Yoga in the office?

How to do yoga in the office with no one noticing….and still reap the benefits

Ever walked out of the office feeling like your back is half the length it used to be, your legs don’t work and you don’t even have a neck? I know I have…

Our office based lifestyles, running from meeting to meeting and spending hours hunched over a desk are really not very conducive to a loose, relaxed body. When the most action our body sees during the day is picking up the phone or hunting for that invoice you’ve lost it’s no wonder when you step out of the door at lunchtime or the end of the day your body feels like it’s been hit by a bus.

We know slouching in a chair isn’t good for us.

We know crossing our legs is not a great idea.

And we know we should all be drinking more water.

But is there something else we can incorporate to mean we leave a little less stiff at the end of the day?

How about a little yoga in the office?

I’m not saying every hour on the hour you have to bust out a few sun salutations, (I understand that in most offices that would seem a little weird), or that you need to necessarily involve the whole office, but how about five super easy stretches you can do which fit in easily with your office routine?

The Tea Break Eagle

You’ve managed to make it away from your desk and even all the way to the kitchen without anyone collaring you. The kettle is on, the cuppa is almost there, so make the most of the time waiting for the kettle to boil to stretch out those tight shoulders.

• Standing nice and straight bring your arms out straight in front of you
• Cross the right arm over the left up above the elbow joint
• Bend the elbows and either bring the backs of the hands to touch or fully wrap the arms so the palms come to meet
• Remember to breathe!
• Drop the shoulders away from the ears, lift the elbows and push the hands away from the face
• Eagle pose, the most gorgeous stretch for the shoulders and  a must after a day of emails
• Remember to repeat on the other side!

Phonecall Pigeons

Never ending conference calls or constant phone calls with suppliers meaning you just can’t leave your chair? Stretching out through the hips and bringing a little forward fold into your spine can make all difference to how stiff you are at the end of the day, so give these seated pigeons a go.

• Seated in your office chair place your left foot flat on the floor
• Lift the right leg, bend it and place the ankle on to the left thigh just above the knee so that the leg is now parallel with the edge of the desk
• You can keep the pigeon stretch like this but if you want to intensify then hinge at the hips and work towards bringing the forehead to the desk (Probably not a good idea if it’s a video call…..)
• Stay in the stretch for as long as is comfortable, grounding equally in both bum cheeks and then swap legs

Send and Receive Shoulder Stretch

Tight shoulders and lower back ache are two of the most common work day physical gripes. Sitting at a desk, often typing all day, means our shoulders naturally hunch forward and we end up super tight across the front of the chest. As well as consciously rolling your shoulders back and down, give this a go after a particularly long email chain while waiting for the next one to roll in.

• Sitting tall with your feet flat on the floor, roll the shoulders back and down feeling an opening in your chest
• Clasp your hands together behind your back and work on drawing the heels of the hands to each other
• This should feel like a good stretch through the front of the chest and the shoulders but to increase try lifting the hands away from the back

Waiting for the Lift Wall Downward Dogs

Waiting for the lift, waiting for a meeting room, waiting for a colleague? Use those thirty seconds to fully stretch through the whole back body with some wall downward dogs

• Stand arm’s length away from the wall and place the hands at shoulder height
• With the hands remaining on the wall slowly walk them down, bringing the feet backwards as needed until the hands and the back are parallel to the floor and your legs and torso are at right angles to each other
• Breathe and enjoy that stretch from the achilles, through the hamstrings and spine and right up into the arms

Photocopying Standing Twists

Waiting for the printer to do its thing? How about using this time to give your spine a little love? Twists are so good for the back, they help lubricate the spine as well as taking it in another range of motion and they’re great for digestion too

• Stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart at the corner of the photocopier
• Place one hand on the corner of the photocopier as a little bit of leverage and start to move your torso in the opposite direction
• Deepen your twist with each exhale until your gaze is moving over the opposite shoulder
• Move back to centre with control and repeat on the other side, enjoying the twist in both directions
• Collect your print job!

Oh and one more tiny office life tip….if your body is tensing, your head is hurting and the whole day is getting on top of you. Take a moment, check your breath is moving through your entire torso, take a big inhale, lifting through the waist and a big exhale, rolling the shoulders away and notice the difference.

If adding these little movements into your day isn’t quite hitting the spot then there’s also always the option to add a yoga class into your workday. Yoga in the workplace is a real thing, yoga teachers up and down the country are heading into boardrooms. Try contacting a few local yoga teachers or if you’re in Kent or Oxfordshire head on over here to find out more