Poses to Lift Your Mood

It’s a busy time of year. We pack our schedules and load ourselves up emotionally. In yoga, we learn that in order to move past the stress, sometimes we need to open our hearts and surrender. So when you’re feeling weighed down, try these poses to lift your mood! 

Happy Baby Pose (Balasana)

• Lie down and bring your knees to your chest

• Open your knees and grab the inner arches of your feet or hook your fingers around your big toes, options to grab your ankles or behind your knees to maintain the length of your spine on the floor

• Gently pull your knees down and press your feet straight up

• Draw your tailbone forward, pull your hips down, and lengthen your spine

• Press your shoulders into the mat and gaze up

Wheel Pose (Chakrasana)

• Start on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor 

• Place your palms on the ground next to your ears, fingertips pointing towards your shoulders

• Firmly press your inner hands in to the floor and lift up to the crown of your head 

• Exhale lift your hips and straighten your arms 

• Keep your thighs parallel to each other

• Let your head hang comfortably

Tree Pose (Vriksasana) with a Gentle Backbend

• Start in Mountain Pose (Tadasana)

• Press the four corners of your grounded foot down

• Lift your other foot, and place it onto your upper thigh above your knee, or at your calf or ankle, just avoiding the knee joint 

• Press your lifted foot and thigh together

• Square and level your hips forward, lengthen your spine

• Cactus your arms and bring your gaze to the sky, finding a gentle backbend