Do Yoga at Your Desk! VIDEOS
Do your mind and body feel fatigued after sitting at your computer all day?
Did you know you can do Yoga at your desk?
Check out these quick, simple Chair Yoga practices that will ease tension in your body and refresh your mind in under 10 minutes!
Begin with Belly Breathing:
Push back away from your desk and sit up tall in your chair. Rest one hand on the belly and one hand on the chest. Breathe in and out through the nose. Notice which hand is feeling the movement as you breathe. If there’s a lot of upward movement in your chest, start to shift that movement down into the belly. Inhale and expand the belly. Exhale and let the belly move back toward the spine. Inhale and expand, keeping the chest still. Exhale and let the belly come back toward the spine. Inhale fill the belly with air. Exhale relax and soften.
Next, stretch your neck and shoulders:
Roll the shoulders to the front a few times. And then roll them to the back. Lean the head to the right side, left hand resting in your lap or reaching down by your side. Next, turn the gaze slight down to the right corner. Lastly, dip your chin toward the right collar bone.
Come back to center and retract your chin like your trying to press the back of your head into the wall behind your. Repeat on the left side. Finally, come back to neutral and lower the chin to the center of the chest with both hands reaching to the ground on either side of your chair. Bring the head back up and roll the shoulders up, back, and down one more time.
Let’s get the spine moving:
Step your feet a bit wider than hip distance for cat/cow. Inhale, arch the spine and look up. Exhale, round the spine and drop the head. Repeat for 2-3 rounds of breath.
Come back to neutral. Inhale tall and exhale rotate to the right. Inhale to the center. Exhale and rotate the left. Repeat for 2-4 rounds of breathe.
Come back to the center and exhale to lean over to the right. Inhale center and exhale lean over to the left. For lateral flexion, you can keep both arms down or reach the top arm up and over. Keep the hips equally rooted in the seat.
Lastly, stretch those hips:
Cross your right ankle over your left knee for Figure 4 stretch. Flex your foot, sit up tall, and hinge forward slightly to increase the stretch. If you want to decrease the stretch, lean back in your chair.
Release and pivot to the left to lunge in your chair. Hold on the back of the chair for stability. If you’d like to feel a deeper stretch in the front of the thigh, pull the back foot in.
Release and repeat both stretches on the left side. Come back to center and notice how you feel!
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Alicia Cross is a Certified Personal Trainer, Accountability Coach, and Yoga Teacher with more than 18 years’ experience working with clients just like you. If you have questions, email Alicia@AliciaCrossTraining.com.
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