Welcome to your Stand and Stretch Break.
I'm Jerry Givens,
And over the next few minutes,
I'm going to guide you through some standing postures that help counteract the effects of sitting.
When we sit for long periods of time,
It can cause chronic issues in the body,
Discomfort,
Pain,
Lack of circulation.
And so spending just a few minutes tending to those needs can help create relief in your body and also help you to regulate stress.
I'll be offering everything here in a sequence,
But know that you can practice each of these exercises on their own if you'd like to.
And if something doesn't feel good,
Feel free to sit that one out or adapt it if you can.
Remember to stay safe and have fun.
Standing tall,
Start with your arms down by your side.
With your next inhale,
Please sweep your arms out and overhead,
Reaching up through the fingertips,
And exhale,
Bring the arms back down.
Again,
Inhale lift the arms up.
Exhale down.
Inhale,
Lift.
Exhale lower two more inhale reaching up Exhale down.
Last one.
Reach up inhalation.
And exhale,
Release the arms down.
And notice how you feel.
So please take your feet shoulder width apart.
And then lift your left arm up and overhead,
And with the right hand,
Reach up and grab hold of the wrist,
Tractioning the left arm toward the ceiling.
Healing length along that left side.
And after a breath or two,
Go ahead and pivot the ribcage gently to the right,
Feeling length along the left side of your body.
Now take some deep breaths here.
Then inhale,
Go ahead and come back up,
Releasing the arms down.
We'll do the other side right arm lifts up and overhead left hand reaches up and grabs hold of the wrist traction the arm upward first take a couple of breaths to feel that extension on the right side And then after that,
Go ahead and pivot just the rib cage to the left,
Feeling length along that right side and staying for a few breaths.
Then inhale come back up releasing the arms on down and feel sensation So next we'll do some arm swings.
Which is a three-part inhalation through your nose.
And one powerful exhale out of the mouth from the abdomen.
Three part inhale through the nose.
One powerful exhale out of the abdomen.
Good.
Now the movement,
You'll reach your arms up,
Inhale,
Reach the arms back,
Inhale,
Reach up,
And then exhale,
Jab the elbows back.
Again,
That's inhale up.
Inhale back,
Inhale up,
Exhale jab.
And we're going to go for about two minutes.
So when you're ready,
Go ahead and inhale,
Reach up,
Inhale back,
Inhale up,
Exhale,
Jab.
Inhale,
Inhale,
Inhale,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Inhale,
Inhale,
Exhale.
And keep going.
Again,
Three-part inhale through the nose.
One powerful exhale out of the mouth.
Keep swinging.
And find your own pace here.
It doesn't need to be as quickly as I'm going.
You can go slowly if you'd like to.
And try to feel the full rotation of your shoulder joints as you keep going.
Up,
Back,
Up,
And jab.
Again,
It's a powerful exhale out of your mouth.
Feel the navel pull into the spine and up,
Helping to clear your respiratory system.
The lungs,
The nostrils,
The mouth.
Swinging it out.
I'm going to go for about another minute or so.
Keep swinging.
Inhale through the nose.
Exhale out of the mouth.
It's okay if you need to slow it down,
If you're feeling a bit fatigued.
But I'll encourage you to try to keep going for this last about 30 seconds or so.
We make it past the 90 second mark.
We start to reset the nervous system,
Pulling you out of your fight-or-flight response.
Almost there.
Swinging it out,
Feeling the arms and shoulders loose.
And go ahead and release when you're ready.
Close your eyes and feel sensation for a moment,
Some tingling in the arms and hands,
Cooling in the nostrils.
That breathing rhythm is called the breath of joy.
Maybe you feel a little bit lighter after this practice.
Please come to stand with your feet shoulder width apart,
Toes pointing outward just slightly.
And we'll start to swing from side to side here,
Lifting your back heel,
Allowing your hips to move with you,
The arms hitting the sides of the body.
Unless you start hitting furniture or walls,
Then bring your hands on top of your shoulders like this and twist from side to side here.
So either one works.
Twisting from side to side.
And just feeling the spine loose here and you're looking behind you as you twist.
Side Side.
Side.
Side.
Now because.
.
.
We are constantly twisting here.
The breath can sometimes become shallow.
That's happening for you,
I'll invite you just to take a deeper,
Fuller breath.
Breathe.
Loosening up the spine here.
Side to side,
Side to side.
Go for just a little bit longer.
Again,
Take a deeper fuller breath if you notice your breath becoming shallow.
And with your next exhale,
Go ahead and release,
Unwind,
Close the eyes,
And again,
Feel sensation.
Notice what's going on in your body,
Tingling the hands.
Our next exercise will use the chair.
So turning the chair away from you,
Holding on to the back of your chair for support here,
Stack your feet underneath your hips,
Take a deep breath in,
And then with your next exhale,
Bend your knees about halfway down,
Then inhale,
Stand back up.
So we're coming into squats here.
Squatting down,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Standing up.
And just keep going at your own pace,
Using the back of the chair for support.
Of course,
If you could do this without the chair,
You don't need to use it,
But it's always nice to have a little bit of support.
Inhale,
Standing up.
Exhale,
Squatting down,
And let's hold.
Breathing here.
And then inhale,
Stand up.
And feel sensation in the legs.
Good job.
So our next exercise will use your chair.
So go ahead and grab the chair and have it face away from you,
Holding onto the chair back.
Then holding onto the chair back,
Begin to walk away from your chair.
Knees bending slightly.
And allowing your heart to drop through your arms here.
Just feeling a traction in the shoulder joints.
Keep your head in line with the spine.
Don't drop it.
And please breathe here.
And when you're ready to come up,
Go ahead and keep holding onto the chair and walk forward until you're standing behind your chair.
Close your eyes for a moment and just feel sensation.
Thank you for joining in the stand and stretch break.
I hope this serves you well.
I hope you feel better in your body.
And remember,
You can do these practices anytime.
So add them to your day,
Add them to your routine.
And I hope to see you again soon.
Take care.
