5 Yoga Positions and Stretches To Do If You’re Always At A Desk

Simple movements to help counteract the time you spend sitting, staring at a screen.

If you spend the majority of your time working at your desk, incorporating a daily routine of light stretching and yoga will benefit your body in a multitude of ways. The simple practice of such movement will help to release tension, assist in aiding bad desk posture, improve blood flow and promote a general sense of well-being.

@rachaelcoopes

In an ideal world, we’d take regular breaks to get away from our desk, we’d dedicate time to stretch out on yoga mats and hang out in happy baby pose for a moment or two, but our schedules get busy and often it’s these moments we compromise.

So for those times we can’t step away from our desks, we asked certified Yogi Rachael Coopes (@rachaelcoopes on Instagram) for a simple sitting down routine to help us un-tense from the rigours of working a 9-5 desk job.

The most important movement patterns for desk-sitters to focus on are opening the shoulders and the hips. Here are 5 little circuit-breakers to do just that.

You can do these exercises from your desk chair, just remember to take slow, deep, even breaths in and out through the nose as you flow through each movement.

Ankle to Knee

In a seated position, take your right ankle over your left knee, resting the ankle just above the knee. Let the right knee drop out to the side. Sit with a tall spine and make sure both sit bones are pressing evenly into your chair. Stay here for a few breaths, or if you can keep the spine long, fold forward, hinging from the hips and breathe. Come back up, and swap over to the other side.

Heart and Chest Opener

Shuffle the buttocks forward so you’re sitting at the front part of the seat and have space behind you. Interlace fingers behind your back and press palms together. Move shoulders away from ears, tips of shoulders back, and extend the arms as best you can, opening across your chest. Take a few breaths here.

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Seated Cat-Cow

Sit up straight with palms resting on thighs, above knees. On an inhale breath, press the hands down to help lift the chest up, moving shoulders away from ears and sliding shoulder blades down the back, opening the heart. On an exhale, round the spine, spreading shoulder blades like a spooked cat. Repeat a few times, breath with movement.

Side Stretch

Reach the arms up overhead, palms facing towards one another. Catch the left forearm with the right hand, inhale, reach left fingers up to the sky, exhale, reach up and over to the right, allowing the right hand to help. Ground the left sit bone as you lean over to the right – you don’t want to pull yourself off the chair, the aim is to feel a gentle stretch along the left side of your body. Take a few breaths, Swap and do the other side.

Shoulder stretch

Reach arms over head, bend right arm, reaching right fingers behind, like you are trying to scratch your back. Take the left hand to the right elbow, pulling it gently into the centre line. Try not to let the head drop forward, rather the neck is long. Take a few deep breaths and swap over to the other side.