5 Easy Office Yoga Poses

Hi, I'm Chris Freytag. It's no surprise that sitting at a desk all day is not good for our health. Not to mention that many of us have stressful jobs that leave us feeling frazzled. So to alleviate some of your built-up tension and stress try these five yoga poses for a midday pick-me-up. Start with one minute of deep breathing and then hold each pose for about a minute. And you've got a new outlook for the rest of the day. And don't worry because these poses are not gonna to twist you into a pretzel. They can actually be performed in your office attire and you really will feel great. So let's start with cat-cow stretch. You're just gonna push back from your desk and you're gonna round your spine into cat. Look for your belly button and just round all the way. Really try to open up and then come into cow stretch which is opening up the crown of the head away from the tailbone. Move between these two stretches for about a minute, just feel that really good stretch. Next, come into your seated twist. So you can hold onto your desk in one side of the chair and just wrap your rib cage all the way around. Think about wringing out a washcloth with your core body. You're just twisting it. Hold this stretch for about a minute if you can, which is a long time, breathing, and then go to the other side, just deep breathing and trying to alleviate some of that tension. Next, side bend stretch. This one really, really makes a difference. You're gonna reach up high and just come up and out of your waistband. One hand down on the chair, just stretch up and over and then you're going to repeat it on the other side reaching up and out of your waistband. Just stretch. Then we're going to come into forward fold. So you're going to step up out of your chair and you're going to come over. Now, if your hamstrings are tight you want to soften your knees just slightly. You're gonna come all the way over, drop the forehead towards the knees and just reach your hands down towards your shins or your toes, whatever feels good. Deep breathing for about a minute in this position is awesome. And then last but not least we're gonna come into a modified down dog. You can place your hands on your desk or on your chair if you want a little deeper stretch. Be nice and secure. Push your feet about two feet away and then press back into this modified down dog, digging your heels down towards the ground, pressing your palms into the chair seat or the desk and opening up through your back. Just breathe nice and deep and release. If you give these five stretches a try, maybe even every day, you will have a new outlook on life.