Phase 2 · Back Bends and Standing Up

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

35 Minute Yoga Sequence for Energy and Opening

Weeks four to six. Standing work and back bends, which is what the strongest protocols were made of.

The two trials with the clearest results here both put back bends and chest opening at the centre of what they did, one of them explicitly as Iyengar back bends and inversions, the other as chest opening poses in an eight week programme that got 60 percent of participants into remission. This session is built the same way: standing work first, then a run of back bends, then the floor. It is more demanding than the first three weeks and that is the progression.

35 min · Level 1

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When it helps

For weeks four to six, two or three times a week. Thirty-five minutes. A mat, a block and a wall. 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.

Physical effect

Legs, the whole back of the body and the front of the chest, in that order.

Energy

Standing poses held for a while do something to how the rest of the day goes that is hard to describe and easy to notice.

Progression

This is a real step up from phase one. If it is too much on a given day, the twenty minute session is still there.

Standing, building up

Fifteen minutes upright, getting gradually more demanding. Take the chair or the wall in any of it.

Tadasana

1 min

Mountain Pose

Feet hip width, standing tall, breathing normally.

One minute of standing before anything else. It is a smaller ask than it sounds on a low day.

Learn more about Tadasana

Parshva Tadasana

45 sec each side

Mountain Pose with Side Bend

One arm overhead, leaning gently to the side.

The ribs open and the breath gets more room, at no cost.

Learn more about Parshva Tadasana

Virabhadrasana II

45 sec each side

Warrior II

Warrior II, front knee bent, arms level.

The first pose with genuine effort in it. Forty-five seconds is enough to feel like something.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana II

Trikonasana

45 sec each side

Triangle Pose

Triangle, hand on a block, both legs straight.

Wide and open, and easier to breathe in than it looks.

Learn more about Trikonasana

Urdhva Hastasana

45 sec

Upward Salute

Both arms overhead, ribs lifting away from the hips.

The simplest chest opener there is, and a bridge into the harder ones.

Learn more about Urdhva Hastasana

Utkatasana

45 sec, twice

Chair Pose

Chair Pose, two sets, sitting back.

The legs work properly here, which is what makes the floor at the end feel earned.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Utthita Parsvakonasana

45 sec each side

Extended Side Angle Pose

Side Angle, forearm on the thigh.

A long hold with both legs engaged.

Learn more about Utthita Parsvakonasana

Virabhadrasana 1

45 sec each side

Warrior I

Warrior I, back foot flat and turned in, arms up, chest open.

The strongest standing pose here, and the one that most looks like the shape this program is aiming at.

Learn more about Virabhadrasana 1

Back bends

The part both of the strongest protocols named specifically. Low and repeated beats high and once.

Bhujangasana

30 sec, twice

High Cobra Pose

Face down, hands under the shoulders, chest lifting.

The front of the body opening while the back of it works.

Learn more about Bhujangasana

Shalabhasana

30 sec, twice

Locust Pose

Face down, lifting the chest and the legs without using the hands.

The whole back of the body at once. Harder than it looks and worth two rounds.

Learn more about Shalabhasana

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

45 sec, twice

Bridge Pose

On your back, hips lifted, feet pressing.

The last of the back bends, and the easiest one to do well when you are tired.

Learn more about Setu Bandha Sarvangasana

Jathara Parivartanasana

1 min each side

Reclining Belly Twist

Knees drawn in, then falling to one side. Shoulders stay down.

A twist with the floor doing all of it, once the work is finished.

Learn more about Jathara Parivartanasana

Apanasana

1 min

Knees to Chest Pose

Knees in, arms loose.

Small and closed, on the way to the end.

Learn more about Apanasana

Savasana

5 min

Corpse Pose

Flat, covered, five minutes.

Five minutes. Every protocol in this research finished here.

Learn more about Savasana

Phase 2 · Weeks 4 to 6

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Back Bends and Standing Up, the second 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.

See the whole program →

Integration

Two or three times a week for weeks four to six. Two is enough: the study that compared two sessions a week against three found no difference between them.

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

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