Chair Yoga For The Workplace

Chair yoga for the workplace is a great way to open up and re-energize, while sitting at your desk, or for anytime you need a pick me up. You will be guided through mindful movement and rejuvinating breathing exercises, while, this practice includes a short relaxation at the end. Note: This chair yoga practice has been designed for all levels of experience.

Transcript

Welcome to Cheer Yoga for the Workplace.

Before we begin,

Please keep in mind to be aware of your body during this practice,

Notice how the body feels,

And remember that we want to be present to sensations in our body.

Always practicing loving kindness to avoid any injury to yourself.

And certainly be appreciative of where your body is going today and how it feels.

So begin in your chair right at your desk.

Feel your feet on the floor,

Hip width apart.

Allow your spine to be long and let the shoulders come down the back.

And you can close your eyes or open your eyes during the breath work.

We're going to begin with just allowing the breath,

The natural breath,

To move in and out.

Just finding that breath in the body,

Notice where it is.

And we're going to go into a little bit more conscious breathing to let the body settle in and the mind settle in.

So I invite you to take a three count,

Inhale,

Silently counting to three as you inhale,

And a long slow exhale counting to six as you exhale.

And if that feels uncomfortable,

You can shorten it to a two count inhale and a four count exhale.

Keep in mind as you inhale,

You're filling the body.

So you're filling the chest,

The lungs,

And the belly on the inhale.

The exhale,

You're letting the belly recede back and allowing the breath to come out.

And you can breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Inhaling,

We fill.

Exhaling,

We release and let go.

And do that one more time.

When you feel complete with that breath,

Come back to your natural breath.

And we will be using the breath and the body together with the movement during this practice.

To start,

We're going to just shake it up a little and get the blood moving.

So go ahead and get the wrists and hands moving by shaking them side to side,

Up and down,

And really get them moving.

You can get the arms involved if you want.

And then go ahead,

Keep shaking the hands and the arms and reach over to the right.

And go all the way down towards the ankles.

Keep shaking all the way across the feet to the left side.

Keep shaking all the way up the left side and all the way up above your head.

And all the way down on the right side.

And then come back to the center and just let the hands relax.

And just notice.

Notice the tingling.

Notice how it feels to get the hands and the arms moving.

And just sit with that for a moment.

Feel that.

And then as you take an inhale breath,

Go ahead and turn your head to the right on the exhale,

Stretching the whole left side of the neck.

Inhale,

Come back to center and stretch and release over to the left as you exhale.

Inhale,

Center.

Go to the right.

And keep doing this back and forth,

Inhaling center,

Exhaling on the turn.

Opening up the muscles and the joints in the head and neck,

Releasing tension.

And then come back to the center and pause and notice.

And then on your next inhale,

We want to sit up tall and as we exhale we're going to let the right ear drop towards the right shoulder.

And again,

Feel the tension on the left side now.

Stay there.

Breathe into that left side.

As you breathe out,

Just let the weight of the head move towards the right.

One more deep breath in.

Exhale and release.

And as you inhale,

Slowly come up,

Bringing the head to the center,

Pausing and notice the right to the left.

And then go ahead and breathe in.

Exhale out,

Let the left ear,

Let the left side of the head reach over towards the left shoulder.

Pause there.

And as you inhale,

Keep the head there and as you exhale,

Just allow any melting or releasing to take place.

One more breath in,

Inhaling into that right side of that tension.

Exhaling,

Imagine that tension moving out.

And then very slowly on your inhale,

Lift the head to center and notice again.

Placing the hands underneath your chair or just holding onto the sides,

We're going to lift the chest up towards the sky.

We're going to take our head up and we're going to inhale here,

Letting the shoulders move away from the ears.

The shoulder blades come together in the back.

And then as you exhale,

You're going to drop the chin towards the chest and fold forward so you're curling the spine,

Letting the navel move back towards the spine,

Letting the head come down towards the chest.

And then inhaling again,

Lifting,

Opening the front of the body,

Taking your gaze up.

Exhaling,

Dropping the chin,

Dropping the chest down,

Curling the spine the other way as we let the breath out completely.

And again,

Continuing this wave of the spine,

Inhaling it up,

Opening,

Exhaling,

Curling it down.

Keep going as you inhale up to receive and open and as you exhale to release and let go.

One more time.

When you're complete with this,

Gently come to sitting up tall,

Letting the shoulders come down and notice again how the body feels.

We're going to be moving the spine in all directions today,

Which is really helpful.

And from here,

We'll go ahead and take the right hand,

Place it under the chair or on the right side of the chair for support.

We're going to inhale the left hand up,

Reaching up towards the sky,

And then we're exhaling over to that right side,

Bringing the arm and hand over the head and breathing into the left side of the body,

Filling.

As we exhale,

We reach a little further over to the right.

Stay there for one more breath,

Inhaling and exhaling.

And then inhale,

Bring that left hand up and allow it to come all the way back down.

And notice one side to the other again without any judgment,

Just awareness.

And then we will go to the other side with the right arm.

As you inhale,

Bring it up,

Reach it up towards the sky,

Holding on to the chair with your left hand.

Exhale over to the left,

Bringing the hand and arm over the head,

Feeling the body move towards the left and breathing into the right side of the body and the ribs.

And even feeling that right hip bone and sit bone move into the chair so you're not lifting up.

And on your exhale,

Extending that arm over to the left,

And then inhale,

Come up slowly,

Bringing the arm all the way up and down.

We'll do that one more time on each side.

With the breath,

Inhaling,

Left arm up,

Exhaling,

Arm over,

Extending.

Inhaling,

Breath fills on the left side of the body,

Exhaling,

Reaching the arm further to the right.

Inhaling,

Arm comes up,

Exhaling,

Arm comes back down.

And pause.

Right side,

Right arm moves up as you inhale.

Exhale,

Reaching over the ear,

Extending the hands to the left side.

Inhale,

Filling breath into that right side of the body.

Exhale,

Reaching the hands further over to the left.

And then inhale,

Bring the arm up,

Exhale,

Let it come down.

Pause and notice again,

One side to the other,

Without any judgment,

Knowing that each side will be a little different in our bodies.

Allowing the hands to come down,

Open the palms.

Inhale,

Lift the palms up,

Overhead.

Exhale,

Let's twist to the right side.

Placing the left hand on the outside of the right thigh,

Placing the right hand on the back of the chair,

On the seat or on the top of the back of the chair.

Taking your gaze to the side or to the back of the room,

As we inhale we lift through the body.

Open,

As we exhale we twist gently.

And again,

Inhaling,

Filling the body with breath,

Exhaling,

Explore the twist.

Melt into the twist with the breath.

And then inhaling and exhaling,

Come back to center and pause.

As we twist to the left,

We're going to sweep the arms up overhead,

Reaching towards the sky.

Exhale,

Twist to the left.

Place the right hand on the outside of the left leg or the outside of the side of the chair.

And the left hand can come down on the back of the chair or on the top of the chair.

Lift up right through the crown,

Open the heart as you inhale.

And as you exhale,

Melt into the twist.

Feel the shoulder blades come together and just explore where your body lets you go.

Inhaling again to lift,

To fill,

Exhaling to melt and twist.

And as you inhale,

We're going to go ahead and release on that exhale.

Sitting up tall,

Feel the feet connected to the earth again.

And let's take our right hand and open it up in front of us,

Extending the fingers towards the floor.

And our left hand can grab onto the fingers.

And as we inhale,

We can straighten the arm.

Exhale,

Allow those fingers to come back.

So you can add a little pressure with your left hand as the right fingers come back,

Stretching out the forearms.

Allowing that tension in the forearms release and into the fingers.

And then release the hand and circle the right wrist to the right and circle it to the left.

And then let it come down on your lap.

Moving to the left side,

Extend the left arm out in front of you,

Fingers pointing towards the floor.

The right hand can be placed on the left fingers.

And as you take a breath in,

Straighten the arm completely.

Exhale,

Let the right hand move the fingers back wherever they can go.

So we're just stretching out the forearm,

The wrist,

The fingers,

Giving the hands and the arms a little stretch from being on the computer all day.

And then release the right hand and circle the left wrist around to the right and circle it around to the left.

And just let it come down on your lap.

Moving a little forward on your chair,

Sitting up tall again,

We want to extend both legs out in front of us.

Placing the heels on the floor and the toes up.

And we are going to go ahead and extend the feet at the same time towards the floor so the toes may or may not touch.

And then flexing the foot back.

Inhaling point,

Exhaling flex.

Inhaling point and exhaling flex.

Getting those feet,

Ankles moving,

Waking up.

And then bringing the feet up towards the sky,

Flexing the feet.

Open the feet out to the sides away from each other and do some circles with those ankles.

Continue to circle out,

Getting the ankles moving,

Maybe even a little into the leg.

And then release the foot back down.

As we bring our feet back underneath us,

We are going to gently inhale the right knee up towards our chest,

Clasp under our knee,

Give it a squeeze,

And then release it back down.

Go to the left side,

Bring the left knee up,

Clasp and hold the knee right underneath the left knee and bring the knee into the chest and bring it back down.

And let's do that again on both sides.

Right knee comes up as you inhale,

Exhale squeeze in the knee towards the chest and release it down.

Left knee inhaling that up,

Holding onto it and squeezing it in with an exhale as we bring it into the body.

And then let both legs come down.

Notice how they feel,

Finding your breath again in your body.

We're going to open the hands out to the sides,

Let the arms come down,

Palms open.

Inhale,

Both arms up,

Reach up to the sky,

Stretch it out,

Exhale,

Push the hands away as you bring them down.

And again,

Inhale,

Both arms up,

Way up,

Feel the fingers reaching towards the sky,

Exhale,

Push the hands away and come down.

And again,

Inhale up,

Reaching the spine,

The hands,

The fingers way up to the sky,

Exhale,

Let the hands float down.

And just place your hands on your lap,

You can sit back in your chair as we do a quick relaxation pose.

So get comfortable in your chair,

You can close your eyes or leave them open.

And really begin to let go of the breath,

Let go of any tension in the body.

And just feel an overall relaxation from the top of the head.

Start gently releasing the forehead,

Softening the eyes,

Let the jaw release.

All the way down into the shoulders,

Let them move down,

Away from the ears.

Let the chest be heavy,

Let the arms and the hands soften,

Let the belly relax.

Feel the weight of the body into the chair,

Feel the thighs and the knees grow heavy,

The shins and the calves,

All the way down into the feet.

And then just take a breath in from your feet all the way up and then all the way back down.

So bringing that energy up from the earth,

Feel it move all the way to the crown of the head and then as you exhale bring the breath all the way down releasing any tension.

And then come back to finding your natural breath moving in and out.

And thank yourself for doing this practice.

I thank you for sharing this practice with me.

Namaste everyone.

Reviews

Will repeat daily. Great. Efficient. Yogic.

I will be incorporating this every single day!! Thank you!!

What a great feeling!😄 A thorough stretch, a calming finish, a beautiful practice—and all while seated in a chair! The perfect break in anyone’s busy day. Thank you 🙏🏼

Great chair yoga.

That was such an excellent relaxing meditation. Thank u. Namaste.

Better give colleagues a 'heads-up' before shaking at your chair - no unnecessary ambulance calls please!