Many of us spend the majority of our day sitting at a desk in front of a computer screen. Sitting for long periods of time can negatively affect the physical body. Pain and discomfort experienced in the back, shoulders, neck, head and wrists are common complaints I hear among Reboot Yoga clients. Over time these ailments can become chronic. Here are some simple seated yoga-inspired tips you can use to combat the effects of your desk. Go ahead… try a few of them now!

To support and strengthen the back…

Remember when your mother insisted, “Sit up straight!”? Well, here is a lesson on how to do that:

While seated, draw your lower back in toward your spine to take the roundness out of it. Imagine that you can actually widen the collar bones away from each other. Then widen across the shoulder blades. Send the tops of the shoulders back and down, as you soften the front ribs back toward your spine. Line up your shoulders over your hips. Reach the top of your head toward the ceiling so your chin is parallel to the floor. Maintain this posture throughout your day.

To lengthen the spine…

Extend your arms straight out, clasp your fingers, and turn your palms to face forward. Now, keeping the clasp, send your arms over head. Now your palms are facing the ceiling. Press the palms toward the ceiling as you draw the shoulders away from your ears. Elbows can be slightly bent but straighten them if you can.  Find length in both sides of the torso. Breath.

To release the back and detoxify the organs…

Rotate your bottom 90 degrees so that your knees are now facing the same direction as the side of your chair. Sit up straight (see above) and plant your feet on the floor directly underneath your knees. Inhale deeply, and as you exhale, turn your torso to face the back of the chair without moving the lower half of your body. Grab hold of the back of the chair with your hands. You are in a twist. Relax the tops of the shoulders back and down. Keep your chin directly above the center of your chest. Use your hands on the back of the chair as leverage to deepen the twist. On every inhale, imagine that your spine is lengthening and every exhale twist a little bit deeper. Pause and breath. Now release the twist and rotate 180 degrees so that you are facing the opposite wall. Take the same twist on the opposite side.

To release the head, neck, and shoulders…

Move your chair a few feet away from your desk.  nce again, sit up straight. Reach behind you and clasp your hands together near your lower back. As you inhale, lift the chest toward the ceiling and roll your shoulders back. As you exhale bend forward resting the torso on top of your thighs. Keep lifting the shoulders up toward the ceiling as your clasped hands move forward. Allow gravity to release your neck by letting the weight of your head fall toward the floor. If your hands cannot clasp behind you as you bend forward, improvise by holding on to both ends of a ruler, or belt as you bend forward.

To release tension in the neck…

While sitting up straight, allow your left ear to fall toward your left shoulder. Pause and breath. Now allow the weight of your head and gravity to bring your chin toward your chest, looking down toward your belly button.  Pause and breath. Bring your right ear to sit above your right shoulder. Pause and breath. You have completed a 180 degree rotation of your neck. Do it again, slowly moving in the opposite direction. Pause whenever you feel tightness or strain in the rotation and breath there for a moment before continuing.

To relieve headaches…

Your eyes periodically need a break from gathering external information. Set an alarm on your phone so that you are reminded every 30 minutes to look up from your screen. Allow your eyes to softly settle on something far away that is not moving. Breath.

To relieve wrist pain…

Press the back of your hands together with your fingertips pointing down. Rotate your finger tips toward your chest. Keep rotating your hands, and when your fingertips point toward the ceiling come into prayer position pressing the inside of the wrists together. Send your fingertips away from you eventually pressing the back of your hands together once again to complete the circle. Repeat several more times.

My recommendation is to try to do this entire sequence once a day for 5 business days. For added motivation, find a buddy sitting next to you to try it with you. If you find that your aches and pains have decreased, your energy is up, your productivity is through the roof, and you are craving more… then contact me and we can get Reboot Yoga in your office ASAP.

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