Rx Flows

Yoga for the
moment
you’re
actually in.

Short, specific practices for the hard moments: the night before the week, the minutes after a fight, the hour you can’t sleep, the driveway before a family gathering, the five minutes before you’re on, the 3 p.m. crash, and the night you and your partner feel more like roommates.

Each flow takes five to ten minutes, needs no mat, and is built from practices with research behind them. The Sunday Scaries, 3 P.M. Slump and Back-to-Each-Other flows are open to everyone. The other four are free with your email, or comment FLOW on Instagram.

Pick your momentUnlock all seven
7 Flowsone for each moment that tends to go sideways
5–10 Minstart to finish, with a guided clock
No Mata floor, a desk or a driveway will do
3 Open nowthe other four are free with your email

Rx Flows

Yoga for the moment you're actually in.

Short, specific practices for the hard moments: the night before the week, the minutes after a fight, the hour you can't sleep, the driveway before a family gathering, the five minutes before you're on, the 3 p.m. crash, and the night you and your partner feel more like roommates.

Each flow takes five to ten minutes, needs no mat, and is built from practices with research behind them. The Sunday Scaries, 3 P.M. Slump and Back-to-Each-Other flows are open to everyone. The other four are free with your email, or comment FLOW on Instagram.

Sunday scaries?

The Sunday Scaries Flow

A 10-minute floor flow for Sunday night: write tomorrow's list, then five poses that move from hands and knees to lying on your back, with slow breathing at the end.

If this is you right now

  • I'm running tomorrow's meetings in my head
  • My chest is tight and I can't say why
  • I'm scrolling so I don't have to think about Monday
  • I'm tired, but my brain won't shut off

You're not dreading Monday. You're rehearsing it.

Your brain keeps replaying unfinished tasks so you won't forget them. Give them somewhere else to live.

You'll need: pen · paper · a wall · 10 min

  1. Before you start

    Write the list

    Write tomorrow's to-do list on paper. Be specific: “email Dana about Thursday,” not “work stuff.”

    5 min

  2. Step 1

    Cat-Cow

    Come onto your hands and knees. Breathe in as your belly drops; breathe out as you round your back toward the ceiling. Move only as fast as your breath.

    Make it easier: Make fists if your wrists complain.

    6 slow rounds

  3. Step 2

    Child's Pose

    Spread your knees wide and sit your hips back toward your heels. Rest your forehead on the floor, a pillow, or your stacked fists.

    Make it easier: Slide a pillow between your hips and heels.

    8 breaths

  4. Step 3

    Knees to Chest

    Roll onto your back and hug your knees in. Rock them side to side, small, like a cradle.

    Make it easier: Hold the backs of your thighs instead of your shins.

    6 breaths

  5. Step 4

    Knees-Down Twist

    Keep your knees bent and let them drop to the right, arms wide on the floor. Then switch to the left.

    Make it easier: Slide a pillow under your knees if they float.

    6 breaths each side

  6. Step 5

    Legs Up the Wall

    Scoot your hips close to a wall and rest your legs up it. Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Breathe in for 4, out for 6.

    Make it easier: No wall? Rest your calves on a couch or chair seat.

    2–3 min

The one rule

Slower, not deeper.

Nothing here should stretch hard. If a pose pinches, back off or skip it. If you're pregnant or recovering from back or hip surgery, rest on your side with a pillow between your knees instead of the twist and the wall.

Why it works, and what the research can't tell you yet

Two ideas carry this flow: get tomorrow's tasks out of your head, and slow your breathing until your body follows. Both have good evidence behind them. The poses are just a comfortable way to get there.

What the research shows
  • Bedtime worry keeps you awake. A leading model of insomnia holds that worrying at bedtime switches on arousal and distress, and that this cycle is what keeps sleep problems going.What it can’t tell you: It's a model supported by many studies, not a single trial, and it was built around people with insomnia.Harvey, 2002, Behaviour Research and Therapy
  • Writing a to-do list before bed. In a sleep-lab study of 57 adults aged 18 to 30, people who spent five minutes writing a to-do list fell asleep in about 15 minutes, versus about 25 for people who wrote about tasks they had already finished. The more specific the list, the faster they fell asleep. The study ran on a weeknight on purpose, when people had real tasks waiting.What it can’t tell you: One night, healthy young adults, and no group that skipped writing, so we can't say how a list compares with doing nothing. It hasn't been tested in people with insomnia yet.Scullin et al., 2018, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
  • Slow breathing. Across 223 studies, breathing slowly (around six breaths a minute) raised heart-rate variability, a marker of the calming branch of the nervous system. The effect was clearest during practice and smaller, but still there, right after one session and after weeks of practice.What it can’t tell you: Heart-rate variability is a body signal, not a feeling, so a higher reading doesn't guarantee you'll feel calm. The 4-in, 6-out count is a pacing tool: the slowing is what matters, not the exact ratio.Laborde et al., 2022, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
  • A hand on your chest and belly. 159 adults gave themselves 20 seconds of soothing touch, almost all with one hand on the heart and one on the belly, before a stressful public-speaking test. Their cortisol, a stress hormone, came out lower than in a group that folded paper planes.What it can’t tell you: Their heart rate and how stressed they said they felt didn't change. It was a short lab stressor, not a Sunday night.Dreisörner et al., 2021, Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology
  • Yoga and sleep, in general. Across 19 trials with 1,832 women, yoga programs improved self-rated sleep quality compared with control groups, with no serious side effects.What it can’t tell you: Women only, and programs that ran for weeks, not one session. It didn't help in every group studied.Wang et al., 2020, BMC Psychiatry
Why each step is in the flow
  • Write the list. Gives the to-do list a place to live that isn't your head. This is the step with the most direct evidence.
  • Cat-Cow. Sets the pace. Each move rides one slow breath, so your breathing slows before you think about it. No study tests Cat-Cow on its own.
  • Child's Pose, Knees to Chest, Twist. Comfort, not chemistry. These are easy shapes that keep you still and breathing slowly. Twists don't detox anything, and we don't claim they do.
  • Legs Up the Wall. Slow breathing plus a hand on your chest and belly. The wall doesn't drain or reverse anything. It's a position you can hold, still, for three minutes of slow breaths.

No research has tested this exact flow. It is built from pieces that each have their own evidence, and it is a practice, not a treatment.

3 p.m. Slump?

The 3 P.M. Slump Flow

A 10-minute standing flow for the afternoon crash: walk for two minutes, then five desk-friendly moves that wake your body up instead of calming it down.

If this is you right now

  • I've read the same email three times
  • I'm reaching for coffee or a snack I don't really want
  • My eyes are heavy and it isn't even dinnertime
  • I've been sitting so long my hips forgot they exist

You're not lazy. You've been still too long.

Hours in a chair leave you flat and foggy. About ten minutes of real movement tends to bring your energy back. Four wasn't enough in one study, so don't cut it short.

You'll need: standing room · a desk · 10 min

  1. Before you start

    Stand up. Walk

    Walk for two minutes: stairs, a hallway, laps around the room. Swing your arms. Faster than a stroll.

    2 min

  2. Step 1

    Desk Salutation

    Hands on the edge of a desk. Walk your feet back into a flat-back fold, then walk in, stand tall and reach both arms overhead.

    Make it easier: Skip the fold. Just reach up and lower your arms with your breath.

    6 rounds

  3. Step 2

    High-Knee March

    March in place, lifting your knees high and swinging your arms. Pick up the pace for the last 20 seconds.

    Make it easier: Lower knees, or hold the desk for balance.

    1 min

  4. Step 3

    Lunge and Twist

    Step your right foot back into a lunge, hands at your heart, and twist toward your front knee. Step in, switch sides. Keep moving.

    Make it easier: Hold a chair, or make the lunge shallow.

    5 each side

  5. Step 4

    Desk Warrior III

    Hands on the desk, step back, and lift one leg straight behind you so your body makes a T. Hold, then switch.

    Make it easier: Keep your back toes on the floor.

    5 breaths each side

  6. Step 5

    Reach and Go

    Sweep your arms up as you breathe in through your nose, down as you breathe out. Ten quick rounds. Then start your next task right away.

    Make it easier: Smaller arm sweeps.

    10 rounds

The one rule

Brisk, not breathless.

Brisk, not breathless: you should be able to talk the whole time. Dizzy, chest pain, or can't catch your breath? Stop and sit. Knee or balance trouble? Keep one hand on the desk for every step.

Why it works, and what the research can't tell you yet

This is the one Rx Flow that wakes you up instead of calming you down. The research is clear on the dose: it takes about ten minutes of real movement, not a quick stretch.

What the research shows
  • One bout of movement raises energy. A review of single exercise sessions found that feelings of energy went up after exercise, compared with sitting quietly, in 91% of comparisons.What it can’t tell you: Feeling less tired is a different story. Fatigue dropped reliably only after longer sessions, around 20 minutes or more. Expect more energy, not necessarily less tiredness.Loy, O'Connor & Dishman, 2013, Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior
  • Ten minutes beat a can of soda. 18 sleep-deprived college women walked up and down stairs at an easy pace for 10 minutes on one day and took 50 mg of caffeine (about a can of soda) on another. The stairs boosted their sense of energy more than the caffeine did.What it can’t tell you: A small study of young women. The stairs didn't improve memory or attention, and the energy boost was short-lived.Randolph & O'Connor, 2017, Physiology & Behavior
  • Four minutes wasn't enough. 36 young adults walked stairs for 4 minutes or sat. The 4-minute walk raised heart rate but didn't change feelings of energy or fatigue.What it can’t tell you: The volunteers started out feeling unusually energetic, which leaves less room to improve. Still, it's why this flow runs about ten minutes.Carmichael, O'Connor & Gay, 2022, Frontiers in Psychology
Why each step is in the flow
  • Stand up. Walk.. The closest match to the stair-walking studies: easy, steady movement that gets your heart rate up.
  • Desk Salutation, High-Knee March, Lunge and Twist. More full-body movement to reach the ten-minute dose, all doable in work clothes. No study tests these moves on their own.
  • Desk Warrior III. A balance hold that takes focus, a change of pace from the moving steps.
  • Reach and Go. Quick arm sweeps to finish, then straight back to work while the energy is up. The "start your next task now" part is a habit tip, not a research finding.

No research has tested this exact flow. It is built from pieces that each have their own evidence, and it is a practice, not a treatment.

Feeling like roommates?

The Back-to-Each-Other Flow

A 9-minute flow for two: sit back to back and breathe, twist, then stand up and hold each other up. No mat, no experience and no flexibility required.

If this is the two of you lately

  • We’ve been running the house like coworkers
  • Most of what we say to each other is logistics
  • Same couch, two phones
  • I miss us, and I’m not sure how to say it

Maybe nothing is wrong. Maybe nothing is new.

In lab studies, seven minutes of doing something new and a little hard together lifted how couples rated their relationship. This is nine.

You’ll need: a partner · a floor · 9 min

  1. Before you start

    Ask. Pick a Word

    Phones go in another room. Ask: “Want to try nine minutes of something new with me?” Then agree on one word, like “ease,” that means back off right now, no questions.

    1 min

  2. Step 1

    Back-to-Back Breathing

    Sit on the floor back to back, legs crossed. Lean in just enough to feel each other’s ribs move. Breathe slowly through your nose. Don’t try to match. Just notice.

    Make it easier: Sit on cushions, or on two chairs turned back to back.

    10 slow breaths

  3. Step 2

    Back-to-Back Twist

    Stay back to back and sit tall. Both of you turn to your own right: left hand on your right knee, right hand resting on your partner’s left knee behind you. Breathe, then switch sides.

    Make it easier: Keep both hands on your own knees. Pregnant? Turn only a little.

    4 breaths each side

  4. Step 3

    Lean-Away Chair

    Stand up and face each other. Hold each other’s forearms, wrist to wrist. Lean back until your arms are straight, then sit down into a chair together. Stand up, shake out your arms and do it once more.

    Make it easier: Sit back only a few inches. Different sizes? The bigger partner sits lower and leans less.

    2 rounds of 4 breaths

  5. Step 4

    Double Tree

    Stand side by side, hip to hip, inside arms around each other’s waist. Stand on your inside leg and set your outside foot on your ankle or calf. Press your outside palms together in front. Then trade places for the other leg.

    Make it easier: Keep your toes on the floor like a kickstand, or stand next to a wall.

    5 breaths each side

  6. Step 5

    Three Breaths. One Sentence

    Ask: “Hug?” Hold on for three slow breaths, and don’t be the first to let go. Then each of you finish this out loud: “One thing I appreciated about you this week is ___.”

    Make it easier: Not a hugger tonight? Hold both hands instead.

    3 breaths + 1 sentence each

The one rule

Lean. Don’t pull.

Either of you can say your word at any point, and you both back off right away. Nobody pushes or pulls a partner deeper into a pose. Bare feet, on a floor that isn’t slick. Pregnant, or have a sore knee, back or wrist? Use the easier versions and keep a wall within reach. If being close to your partner doesn’t feel safe, this flow isn’t the right tool. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or visit thehotline.org.

Why it works, and what the research can't tell you yet

Nobody has tested a nine-minute couples’ yoga flow. What has been tested are its ingredients: doing something new together, touch, and saying thanks. Here is what those studies found, and where each one stops.

What the research shows
  • Do something new together. In three lab experiments, couples spent seven minutes on a task that was new and physically awkward, moving across a mat while strapped together at the wrist and ankle. Afterward they rated their relationship higher than couples given a plain task, and a no-task comparison showed the lift came from the new one.What it can’t tell you: The ratings were taken right after the task, in a lab. Nobody knows how long the lift lasts, and new wears off: the tenth time through this flow is no longer new.Aron, Norman, Aron, McKenna & Heyman, 2000, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
  • Touch, and breathing in step. 22 couples were wired for breathing and heart rate while one partner went through a pain test. Pain knocked the two bodies out of step with each other. Holding hands brought their breathing and heart rates back into step.What it can’t tell you: Young heterosexual couples, 23 to 32, and only the women took the pain test. Being in step is a measurement. The study doesn’t show that it makes a couple closer, which is why Step 1 says notice, not match.Goldstein, Weissman-Fogel & Shamay-Tsoory, 2017, Scientific Reports
  • Warm touch, practiced. 34 married couples were randomly assigned to four weeks of practicing warm touch at home, including neck and shoulder massage, or to simply keeping records. The touch group had more oxytocin in their saliva and less alpha-amylase, a stress marker, and the husbands’ 24-hour systolic blood pressure was lower than in the comparison group.What it can’t tell you: That was about 30 minutes of massage three times a week for a month, in healthy couples in their 20s and 30s. It isn’t a hug at the end of a nine-minute flow. The study’s summary reports nothing for cortisol or for the wives’ blood pressure.Holt-Lunstad, Birmingham & Light, 2008, Psychosomatic Medicine
  • Partner yoga, inside a bigger program. 44 couples who were already doing well were randomly assigned to an eight-week mindfulness course for couples, which included partner yoga, or to a wait-list. The course couples reported more satisfaction, closeness and acceptance of each other, and less relationship distress.What it can’t tell you: Partner yoga was one piece of eight weekly 2.5-hour sessions plus a full-day retreat, so its share can’t be separated out. A wait-list is a weak comparison, and these couples were happy to begin with.Carson, Carson, Gil & Baucom, 2004, Behavior Therapy
  • Hugs. 404 adults were asked about their conflicts and their hugs every evening for two weeks, then exposed to a cold virus. Among people with frequent conflict, feeling supported lowered the odds of infection, and hugs accounted for about a third of that protection. Among those who got sick, more hugs went with milder illness.What it can’t tell you: Hugs were counted, not assigned, so people who get hugged a lot may differ in other ways. Three breaths is a teaching choice, not a tested dose.Cohen, Janicki-Deverts, Turner & Doyle, 2015, Psychological Science
  • Thanks, said to your partner. 67 couples kept nightly diaries for two weeks. On days when one partner felt grateful for something the other did, both of them reported feeling more connected and more satisfied with the relationship the next day.What it can’t tell you: Diaries show a pattern, not a cause. The study tracked feeling grateful. Saying it out loud is the practical step added here.Algoe, Gable & Maisel, 2010, Personal Relationships
Why each step is in the flow
  • Ask. Pick a Word. Asking first and having a stop word are safety habits, not research findings. Phones in another room is a practical choice too.
  • Back-to-Back Breathing. Touch plus slow breathing. Your breathing may fall into step or it may not. Either one is fine.
  • Back-to-Back Twist. An easy warm-up for the spine that keeps you in contact. No study tests this pose, and twists don’t detox anything.
  • Lean-Away Chair, Double Tree. The new and slightly hard part, which is where the seven-minute experiments point. Each of you is holding the other up, and wobbling together counts.
  • Three Breaths. One Sentence. A hug and a thank-you, the two cheapest pieces of evidence on this page.

No research has tested this exact flow. It is built from pieces that each have their own evidence. It is a practice, not couples therapy.

Four more flows

Four more flows, free.

The minutes after a fight, the hour you can't sleep, the driveway before a family gathering, and the five minutes before you're on. Each comes with the guided timer, voice and full research notes. Add your email and they open right away.

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These flows are general wellness practices, not medical treatment. If something hurts, stop. If a pattern keeps coming back, talk to a professional who can see the whole picture.