6 Easy Yoga Exercises to Add to Your Stretching Routine

Yoga stretches can be done by anybody in the comfort of their own home. While it's a great activity to boost your mental health, certain yoga stretching exercises can be incorporated into your daily routine for other physical benefits, such as relief from back pain and stiffness, something that plagues many of us. There are different kinds of yoga exercises that can help stretch your back, which is essential for releasing muscle tension caused by poor posture.

Stretching while moving increases your range of motion, circulates blood and oxygen, and delivers nutrients to the tissues. Furthermore, Harvard University research has discovered that exercises that include deep breathing and physical stretching, such as yoga, can help reduce stress, tension, and inflammation in the body.

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Balasana and 5 Other Easy Yoga Exercises to Add to Your Stretching Routine

Here are six basic yoga positions that target tense muscles in the neck, upper and lower back, and hips, which tend to tighten and strain during times of intense stress (or even after sitting at a desk all day).

These poses will assist you in relieving and releasing physical tension as well as daily tensions and pressures, while also strengthening and connecting your mind and body. To relieve muscle tension, hold each yoga stance for four to six deep breaths.

1) Standing Forward Fold

Standing Forward Fold is a simple yoga stretch that helps release lower back tension and loosen the hamstrings. When you relax and hang your head, you'll feel a nice relief in your neck and shoulders.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Standing with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent (do not lock your knees during this stretch), perform the following stretch.
• Maintain a relaxed arm position along the side of your body, then slowly bend forward at the hips as far as is comfortable—no need to drive your fingers to the floor.
• Hold your elbows with the opposite hand for an added stretch, then sway your upper body from side to side very gently.

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2) Adho Mukha Svanasana

Downward facing dog is an excellent stretch for the entire rear of the body, from the calves and hamstrings to the lower back and shoulders.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Begin by getting down on your hands and knees.
• Tuck your toes in and raise your knees off the floor, stretching both arms and legs (you should be making an upside-down triangle shape with the floor as the base).
• Allow your heels to descend towards the floor, your shoulders to move away from your ears, and your head to hang down.

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3) Modified Standing Back Bend

This is an excellent pose that helps with spinal extension (posture that maintains you upright), which can help offset the spinal flexion (forward hunch posture) that many individuals develop as a result of sitting at a desk, continual driving, or simply poor posture.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Standing with your feet hip-width apart is how to do it.
• Inhale and straighten both arms overhead.
• Exhale and bend and lower your elbows out and down toward the floor, arching slightly back to feel a stretch in the front body and hip flexors.
• (Alternatively, you can keep your arms straight up while maintaining a tiny backward bend).

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4) Balasana or Child's Pose

This is a very relaxing yoga pose that stretches the back, hips, thighs, ankles, and feet. It helps to reduce stress on your shoulders and hands. People who are constantly dizzy should try the balasana pose.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Begin by getting down on your hands and knees.
• Sit back on your heels gently.
• Lower your chest and walk your hands forward.
• Tuck your chin into your chest and lower your head to the floor.
• For a few moments, take deep breaths.

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5) Cat Cow Stretch

The cat/cow yoga stretch relaxes the back muscles, increases spinal flexibility, relieves lower back strain, soothes the nervous system, and enhances circulation. It's crucial not to rush or force this stance, but rather to flow smoothly and organically with the breath.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Begin by getting down on your hands and knees.
• Tuck your chin into your chest, tuck your tailbone under, and round your back up. Exhale and elevate your head, flattening or slightly arching your back.
• Repeat four to six times for one breath cycle.

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6) Sleeping Pigeon Pose

Pigeon pose is a great way to stretch your hips and glutes while also relieving lower back tightness. Don't worry if you're too tight to do it precisely right now—there are various ways to adapt the one-leg pigeon position so that it's useful while also being soft on your body.

Here's how to do this exercise:

• Begin by getting down on your hands and knees.
• Bring your right leg forward and place your right knee, shin, and foot at a right angle in front of your torso on the floor.
• Straighten your left leg behind you, with the top of your left knee and foot facing down. Adjust so that both hips face forward and are as flat to the floor as feasible.
• Curl your upper body forward and down, supporting yourself with either both elbows and forearms, or both hands flat on the floor in front of you, to deepen the stretch.
• Repeat with the left leg forward after many breath cycles.

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Takeaway

These yoga stretches can be done at home for free, without the need for an expensive yoga studio membership or equipment. They're low-impact and beginner-friendly, so you can easily incorporate them into your daily fitness or stretching routine.