3 Types of Yoga Flows to Clear Stressful Energy

When it comes to clearing stressful energy, everyone benefits from different types of yoga classes. You may generally prefer a certain type, or it may depend on the day for you. 3 types of yoga classes that are great for reducing your stress include those that are slow, fast, or take you on a journey away from your stressful reality.

Slow yoga classes

Yoga classes that are slower and calmer are designed to ground your energy and slow your breathing. Typically, there is more attention to your breath, and you hold poses for longer periods of time than in faster yoga classes. Slow classes are fantastic for releasing stress because it counteracts the go-go-go part of your brain that usually happens when you are overthinking. Your breathing rate and heart rate slows down, your blood pressure decreases, your cortisol levels drop. You activate your parasympathetic nervous system which puts your body into more of a rest and recover state, and less in that fight-or-flight state. An example of this is my free Relaxing Bedtime Yoga class on my Youtube channel.

Fast yoga classes

Faster-paced yoga classes offer a way to bust through that stressful energy by increasing your adrenaline and working your body harder to quiet your mind. This is the opposite of slow yoga classes because instead of focusing on your breath, you are moving your body fast enough that you need to focus on the exact movements of your body. Less time is spent in each pose. Generally, you move from one pose (or variation of the pose) to the next with each inhale and exhale. Instead of thinking about the reason why you are stressed, your focus is put on your body. You need to really pay attention to what the teacher is saying in order to stay on task and not injure yourself. Your brain is so occupied with what your body is doing or needs to do next, that you can no longer even think about your stressors. Your breathing rate and hear rate increases and you feel like you are actively doing work towards fixing the thing that is stressing you out. Even though you may not be doing something to fix the problem, your body is actively moving and working so it helps signal to your brain that the problem is being worked on.

Yoga classes in other realities

The third type of yoga class can take you away from reality and into a world where you are comforted by an alternate story line. This is similar to reading a book or watching a movie...it takes us away from the stress we feel in the real world and allows us to calm down away from that stress. This may simply be a themed yoga class. For example, I have a free Harry Potter yoga class that follows along with the first book in the series. You do certain yoga poses that correspond to the story line of the first book, and therefore your mind is focusing on the Wizarding World and not on your own. If you grew up loving the books or movies, nostalgia sets in, and you feel a calm that you had from reading the books or watching the movies. This is just one example. Another example may be goat yoga, where you do yoga surrounded by goats. Goat yoga is less about a story line and more about being in "goat world" but it still takes you away from the reality that is stressing you out and places you temporarily in the world that goats live, and everything is funny, noisy, and furry.

Any of the above options can really help you to stop the never-ending cycle of overthinking when you are stressed. Some people prefer one of these three types over the other, and some people just take a class based on what you prefer that day. I tend to see what I am in the mood for that day. Sometimes when I am really stressed, I feel like I need to move fast to break through that built up energy. Other times I feel exhausted from being so stressed, and so I want something slower. Some days I want to completely leave my own brain and go into a different world. Try out each of these types and see which you prefer, or simply try them out so you know the possibilities for the next time you are wanting to clear your stressful energy.

Let me know in the comments (or on social media) if you prefer one type over the other, or if you like them all. I'd also love some recommendations for more options for the third type! What other realities would you like to practice yoga in?