Phase 1 · Make It Easy

Part of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Low Mood and Low Energy

5 Minute Yoga Sequence for the Lowest Days

For a day when nothing is going to happen. Five minutes on a floor, and it counts as a session.

This one exists because of a specific finding. When people in the largest trial were asked what got in the way, the answer was not the yoga. It was that they were too low to go. So this is the version for those days: five minutes, entirely on the floor, no standing up, no decisions. It is not a reduced version of the real thing. On a day like that, it is the real thing.

5 min · Level 1

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When it helps

On a day when the longer session is not going to happen. Also good first thing in the morning before the day has a chance to argue. Five minutes and a floor. This is a way to build a movement habit when your energy is low. It is not a treatment for depression and it does not replace therapy or medication. If your mood is getting worse, or you have any thought of harming yourself, that needs a person rather than a practice.

Getting going

The streak stays intact, which turns out to matter more than any individual session.

Physical effect

One movement, one back bend, and lying down. Nothing that needs standing up.

No decisions

Four poses in a fixed order. There is nothing to plan, choose or adapt, which is the point.

Five minutes, on the floor

Four poses, one order, no standing up.

Sukhasana

1 min

Easy Pose

Sit down wherever you are. One minute of just sitting.

Getting to the floor is most of the work today. Everything after this is easier than that was.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Marjaryasana

1 min

Cat Pose

Hands and knees, rounding on the out breath. Eight rounds, slowly.

One movement. That is enough to have moved.

Learn more about Marjaryasana

Bitilasana

30 sec

Cow Pose

Chest forward on the in breath, a few rounds.

The other direction, and the front of the body opens a little.

Learn more about Bitilasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

45 sec

Bridge Pose

On your back, hips lifting a little. Once is enough.

One thing with effort in it. Once, not twice, because today once is the correct number.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Apanasana

45 sec

Knees to Chest Pose

Knees in, arms loose.

Something small and closed on the way to the end.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

1 min

Corpse Pose

Flat. One minute. Then you have done it.

And that is a session. Not a reduced one, a completed one.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 3

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Make It Easy, the first phase of the 8 Week Yoga Program for Low Mood and Low Energy. 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, throughout the eight weeks and afterwards. Doing this instead of a longer session is not falling behind. Doing nothing is the only thing that is.

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

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