Hello I'm Kate,
Yoga and aerial yoga instructor and breathing coach.
This short stretching practice is going to help with the muscle fatigue associated with sitting at your desk all day.
And I know you're busy people,
I respect your time so let's get straight into it.
Please lower your chair if you can and sit towards the front edge of it.
Plant your feet on the floor about hip-width apart.
We'll start with the neck.
Ready?
On an exhale gently drop your right ear to your right shoulder.
Stretch out the left side of your neck.
You can play around with the position of your chin and you'll feel the stretch move.
And breathe,
Don't forget to breathe.
On your next exhale slowly roll your head to the left and down so that your chin drops to your chest.
Stretching the back of your neck Now keep your breath deep and smooth and as you focus on the back of your neck see if you can feel the tensions easing away on the exhales.
Inhale roll your head to the left,
Lift the chin slightly,
Stretch the right side of your neck.
Again experimenting with the position of your chin.
You'll find if you tuck it more in towards your collarbone you can target the big SCN muscle.
Nice slow exhales.
Great.
On an exhale roll the chin back to the center of your chest and as you inhale lift your head.
Lovely.
Let's move on to wrists.
Make loose fists and start to roll out your wrists in a clockwise direction.
Do it for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight,
Nine,
Ten.
Let's go the other way.
Ten,
Nine,
Eight,
Seven.
It's not uncommon to hear some clicking and popping.
Don't be alarmed.
Three,
Two,
One.
Nice just shake out the hands if you need to.
Shoulders are up next.
Rest your fingertips or your thumb on the tops of your shoulders.
Swing your elbows out to the side about shoulder height.
Again making circles but slower this time.
So clockwise.
Be extra careful if you've had a history of rotator cuff issues.
Five or six.
Nice big slow circles and change direction.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Lovely.
Okay upper back now.
We're looking for eagle arms with the right arm under.
If you don't do yoga then straighten out your arms.
Cross your right arm under the left.
Cross at the elbows and again at the wrists.
Try and bring your palms together or the backs of your hands together would work.
If that's just not happening no problem.
Give yourself a hug.
Place your right hand on your left shoulder then place your left hand on your right shoulder with the left arm on top and there you are.
You should be feeling a nice stretch in that space between your shoulder blades.
If you're not feeling anything try lifting the elbows up a little bit.
Stretching the rhomboids and release and we do the other side.
Left arm on the bottom so cross the right arm over the left.
Cross at the elbows,
The wrists or give yourself a hug.
This time with the right arm on top and be patient with yourself.
This pose is a struggle for many of us.
Tightness in our upper back and chest is habitual now.
Keep the breath moving and see if you can really focus on that space between your shoulder blades as you exhale.
Lovely.
Unravel the arms.
This time the chest.
So interlace your hands behind your back.
If you can't interlace your hands then just grab your wrists,
Your forearms or your elbows.
Roll the shoulders back and down to broaden the collarbones.
If your shoulders are riding up towards your ears then perhaps choose an easier grip.
The goal is to stretch the upper chest area and pulling your shoulder blades together behind your back and having them drop down from your ears will help with that.
One more breath here and already we're at our final little stretch.
It's a lower back stretch seated cat cow.
Hands gripping your knees so that your arms can provide a little bit of traction.
Take an inhale,
Lift your gaze,
Lift your chin and lift your chest.
And as you exhale reverse all that.
Drop your chin to your chest,
Draw navel to spine and hollow out your belly.
And again inhale,
Look up,
Stretch your throat,
Lift the ribs away from the hips.
Exhale,
Empty your lungs and folding on yourself.
Last one.
Inhale,
Look up,
Get some movement in your spine and exhale.
Glide your shoulder blades apart,
Tilt your pelvis back and round your spine.
Awesome.
Bring everything back to neutral.
Sit up nice and tall.
Okay so that's it.
Well done.
If you have chronic pain of course you need to see a professional but often tired muscles respond to simple stretching,
Some heat and a massage.
I hope this helped.
Thanks so much for joining me.
