squeeze your butt; this will allow you to stretch your hip flexor even more.
- For an even deeper stretch, reach up with the arm on the same side as the knee on the floor.
- Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Switch sides and repeat.
This is a more intense stretch, so you may want to take breaks during the 30 to 60 seconds, instead of holding the stretch all the way through. Also, if your grounded knee hurts, put a towel or doubled-over yoga mat under it for extra cushion.
