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.
Standing tall with your feet underneath your hips,
Hands on your hips,
Take a deep breath in and with your exhale,
Go ahead and bring your right knee up towards your chest as high as you can and then put it back down.
Exhale,
Left knee up.
Inhale down.
Right knee down.
Left knee down.
We'll just keep going from side to side.
I call these marching crunches.
So as you lift a knee up,
Feel a slight pull or tug at the navel.
Exhale up.
Inhale down.
Exhale up.
Inhale down.
Keep going.
Feeling that energy at the core.
Bring some circulation to the hips,
To the knees.
We're also getting a little bit of balance here.
So as you pick up the foot,
Try to put it right back down where you picked it up from.
Going for a little bit longer.
Try not to clench your jaw.
Almost done.
And release.
Good.
For our next exercise,
You will need your chair.
So taking your chair,
I would like you to brace it against the wall or against a desk so that the chair can't move back.
And then standing in front of your chair,
Go ahead and place your right foot at the center back of the chair cushion.
You can hold on to the chair for support here and then gently lean in to the right knee,
Lunging into your chair.
Keep the chest lifting.
If you need to adjust by taking your left foot forward or back a bit,
Go ahead and do that.
But be careful.
Breathing in.
Breathing out.
And then carefully come out of the lunge and place the right foot on the floor.
And we'll do the other side.
Taking the left foot to the center back of the chair.
Holding on to the chair arms,
The chair back.
Go ahead and lean into the chair.
Breathing here.
Keeping the chest lifting.
And then carefully come out of the lunge,
Bringing the left foot to the floor.
And now we'll stretch the hamstrings.
So the backs of the legs.
And so go ahead and take your right foot to the chair cushion again.
And then when you're ready,
Go ahead and straighten the right leg.
Pull the right toes back and start to lean forward over the leg.
You can hold the chair cushion if you need more of a stretch here.
Please keep breathing.
Now you're ready to come out.
Go ahead and lunge into that right knee and then bring the foot to the floor.
And we'll do the other side.
So bring your left foot to the center back of your chair.
Go ahead and lean into start.
And when you're ready and stable,
Go ahead and straighten the left leg,
Pulling the left toes back so that you're lengthening the back of the left leg and start to fold over that leg.
Only going as far as you can comfortably.
You may be able to hold on to the chair cushion here.
But breathe.
When you're ready to come out,
Lunge into that left knee again and then carefully place the foot on the floor.
Standing tall,
Feel sensation.
With your chair braced against a wall or a desk,
Go ahead and step to the right of your chair and bring your left knee onto the chair cushion.
Now keeping the chair steady,
Reach back behind you your left hand and grab hold of your left ankle.
Now if you can't do this,
You can just allow the left heel to lift as much as you can.
But if you're able to grab it,
Stand tall and draw the heel in toward your seat,
Feeling a stretch in the front of the left thigh.
When you're ready,
Go ahead and release the heel and step away from the chair and feel sensation.
Then to do the other side,
Step to the left of your chair,
Bring your right knee onto the chair cushion.
With your right hand,
Reach back and grab hold of the right ankle,
Drawing it in toward your seat.
Again,
If you can't grab it,
It's okay.
Just lift the heel as high as you can.
Standing tall,
Breathe,
Feeling that stretch in the front of the right thigh.
And when you're ready,
Go ahead and release,
Stepping away from the chair and feel sensation.
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.
All right,
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 attraction 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 till 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.
