Phase 1 · Two Techniques Worth Owning

Part of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Anxiety and Worry

5 Minute Yoga Sequence for a Moment of Anxiety

For when it is happening. Five minutes, four shapes, and one breathing pattern you already know.

The whole point of this program is to end up with something you can use while the worrying is actually running, not only afterwards. A thirty minute sequence is exactly what you cannot reach for in that moment. This is five minutes, it works on a bedroom floor or an office floor, and it uses the same breathing you have been practising on the days when nothing was wrong. That is why the practice on ordinary days matters.

5 min · Level 1

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When it helps

While a worry episode is happening, or when you can feel one building. Five minutes and a floor. This supports self regulation. It is not a treatment for an anxiety disorder and it does not replace therapy: in the largest trial, cognitive behavioural therapy did better than yoga and kept its advantage six months later.

Self regulation

One breathing pattern and four shapes, in an order simple enough to remember without reading it.

Physical effect

Something for the body to do, which is often more useful in the moment than something for the mind to do.

Availability

Five minutes is short enough that it can actually happen when it is needed. That is the entire design brief.

Five minutes

Sitting, moving, lying down. In that order, every time.

Sukhasana

2 min

Easy Pose

Sit down wherever you are. Breathe in through the nose, then hum the whole way out. Keep going for two minutes.

Humming forces a long exhale without you having to count anything, which is exactly what you want when counting feels like too much.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Marjaryasana

45 sec

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding the back as you breathe out.

Moving the body gives the attention somewhere to go that is not the thought.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

45 sec

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath. Six or eight rounds, slowly.

Two directions, tied to two halves of the breath. Simple enough to do badly and still work.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Apanasana

45 sec

Knees to Chest Pose

On your back, knees drawn towards the chest, arms wherever.

A small closed shape that most people find settling, and it takes no decisions.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

45 sec

Corpse Pose

Legs long, hands wherever. Then get up when you are ready.

Forty-five seconds, and then back to the day. This one is not meant to feel like a session.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 4

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Two Techniques Worth Owning, the first phase of the 12 Week Yoga Program for Anxiety and Worry. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

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Integration

Whenever it is needed, and also once a week when it is not, so that it stays familiar. If five minutes is too much in a given moment, do the first two and stop.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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Make it yours

Keep this practice in your library, print it for the mat, or build your own sequence from all 108 asanas.

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