HA holiday trip can be a whirlwind: busy airports, endless road trips and family chaos. Whether you’re on the road or hosting a full house, it can seem impossible to find time for yourself.
That’s where a quick 10-minute yoga flow comes in. With just a few deep breaths and simple movements, yoga can help you hit the reset button, calm your nervous system, ease tension, and bring back a sense of calm amid the holiday madness. , say Paige Willis, RYT-200certified yoga instructor and founder of Undonea pop-up yoga experience.
No yoga mat? No problem. You can do this flow anywhere: hotel rooms, airport lounges, or even your childhood bedroom.
In this article
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01
Yoga benefits for stress
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02
Yoga flow
The science behind yoga for stress relief
Yoga provides a powerful toolkit to combat stress. For starters, it helps regulate two major stress response systems: the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA), according to Stanford University. Although stress is a natural part of life, chronic stress can disrupt these systems, leading to both physical and mental health problems.
Yoga also helps restore balance by initiating top-down and bottom-up processes – essentially a two-way conversation between your brain and body. Top-down mechanisms include intentional actions, such as setting a goal to relax; Bottom-up processes occur when physical practices such as breathing and movement send signals to the brain, promoting feelings of safety and calm.
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Together, these pathways help reset the body’s stress response, reducing fight-or-flight responses and improving markers such as cortisol, inflammation and heart rate variability (the amount of time between each heartbeat), according to Stanford University.
Furthermore, yoga literally rewires the brain itself. Here’s how a yoga practice can change your brain for the better, according to Stanford University:
- It stimulates the prefrontal cortex (PFC) – the center for decision-making and goal setting – and helps combat stress.
- It calms the amygdala, which processes emotions, including fear.
- It increases the volume of the hippocampus and supports memory and learning.
- It modulates the default mode network (DMN), reducing unproductive mind wandering and worry associated with conditions such as depression and ADHD.
While yoga can’t eliminate stressors, it allows you to respond with resilience, improving both brain function and overall well-being. It’s not just exercise, it’s a mental and physical tool to tackle life’s challenges.
A 10-minute yoga flow for stress relief
Ready to tune out all the holiday noise? This 10-minute yoga flow, designed by Willis, is “meant to feel like a moving meditation,” she says. Wherever your holiday trip takes you, the atmosphere of this flow will ground you and give you a comfortable, cozy feeling.
With low-to-the-ground postures and especially seated variations, it will “open your hips and create a feeling of space in your body,” which will wash away any holiday-related stress and tension, says Willis.
A few tips if you do it:
- Focus on lengthening your breathing. Let each round of breathing last 10 seconds: inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds.
- The flow can be completed in 10 minutes, but take your time. “Go slower than what feels natural, and tune into what you feel in your body as you move,” says Willis. If it all feels good, hold each pose a little longer. There’s no rush.
1. Seated cat-cow pose
- Start in a sitting position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet together, opening your knees to the sides.
- Grab your knees or ankles.
- As you inhale, arch your back.
- As you exhale, round your spine as you exhale, with your chin toward your chest.
- Repeat for 1 minute.
2. Seated side stretch (alternate sides)
- Start in a sitting position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet together, opening your knees to the sides.
- Place your hands on the floor next to you.
- As you inhale, lift your left hand up and to the right side of your body.
- Hold this for 30 seconds, then exhale and place your left hand back on the floor.
- Pause, then exhale and place your left hand back on the floor.
- Repeat on the other side.
3. Seated Twist (Alternate Sides)
- Start in a sitting position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet together, opening your knees to the sides.
- Place your hands on your knees or ankles.
- Turn your torso to the left and place your right hand on your left knee. Place your left hand on the floor behind you.
- Look to the side or behind you.
- Hold for 30 seconds and then come back to center with a neutral spine and place your hands on your knees.
- Repeat on the other side.
4. Butterfly fold
- Start in a sitting position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet together, opening your knees to the sides.
- Place your hands on your ankles.
- Gently bend your torso forward as far as possible, keeping your spine long and neutral.
- Look over the tip of your nose.
- Hold this fold for at least 2 minutes.
5. Cat-Cow Pose (Bitilasana Marjaryasana)
- Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
- Slowly arch your spine and lower your stomach toward the floor. Look up as you pull your tailbone toward the ceiling (cow pose).
- Slowly transition into a rounded spine, tucking your chin toward your spine as you tilt your pelvis forward (cat pose).
- Continue alternating between cow and cat poses.
6. Puppy Pose (Uttana Shishosana)
- Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
- Walk your hands forward as far as you can.
- Lower your chest toward the mat.
- Hold for 1 minute.
7. Child’s Pose (Balasana)
- Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
- Bring your big toes together.
- Spread your knees across the width of the yoga mat.
- Sit with your hips toward your heels.
- Reach forward with your fingers. (You can put a pillow under your chest to make it cozier.)
- Rest here for 3 minutes.