Hi,
I'm Laia.
Welcome to this yoga at your desk session.
This is a short stretch for you to do while you're seated at your desk when you have a little bit of time,
Either before you start working,
During the workday,
Or at the end.
And this one is an ideal stretch for when you want to work a little bit on the spine and also the hips.
So find a comfortable seated position and elongate your spine.
Relax your shoulders down and away from the ears and lengthen all the way through the crown of the head.
Take a deep breath in.
And let it go.
And inhale.
On Excel.
As you inhale,
Sort of lift your chin,
Allowing the chest to go a little bit forward,
And maybe your hands.
Slide toward the hips.
Squeeze the elbows to the side body.
And on the exhalation,
Round your back as you look down and slide your hands down toward the knees and curl.
Inhale,
Slide your hands up,
Lift your chest,
Look up.
Exhale,
Slide the hands forward,
Round your back,
Look down.
One more.
Inhale.
Lift and open arc.
Squeeze the shoulder blades gently toward one another.
Exhale,
Hands forward,
Round your back,
Look down.
Open your spine to neutral.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Relax your shoulders a little bit down and away from the ears.
Breathe in.
Breathe out again,
Roll the shoulders down and away from the ears a little bit more.
Now in your inhalation sort of sweep your arms up.
Exhale,
Bring your right hand down.
Tilt over toward the right.
Your left hand could come behind the head.
The idea here is to open up the side body.
So keep the spine long and then create the curve.
One more breath.
Come to center as you inhale.
Exhale this time,
Your left arm comes down,
Right arm goes up,
Maybe behind the head or over as you lean a little bit.
Toward the left.
Come back to center.
Bring both hands to your knees,
Lengthen to the spine,
Breathe in.
And as you breathe out,
Bring your left hand to the right knee and your right hand either to your right hip or perhaps you grab your desk or your chair and then start to twist the spine.
Toward the right.
Keep the sitting bones grounded and imagine a spiral of energy from the tailbone through the crown of the head.
One more breath here.
Inhale,
Come back to center.
Exhale now take your right hand to the left knee.
And then your left hand maybe to your hip,
Maybe to the desk,
Maybe to the chair,
And start to twist.
Toward the left,
Keeping the spine long.
One more breath,
Inhale.
Excel.
Come back to center,
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Lean back a little bit and either bring your right toes to the floor and stay there.
Maybe you grab your right leg and you could grab it at the shin or underneath the knee and lift it up.
You could also bring your foot to the chair.
It's whatever feels best for you.
And you can stay still here or gently create a little bit of movement.
So again,
Your hands could help you do this.
If the foot is supported,
Perhaps you don't want the hands,
But if it's floating,
It may be quite helpful.
You could also do a little bit of circles one way.
And then the other.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Release your right leg and we'll do the same on the left.
So ground the sitting bones at first,
Shift the weight and start to lift your left toes off the floor.
Maybe you Hold the leg as you lift it,
Maybe you place the foot on the seat,
Whatever feels best,
And then either movement or stillness.
What do you need right now?
You could also be moving the ankle there.
If you're doing circles,
Make sure that you go one way and then the other.
Breathe in.
And breathe out.
Release the leg,
Lengthen through the spine,
Inhale.
And exhale.
Now move your feet a little bit more forward and you could slide yourself a little bit forward.
Feet are wider than your chair.
And then for a moment,
Just move your knees from side to side and you can allow the torso to kind of go the opposite way.
One more breath.
And then pause at the center.
Find stillness.
Soften your gaze or close your eyes and just take two breaths here in through the nose,
Letting it expand front to back,
Side to side,
Top to bottom.
Let it go.
One more breathe in let it expand in the body.
Mako.
You close your eyes,
Start to blink them open and return to whatever task you were working on.
Remembering that you can always return to this short practice.
And allow your spine and your hips to feel a little bit better.
Until we meet again,
Please take care of yourself and be well.
