It is a known fact that we spend more than 30 percent of our lives with sleep since the average person sleeps 8 hours a day. But have you ever pay attention how much do you sit a day? Let’s review one of your ordinary days:
- After you wake up, you sit on your couch while having a breakfast.
- While going to work, you sit in the car or on the bus.
- At work, you sit in front of your desk.
- When you return home, you sit on your couch while watching TV.
As you can see, you spend more time sitting on somewhere than sleeping in your bed. Sleeping is a natural process to reset your body and increase your efficiency. Your body take care of itself and you repeatedly move and roll over as you sleep. Sitting, on the other hand, is something you need when you stand too long but in our case, people need to stand because they sit too much.
No matter how carefully you sit, you can’t stay in the same position for too long. That means even if your spine was initially in the correct position, it won’t be within 10 minutes. Your head is too heavy for your neck to carry and once you start sitting in your office chair hunched over, your stomach protrudes, natural curves of your spine deform and it becomes harder to breathe. Gravity constantly pulls your body back down to the ground and only thing you can do about it is stretching your back.
Chair yoga can always come in handy because a chair is probably one of the easiest things you can find. You don’t always need a quiet and comfortable place to do yoga; as long as you can control your breathing, yoga is nothing but a number of poses and stances. Famous yoga teacher and therapist Gary Kraftsow calls this term “yoga snacks” where you can spend your lunch breaks more productive.
Your body and your mind are highly dependent to blood circulation because this is the only way to feed your cells with the oxygen. All of these poses and breathing aim to normalize and stabilize blood circulation in your body. With the correct breathing, these yoga poses improve circulation, increase oxygen amount that your cells take and even increases lymphatic drainage. For instance, if you are using your computer for a long time, putting your hands on the keyboard prevents circulation in your arm. By using yoga poses and moving your shoulders, you are able to improve blood circulation and relieve your arms.
Find Your Center
Sit on the edge of your chair and focus on breathing. You can close your eyes but that’s totally fine if you can’t. Visualize oxygen reaches to your cells as you breathe and power gathers in each cell. Visualizing is very important because you need to clear your mind and focus on something else other than your work and your problems. Closing your eyes helps you to reduce the stimulants and when the stimulants are gone, your brain tells your body to relax.
1. Chair Cat-Cow Stretch
- Sit on the edge of your chair and keep your feet flat on the floor.
- As you inhale, arch your spine and bring your shoulder blades together as you look slightly upwards.
- As you exhale, round your spine and drop your chin to your chest.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps.
2. Chair Raised Hands Pose
- As you inhale, clasp your hands and raise your arms as much as you can. If your shoulders are not comfortable, you can skip clasping your hands and just raise your arms over your head. Keep your feet flat on the floor as you reach for the ceiling.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps.
3. Chair Spinal Twist
- Sit sideways on the chair, facing to the left and take a deep breath.
- As you exhale, twist your body towards left by holding onto the back of the chair. You can close your eyes if your neck is bothering you. Try to keep your stance by holding onto the back of the chair as you inhale.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps before moving to the right side.
4. Chair Hug And Bend
- Sit on the edge of the chair, open your arms to bring your shoulder blades together and look slightly upwards. Hug yourself as you exhale and round your spine.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps.
5. Chair Lateral Spine Twist
- As you inhale, raise your left arm over your head and look forward.
- As you exhale, bend your body slightly to your left.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps before moving to your right arm.
6. Chair Forward Bend
- Sit on the edge of your chair and keep your feet flat on the floor.
- As you inhale, raise your arms over your head.
- As you exhale, bend your body forward and reach down the floor.
- Repeat the sequence 5 times with 15 seconds of rest between reps.