Hormones Out Of Whack? This Yoga Sequence Can Help Improve Your Imbalance

Begin seated, cross-legged, with hands resting on knees or thighs. Take a few deep breaths to bring yourself to the present moment, offering gratitude for your body and this sacred time you’ve created to practice yoga today.

This pose calibrates the thyroid and also increases blood supply to the legs and arms, making it a useful movement to counteract long periods of sitting in a chair or being hunched over your laptop. This is a great shoulder and back opener, which is great for improving range of motion.

By equally lengthening and opening both sides of the body, this movement helps to correct posture and regain balance between the left and right sides of your body and the top and bottom. Twisting in this pose rinses the digestive organs; organizes and calms the mind; and reduces stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

This pose stretches and broadens the area between the shoulder blades, releasing upper-back tension and opening the back of the heart. It also stretches your shoulders, ankles, hips, and wrists. And it broadens the sacrum, where tension and stress is often stored, and softens the groins, which allows a free flow of energy in the lower body.

The right arm wraps under the left, elbows reach forward and slightly up, gaze is forward past your arms. Draw your navel inward toward your spine as you consciously square your hips and point your left toes downward, flexing your left toes and rolling the left thigh inward. Enjoy 5 breaths here, then gently step back into a lunge pose, unwrap the arms, and repeat on the other side.

On another inhalation, lift your sternum and draw your elbows toward each other, allowing your rib cage to expand. Keep your sternum lifting, your core engaged, and your lower back open. Optionally, release your hands to your heels. Toes can remain tucked or untucked. Lift your shoulders to allow the trapezius muscles between the shoulder blades to rise up and cushion your cervical spine. Gently lower your head and neck and gaze at the tip of your nose. Take five breaths here, then bring your chin back toward your chest and your hands to your hips. Engage your lower abdomen and use your hands to support your lower back as you come back to sit upon your heels. For an added release, add in lion’s breath to this pose! As you exhale, open your mouth, stick out your tongue, and sigh as loud as you can. It feels SO good!

From a reclined position on your back, arms alongside your body, bend your knees and set your feet on the floor, hip-width apart, toes slightly pointing inward. On an exhalation, press your palms and feet actively as you lift your tailbone up toward the pubis. Keep your thighs and inner feet parallel. Clasp the hands into a fist below your pelvis and extend through the arms to help you stay on the tops of your shoulders, rolling your shoulder blades together underneath you. Lift your chin slightly away from the sternum while lifting the top of the sternum toward the chin. Enjoy 5 to 10 breaths here, then slowly release down to your back.

Starting with the same foot placement as in bridge above, place your palms alongside your ears, fingertips pointing toward your shoulders. Pressing your inner feet and heels actively into the floor, exhale and push your tailbone up toward the pubis, lifting your hips. Activate and press down the inner hands into the floor and your shoulder blades against the back as you lift up onto the crown of your head. Extend the arms as you relax your head down and press your hips up. Enjoy 3 breaths here, and optionally repeat 2 more times.

Next, wrap your arms in the eagle arm variation described above. This pose increases flexibility in the knees and hips, tones the muscles in the arches of the feet, and increases circulation in the feet and legs. If having your legs in hero pose variation is not working for you, extend your legs out in front of you. Enjoy 10 deep breaths here as you breathe into the space around your throat and lungs. This is a great pose for relieving congestion, brain fog, mental fatigue, and anxiety.

The stretch of the legs is crucial: It not only helps lift the pelvis and prevent the sacrum from sinking into the lower back but also helps lengthen the neck. Extend through the inner heels and inner balls of the feet so that the inner shins and calves stretch as much as the outer, and broaden the balls of your feet from the big to the little toe side. Relax your breath, soften your facial muscles, and allow your eyes to recede slightly into their sockets. Eventually your arms bear very little weight, serving merely as outriggers to maintain balance, and the pose feels light and nearly effortless. Slowly and lightly come down into child’s pose.

Want to go deeper? You can take Fern's class on yoga for thyroid support here!