Here are some postures that you can do right at your desk, at your computer, or in your office.
SEATED TWIST IN A CHAIR
Begin by sitting tall in your chair. Press your feet down on the floor or if they don’t reach the floor (mine don’t from this chair) let them rest on a book or a block. Feel your spine elongate.
Press your sitz bones down into the chair. Press the crown of your head up. And remember that your shoulders are down. You should feel tall in your chair. And you want to be relaxed. Breathe.
Next, take your left arm and bring it down across your body and place your hand on the outside of your right thigh. Bring your right arm straight up beside your right ear.
Then twist towards the right. Twist from the belly. You are like a barber pole twisting. And breathe. And breathe. Untwist slowly and relax.
Try it on the other side.
NECK STRETCH
A good neck stretch….We hold lots of tension in our neck and shoulders…
Sit straight…sitz bones pressing down, crown pressing up, shoulders down, feet flat and comfortable…the normal good posture sitting position.
Let your right ear come down besides your right shoulder. The left side of your neck is stretching.
To increase the stretch, raise your right arm up and then bend it at the elbow. Let the right hand come to rest on the left ear. Don’t pull your head down. Just let the weight of your hand increase the opening of the left side of your neck.
Breathe into the opening. Take 10 comfortable breaths.
Raise your arm back up and slowly bring your head back to center.
Do the same on the other side.
Then….Let the chin come down towards the chest. Feel the stretch in the back of your neck. Look with your eyes into your own heart.
Bring your hands up and let them rest on the crown of your head so the added weight helps you get more stretch in the back of your neck.
Take 10 comfortable breaths again.
Bring your hands back to your lap or keyboard and let your head come up slowly.
And one more…..Pretend you are wearing an Elizabethan collar. Sit tall. Feel your spine elongating.
Raise your chin up, but don’t let your head drop back. Imagine that you have that collar on and you have to raise your chin and head up before your head drop backwards. This helps to keep your cervical spine long and helps you from crunching those top 7 vertebrae.
Breathe into your expanded chest points. Take 10 comfortable breaths again.
Return your head to normal. Do a few loose head and neck rolls and some shoulder rolls.
EYE EXERCISES
Sit comfortably. Close your eyes tightly and then open them. Do this again. You can even scrunch your face when you close the eyes tightly.
Now, without moving your head, trace the face of a clock with your eyes. Let your eyes look at 12:00.
Watch the hands of the clock move to 1:00.
Keeping your head still, move your eyes to 2:00.
Consciously move your eyes around the clock to each hour.
When you get to 12:00, where you began, move your eyes back to 11:00….then 10:00, then 9:00, and so on…..
Now, close your eyes. Rub your hands together fast. Feel the heat build up in your hands. The palms of your hands are very warm. Now, bring those warm hands up and place them on your closed eyes. Let the healing heat from your hands soothe your eyes.
PICKING APPLES….
Sit in your chair at your desk or computer.
Reach up with your right arm, overhead and pretend to pick an apple off a sort of low branch from a tree.
Bring your right arm back down and reach up with your left arm.
Inhale as you reach up and exhale as you bring your arm down.
Then go for a higher branch of the apple tree and pick some more apples……inhale…right arm up….exhale…right arm down….inhale left arm up….exhale….left arm down…
CHEST OPENER
Sit forward on your chair.
Bring both hands behind you and bring them together (clasped).
Lift your chest up and stretch your arms down.
Hold that posture and breathe into the opening in your chest.
To get more of an opening, sit on the edge of your chair.
Exhale and lean forward, bringing your chest to (or towards) your thighs.
Breathe
Straighten your elbows while holding your hands.
Breathe
Bring your hands back down to rest on your back.
Release your hands. And carefully sit back up.
ANOTHER STRETCH….
Well, you can’t do this sitting down, but it’s quick and easy. I do this every couple of hours or so when I’m sitting at the computer for a long period of time:
Stand up with feet about 2 feet apart.
Clasp your hands behind your back with stiff arms.
Stretch and pull your hands up as high and far away from your back as possible.
Hold this for a while.
With your arms/hands still in this position and legs straight, not bent, bend forward at the waist until your head is as close to the floor as you can get it.
Hold this for a while.
Then slowly release your clasped hands and lower your arms until your hands touch the floor.
You can also hang like a “rag doll” for a while. I find this wonderful for releasing tension.
