Desk Yoga: Quick Chair Yoga at Your Desk

Hi everyone, welcome to Yoga & You. I am Sanjana Prasad. Today's video is a quick practice that will come in handy when you really want to move but you just do not have the time to step away from your desk. So get on to your chair and let's get started.

We're going to start off by sitting slightly towards the edge of the chair, so I don't want you to be leaning into the backrest. You want to sit up tall, ensure your feet are planted firmly on the floor. Place your palms on the knees, roll your shoulders back, and close your eyes. We're going to take a few seconds here to just move away from all the distractions at your workplace, everything that's happening around you, your busy day, and just center yourself for the next 10 minutes, just focusing on your practice, your body and your breath.

Do a quick full body scan, observing the body from the top of your head down to the tips of your toes, and a quick check-in of your breath. Start to breathe more consciously, settling into slightly longer, deeper breaths. Very slowly open your eyes.

Let's continue to place the palms on the knees and we'll start with mobilizing the neck and shoulders. As you inhale, you're going to lift your chin up, look up, exhale, chin down to the collarbone, inhale, lift the chin up, look up, exhale, chin to the collarbone, inhale, lift the chin up, look up, exhale, chin to the collarbone, inhale and look up, exhale, chin to the collarbone, last one, inhale, look up, exhale, chin to the collarbone, slowly come back to a neutral position.

Drop your right ear towards the right shoulder, inhale, center, exhale to the left, inhale, center, exhale to the right, inhale, center, exhale to the left, inhale, center, exhale to the right, this time take your right hand and press the ear closer to the shoulder, stay for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, release, left ear to the left shoulder, use the left hand to deepen the stretch, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, come back to center.

Moving on to the shoulders now, you are going to bring all your fingertips together, place the fingertips on your shoulders, bring your elbows together, take the elbows up towards the ceiling, back and down, big circles, full range of motion, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, bring your elbows together, now drop the elbows down and then take it back 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, fantastic, release the hands.

Moving on to spinal movements, as you inhale, lift your arms up, chin up, interlock the fingers and lengthen up, exhale, bring your arms down, chin down, inhale, arms up, chin up, interlock the fingers, stretch up, exhale, bring your arms down, chin down, one more, inhale, arms up, chin up, interlock the fingers, stretch up, stay here and breathe for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, exhale, bring your arms down, chin down.

Now we are going to separate the feet, we are going to open out the feet into a slightly wider position, okay, if you are sitting on a chair with wheels be careful, make sure you are not tipping over, now from here you are going to take both your arms up to shoulder level, as you exhale place your right forearm on the right thigh and lift the left arm over the head, inhale, center, exhale, left forearm on the left thigh, bend to the left, inhale, center, exhale, bend to the right, inhale, center, exhale, bend to the left, inhale, center, exhale to the right, stay here for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale, center, exhale to the left, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale, center, exhale, release your hands.

Now bring your feet back to a more parallel position, we are going to go in for a spinal twist, we are going to once again lift your arms up to shoulder level, inhale, now take your left palm outside of the right thigh for grip, take the right hand to the back rest of the chair, hold and twist, inhale, lift your arms up, right hand outside of the left thigh, left palm on the back rest, twist, inhale, arms up, exhale, twist to the right, inhale, arms up, exhale, twist to the left, inhale, arms up, exhale and twist to the right, stay here for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale, arms up, exhale, twist to the left and stay for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, slowly come back to center.

I want to show you a cat-camel variation on the chair itself, so I am going to turn to the side and show you so you can see the spinal movement and then I am going to turn back to the front, your feet are going to remain on the floor, palms on the knees, as you inhale you are going to lift the chest up, arch your back, chest up, chin up, exhale, release the grip off the knees, you are going to round your back, straighten the elbows and round the back, inhale, lift the chest up, arch the back, exhale, round your back, let's continue, inhale, lift the chest up, arch the back, exhale, round your back, 3, inhale, lift the chest up, arch the back, exhale and round your back, 4, inhale, lift the chest up, arch the back, exhale, round your back, 5, last one, inhale, lift the chest up, arch the back, exhale and round your back, 6, slowly come back to a neutral position.

Now we are going to go into a modified back bend to a full forward fold, so leave your arms loose by the sides of the body, as you inhale, take your arms forward and up, arch back, don't drop only from the neck, I want you to move your arms back opening through the armpits nicely, as you exhale, full forward fold, now while going down, you can stop at your ankle or you can go all the way down and touch the floor and release the head, inhale, take your arms forward and up, arch the back, exhale, lengthen forward, go all the way down, inhale, arms forward and up, arch your back, exhale, full forward fold, 3, 2 more, inhale, arms forward and up, arch the back, exhale, go all the way down, one last time, inhale, arms forward and up, arch the back, exhale and go all the way down, now while coming up, leave your arms loose, roll your spine up, vertebra by vertebra, come all the way up.

Moving on to some hip work, just stretching out the hip, you want to take your right ankle, place it on the left thigh, the first thing we are going to do is take support of the chair, gently press your right palm into the right thigh, press down and stay for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, release, let the legs remain as they are, take both your hands up, inhale, exhale, bend forward, stay here and breathe, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale and come up, exhale, release the arms.

Let's switch legs, left ankle on the right thigh, use the support of the chair with your right palm and press the left thigh down to the floor, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, release, inhale, arms up, exhale, forward fold and stay 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale and come up, exhale, release your hands, release the left foot down.

Now let your left leg stay as it is, stretch your right leg forward, toes lifted up, the heel is on the floor, now as you exhale start just walking your hands down as much as you can, feeling the stretch behind the leg, you can hold your ankle or your foot, stay there for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, as you walk your hands back, bend the right knee, hug the knee into the chest, forehead towards the knee, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, inhale and let it go.

Let's switch, extend the left leg forward, heel on the floor, I am going to show this one to the side, so you are going to place the left foot down, right foot down as it is, extend the left leg forward, start sliding the hands down little by little, extend forward, stay for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, step by step, walk the hands back, hug the knee into the chest, forehead towards the knee and stay 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, release, relax, bringing your feet back onto the floor.

We have worked on the entire body now, starting from the neck joint, all the way towards your hip, we have done some knee flexion as well, now we will work a little on the ankles, simple movement, you are going to just extend the legs forward and we are going to do some rotation, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, opposite direction, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, bend the knees, shake out the legs, bring your palms back onto your knees, close your eyes.

Take a moment here to check in with your body, breath, see if you feel any different from the time we started practicing to now, bring your palms to the heart centre, rub the palms together, once the palms are warm, cup your palms over your eyes and give a gentle massage to the whole face, release the hands and with a few gentle blinks open your eyes.

So that was your super quick but also very effective practice at your desk itself, so now you have no excuses, you can still stick to your practice by following this short routine. Definitely give it a try.