Simple Yoga Poses for the Office: Relieving Stress and Anxiety with 5 Yoga Poses You Can Do at Work
Most people nowadays are working in the office. Moreover, office workers spend more time doing their job than anything else in their lives. Surely, everyone who has this kind of occupation knows how stressful it might be sometimes. Not only your mind is stressed out by deadlines, but your body also does not get enough motion during the day. Stress and anxiety are also adding their share, making your muscles feel tense. This results in severe headaches, neck and lower back pain and other not enjoyable symptoms. All these together influence your creativity and productivity so you perform worse than usual at work. Not to mention that being under constant stress is affecting your health more than anything else does and might even provoke a heart attack.
Yoga for the Office: Relieving Stress and Anxiety
Anxiety attack
Many office workers would agree that sitting at your desk all day with your eyes constantly staring into the monitor makes you feel emotionally drowned. In many cases, it leads to anxiety. For those who are not aware – anxiety is a mental disorder that causes constant fear and nervousness. At first, symptoms might be mild but if you don`t pay attention to them they might get much worse and even affect your physical health. The reason to worry appears when you feel nervous even without any reason to. This is when it is time to take actions.
Workout as a remedy
Most office workers are trying to compensate for this situation by including workouts into their weekly schedule. But three hours at the gym per week will not magically change your posture and decline your stress level. To achieve that you have to be working on it every day, including your workdays. But how do you adjust workouts if you have an office job? This is when yoga comes in handy.
Yoga as your ‘best friend’ during anxiety
There are people who are quite skeptical about yoga and its positive influence on your body and mind. For thousands of years, this ancient practice has been used as a remedy for relieving stress and muscle tension. Practicing yoga allows you to breathe correctly and make your muscles stretched out. At the same time, your body releases endorphins, also known as ‘hormones of happiness’. This way yoga benefits your body and your mind in pretty much equal ways.
And over the last couple of years, according to research statistics, the number of people who practice it grew increasingly. So, if you are working at the office and you are stressing out way too often – try including yoga practices into your daily schedule. Trust us, you will feel much better even after your first practice.
Do not worry that there might be some inconveniences. There are quite a big number of asanas (yoga poses) that you could do in the office. So, right now we will present to you 5 yoga poses that you can easily practice in your office.
5 Yoga Poses for the Office
Asana №1
Sit still on a hard surface (you can use a hardwood chair, for example), close your knees and feet together. Take the left knee with your right hand and put your left hand on the back of the chair. Take a few really deep breaths after that. With every breath, you have to straighten your spine a little bit. Do 5-7 of those and switch to the other side.
Asana №2
Sit still and press your back really close to the chair. At the same time, you have to strengthen your core and abs. Breathe out and slowly turn to the right, pulling your right arm as far back as possible. You have to keep that position for 5-7 more breaths and then you can switch to the other side. If you do this pose often, it will help you to relieve chest pain.
Asana №3
Extend your arms forward or upward, rotate your wrists in and out 10 times. Then quickly spread your fingers and put them into fists, repeating this exercise 10 times. This asana will help get rid of excess tension in the muscles of your hands, which is inevitable for those who spend their whole day working in front of the computer.
Asana №4
Sit straight and put your feet on the floor. Take your right ankle and place it on your left foot just above the knee, as you do in the ‘lotus’ position. To stretch your muscles better, push your right foot with your right hand. Take 5 deep breaths and switch to the other leg.
Asana №5
Get up from your working place and make a pose as if you are going to do Chaturanga. Lower the pelvis closer to the table by keeping your arms straight. Do not transfer your weight to the lower back – use the power of the legs. Stretch the thoracic which is between the shoulders and gently move the chin up while pulling your shoulder blades down. Hold this position for 10 deep breaths.
Conclusion
So these are the 5 basic yoga poses for relieving stress and muscle tension that it causes. The most important thing for you to remember while doing these is to completely relax. Yoga practices do not tolerate tension in your thoughts, so for those 15 minutes that you will be doing this practice – you have to clear your thoughts and focus on your breathing. This is especially important, as most people do not realize that the source of our stress is located in our minds. And that is exactly why yoga is your best friend while fighting that stress. We really hope that this article and our tips help you on your way of reducing anxiety at work. Practice yoga and stay healthy!
Kristin Savage nourishes, sparks and empowers using the magic of a word. She is practicing regularly while reviewing new translation services at Pick Writers and constantly contributing to other educational platforms. Along with pursuing her degree in Creative Writing, Kristin was gaining experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in marketing strategy for publishers and authors.
