As finals creep in, the stress just piles up day by day. It seems like the workload gets heavier this time of year, or the summer mentality kicked in too soon. But whether you’re stressing over your grade point average or what raves you’re going to after your last exam, yoga will make your transition from school to summer that much easier.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced neck pain from sitting too long. An easy sitting stretch is a seated cactus.

Inhale and reach for the sky, exhale into cactus arms, inhale reaching for the sky, place palms together, exhale reach for your back pointing your elbow towards the sealing. You can repeat this sequence or add the leg stretch where you put your ankle to you knee inhale and sit up, then exhale and lean over. Photo Credit: Melody Waintal/SAC.Media

The best part of yoga is that the timing is really up to your own body, so when you feel like letting go, just be like Elsa and let it go.

I also recommend the sun salutations. It’s perfect for small study breaks. This is a really great stretch for your neck, back and shoulders. It releases the tension off of your neck and back. You can also practice this anywhere. Just find a wall to keep people from coming up behind you.

If you want to take it another step further, or you just don’t want to get back to work, the full sun salutations includes chaturangas and other asanas you probably never heard of but have seen all the time.

You can repeat this as many times as you want to release any tension. You’ll notice how much easier it is to focus after you’ve done the full sun salutation three times in a row – chaturangas included.

Now it’s your turn. If you want to take a break and relax, these exercises, stretches and “asanas” will make it easier to study and end the semester strong.