For those of you not looking to forget the horror of last week by looking down at the bottom of a shot glass, I present to you a “helpful” post-midterm guide on how to de-stress through yoga.Child’s Pose

Kneel on a yoga mat with your legs pressed together, sitting back on your heels

Lean forward until you chest rests on your thighs and forehead on the floor, curling your shoulders forward

Let your hands rest, palms up next to you feet and hold for about thirty seconds to a minute as you realize how little sleep you’ve gotten all week.

Bridge Pose

Bring yourself up from child’s pose and lie on your back.

Place your feet flat on the floor hip width apart and slide your arms alongside your body with your palms facing down.

Press your feet into the floor, inhale, and lift your hips, gradually rolling your spine off the floor. Keep your keeps hip width apart and engage your legs and glutes to lift your hips as high as possible.

Hold for thirty seconds, thinking about all those questions you got wrong on that one test, and exhale slowly, releasing back to the ground. Panic mildly.

Puppy Pose

Start on all fours and slowly walk your hands out, lowering your chest towards the ground keeping your arms shoulder distance apart, pressing your forehead into the ground.

Keeping your neck and back relaxed, press down on your palms, lifting your elbows and forearms away from the ground, drawing your shoulder blades inwards while you reach your hips up towards the ceiling.

Remain in the pose for about thirty seconds as you contemplate if it’s too late to drop out and run away from your problems before walking your palms backwards, returning to all fours.

Cow Pose

Stay on all fours, inhale, dropping your belly towards the mat and lift your chin and chest upwards to gaze up at the ceiling.

Draw shoulder blades away from your ears.

Hold for thirty seconds. Breath deeply, thinking about all the weird names white people give to yoga poses.

Head to knee forward bend

Begin seated with your legs extended

Bend your left leg, bringing the sole of the foot to the upper inside of your right thigh. Your left knee should be resting on the floor.

Place both hands on either side of your right leg, inhale and turn towards the extended leg.

Exhale and fold forward as far as you can, ideally until your forehead touches your leg.

Hold for thirty seconds and repeat on the other leg. There’s only two months of this hell left. That’s manageable, right? Right?!

Corpse pose

Lie on your back, staring up at the ceiling. Focus on your breathing.

Resist the urge to stay there forever.

This article was written by Rae Dehal. Please send an email to [email protected] to get in touch.Photo Credit: Cassie Ulvick