Exercises to Help Reduce Stress

• Before we begin any stress reduction exercise, we need to put our mind into the right gear.
• It helps to consider your environment, including space, noise, comfort, distractions and air flow.

The exercises

Sample class one

Warm up/ Self awareness (10mins)

Abdominal breathing (breathing gently into the stomach)
Shake it loose (gently shaking different parts of your body)
Roll downs (feet are shoulder width apart. bend your knees. slowly drop your head and roll down)
Shoulders lift and drop

Standing Strength/ balances (7 mins)
Posture awareness - mountain pose
Variable squat options
Tree
Eagle
Triangle pose
Wide legged side stretch
Chest to leg extension

Back bends (7 mins)
Cat stretch
Cobra /child’s pose
Half bridge/happy baby pose
Rocking chair

Forward folds (7 mins)
Cross legged forward fold
Cobblers pose
Three limbed forward bend
Boat pose
Chin to chest wrap and extend

Inversions (7 mins)
Down face dog
Shoulder stand
Plough pose
Knee to ear press

Twists (7 mins)
Passive reclining twist
Dynamic rolling twist
Seated cross legged twist

Warm down (12 mins)
Corpse
Posture
Rolling the eyes
Kneeling clasped knees upper back
Neck stretches
Self massage