Yoga for Stress Relief: A 10-Minute Flow

Holiday travel can be a whirlwind—crowded airports, endless car rides, and family chaos. Whether you’re on the go or hosting a full house, finding time for yourself can feel impossible.

That’s where a quick 10-minute yoga flow comes in. With just a few deep breaths and simple movements, yoga can help you hit the reset button, calming your nervous system, easing tension, and bringing back a sense of calm amidst the holiday madness, says Paige Willis, RYT-200, certified yoga instructor and founder of Undone, a pop-up yoga experience.

No yoga mat? No problem. You can do this flow anywhere—hotel rooms, airport lounges, or even your childhood bedroom.

The science behind yoga for stress relief

Yoga offers a powerful toolkit to combat stress. For starters, it helps regulate two key stress-response systems: the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA), according to Stanford University. While stress is a natural part of life, chronic stress can disrupt these systems, leading to both physical and mental health challenges.

Yoga also helps restore balance by engaging top-down and bottom-up processes—essentially a two-way conversation between your brain and body. Top-down mechanisms involve intentional actions, like setting a goal to relax; bottom-up processes happen when physical practices like breathing and movement send signals to the brain, promoting feelings of safety and calm.

Together, these pathways help reset the body’s stress response, reducing fight-or-flight reactions and improving markers like cortisol, inflammation, and heart rate variability (the amount of time in between each heartbeat), according to Stanford University.

On top of this, yoga literally rewires the brain itself. Here’s how a yoga practice can change your brain for the better, per Stanford University:

• It boosts the prefrontal cortex (PFC)—the decision-making and goal-setting hub—helping counter stress.
• It calms the amygdala, which processes emotions, including fear.
• It increases hippocampal volume, supporting memory and learning.
• It modulates the default mode network (DMN), reducing unproductive mind-wandering and rumination linked to conditions like depression and ADHD.

While yoga can’t erase stressors, it equips you to respond with resilience, improving both brain function and overall well-being. It’s not just exercise—it’s a mental and physical tool for navigating life’s challenges.

A 10-minute yoga flow for stress relief

Ready to quiet all the holiday noise? Designed by Willis, this 10-minute yoga flow is “meant to feel like a moving meditation” she says. Wherever your holiday travel takes you, this flow’s vibe will ground you and give you all the comfy, cozy feels.

With low-to-the-ground poses and mostly seated variations, it’ll “open up your hips and create a sense of spaciousness in your body,” washing away any holiday-related stress and tension, Willis says.

A few tips as you do it:

• Focus on extending your breath. Let each round of breath last for 10 seconds—breathing in for 5 seconds and breathing out for 5 seconds.
• The flow can be completed in 10 minutes, but take your time. “Go slower than what feels natural, and tune into what you’re feeling in your body as you move,” Willis says. If it all feels good, hold each pose a touch longer. There’s no rush.

1. Seated cat-cow pose

1. Start in seated position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet to touch, letting your knees open out to the sides.
2. Grab onto your knees or ankles.
3. On an inhale, arch your back.
4. On an exhale, round your spine on your exhale, tucking your chin in toward your chest.
5. Repeat for 1 minute.

2. Seated side stretch (alternating sides)

1. Start in seated position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet to touch, letting your knees open out to the sides.
2. Place your hands on the floor next to you.
3. On an inhale, lift your left hand up and over to the right side of your body.
4. Hold for 30 seconds, then exhale and set your left hand back down on the floor.
5. Pause, then exhale and set your left hand back down on the floor.
6. Repeat on the opposite side.

3. Seated twist (alternating sides)

1. Start in seated position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet to touch, letting your knees open out to the sides.
2. Place your hands on your knees or ankles.
3. Twist your torso to the left and place your right hand on your left knee. Place your left hand on the floor behind you.
4. Look to the side or behind you.
5. Hold for 30 seconds, then come back to center with a neutral spine, placing your hands on your knees.
6. Repeat on the opposite side.

4. Butterfly fold

1. Start in seated position on the floor and bring the soles of your feet to touch, letting your knees open out to the sides.
2. Place your hands on your ankles.
3. Gently fold your torso forward as far as you can, keeping your spine long and neutral.
4. Gaze over the tip of your nose.
5. Hold this fold for at least 2 minutes.

5. Cat-cow pose (Bitilasana Marjaryasana)

1. Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
2. Slowly arch your spine, dropping your belly toward the floor. Look up as you draw your tailbone toward the ceiling (cow pose).
3. Slowly transition into a rounded spine, tucking your chin toward your spine as you tilt your pelvis forward (cat pose).
4. Continue alternating between cow and cat poses.

6. Puppy pose (Uttana Shishosana)

1. Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
2. Walk your hands forward as far as you can.
3. Let your chest lower down toward the mat.
4. Hold for 1 minute.

7. Child’s pose (Balasana)

1. Start on all fours with your hands and knees on the floor. Align your elbows and shoulders over your wrists and your hips over your knees.
2. Bring your big toes to touch.
3. Let your knees spread to the width of the yoga mat.
4. Sit your hips back toward your heels.
5. Reach your fingers forward. (You can place a pillow underneath your chest to make it cozier.)
6. Rest here for 3 minutes.