Restorative Yoga
Restorative Yoga involves only a handful of poses supported by props—blocks, straps, blankets, and bolsters—that allow you to completely relax and rest. Held for five minutes or more, restorative poses include light twists, seated forward folds, and gentle backbends.
Most restorative practices are based on the teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar, who created Iyengar Yoga with alignment and therapeutic benefits in mind.
Latest in Restorative Yoga
3 Poses Jonathan Van Ness Turns to When He Can’t Sleep—And Why You Should, Too
Turns out, the star of Netflix's "Queer Eye" loves a restorative practice.
These 4 Restorative Yoga Poses Will Completely Reset Your Mood
When you need to approach any situation—or, let's be honest, life—from a calmer place, this quiet practice is your solution.
This Restorative Practice Will Help You Build Rest Into Your Day
One of the most basic yoga poses can remind you that handling the stress and anxiety of everyday life doesn't have to require effort.
Feel More Present in Your Body with This Mindful Moving Meditation
Feeling scattered? Get grounded with a practice that combines mantra, movement, and breathing.
3 First-Trimester Yoga Poses to Help You Find Balance
Support your body in early pregnancy with these soothing shapes.
Find Refuge from an Overwhelming World
Our on-the-go culture places value on striving, but if you don’t accept who you are, you’re cheating yourself out of health, happiness, and feeling whole. Here, learn how to find refuge from judgment. (Hint: It’s closer than you think.)
A Yoga Therapist Shares The Truth About Trauma
Yoga therapist and psychologist Gail Parker, PhD, applies restorative practices in an innovative way to help people heal from racial wounds.
A Short Mantra Practice to Stay Open and Grounded
Maintain a healthy equilibrium with a 5-minute restorative meditation you can return to throughout the day.
Dealing with Transition? Tether Yourself to the Present with This 3-Part Breath
Stay in the moment during periods of change with this short mindfulness technique.
A Refreshing Slow Flow Practice to Try at Your Desk
Reinvigorate your mind and body with a short slow flow practice—without leaving your desk.
Create Instant Calm with This Legs-Up-the-Chair Pose
Soothe your mind and body with this five-minute practice—all you need is a seat.
Inspire Stability & Fluidity with This Short Tree Pose Flow
Cultivate balance in a way that allows for freedom and forward-movement.
Feeling Scattered? Center Yourself ASAP with a 10-Breath Meditation
Count down to more calmness—anytime, anywhere—with this short breathing practice.
Tempted to Skip Savasana? 10 Top Yoga Teachers Explain Why It’s the Most Important Pose
When you’re time-crunched, it can be tempting to sneak out of yoga class before this final resting pose. Here’s why you should reconsider.
7 Ways to Do Restorative Yoga When You’re Traveling Without Props
No bolsters, blankets, or blocks? No problem. Here’s how to set yourself up for a supremely relaxing practice, minus the props.
This 7-Pose Home Practice Harnesses the Power of Touch
Looking to cultivate more connection with yourself—and with others? Want to experience the oneness versus otherness so many yoga teachers talk about? This sequence will show you how.
This Restorative Yoga Practice Will Help You Find Serenity, Now
In this hectic technological age, restorative yoga is a bountiful vehicle for easing tension and bringing forth a profound sense of calm. Try this deeply relaxing sequence, paired with introspective journaling, to get present and comfortable on and off your mat.
A One-Strap Restorative Yoga Sequence for Self-Care
No bolsters, blankets, and blocks? No problem. This simple restorative yoga practice uses just one strap to help you drop into bliss.
How Yoga Nidra Can Help You Embrace the Art of Non-Doing
Karen Brody, author of the book Daring to Rest, explains how transformational doing nothing can be. Learn how yoga nidra activates your parasympathetic nervous system to guide you to deep inner peace.
3 Restorative Poses to Optimize Organ Function
Long day? Feeling sluggish? Try these poses from YJ Influencer Meredith Cameron to create space in your upper body to soften, flush, and balance your organ system.
Why It’s Time to Replace “Letting Go” with “Letting Be”—& How to Start
In this excerpt from her new book Deep Listening, Jillian Pransky offers a practice for creating space to let yourself be just as you are.
7 Tips to Get the Most Out of Your Restorative Practice
Whether you're new to restorative yoga or a seasoned pro, little tweaks can help you get more relaxation out of your practice.
Practice Deep Listening to Change Your Stress Response & Start Truly Receiving Yourself
Learn how to listen with compassion to your body, breath, feelings, and thoughts. This deep listening helps you cultivate the kind of conscious relaxation that allows you to stay open, present, and curious in situations where you normally wouldn't.
Restorative Yoga 101: How to Release Chronic Psoas Tension for Deeper Relaxation
One of the most powerful ways to feel more OK mentally and emotionally is to learn how to relax the body. Here, Jillian Pransky breaks down how to release one of the most chronically tense muscles: the psoas.
Restorative Yoga 101: How Restorative Yoga Helped These 5 People Heal
Curious how you might benefit from our Restorative Yoga 101 course with Jillian Pransky? Five students of Pransky's students share how her restorative classes transformed them.
4 Must-Try Restorative Poses—& How to Get the Most Support from Your Props
Well-propped restorative poses can offer us the experience of being cradled and protected while releasing deep-held tension and providing the opportunity for true relaxation. Learn how to set yourself up for your most rejuvenating practice yet.
Restorative Yoga 101: 3 Tips for More Relaxing Breathing
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Why Restorative Yoga Is the ‘Most Advanced Practice’ Plus, 4 of Its Biggest Benefits
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5 Ways to Make Every Yoga Class More Restorative and Therapeutic
In part four of our series on teaching trauma-sensitive yoga, teacher Daniel Sernicola shares five practices to help your students get grounded and cultivate mindfulness.
10 Yin Yoga Poses for Clarity this Fall
In honor of the Fall Equinox, yin yoga teacher Danielle March offers a sequence to help you gain some perspective and insight on your own summer growth.
Kathryn Budig’s Top 3 Yoga Poses for PMS
Kathryn Budig shares her three favorite PMS remedies—after chocolate. Prepare to prop!
How Rodney + Colleen Saidman Yee Help Sick Patients + Caregivers
Urban Zen helps sick patients and their caregivers overcome pain, anxiety, nausea, insomnia, constipation, and exhaustion through yoga.
Yoga for Athletic Recovery: 5 Poses to Max Out Training Benefits
You aren't realizing the full benefit of your workout routine unless you're giving equal attention to recovery.
Tiffany Cruikshank’s Yoga Tricks for Better Digestion
Yoga Medicine founder Tiffany Cruikshank offers four tricks for fine-tuning your body’s digestive process with yoga.
4-Step Bedtime Restorative Practice for Better Sleep
Yoga Medicine founder Tiffany Cruikshank offers her favorite bedtime ritual to settle the nervous system in preparation for deep sleep.
Happiness Toolkit: Two-Minute Restorative Poses
Got two minutes? A short restorative practice can help edit and transform negative inner narratives that reinforce anxiety and depression.
This Yoga Sequence Will Train Your Brain to Relax
Chronic stress and anxiety wreak havoc on your body. What can help you reset? Yoga.
8 Yoga Poses for Active + Passive Stress Relief
Pick your poses. Two Fit Moms offers three ways to relieve holiday stress with yoga—active, passive, or a combo—in this sequence.
Go With Your Flow: A Period Practice for Teens
Is it safe to get your om on at that time of the month? Teens, learn what yoga can teach you about listening to your body and practicing self-care.
Take 10 to rest and reflect
Take 10 minutes today to relax into this restorative posture, Viparita Karani (Legs-up-the-Wall Pose).
Everyday Yoga for Athletes: 6 Post-Workout Hip Openers
Recover from your workout with these six restorative poses from Sage Rountree’s new book that marry hip release and inversion to sweetly calm your nervous system.
Plug Into the Wall + Recharge: 4 Soothing Restorative Poses
No energy to set up for restorative yoga? Plug yourself into a wall and reboot with Kathryn Budig's simple poses.
Winter Slow Flow: 9 Warming Poses
Cooped up inside waiting out winter's deep freeze? This practice would be a wise use of your time.
4 Restorative Yoga Poses to Soothe Holiday Stress
Have a to-do list that could rival Santa's? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the holidays, which is why you need yoga more than ever.
7 Yin Yoga Poses to Cultivate Gratitude
It’s easy to forget what the holidays are about. Yoga can help you remember.
7 Restorative Yoga Poses to Stay Grounded During the Holidays
If you have some pillows and blankets, you have everything you need to settle into these sigh-inducing, stress-reducing postures.
Why You Need a Restorative Yoga Practice This Winter
A restorative yoga practice can help you rest, reflect, and refresh this holiday season. Here's how.
4 Vinyasa Class Alternatives Every Yogi Should Try
In honor of National Yoga Month, expand your repertoire with these four types of yoga that can complement your regular practice.
Why You Should Treat Your Next Cold with Restorative Yoga
At the first sign of a cold, try grabbing some props for a supported, restful yoga practice to deeply nurture body and spirit.
A Yoga Practice for High Blood Pressure
Restorative poses as well as calming forward bends and slow, deep breathing can help with high blood pressure.
Veterans Benefit from Yoga Nidra Technique
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A Gentler Practice for Your Period
Need a break during your cycle? Try this gentle sequence for menstruation.
Pop These Poses for a Headache
Relieve a tension headache with this yoga sequence designed for focused relaxation.
Yoga for Addiction Recovery
Untangling yourself from the grip of addiction can seem impossible, but yoga can lift you to higher ground.
Preparing for Surgery and Recovery
Prepare for surgery with mind-body techniques that may help you recover faster.
Yoga and Lupus
Baxter Bell offers a yogic prescription for sufferers of the autoimmune disease lupus.
How Yoga Nidra Benefits Mind and Body
A proven antidote to anxiety, yoga nidra has been adopted by veterans, recovering addicts, and average stressed-out people.
Conquer Seasonal Affective Disorder With Restorative Yoga
Use restorative yoga to combat seasonal affective disorder, a form of winter depression triggered by a lack of sunlight.
What to Do When Restorative Yoga Doesn’t Feel Relaxing
You’re not alone if slowing down leads to stressing out. Here’s what you need to know.
Restorative Yoga Helps Cancer Patients
Researchers have found that practicing restorative yoga regularly for only 10 weeks improved the outlook and energy level of breast cancer patients. The women who did a gentle yoga practice were also less likely to become depressed than the test...
A Quiet Forward-Bending Practice for Winter
Align body, mind, and spirit with nature by practicing this seasonal sequence.
Breathe to Relax in Restorative Yoga + Meditation
Use these breathing techniques to induce relaxation during your restorative yoga and meditation practice.
Staying Healthy during Winter
Use self-care techniques based on Traditional Chinese medicine to maintain health and energy through the winter.
How to Start a Restorative Yoga Practice
Don't let the props stop you. Restorative yoga poses revive like nothing else.
The Art of Relaxation
Learning how to relax takes time. Fortunately, you can practice on your mat and use these tips anytime.
Which Poses Treat Adrenal Exhaustion?
Which poses should you practice to reverse the effects of chronic stress? Our expert Roger Cole recommends a regular restorative sequence.