Is desk job giving you back or neck pain? 5 chair yoga poses that can improve your posture

Given the fast pace of our lives and the long working hours and COVID has led to an increase in lifestyle disorders. Excessive pressure on employees leaves one with very little or no time for exercise or leisure. This results in the build-up of stress, anxiety, and depression. This only adversely affects productivity, physical and mental disorders.

Chair yoga can be used to improve posture, increase flexibility, and improve balance while avoiding injury. Chair yoga is the general term given when you modify yoga poses to be done whilst seated in a chair. This makes yoga more accessible to people in two ways. Whether at work or home, you can stretch, bend and twist at least once every hour. Chair Yoga is also beneficial to those who cannot stand or lack the mobility to move quickly from standing to seated to supine positions.

While chairs with wheels are not suitable since they are unstable, almost any other chair will do. If height proves to be problematic, you can use blocks or a folded yoga mat under your feet to give yourself a firm foundation.

Desk Yoga – The following poses can be repeated for 5 Sets with 30 seconds hold each time

Chair Pose - Utkatasana 

• Sit on the edge of your chair
• Place your feet down firmly
• Join palms to form Namaste at your Heart Chakra and raise your arms up
• Focus your gaze towards your palms
• Ensure that your spine remains erect

 Chair Spinal Twist - Ardha Matsyendrasana

• Come to sit sideways on the chair, facing to the left.
• Twist your torso toward the right, holding onto the back of the chair, for a spinal twist.
• Lengthen your spine on each inhale and twist on each exhale for five breaths.
• Move your legs around to the left side of the chair and repeat the twist to the right side.

Chair Veera Bhadrasana

• As you exhale, stretch out to open up the arms with the right arm coming forward and the left arm going back.
• Pull the left hip back and turn the torso to the left, so that it is aligned with the front of the chair.
• Gaze out over the right fingertips and hold this variation of Veera Bhadrasana for three breaths.

 Chair Eagle – Garudasana

• Wrap your right thigh over your left thigh for Garudasana or Eagle pose. If you can, wrap the right foot all the way around the left calf.
• Do the same with your arms by crossing your left arm over the right one at the elbow. Bend the elbows and bring your palms together to form Namaste if possible.
• Keep your shoulders relaxed and lift the elbows up. Hold three to five breaths.
• Repeat on the other side.

Chair Pigeon - Eka Pada Rajakapotasana

• Sit up straight in your chair 
• Hold to lift and place your right ankle on your left thigh, keeping the knee in line with your ankle as much as possible. 
• Hold this chair pigeon for three to five breaths.
• To deepen the stretch, you can bend forward slowly. Repeat with the left leg.

Chair Yoga is perfect while you are working as it allows you to get a stretch in between your tasks. Especially if you are a beginner, a desk or chair can help you stretch even as you remain seated, and you can do various modified asanas of twists, hip stretches, forward bends, and mild backbends. 

To mark International Yoga Day on June 21st, Yoga Guru Grand Master Akshar has launched a 21-day campaign to help people maintain physical as well as mental wellness from the confines of their homes with the help of Yoga. The campaign titled ‘Chalo Abhyas Badhayen’( चलो अभ्यास बढ़ाएँ). The 21-day campaign was launched on June 1 and has already witnessed the participation of millions of people seeking holistic wellness from different parts of the world.

• yoga
• desk job