Yoga to Release Tension and Restore Energy
Discover how simple yoga poses can help you release physical and emotional tension, balance your energy, and reconnect with your inner calm
Feeling Drained or Tight? Your Body Is Speaking
Most tension in our bodies isn’t caused by bad posture or weak muscles, it’s caused by the body preparing for something that happened in our past, but that never quite resolved itself, and our bodies carrying the weight of our thoughts. In the modern world, with hours spent sitting, endless screens, and constant busyness, creates tension that settles into the muscles, especially the neck, shoulders, hips, and lower back. Think of stress tightening the jaw, fear lifting the shoulders, or exhaustion settled into the hips and spine. Writing this now, I’ve physically dropped my shoulders! And wow, doesn’t that now feel great! But when energy can’t flow freely through our body, we feel tired, heavy, and disconnected. Our body braces for the storm, but then forgets how to let go. Yoga offers a wonderfully gentle, yet powerful solution. Through mindful movement, breath, and awareness, yoga releases stored tension, rebalances the nervous system, and helps restore your natural vitality. You don’t have to be flexible or athletic to benefit, just open to slowing down and tuning in.
How Yoga Restores Energy and Eases Stress
There are so many benefits to practicing yoga (I need to write another blog post entirely on this merit), and speaking simply, practice works on both the physical and energetic levels. Physically, the poses stretch tight muscles, improve circulation, and release the fascia - your body’s connective tissue that holds onto emotional and physical stress. Energetically, yoga helps remove blockages along the body’s subtle energy pathways (nadis), allowing prana - your life force, to flow freely again. From a mind-body science perspective, yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system, the body’s natural rest-and-digest mode. This helps to lower our cortisol levels, slow our heart rate, and reduce overall anxiety, all while increasing the oxygen and blood flow to our brain and vital organs.
But please don’t feel like you need to be “stretching out” your tension, as this often makes it dig its heels in, and the body doesn’t release because it’s told to. Yoga works not by demanding flexibility, but by offering reassurance, and our body only releases when it feels safe enough to stop guarding. Slow, supported movement tells the nervous system that you’re not under threat, that you don’t need to brace, and that you can “put the armour down, and step away from the armour”. Restorative postures, longer holds, and mindful transitions allow the body to unwind in layers, not all at once, but gradually. And energy returns when the guarding stops. As I mentioned above, energy doesn’t disappear when you’re stressed, it gets tied up in protection, and it stays with you until it’s safe enough for your protection officer to stand down. When tension softens, that same energy becomes available again. Not as adrenaline or motivation, but as steadiness, and clarity, and a sense of enough-ness. This is why people often feel calmer and more energised after gentle yoga. When tension in our body releases, energy naturally returns and flows again, making healing possible.
5 Yoga Poses to Release Tension and Restore Energy
These simple, grounding asanas can be practiced at home - even for just 10–15 minutes a day. Combine them with slow, steady breathing for the best results.
1. Child’s Pose (Balasana)
A posture of surrender and deep rest.
How to practice:
Kneel on the floor, big toes touching, knees apart.
Sit back on your heels and fold forward, resting your forehead on the mat.
Stretch your arms forward or rest them alongside your body, whichever feels most comfortable for you.
Breathe deeply into your belly and back.
Why it works:
Calms the mind, stretches the spine and hips, and gently activates the parasympathetic nervous system.
2. Cat-Cow (Marjaryasana–Bitilasana)
A gentle flow to release spine tension and awaken energy.
How to practice:
Come onto hands and knees, align shoulders with wrists, and hips with knees.
Inhale, arch your back, lift your chest and tailbone (Cow).
Exhale, round your spine and tuck your chin (Cat).
Continue moving with your breath for 8–10 rounds.
Why it works:
Increases spinal flexibility, relieves back tension, and connects movement with breath for emotional release.
3. Standing Forward Fold (Uttanasana)
A simple pose to calm the nervous system and stretch tight muscles.
How to practice:
Stand with feet hip-width apart.
Hinge forward from your hips, with a flat back, take hold of ankles, tuck head in.
Slightly bend your knees if needed.
Hold for 5–10 breaths, feeling gravity gently release tension.
Why it works:
Relieves tension in the hamstrings, neck, and back; increases blood flow to the brain; and promotes calm and clarity.
4. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose (Viparita Karani)
A restorative inversion that soothes the entire body.
How to practice:
Sit beside a wall and swing your legs up as you lie down on your back.
Adjust so your hips are close to the wall.
Rest your arms open by your sides and close your eyes.
Stay for 5–10 minutes, breathing slowly.
Why it works:
Reduces fatigue, supports lymphatic drainage, and gently reverses the effects of gravity, helping the body reset and recharge.
5. Reclined Bound Angle Pose (Supta Baddha Konasana)
A heart-opening pose for deep relaxation and emotional release.
How to practice:
Lie on your back.
Bring the soles of your feet together, letting your knees fall open.
Place cushions under your knees for support if needed.
Rest your hands on your belly or heart and breathe deeply.
Why it works:
Opens the hips and chest (common tension areas), relieves anxiety, and supports energy flow through the heart chakra.
Tips for a Restorative Practice
Move slowly. Let your breath guide your transitions.
Stay present. Focus on sensations, not perfection.
Use props. Cushions, blankets, or yoga blocks make the practice supportive and gentle.
End with stillness. A few minutes in Savasana (Corpse Pose) helps integrate the release.
Remember, yoga isn’t about “doing” but about allowing - allowing tension to soften, breath to deepen, and energy to return.
Final Thoughts: Reconnect Through Movement
Yoga for tension release isn’t about changing the body, it’s about reminding it that it no longer has to hold everything alone. And when the body realises that, it often responds with relief. So it’s about restoring trust in the body. Your body is your greatest teacher, and when you listen to it with compassion and curiosity, healing begins.
So here we learn that yoga offers more than physical release, it’s an invitation to reconnect with your breath, your energy, and your inner stillness. Through mindful movement, you can transform stress into softness and fatigue into flow.
Your energy doesn’t need to be fixed, it needs to be freed