Desk Stretch: Posture Reset

Many of us spend our workdays hunched forward and rounded in. This leaves the muscles in our backs—from our necks all the way down—over-stretched, over-stressed, weak, tired, and sore. Here’s a 5-minute break you can take anytime, anywhere to open up that compressed shape and find strength, length, and space.

Transcript

Hi, This is Paige and this is a short practice to help you reset your posture if you've been spending a lot of time sitting, Hunching over a device, Compressing and rounding in. So let's do this practice standing just to open up the space in the front of the hips at the very start. Come to an easy standing position. You can be right there by your desk or your workspace. Feel your feet on the ground. Imagine that you could feel the crown of your head stretching up toward the sky. So right here at the beginning you start to get a little taller, A little bit more space. Interlace your hands right up at the webbing in between your fingers. So sometimes this is nice if you've been doing a lot of work on a keyboard or on a device just to get your fingers interlaced and then press your interlaced palms forward. You feel a little bit of a stretch from your fingers all the way through your palms, Maybe even into your wrists. And then see how it feels to you to stretch your interlaced hands up overhead. So your arms will be beside your ears, Interlaced hands stretching up overhead, Open palms pressing up toward the sky. Let's take in a nice big inhale here. And when you're ready to exhale, Hinge up and over to your right. So you could really stand that left foot down and feel the whole left body respond. And then inhale all the way back through center. Inhale up and over to your left, Your right foot grounds, Your whole right body begins to open up a little bit. Inhale all the way back through center, Release the interlace of your hands and interlace them the other way so we get that little bit of balance in the body just by interlacing the hands the other way. And we'll do that same thing again. Take an inhale, Maybe feel yourself get a little bit taller. Exhale up and over to your right, Your left foot really plants, Your whole body responds to this teasing open. Inhale back through center, Exhale up and over to your left, Right foot grounds, Right body begins to peel open a little bit more. All the way back through center, Release the interlace of your hands and maybe swirl your wrists as your arms float back down by your sides. When you're ready to inhale, Stretch your arms back up alongside your ears. This time you don't have to interlace fingers, Just let your arms be long and your hands be wide open. When you feel ready to exhale, Twist your body to the right and open your arms wide with your palms facing up so you're stretching from the center of your chest out through your fingertips. And then inhale, Come all the way back through center so long and tall with your fingertips reaching up toward the sky. As you exhale, Twist left, Opening from your chest out through your fingertips, Your arms spread open wide like wings. Inhale all the way back through center, Both arms now stretching up alongside your ears. This time as you exhale, Stay facing forward, Bend your elbows and slide your shoulder blades down your back. Your arms are making the shape of a goal post. And then inhale, Stretch your arms long again like you're reaching from your outer feet all the way up through your fingertips. Again, As you exhale, Bend your elbows, Slide your shoulder blades down your back as your arms lower down to the shape of a goal post. Do that once more. Inhale reaching up through your fingertips as you plant your feet. Exhale, Bend your elbows, Slide your shoulder blades down your back as you lower your arms into the shape of a goal post. And then relax your arms by your sides. Feel yourself standing tall. From here, Jut your chin forward. So it's almost like you're making a little turtle shape with your head and your neck. We could call this text neck. And then hug your chin back. Feel the back of your neck get a little bit more spacious, Almost as if the back of your skull is lifting up off your spine as you draw your chin back in. So jut your chin forward again like you're peering at a text. And then exhale, Draw your chin back in, Lengthen through the back of your neck and all the way up through the crown of your head. Do that twice more on your breath as you inhale, Jut your chin forward like you're making a little turtle shape with your head and your neck. Exhale, Draw your chin back, Lengthen through the back of your neck, Reach through the crown of your head. Once more, Inhale, Chin juts forward. And as you exhale, Slowly draw your chin back in, Lengthen through the back of your neck, Reach through the crown of your head. Exhale effort, Let your fingertips drip down toward the earth, Let your shoulders drop away from your ears. And for three more full breaths here, Visualize space and length in your spine. A little bit more buoyant, A little bit taller. Everything effortless. I hope you can take this length and this space and this openness with you into what's next. Thanks so much. I look forward to being with you again soon.

Reviews

Fully remote and definitely adding this to my breaks 🙏

Thank you. This will come in handy.