Ditch the Desk

With many people working from home right now, and colder weather making it less appealing to go for a walk, it is easy to spend most of the day sat down and sedentary.

The human body was designed for movement, not to stay still. Prolonged sitting - staying in one position for a long period of time, prevents effective circulation of blood through our body and is linked to a number of health complications, both physical and mental.

I’m sure many fellow desk-dwellers can relate to getting up from working at your desk for 8 or 9 hours and feeling tightness in your upper body, stiff legs, tight hips and a sore neck. Camping out all day at a desk can also create an unhealthy posture, that you take with you when you leave for the day, in which the back and shoulders hunch down and the neck protrudes forward.

The good news is, it really doesn’t take much to make a big difference!

Taking a short break every hour to stretch and move, can be a simple yet effective antidote to many desk-job ailments.

You may feel too busy or time-pressured to take an hour out to do a full Yoga class in your day, but what if you broke it down into doing just 5 minutes of a class every hour - would that feel more achievable?

Even in the time it takes for a kettle to boil you could stretch out into a couple of Yoga postures that target areas of tension; loosen up your back, calm the mind and get the blood flowing. It feels good just thinking about it doesn’t it?

So roll-out your Yoga mat near your desk, and take your pick from a handful of classes on our OnDemand service that I would recommend trying, throughout your working day, to help ease that tension:

• Moving Stretch with Debs - a 30 minute workout you can do at any time to release those ‘stuck’ areas and make you feel more flexible.



• Yoga Align with Sarah - release tension in your neck and shoulders in this all levels, alignment based class.



• Hatha Stretch with Jamie - focusing on mobility over flexibility, you will leave feeling energised and uplifted.

All of these are available pay-as-you-go for £3 each, or included as part of our OnDemand subscription.

You might want to do 5 minutes every hour, or just skip back and forward to the sequences that work best for you. Listen to your body and be mindful of how it feels and responds to your breathing and movement.

Not only will these classes make your body feel better, but as an added bonus, a mindful Yoga practice may help address the damaging stress of a high-pressure job by helping to calm the mind and quiet racing thought patterns.

Have any tips of your own for keeping active at your desk? Let us know in the comments what has worked well for you!

Written by Matt Cresswell and published on Monday 22nd February 2021 at 09:15