What yoga poses help reduce stress?

Child's Pose is an excellent position for stress reduction. Its benefits are many. It gently stretches the hips, thighs, and ankles; calms the brain and helps relieve stress and fatigue; and relieves back and neck pain when done with head and torso supported.

• Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit on your heels, then separate your knees about as wide as your hips.
• Exhale and bend forward, resting your torso down between your thighs. Broaden your sacrum (lower back) and narrow your hip points toward the navel, so that they nestle down onto the inner thighs. Lengthen your tailbone away from the back of the pelvis while you lift the base of your skull away from the back of your neck.
• Lay your hands on the floor alongside your torso, palms up, and release the fronts of your shoulders toward the floor. Feel how the weight of the front shoulders pulls the shoulder blades wide across your back.
• Rest in this position for anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes. To come up, first lengthen the front torso, and then with an inhalation lift from the tailbone as it presses down and into the pelvis.

Modified Child's Pose: If you have difficulty sitting on your heels in this pose, place a thickly folded blanket between your back thighs and calves and follow the instructions. If you experience pain, do not continue.