If you look online, and nowhere else, for fitness advice, then you probably think it's impossible to get healthy without intense, sweat-drenching exercise. But as you will see in the article below, becoming your healthiest self does not require boot camp style workouts. Research shows in fact that those people who live well beyond the life expectancy of humans in various regions simply engage in consistent, gentle exercise. Read below to learn more about what gentle exercise is, what types of Eastern medicine-based gentle exercise have helped me, and ways you can add gentle exercise to your daily routine today.
What is gentle exercise?
Gentle exercise, or light exercise, is physical activity under three METs, or metabolic equivalents. One MET is the amount of oxygen consumed while sitting at rest, therefore light exercise consumes three times or less the amount of oxygen consumed at rest. In simpler terms, light exercise is activity in which a person has enough lung capacity to sing while engaging in the activity. Examples of light exercise include:
Casual walking
Stretching
Light weight training
Light yard and house work
Leisurely sports like playing catch or kickball
Gardening
Bicycling less than 5 miles per hour
Benefits of light exercise
Light exercise can provide a way for a person to move each day and support their heart health no matter their ability. It is a low impact way to support the health of your body and mind that is more sustainable than more vigorous exercises like running or kickboxing that may not be safe or sustainable for some people.
Research shows that frequent bouts of regular light exercise can help improve glycemic control and may help lower risk of heart health and metabolic issues. Not only that, but a 2022 study review shows that physical activity is an effective way to help reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, which in turn can help improve sleep patterns. By improving sleep, a person can help reduce their risk of chronic disease in the long term.
Regular physical activity is essential for reducing chronic disease risk factors and in turn improving quality of life. Therefore, you should find a way of staying active that is enjoyable for you and that you can maintain for the long term to reap the most health benefits.
Eastern medicine based gentle exercises
When it comes to Eastern medicine-based gentle exercise, you may be familiar with yoga and tai chi, for example. But what you may not realize is that these types of exercises can help provide more than just a physical benefit. A 2021 study shows that regular light exercise may help improve cognitive function.
Yoga
Yoga is a practice whose origin is around 2500 to 5000 years ago. Yoga means "to unite" in Sanskrit, which is fitting since this type of gentle exercise helps to unite body, mind, and spirit in order to help improve health. Yoga was introduced to the United States in 1893 at the World Conference on religions in Chicago. Originally used as a spiritual practice, the current practice of yoga in modern society has been used to help improve physical and psychological well-being.
Studies on yoga show benefits ranging from lower odds of developing chronic disease in middle age and older adults as well as flexibility, strength, and balance. There are many different types of yoga that range from restorative gentle yoga that focuses on slow breathing and calm, controlled movements to help reduce blood pressure, to power yoga that incorporates heated rooms and high energy flows that is designed for athletes, to vinyasa yoga that involves a steady flow of movements with synchronized breathing. These are just a few of many types of yoga. We'll discuss a few more types below. If one form of yoga is not the right fit for you, you can try another form to see if it works better so you can reap the health benefits of this gentle exercise.
Chair Yoga
If health issues prevent you from bending over, balancing, standing for a long time, or getting up and down off of the floor, that doesn't mean that yoga is out of the picture. Chair yoga is a form of yoga where all yoga moves are performed in a chair. Participants of chair yoga are taught relaxation breathing, meditation, and modified yoga poses all while sitting down.
A study found that engaging in chair yoga for 45 minutes twice a week for eight weeks helped reduce pain and fatigue in older adults with osteoarthritis. Furthermore, a 12-week chair yoga study shows that it could help improve the functional fitness and daily life of community-dwelling elderly females with knee osteoarthritis. Chair yoga may help improve flexibility in this population which in turn could help enhance ones' mobility, reduce one's blood pressure and stress, reduce risk of depression, and help reduce one's fall-related injury risk.
Some great online resources for chair yoga include Yoga with Kassandra, Silver Sneakers, or Bottoms Down classes, to name a few. You can also use a DVD class like Yoga Vitality (paid link), or Chair Yoga for Weight Loss.
Yin Yoga
A type of yin yoga that I recently discovered is yin yoga. My greatest challenge is overcoming anxiety and stress. Yin yoga was recommended to me by my therapist to help with this. Yin yoga involves a slower-paced form of movement that holds certain yoga poses for extended periods of time from a few minutes up to five minutes. By doing this, it targets the connective tissues, helps to relieve tension, helps you focus on your breathing, and in doing so helps to enhance mindfulness. This type of yoga is especially beneficial to anyone who has experienced trauma or burnout, and from my personal experience, can help those with anxiety or chronic stress to release negative energies from the muscles.
A 2021 study looked at the effects of a six-week pilot program of yin yoga that involved once weekly yin yoga classes followed by guided meditation. Results show that study participants had a reduction in stress and anxiety levels as well as an increase in mindfulness.
Another study on yin yoga looked at the effects of a five week yin yoga program as compared with a five week yin yoga program along with psychoeducation and mindfulness practice and with a control group that engaged in no yoga or mindfulness. Results show that both of the yin yoga programs helped participants reduce physiological and psychological risk factors linked with non-communicable disease like heart disease.
Tai Chi
Another Eastern-based exercise program that can help enhance the health of body and mind is tai chi. Tai chi is a meditative martial art with origins in China as far back as 3000 years ago. It is also known as shadow boxing and means "the ultimate of ultimate." Tai chi's essential principles are based on the ancient Chines philosophy of Taoism. This philosophy stresses the natural balance in all things and speaks of everything in life being composed of two opposite, but complementary elements of yin and yang. Tai chi exercises use this philosophy to provide balanced exercises, which is likely why its so effective in improving physical and mental health.
Tai chi exercises involve mindfulness practice, flexibility exercises, and structural alignment. A 2025 study looked at the effects of Tai chi versus aerobic exercise for three months on health factors. Results shows that the Tai chi group had significantly greater reductions in depressive symptoms and serum lipid levels than those in the aerobic exercise program. A 2025 study review confirmed such findings by showing that regular Tai chi exercise can help improve self esteem in adults.
You may imagine that Tai chi may be an exercise program geared towards older adults, but you would be wrong. A 2025 study of college students shows that those who underwent three 45-minute Tai chi sessions for twelve weeks had significant improvements in physical health performance as compared to those in the control group who did not engage in Tai chi.
How you can add gentle exercise to your daily routine
Adding any exercise to your routine may be a challenge. You may feel like you don't have time to fit any more into your schedule, or that you don't feel motivated to move any more than you already do. Look below for tips on how you can start adding more gentle exercise in your schedule today.
Start with exercises you can do at home: If you're short on time, or not feeling motivated to leave the house to exercise, then find some exercises you can do at home. You can download an app like ____ on your phone for online classes, or subscribe to apps on your SmartTV like Peloton or ____ that provide classes of all levels and lengths you can do anytime in the comfort of your home. This can help you get used to the exercises involved in light exercise classes, so you can eventually perform them outside of the home in classes or on your own, if you prefer.
Just five minutes daily to start: Start your gentle exercise journey by just engaging in such exercises for five minutes a day. This will get you into a habit of doing this, and eventually you can start increasing the time you engage in exercise daily.
Find classes at your community center: If you don't feel motivated to exercise at home, then look for a gentle exercise class in your local community. This way you can meet people while helping your body and mind feel its best.
Invite a friend or loved one to join you: Inviting someone you know to go on regular walks with you or attend a gentle exercise class with can help motivate you to go and make such behaviors into healthy habits.
Bottom line on gentle exercise
Gentle exercise may not get your heart pumping and sweat dripping like some more vigorous workouts. But physical activity does not always have to be intense to be helpful. Gentle exercise can help you start building a consistent habit of moving each day in a way that is not intimidating. It can help you improve your heart and metabolic health at home while helping to improve your sleep and support brain health.
To get started with your gentle exercise routine, it's as simple as searching on your phone for a free online class, visit your local community center for an in-person class, or simply starting with a walk outside with friends or family. Every step you take is a step in the right direction to improving your health.
Sources:
About gentle and light exercise:
Benefits of light exercise:
Mental health benefits of light exercise:
Specific benefits of yoga and tai chi:
Yoga:
Chair Yoga:
Yin Yoga:
Tai chi:
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