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Stretch Away Stress: The Anti-Inflammatory Benefits of Yoga
by Denise Austin |
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Workouts
It’s no secret, I LOVE yoga! It’s such a wonderful way to stretch and lengthen the body, calm the mind, and release tension that can build up from daily stress. But did you know that yoga can also help reduce inflammation in the body?
If you’ve been looking for a gentle way to ease back into fitness, yoga is one of the very best places to start. This ancient practice is not only about flexibility, it’s about creating balance in your body and mind. And when you reduce stress and promote relaxation, you’re helping your body fight one of the biggest causes of chronic inflammation!
The Link Between Yoga and Inflammation
When we’re stressed, our bodies release hormones that can lead to inflammation over time. Chronic inflammation has been linked to fatigue, joint pain, digestive issues, and more. But here’s the good news... yoga is a proven way to calm your nervous system and lower those stress hormones, helping your body restore balance from the inside out.
Gentle movements, mindful breathing, and deep stretches all work together to help your body release tension, boost circulation, and quiet the mind. You’ll finish each session feeling lighter, looser, and more at peace. Let that sense of calm can ripple through every part of your health.
In the Fit Over 50: Your Anti-Inflammation Guide, I dive deeper into how yoga and other tension tamers can reduce inflammation naturally. It’s one of my favorite topics because it shows how fitness can truly help you feel better, not just look better!
Try My Rejuvenating Yoga Workout!
If you’ve been wanting to try yoga but don’t know where to start, the workout linked below is perfect for you! My Rejuvenating Yoga Workout is a gentle, 15-minute flow that you can do right from home. No equipment needed, just a mat and your beautiful self.
You’ll get familiar with classic poses like Warrior, Mountain, Plank, Cat-Cow, Bridge, and Crescent, learning how to perform each one with good form and confidence. If you’re new to yoga, start with 5 minutes and build up as you go. Every little bit counts!
After this session, you’ll feel energized, stress-free, and centered, exactly what your body needs to stay strong and resilient.
Keep That Feel-Good Flow Going!
Yoga is one of the most powerful tools we have to fight inflammation, ease tension, and support whole-body wellness.I encourage you to make it part of your weekly routine, even 10 minutes a day can make a difference!
Welcome to rejuvenating yoga. Take a deep cleansing breath in, bring the oxygen, and exhale out any stress you may have, and relax. Start with your arms overhead, reach up as tall as you can, lengthen through the spine, your spine is your lifeline - keep it strong, keep it healthy and flexible. So bend to the side for the side body stretch, hold the stretch, beautiful, hold the stretch if you can, and let's slowly twist to the side a little - look up, up, up, up, and relax. Let's go to the other side, feel the length through the spine, your abdominals are in, stretch the back, feel it - this is opening up the side, feel it in your hips, Great for you back, so important - every stretch has a purpose. Isn't that wonderful, think about the awareness of your body, think about balance, concentrate today.
Okay. Straddle your feet all the way, turn one toe forward to the side, now let's strengthen our thighs and lengthen our back. That's it, the beautiful Warrior. Think about good posture, pull your abs up and in, that's it reach out, that's beautiful, now hold it there, taking a deep cleansing breath in, and exhale out. Great. Now let's go all the way back to reverse stretch, reverse the Warrior, reach up, feel everything lengthening. Today it's all about lengthening the body, rejuvenating your muscles, getting any kinks out, and relax. Now slowly slide your hand all the way down to your shin, open up the chest into Triangle, hold that stretch. Now open up through the hips, pull your abs in, and tighten up through the abdominal, and lift up as you can. And as you lift up, bring the arm behind you, and wrap it over - oh can you feel that good stretch in your arm? Rejuvenating to the arms, the chest, your shoulders, no more slouching. And come up. Beautiful.
Now all you have to do is turn your toe and now to the other side. And let's get into the Warrior - hold your arm straight. Here is a great way to tell if they're straight: bring them together and then pull them apart, there you go! Now really stretch it! Get deep into the stretch, that's it, Warrior, really opens up the hips, great for the legs, rejuvenates the body, the oxygen is flowing, it's a very strong move. That's it, hold it, now reverse the Warrior, beautiful. Doesn't that feel so good? I love this stretch, hold it, lift it up, take a deep breath here, inhale, exhale, beautiful. And slowly come up, lengthen the legs, lift out, and relax down. If you can, reach for your shin and think about pulling the abs in, and if you can, look up, that's it. Beautiful! Just do the best that you can, these are all just moves. Try to personalize your practice, tailor it for you. Now open up your shoulder - can you feel that stretch right here? I sure can. Hold that, breathe in, do it, it's important because we sit so long at computers, slouched, so this opens up the chest. Beautiful, reach up, come all the way up.
Now pull your toes almost inward, place your hands on your hips, And slowly shift your weight back, can you feel the stretch in your hamstrings? It feels so good back there. And now can you reach your fingers to the floor, and reach all the way up for a rotation, great for the spine - move it in all directions, keep it pliable, keep it healthy, it's all about a healthy spine to stay young. And now let's switch sides, keep your tummy in, pull it up, be aware of your abdominals, think good posture, that's it, and now place your hands on your thighs or your hips and come up, let me see that smiling face. Beautiful.
Now let's slowly begin in a Mountain pose, lift up, and come back down. One more time lift up, and come back down. And now open up to your chest - great for your spine, rejuvenating your body, these are all moves to rejuvenate your muscles, your tendons, your ligaments, they get tight. Open up, I want to see you open up to the ceiling, that's it, up, up. up, your heart open up, that's it, it's great for posture, and bring it together. Now open it up to the sides, diagonally, this will open it up to the chest. Great! Beautiful! Now bring your arms together again and out to the other side - reach your arms all the way open, open up, that's it, that's what it's all about. Great! Reach, reach! Beautiful, feel that calming effect, Now inhale up, exhale down.
Okay now turn to the side, walk yourself all the way out, all the way out to a Plank pose, hold it there, plank. Think about your arms - they are strong. Think about your back, nice and straight like a plank, like a board. And your abdominals in. Now can you squeeze your buttock muscles, and really tighten up through the quadriceps, tighten, tighten, tighten. Beautiful. And bring one knee to the chest, and release. Bring the other knee to the chest, and release.
And now slowly go down to your knees. And now let's get into a nice Cat-Cow. Bring your chest up, open up, and now round your back, pull your tummy up and in, this is lubricating your spine, rejuvenating yoga for your back. And open up, inhale, and as you roll up, exhale, belly button up to the spine. And release.
Now slowly bring your left leg out and your right arm up opposite, you are stretching your spine, lengthening the spine muscles, and you're giving space. Reach it! Reach it! Total stretch! And the other side. Reach it out, hold it up, tummy is in. It's also an abdominal exercise, also for the erector spinae muscles that line up your spine. And release.
And now slowly sitting up, nice and tall, lift all the way up, and take it out to the side, that's it, stretch, beautiful, hold it up there. And sit back down, out to the other side, Stretch your leg out, reach up, stretch, stretch, stretch. Feeling great about the lengthening through the side body, so important for all of us, especially if you sit for long periods of time. And come up.
All right, now turn to the side, and I want you to bring one leg out in front. Okay we are now going to stretch the hip flexors. Slowly lean into it, just slightly, take it at your own pace, personalize your practice, that's it. Now, if you can, place your hands on your thighs and ease into this stretch. You can feel it right through here. Now let's take it to the next level, bringing your arm up, all the way up. Now if you can, twist a little bit to the side, bend at the waist there, that's it. Beautiful. Now slowly lift up and relax. Let's switch legs, just bring the other leg out in front. Feel the stretch - it's a hip flexor stretch. This is rejuvenating yoga workout, after you sat for hours, get up and do this stretch. Really feel your hip flexors open up, because if your hip flexors are tight they tug on your back, causing back pain. Okay reach that arm up, And kind of lean, fold yourself to the side. Can you feel it? I sure can, I love this stretch. It's one of my favorite stretches, after you've had some computer time, you sat in a chair, get up and do this stretch, it feels so good. Okay, so that opens up through the hips - so good, so important.
Okay so now let's come down, and I want you to do a hip raise to strengthen. Now - we did a hip stretch now we're going to strengthen. So all you have to do is get in a Bridge position, and lift your hips up, lift your hips up. Beautiful. Now squeeze the buttock muscles, it strengthens all the way there. And come back down, beautiful. And slowly come up, let me see your smiling face, taking a nice deep breath, bringing in the oxygen, and exhale out, great.
Now let's just stretch the quadriceps if you can. Standing up nice and tall, bring that heel towards your buttocks, and balance. The ABCs of yoga A: awareness, B: balanced, and C: concentrate. Beautiful, and let's go to the other side. That's it, give it a try, you can use your wall or a chair to support yourself, that's okay, good - it's all about balance. Using your feet muscles, your legs, your back, your abs are tight, beautiful, hold it there. And now clasp your hands behind you, and lift your hips away, and stretch your arms, and your chest, and your shoulders, that's it, squeeze your butt, that's it squeeze your bottom, that's it, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze. That's it. Can you now bring it up and over, up and over, that's it, stretch it out, feels so good. Beautiful. Now slowly come all the way up.
And now let's do a Crescent pose, it's a little bit different pose in yoga. What you try to do is keep your heel up in the back - you're on the ball of your foot, if you need to bend your knee that's okay, you're still getting the wonderful effects of this great move. It's called a Crescent - if you can bring your arms up, all the way up, feel the strength of your body, that's it, lengthen through the upper part of your body and use your thighs. For beautiful strength in the lower body. That's it, great. One more deep breath, inhale through the nose, and exhale out the mouth, that's it. Great. Now let's just walk to the other side, lunge into it. A Crescent pose. Think about good posture. If you are comfortable here, or it's too much here for the hip flexor, then just bend your knee, that's all right, you're still getting the wonderful benefits of yoga workout. Now if you can, bring your arms up, all the way up, and think about good posture - lengthen through the spine, chest open, your legs are strong, great move, just practice what you can. That's why I say personalize your practice. That's it. And place your hands on your thigh and push away.
Inhale all the way up, and exhale, let's relax the neck now. Hold your hand right here on the side, relaxing your neck. Just take deep cleansing breaths to rejuvenate your body. That's it. And let's go to the other side. Oh just relax your neck, a lot of times people get neck tension, and this helps that stretch it out, ease the muscle, ease the tension. That's it, just let it flow out of the body. Beautiful. And let's take a deep cleansing breath together, inhale, deeply, bring in the fresh oxygen, and exhale her out just give it all you got ooooh. Exhale it all out. No more stress. I hope you enjoyed my rejuvenating yoga. Don't you feel great now? Stay healthy and happy.
