8 Minute Yoga For Less Stress — Gentle Stretch To Relax

Feeling overwhelmed or carrying tension in your body? This gentle 8-minute yoga practice is designed to help you slow down, release stress, and reconnect with a sense of calm. Through mindful movement, gentle stretching, and steady breathing, you'll ease tight muscles, quiet your mind, and create space to reset. Whether you need a midday break or a peaceful transition into the rest of your day, this short practice offers a simple way to feel more relaxed, grounded, and refreshed.

Transcript

I'm Chanel, And today's short practice is gonna help you melt away stress. Let's begin in an easy seated pose. Sit up straight and tall, Roll the shoulders back, And let's start with a neck stretch. So bring your right ear to the right shoulder, Feeling a stretch all along the left side of the neck, And then you can take that left arm and press it away. If you still want a little bit more, Take the right hand, Bring it to the ear, And just increase that stretch just a little bit. We hold a lot of tension, Tightness, Stress in our neck and shoulders. So breathe into this area. Slow, Deep, Steady breaths. So just release and let this go. Big breath in. Exhale and release. Bring the head back to center and then let's bring this ear over to the left shoulder. Press the arm away, Bring the other arm to the ear. Just increasing that stretch until you feel just the right amount of stretch for you. And we don't want to press too hard. The idea here is just to find that little bit of tension. That we can relax into. Breathe. And use each exhale to just let go of any tightness or tension or anything that you're holding onto. One more breath in. Exhale and release, Good. All right, Let's gently come to standing for a standing side stretch. Bring the feet about hip width apart, Roll the shoulders back, Reach the arms overhead. We're gonna interlace the fingers and press them up and away, Leaning over to the right side. Big stretch all along the right side body here. Lean into it maybe as we hold this pose for a couple of breaths. You'll start to feel a little more space. As you do, You can tip over just a little bit more. On the next inhale, Come up to center, Reach up. And then let's tip to the other side. Right side stretch, Reaching up and over. Leaning to the right. Stretching along the left side body. Slow, Steady inhales. Long, Deep exhales. One thing that's gonna really help you as far as de-stressing is longer exhales than inhales. So really emphasize that long, Slow, Steady exhale. Come center, Release the hands, And let's come back on to our mats into a child's pose. So moving slowly. We're gonna bring the big toes together to touch, The knees nice and wide on the mat, Walk the hands forward, Drop the forehead down, Let the hips come toward the heels, And just let everything melt down toward the earth. This is a great place to hear your breath. As your nose is pressed against the mat, You can hear each inhale. And you can test. If that exhale is a little longer, A little slower, A little deeper than that inhale. Each exhale allows you to melt away the stress, Come deeper into the pose, Relax just a little bit more. Good, One more breath here. And then exhale slowly and release. Walk the hands up and we're gonna come onto our back. Now if you have a wall here, You're welcome to use the wall. This is legs up the wall pose, And I'll show it both ways. So if you don't have a wall handy, You can just come right like this. Legs up the wall pose can be done with just your legs straight up. You can put, If you have a pillow, Or you can even just use your hands under your hips for a little bit of support. Or if you do have a wall, You can actually come right against the wall, And bring your legs up against the wall. That's obviously a little less work, A little more supported, But either way, This is an inversion that's gonna really send signals to your body to relax and let go. This is a great pose to do if you are having a hard time sleeping. If you just need an extra minute of relaxation, Legs up the wall is a great go-to pose. So we'll relax and rest into this here. Slow, Steady exhales. One more breath here. And then coming back onto our mat. If you weren't there already. We're gonna move into a supine twist. So hug your knees into your chest and let them fall over to the right side. You can extend your arm, Your left arm out to the left, And you can look over to that left side. Just twisting all through the spine. I like to think of this like you're wringing out a cloth, Just twisting and squeezing, Letting everything go. Just like when we release that water and it all drips out, That's exactly what we're doing here. Whatever stress is in your body, Think of it wringing out. Go ahead and bring your head back to center. Bring your knees back to center. And let's do the same thing to the left. So knees drop to the left. Right arm comes out to the right, The head turns to the right, And we wring out on the other side. Slow, Steady, Even breathing. And then bring the head back to center, Bring the knees back to center and come into our final relaxation. We'll come into just a short Shavasana. Feet apart, Palms facing up, And just let everything go. Now, If you need a longer Shavasana, Press pause, Take all the time you need. Or if it's time to get on with your day, Let's bring a little movement back into the body, Wiggling fingers and toes. And then rolling over onto our right side. Pausing here, Feeling the effects of our practice. When you're ready, Push yourself up to seated. Coming back to where we started in our nice, Easy seat, Hands at heart center. Namaste. I hope that seven minutes melted away your stress. Are you feeling less stressed now? I am.