Rethinking Office Yoga

by Nina

Office in a Small City by Edward Hopper*

I guess by now most of you have figured out that I spend a lot of time at my desk. When I’m not working on the blog (along with my own writing, I do all the editing, formatting, and posting for everything everyone else writes), I’m working on a book or another writing project. And before I became a yoga writer, I was a full-time technical writer at various software companies. So I know all about what it’s like having a desk job and sitting down for hours at a time.

But today I saw just yet another yoga for the office practice that had the practitioner doing poses in their office chair. I thought, why, why, why? Sure, there are some interesting things you can do in a chair (and we even have some on our site) and there are people who need to practice yoga in chairs, but I think if you are able to stand, the first thing you should do is get out of the chair! After all, scientists are now saying that sitting is the new smoking (see The Ill Effects of Prolonged Sitting and The Dangers of Being Sedentary). And you’re not stuck in your chair the way you are on an airplane.

So I thought that today I would rethink office yoga a bit and make some non-typical recommendations. Of course, for office yoga, we do have some restrictions to consider. First of all, you probably don’t have much space so doing wide-stance poses might not work. Then, you might or might not have a wall (yes, I've done the cubicle thing). And you are likely to be dressed in something other than yoga clothes. But I have so many ideas for things you can do in a small space and in your slightly restrictive office clothes (assuming you’re not wearing a pencil skirt and heels)!

In fact, I had so many ideas that I ended up with a full-length sequence that’s way too long for an office practice. So even though I sequenced the poses, you can choose any subset of them to practice on a given day. Haha, of course, you can also do just one or two poses. And because it’s your little break, I’ll leave it up to you how long to hold the poses.
1. Mountain Pose (Tadasana). See: Featured Pose: Mountain Pose.
2. Leg Stretches (Padangusthasana) with foot on desk or chair. All three versions. See: Featured Pose: Standing Leg Stretches. 
3. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana). See: Featured Pose: Standing Forward Bend.
4. Half Downward-Facing Dog (Arda Adho Mukha Svanasana) with the wall or desk. See: Featured Pose: Half Downward-Facing Dog Pose.
5. Arms Overhead with Bound Hands (Baddha Hastasana). See: Featured Pose: Arms Overhead Pose. 
6. Crescent Moon Pose. See: Featured Pose: Arms Overhead Pose.
7. Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with Reverse Namaste (Paschim Namaskarasana). See: Featured Pose: Mountain Pose.
8. Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with Cow-Face Pose (Gomukasana) arms. See: Featured Pose: Standing Cow-Face Pose.
9. Powerful Pose (Utkatasana). See: Featured Pose: Powerful Pose.
9. Tree pose (with your foot against your calf if clothes are too restrictive for classic version). See: Featured Pose: Tree Pose.
10. Eagle Pose (Garudasana). Full pose, just legs, or just arms. Featured Sequence: Standing Shoulder Stretches.
11. Standing Backbend (arms overhead, hands supporting the back of your head, or hands on your thighs). *

12. Dancer’s Pose (Natarajasana). Do an easy version, emphasizing the thigh stretch and staying fairly upright.
13. Standing Twist (Marichyasana 3 variation). *
12. Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana) with chair. See: Featured Pose: Downward-Facing Dog Pose.
14. Lunge Pose (Vanarasana) with chair. See: Featured Pose: Lunge Pose.
15. Plank Pose with chair. See: Featured Pose: Plank Pose. 
16. Upward-Facing Dog (Urdva Mukha Svanasana) with chair. See: Featured Pose: Upward-Facing Dog Pose. 

17. Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana) with chair. See: Featured Pose: Downward-Facing Dog Pose.
18. Sun Salutations with chair.

From Mountain and Arms Overhead pose come into Standing Forward bend with hands on a chair, step back into Lunge, and practice the rest of the poses with their chair versions. Then practice Lunge on the opposite side, step forward into Standing Forward Bend, and to Arms Overhead and Mountain.

18. Standing Forward Bend (Uttanasana) with head support (desk or chair). See: Featured Pose: Standing Forward Bend.

If you want a very quieting pose at the end and have a nice transition to sitting again, sit down at your desk and do a forward bend from your hip joints, keeping your back straight back (push your chair back if necessary), and rest your forehead on your hands. Try gently tugging your forehead skin down toward your eyebrows. Practice breath awareness, if desired. Feel better now?

Let me know if you have any other ideas and I’ll add them to my list.

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