Feeling tense and stressed at work? Take a couple of minutes to relax and chill out with these simple yoga techniques that you can do at your desk.
The following book extract is taken from Nine 2 Five Yoga by Caroline Smart (published by New Holland, £6.99) and reproduced by kind permission.
Relieves tension in the neck, back and shoulders. Increases lung capacity. Prevents Dowager's hump.
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1. Place fingertips on shoulders with elbows bent in front of you. Breathe in. |
| 2. Breathing out, drop your chin to your chest and bring your elbows together in front of your body. |  |
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3. Breathing out, lift your head up and back, drawing your elbows back as though they want to touch behind your back. |
Get into a rhythm and repeat ten times.
Done sitting or standing, this is great for stiff shoulders and necks.
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1. Sit on the edge of your chair, feet parallel, flat on the floor and about a foot apart. Lift out of sitting bones. Feel as though you are trying to press the small of your back against the wall behind you; your shoulders are relaxed and down, the back of your neck long. (Imagine you are pressing the back of your neck against the wall behind you. Your chin will drop a fraction and the crown of your head will be the tallest point of your body). |
| 2. Take your left hand behind your back, palms outwards. Encourage it as high up between your shoulder blades as you can (use your other arm to help it up). Keep your left shoulder back and down. |  |
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3. Breathe in and raise your right hand up to the ceiling. Then relax all of
your right side on the out breath. 4. Breathe in and begin to stretch through the right side of your waist, your armpit, elbow, wrist, fingers. Stretch towards the ceiling. |
| 5. Breathe out and drop your right hand down behind you to
clasp hold of the waiting left fingers. Keep shoulders and elbows back. 6. Hold for two breaths, unclasp hands and repeat on the opposite side. |
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Tip: If you find that you cannot reach, hold a tie or belt or scarf in the top hand and let it hang down so that the lower hand can catch hold of it. Try moving hands closer together using it and you should improve the looseness of your shoulders. |
Twists are movements that you might not do in everyday situations, yet they are wonderful for the spine, and it's well worth the effort of incorporating them into your daily routine. Think of a twist as wringing out a wet sponge, getting rid of all the water. As soon as the spine straightens again, fresh blood rushes along its length, bathing all the nerve endings. Internal organs get a squeeze too!
Remember, you have to do it to both sides and you can even have a double twist, where you turn the neck and head the opposite way to the lower twist.
You have to do this on a chair with no armrests.
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1. Sit on the chair so that your legs are over the side and your right hip is as close into the chair back as possible; your bottom should be near the far edge of the seat. Make sure you are sitting tall, small of back pressed towards the wall behind you, shoulders relaxed and down, back of your neck long. |
| 2. Breathing in, turn to face over the chair back, taking hold of each side. You should feel the spine twisting from the bottom up. See if you can have your shoulders in line with the back of the chair. |  |
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3. Stay like that and breathe out, turning your head directly over your shoulder in the direction which you turned. You can push against the chair with your hands to get further into the twist.
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| 4. Breathing in, slowly turn your head to look the opposite way. Try not to lose height in the spine. It's just your head and neck that move. |  |
Repeat the opposite side, placing your left hip against the back of the chair.
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1. Elbows tucked into your sides palms together in a prayer pose and keeping fingertips touching, push your hands open. Keep pressing fingertips firmly for 10 seconds. Relax hands together and repeat. | |
| 2. Elbows tucked into your sides hold your hands out in front of you, palms down, and beginning with the thumbs and index fingers touching, flick each finger away in turn. Then reverse back from the little fingers. |  |
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3. Forearms resting on your desk, fingers soft and relaxed, keep your little fingers in contact with the desk, roll your hands outwards so that both palms face the ceiling. Roll the hands inwards. | |
Do these before you begin any long stretches at the keyboard
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1. Open and close your fist a dozen times. Stretch out (but don't tense) fingers and thumbs as wide as possible. | |
| 2. Make loose fists and make slow circles with your wrist five times in one direction, then five times in the other. |  |
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3. With wrists bent and palms forward, press the top half of the fingers into the edge of the desk. Repeat several times. |
| 4. With elbows bent, and hands at shoulder level, shake your hands as though you were shaking water from your fingers. Shake away any tension and tiredness in your hand. |  |
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Cleansing or woodchopper breath
Done either seated or standing, this is good for releasing anger.
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1. Stand with feet hip-width apart. Interlock your fingers and raise straight arms above your head. 2. Breathe out through the mouth with a 'ha' sound as you bend forward. Arms swing through the legs, as though you were chopping wood. Bend your knees slightly at the same time and pull in abdominal muscles to squeeze out all the air from the bottom of the lungs. |
| 3. Breathe in deeply through the nostrils as you straighten up. Arms come back up over your head. Knees should be slightly bent to protect the lower back. |  |
Repeat three times. As you do so, feel the stale air leaving your lungs and being replaced with clean air.
AVOID if you have high blood pressure.