Yoga retreats have a wonderful way of giving you a ‘happy bubble’ forcefield that can last for a good while. You’ve smiled, learned, met positive people, and feel as balanced and nourished as can be!

Your yoga retreat has probably left you feeling recharged and ready to take on the world… for now. Eventually, the stresses of the modern world can pierce that peaceful aura you’ve created, and it can be a little bit of a shock to the system.

Here are some tips to help you keep that glowing, post-yoga retreat feeling after you return to your everyday life.

1. Try these anti-anxiety yoga poses

Go back to the mat and calm yourself with these relaxing poses. Try to keep the mindfulness and oneness in your practice that comes more easily during a good yoga retreat away.

Bow pose (Dhanurasana)

Bring strength and awareness into the sacrum and your lower chakras. This pose will make you feel grounded and fully present.

1. Lie on your belly with your knees bent. Grasp the ankles firmly.
2. On an inhale, lift your chest and legs up in the air.
3. Keep your belly pressing firmly into the ground.
4. Let the shoulders release back and your chest feel light and lifted.
5. To deepen this pose, bring the knees together.

Cat pose (Marjariasana)

Lengthen your spine and let yourself stand tall before you begin. Doing this before cat pose relieves tension in the spine and is a good way to destress.

1. Get on your hands and knees, with arms under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips.
2. On exhale, press into your palms strongly into the ground and arch the back until you feel the stretch all along your spine to your sacrum.
3. Inhale to come to neutral.
4. Exhale and arch your spine the other way, with the chin thrust forward and belly arched towards the ground.
5. Inhale to neutral, and repeat as many times that feel comfortable to you.

Downward facing dog (Adhomukha Shwasana)

This pose gives you a great balance between your yin and yang energies, helping you feel more centred.

1. Start on your belly with your hands under your shoulders.
2. Place your feet about hip distance apart, and rest on your toes.
3. On an exhale, press into your hands and lift up buttocks first.
4. Press firmly into your palms and lift your buttocks up to the sky.
5. Keep your neck long and stretching away from your shoulders.
6. Try to sink into your heels, enjoying the stretch in your hamstrings as your waist lengthens.

Corpse pose (Shavasana)

Feel at one with the earth in this incredibly relaxing pose

1. Lie on your back with your feet hip width apart and palms facing up.
2. Close your eyes and relax. It can be helpful to think about each part of your body that makes contact with the ground and to focus on your belly rising and falling with each breath.

2. Meditate

As you would’ve learnt on retreat, meditation is a great way to reconnect with and balance your body. Take a comfortable seat, close your eyes and focus on your breath. Whenever you get a chance, this process of turning in and checking on your body allows you to practice full integration of the mind, body and spirit. Remember you don’t always need a stunning natural backdrop (like those usually found on a yoga retreat) to meditate. It might be less beautiful, but you can meditate on the bus too!

If you find your thoughts starting to wander, simply acknowledge the distraction and return to the breath. This practice will let your mind and body become more unified, and ensure that the good changes you made on your yoga retreat will stay with you.

3. Watch what you eat

Chances are that the meals at your yoga retreat were prepared with lots of love and mindfulness. Make sure you put the same things into your own food preparation when you get home. If you had a balanced diet while you were away this time can actually be very useful for figuring out what foods agree with you or not. Your post-yoga retreat belly is a new slate to test out what makes you feel energised, well and nourished.

Sometimes the allure of sugary treats and deep fried junk food can stand out all the more if you’ve been on a lighter, healthy diet for a while. This is especially true if your yoga retreat involved fasting. Try to keep eating similar meals to what you ate on your retreat, and gradually add in foods that are hard to digest like dairy and meat products. A binge at this time may cause your emotions to go on a bit of a rollercoaster, not to mention upset your tummy.

4. Apply yoga philosophy to your life

Integrate your yoga bliss into your everyday life. It could as simple as feeling grateful, sharing a smile, or surrounding yourself with positive company.