Yoga Routine for People With Desk Jobs

This is Yoga for Sitters. These poses help to open your joints, stretch your muscles, and undo the damage of sitting at our desks all day. Come over to the mat. And we're going to lie down to begin.

Hug your right knee into the chest. Give it a few twirls, circling the knee. You're really starting to open up the hip here. Take the right hand on the right knee into Half Frog. So the knee is bent. The right foot is gently flexed. Keeping your hips anchored here.

Slide back to the center. Move onto the other side, hugging the left knee in. Give it a few circles. You're moving into the hip joint here. Take the left hand on the left knee. Stretch the right arm out. Just take a few deep breaths.

Hug both knees in, and just find yourself come up. We're preparing for Gate Pose. So the right knee is on the ground. The left leg is stretched out with the foot parallel to the short edge of the mat. Take the right arm overhead as the left arm reaches onto the outstretched leg. The hand can be anywhere on the leg. You're lengthening the muscles along the side of the body, keeping the torso long. And then take the right hand onto the floor, and just let the left arm reach overhead. This is opening the chest, lengthening your hip flexors.

Move onto the other side. So the right leg is outstretched. The right hand touches the right leg as the left arm reaches overhead. Take a few deep breaths. Let both sides of the torso lengthen here. Move onto the other side. Right arm goes overhead. Left hand toward the mat, on the floor. You can have the palm or the fingertips on the floor.

Turn back to the center of the mat. Right leg comes through into a high Runner's Lunge. Back knee on the floor. Box your elbows overhead. So gently lengthening your arm bones here as you're stretching the quadriceps and the hamstrings.

Now just reach to the floor. Step your left leg through. So this is a low Runner's Lunge. Arms overhead. Lengthen your arm bones. Gently releasing tension in the shoulders and opening up through the chest. Any contraction in the chest, you're opening up here.

From your low lunge, step forward. Take your pointer fingers and wrap them around the big toe. As you do, gently press the thumbs into the base of the big toe, and lengthen the spine on the inhale. On the exhale, pull the torso toward your legs.

If you can't reach the toes, you can put your hands anywhere on your legs. You can put your hands on your thighs. You can put your hands on your waist. You're just letting the torso move toward the front of the legs.

And releasing the toes. If you're able to, take the palms and just step your hands on the palms. If your hands don't reach your feet, just circle your wrists a few times. You're circling the wrist, really opening up the wrist joints.

Come to standing and take yourself into a wide-legged stance, with the knees bent and your elbows bent. This is Goddess Pose. Opening the palms. Spreading the fingers. You're really stretching the hips. We're going into a dynamic stretch here, where you let the elbow reach the leg and move the arm overhead-- opposite arm overhead. Just move a few times into this flowing Goddess Pose. You're lengthening the torso. You're also getting a good opener on this stretch into the low back and the hips.

Stepping forward. Forward Fold. Just rest the upper body. Slight bend in the knees. You can box your elbows. This is a deep shoulder stretch here. Also really opens the hamstrings.

And coming to the mat, let your legs reach out in front of you. Long Forward Fold. The arms can be anywhere-- on your legs, on the side of the mat, or reaching toward the feet. And just relax the upper body. Just focus on your breath and lengthening the spine.

Lie down. We're going to use a strap here. You can use anything you want-- a yoga strap or an old tie, an old necktie. First, we'll start with the right leg. Take the strap in the right hand onto the right leg. This is a side stretch for the hips. The right leg goes out to the right. It doesn't matter how far down the leg is. It's more important here to really anchor your hips so your booty does not leave the ground.

Slow and steady. This is a deep hip stretch. Bringing the leg back to the center. And switch the strap into the left arm as you twist. Turning the head away from the legs. And bringing the leg to the center.

Take the hand on the strap-- both hands on the strap as you draw the leg toward you. Really deep stretch here-- the back of the glutes and the hamstrings. Let the right leg go. As you draw the left leg in. take the strap on the ball of the left foot. Really step into the strap. The left hand holds the strap at first. You can anchor the right leg with your right hand or place the right hand on the floor. Slowly take the left leg out with a side stretch.

Gently moving the leg toward the center. Take the right hand on the strap. Let the leg lengthen over into the twist. Turning the head away from the stretched leg gives you a full spinal twist. Bringing the leg into the center. And just draw the leg closer to the body, as if your toes could go overhead.

Relaxing the leg down to the ground. Bring both feet in. The knees are together. And just drop the knees to the right. The head turns away from the knees. Easy twist. Taking the knees over to the other side. Relax your shoulders. Relax your face and your hips.

And bringing the legs back to the center. Let the soles of your feet touch together. The pinky toes can press together. This is Bound Angle Pose. It opens the hips, helps to ease sciatica by stretching the deep muscles of the piriformis muscles. Soften the belly. Soften the breath. Stretching your legs out. Take a deep rest. And let yourself completely relax.