Yoga can be a great way to refresh and reset your mind, especially when you’re feeling stressed. Unlike other forms of exercise, yoga helps bring greater awareness to your breath and body, which in turn helps you feel more centered. The following six poses are the perfect quick yoga sequence to calm your mind and help you focus at work.
After a few hours of staring at the computer screen, your attention span starts to dwindle and you can’t help but feel tired and stiff. That’s where yoga comes in! Yoga helps clear away the cobwebs while strengthening your muscles and improving flexibility and balance.
Try these six poses the next time you are feeling sluggish or lethargic at work.
Downward-Facing Dog
Yoga is a great way to get your daily dose of exercise, and its benefits go beyond just a healthy body. Yoga can also improve your mental health, strengthen your muscles, and help you sleep more soundly. One yoga pose, in particular, Downward-Facing Dog, helps to increase circulation and calm the mind among other things.
Downward-Facing Dog might look easy on the outside, but it’s a great full-body workout that stretches many important muscle groups. To start, get on all fours with your hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Tuck your toes under, lift your hips up to the sky and straighten your arms and legs as much as you can. Hold this pose for five breaths before releasing back down to your knees.
This move will help improve flexibility in both the lower back and hamstrings while strengthening the entire body at the same time. It also helps calm the mind so you can feel more relaxed throughout the day!
Bridge Pose
The bridge yoga pose is a gentle backbend that can be practiced anywhere and by anyone. This pose strengthens the spine, opens the chest and shoulders, and stretches the hips and thighs. The Bridge Pose is an asana that strengthens the muscles of the chest, neck, and spine. The name comes from the position of the torso in this pose, which looks like a bridge.
The bridge pose improves digestion and stretches the chest, neck, spine, and hips. It also stimulates abdominal organs, lungs, shoulders, and throat. Regular practice helps prevent osteoporosis and relieves menstrual discomfort when done with the head supported. It is often used to prepare for more advanced backbends such as Setu Bandha Sarvangasana and Urdhva Dhanurasana.
Seated Forward Fold Pose (Paschimottanasana)
Paschimottanasana pose is an excellent beginner’s yoga pose for stretching the hamstrings, and in more advanced versions, the back and spine. It is also a calming posture that can relieve stress and fatigue.
This posture is also known as “Seated Forward Fold.”
Step 1:
Sitting on the floor, stretch your legs straight in front of you. Press down through your heels.
Step 2:
Breathe in to lengthen the spine. Breathe out and fold forward from the hip joints, not the waist. Lengthen the front torso into the thighs and lengthen the tailbone away from the back of your pelvis.
Step 3:
With each inhalation in this pose, lift and lengthen the front torso just slightly; with each exhalation release a little more fully into the forward bend. Let your head hang from the root of the neck, which is deep in the upper back, between and a little above the shoulder blades.
Shoulder Opener
The Shoulder Opener, or Baddha Hasta Uttanasana in Sanskrit, is a yoga pose that may help you to open the shoulders and relieve tension.
Benefits
Your body can tighten up after a long day at work, and even more so if you spend your days hunched over a computer. The Shoulder Opener can help to open up the shoulders and chest by stretching out the muscles through the arms and back. You might also find relief from stress, as well as an increase in flexibility.
Eagle Pose & Garudasana
Eagle Pose (Garudasana) is a beautiful balancing posture full of strength, grace, and power. It teaches focus, determination, and patience. You can practice Eagle Pose in just about any environment; it is a wonderful pose to practice in the middle of your day when you need a wake-up call. Practicing Eagle Pose’s graceful flow will energize and invigorate you while stretching your shoulders, upper back, hips, legs, ankles, and feet. This pose also helps calm the mind and relieve stress and anxiety.
Camel Pose Ustrasana
Camel Pose, or Ustrasana, is a powerful backbend that opens the front of the body, stretching the entire front line from the ankles to the throat. While most students are naturally tight in this area, Camel Pose is an accessible back bend for most people with some modifications.
Camel Pose stretches the chest and lungs, increasing oxygen intake. It also strengthens and tones the back muscles while improving posture. Camel Pose stimulates organs in the abdomen, pelvis, and throat and lengthens the hip flexors. It’s a good pose to do before twists because it opens up the chest and lungs so you can breathe more deeply during twists.
Uttanpadasana (Double Leg Raise Pose)
The uttanpadasana or Double Leg Raise Pose is a simple pose that can be practiced by beginners. It is also one of the best yoga asanas for weight loss, toning belly fat, and strengthening your abdominal muscles.
Steps to do the Double Leg Raise Pose:
- Lie on the back with arms at the side of the body and legs together.
- Inhale and raise both legs together so that your knees are straight and your toes point towards the ceiling.
- Hold for a few seconds and then exhale as you bring your legs back to the starting position.
- Repeat 5-10 times.
