self-care: 5 Yoga Asanas to Include in Your Self-Care Routine

If you want to focus on your physical and mental health, one of the best things you can do is add some rejuvenating yoga asanas to your self-care routine.

Yoga offers a plethora of tremendous benefits. It can help ease chronic pain, relieve muscle stiffness, promote gut health, reduce weight, improve flexibility, and also strengthen weak muscles.

Certain yoga asanas can be incredibly beneficial for mental health. Regular practice of calming and relaxing poses can reduce stress and anxiety, improve mood, help you sleep better, and boost your self-confidence too.

Overall, yoga is known to be one of the safest and result-worthy ways of ensuring flexibility, mobility, wellness, and strength.

Low lunge pose and other yoga asanas for self-care

To help you get started, we’ve rounded up five of the best yoga asanas you can practice daily to level up your self-care routine. The following poses are beginner-friendly and can be done by anyone. Let's get started:

1) Low lunge pose (Ajnaneyasana)

The low lunge pose is considered one of the best yoga asanas to stretch the hip flexors, chest, quads, and thighs.

It's ideal for people who spend a lot of time sitting and face tightness in their hips and legs. Additionally, this asana improves body balance and mobility.

To do the pose:

Start in tadasana (mountain pose).
Bring your left foot a few steps forward, and lower your right knee towards the floor while moving your foot back till you feel a stretch in your right thigh and hip.
Ensure that your hips are low and perfectly level with each other.
Lift your chest, and engage your abs as you bring your arms alongside your ears. Keep your gaze straight ahead, and slowly lean back for a gentle backbend.
Lower your hands down, and step your left foot back together with your right.
Repeat.

2) Bridge pose (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana)

Another very effective pose to include in your everyday self-care routine is the bridge pose.

This asana gently stretches the neck, chest, hip flexors, and spine, and helps alleviate back and hip pain. It's an easy backbend pose suitable for all levels of yoga practitioners.

To do the pose:

Lie on your back on a flat surface, and position your feet on the floor. Place your arms next to your body.
Bend your knees, and press your feet and shoulders as you lift your hips off the floor.
Press your feet actively to support the posture, and keep your knee close together by engaging the thigh muscles.
With your tailbone lengthened, move your shoulder blades back and down, but ensure that the neck is in a neutral position.
You can either keep your hands beside you or clasp your hands together behind your hip.

3) Standing forward bend (Uttanasana)

It's one of the classic inversion yoga asanas that can help ease back-related problems. This pose stretches the calves, hamstrings, and lower back, and also helps relieve back pain and reduce stress.

To do the pose:

Stand tall with your back neutral, and raise your arms as high as you can.
Engage your thigh muscles; tighten your abs, and slowly start to bend forward from your waist.
As you reach down, place your hands on the floor straight in front of you, or simply grab the back of your calves or ankles.
Let your head rest in between your knees, keeping your neck relaxed.
Lengthen and stretch your spine to deepen the pose.

4) Cobra pose (Bhujangasana)

It's one of the best yoga asanas that largely stretch the shoulders, lower back, and chest.

Adding this asana to your self-care routine can help you get relief from back pain and stiffness. The bhujangasana is the ideal pose to counteract a hunched back.

To do the pose:

Lie straight on your belly, and position your feet hip-width apart. Keep your toes pointed.
Bend your elbows, and position your hands next to your body on the floor.
As you inhale, start to lift your chest away from the floor, and stretch your spine. Press firmly onto your palms to go higher.
Lower back down to the starting position, and repeat.

5) Bound angle pose (Bandha Konasana)

One of the most effective yoga asanas to improve flexibility, the bound angle pose helps open the hips and relieves pain and stiffness in the hips and thighs. This pose also improves cholesterol level, controls blood sugar, and improves overall well-being.

To do the pose:

Start in an easy pose. Sit on the floor with your legs extended straight in front.
Bend your knees to your sides, and bring your heels together towards your body. Allow your knees to spread wide out to the sides, and press the soles of your feet together.
Move your heels as close to your body as you can while maintaining a lengthened spine.
Use your elbows, and press your knees to deepen the stretch.

Takeaway

The aforementioned yoga asanas are safe and can be easily included in your self-care routine.

You can perform these poses every day to experience noticeable changes in your physical and mental health. Just remember to practice the asanas you're comfortable with so that you don’t injure yourself.