How to lower cortisol levels with restorative Yoga

Cortisol, the stress hormone.

It’s related to so many sicknesses we have. It’s super closely connected to anxiety and depression. It can give you headaches and even contribute to heart diseases.

High levels of cortisol slow down your wound healing and can make you gain weight.

Due to our modern lifestyles, increased levels of cortisol are unfortunately becoming a very common problem.

So for many people who want to lose weight, want to finally sleep better, or simply want to get back to their old, healthy self, lowering cortisol levels is the first step to their goal.

In this article:

• What can lower cortisol levels?
• Yoga and cortisol
• Restorative Yoga benefits
• Restorative Yoga poses for beginners
• Restorative Yoga sequence

What can lower cortisol levels?

The first question to ask is, which things can actually influence our cortisol levels?

You’ll be happy to hear that you have quite a few choices to help you lower the amount of cortisol in your blood naturally.

Of course, you should always consult your physician before trying anything new!

Disclosure: Some of the links below are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Omega-3

You might have heard of the suggestion to eat more omega 3 fatty acids or fish oil. It has a lot of great health benefits, but one of them is that it can actually slightly reduce cortisol.

My favorite way to get Omega-3s in is eating hemp seeds (you can get some here*). But you could also opt for a supplement or regularly eating fish.

Magnesium

Magnesium can help you if you want to lower elevated cortisol levels after strenuous physical activity, like a cardio workout.

Be happy

Another way to keep cracking down on your cortisol is to dance, laugh, just have happy moments. All of these things can lower your cortisol levels.

While this might sound a little cynical to someone who suffers from high cortisol levels due to stress, this is serious advice. Make room to be happy in your life!

Get massages

Ever needed a reason to get a nice, relaxing massage? Well, here you go:

Massage therapy has been shown to not only increase your happy hormones, but lower cortisol as well!

Lower cortisol levels with Yoga

Obviously, I wouldn’t be a passionate Yogi if my favorite way to immediately lower my cortisol levels wouldn’t be yoga.

So let’s learn a little bit about yoga and cortisol.

Yoga and cortisol

So by you know that any levels of stress can increase your cortisol levels.

This is because cortisol is your fight or flight hormone. It’s made to make you able to fight anything that endangers you or threatens you.

Yoga, on the other hand, helps you relax deeply, especially if we’re talking about restorative yoga. This type of yoga really works on the parasympathetic nervous system and calms everything down.

So does yoga reduce cortisol levels?

Yes, you can indeed do yoga to reduce cortisol levels!

Be careful with more strenuous types of Yoga, like Ashtanga or hot yoga. Anything that makes your body work hard can trigger an additional increase in cortisol.

You want to opt for relaxing, calming activities instead if you hope from a cortisol reduction through yoga.

The same way that a massage can help you relax, restorative yoga can as well. It can actually do a lot of things for you!

So before we go into the poses let me quickly tell you about the benefits of restorative yoga.

Restorative Yoga benefits

Obviously the first and most important is that it really shows you where your stress is and helps you to let it go. But it also does a few other things.

Increases flexibility

Restorative Yoga, like any type of Yoga, helps you enhance your flexibility.

Of course, for this to work, you need to do it regularly.

Related: I can’t do butterfly stretch – What now?

Helps you lose weight

Restorative Yoga can also help with weight loss.

Like we learned above, high cortisol levels are linked to weight gain, specifically increased abdominal fat. So if you manage your cortisol well, you might lose weight faster!

Related: Yoga for weight loss – all you need to know

Counts as meditation

Because you hold poses very long in restorative Yoga, you train your abilities to be present with the current moment and any feelings that might come up.

Sounds familiar? It basically works like a meditation!

Makes you sleep better

I personally love to do a restorative Yoga session before going to sleep.

The calming and relaxing effect it has on my nervous system doesn’t only make it much easier to fall asleep. It also gives me a deeper, more restful slumber.

Any more questions as to why you should do yoga to lower cortisol?

Related: Yoga for better sleep: Enjoy bedtime yoga!

Restorative Yoga poses for beginners (with props)

So to get you started with restorative Yoga let’s look at a few restorative yoga poses for beginners. They will help you to release, let go, and lower your cortisol levels.

Let’s look at the yoga poses to reduce cortisol!

Legs up the wall

One of my favorites is legs up the wall pose.

Legs up a wall is a great pose to calm down, relax, and even to help you unclog your lymphatic system! You can do it either on the floor at a wall or even in bed if your bed faces a wall.

You just come close to the wall, and put your butt directly at the wall.

And then you put your legs straight up.

If your hamstrings are a little tight, you could also be a little further away from the wall, but you want your legs to be straight and your back to be relaxed. (Relaxed back also means that you still have that little curve in the lower back, it should’nt press into the floor.)

Now you can put your hands either on your belly or place them next to you.

See if you might want a pillow under your head to make it more comfortable. And then just relax deeply and let the blood flow from your legs to your heart.

Stay here for a few minutes.

This will also help you sleep better by the way! It’s really good to do it before sleep.

Reclined bound angle pose

Another great restorative yoga pose that will help you lower your cortisol levels and can even help with menstrual cramps is reclined bound angle pose. Another name for it is reclined butterfly pose.

I like it because it’s suuuper comfortable and it’s also an amazing hip opener.

You just sit down with your feet together and let your knees fall out to the side so they’re in a diamond shape.

Then you can put a rolled-up blanket or pillow behind yourself and lay back on it. Your butt shouldn’t be on the blanket so that your back arches a little.

You can also put something under your knees so they can rest on it. You know, this is not really about a strong stretch. This is about being as comfortable and relaxed as possible.

Stay for a few minutes to enjoy the full benefits of the pose.

Related: 12 of the best restorative yoga gifts for some yogic R&R

Supported Child’s pose

The third restorative Yoga pose that I want to recommend to you is Child’s Pose.

To make it really, really comfortable you can put a blanket or pillows or whatever you need in front of you and bend over that. You know, as opposed to a regular child’s pose where you just bend over your legs.

Or put a pillow under your forehead to make this pose more enjoyable.

Relax your upper body down completely and relax fully.

Why do all these Yoga poses have props?

You might notice that all of these poses come with pillows, blankets, all kinds of props. And this is typical for restorative yoga.

These poses are usually done with props for two reasons.

One of them is that you’re holding the poses for a few minutes, and props really help with that.

The other, more important reason is that restorative Yoga is really not about the stretch or about making the body stronger. Instead, it’s about relaxing, releasing, and calming down the nervous system, which is easier if you have soft and comfortable props.

Related: 10 easy Yoga poses for stress relief – Try them now!

Restorative Yoga sequence

Last but not least, I want to share with you a restorative yoga sequence by my favorite online yoga teacher.

The sequence features a couple of the poses that I described for you above.

It is also absolutely accessible for beginners. Anyone can do it. And you’ll feel amazing after!

Just do this before going to sleep or when you’re really stressed out and just need to relax. This will help!

The power of repetition

While you can immediately lower cortisol levels with yoga, for it to have a lasting effect you really want to do this regularly. Make it part of your life, make it part of your week, maybe even part of your day.

You will not regret it!

If this post was helpful for you, why not share it with a friend or someone else who might need to relax!

*These links are so-called provision links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I can earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.