Taking care of your body is more important than you think. Back pain is super common, and something doctors hear about often. I have back pains regularly that I’ve had since high school. Chiropractors get more and more business every year. Yoga has many benefits that can aid in these issues. If you suffer from shoulders and neck pain at the workplace, yoga can help you out. Read on to know more about yoga at work and yoga poses that you can do right at your desk.
According to a Cleveland University study, more than 50% of the United States adults have seen a chiropractor at least once.
Why? There are a lot of different reasons for back pain, to be honest. The list is extensive. Wearing high heels, lifting heavy objects, arthritis, and muscle strain are among the list.
- One of the reasons we probably have so much back and neck pains these days is the fact that more and more people spend a significant amount of their day looking down at their phones.
- Another big reason is sitting at your job for an extended period.
When you’re at work sitting at your desk, or you spend hours standing, it can cause back pain.
The most common cause for lower back pain is postural stress, according to start standing’s website.
When sitting at your desk at school or work, you’re often curving your neck to look at what’s in front of you: along with back pain, typing and writing can cause your fingers to cramp up.
The American workforce is becoming more mindful. In a new study of more than 85,000 adults, yoga practice among U.S. workers nearly doubled from 2002 to 2012, from 6 percent to 11 percent.
Meditation rates also increased, from 8 percent to 9.9 percent.
Yoga is a great way to help with back, shoulder, and neck pain caused by sitting at your desk. Other benefits of yoga are that it relaxes your nerves and keeps a clearer mind.
However, sometimes we need some immediate help, and you can’t break out your yoga mat in the middle of the office or class, can you?
So, here are some yoga poses for office workers, you can do just sitting at your desk that will help relieve some of that stress and strain caused at your job.
Yoga Poses You Can Do At Your Work Desk
Have a look at some of the best workplace yoga poses for shoulders and neck pain.
1. Wrist and Finger Stretch
When sitting at a desk, your hands start to cramp up. I’ve seen people quickly crack their knuckles when this happens, but it’s a rigid response to a stiff feeling and can at times cause more pain. You can’t force knuckles loose all the time.
So, start by drawing circles with your hands through the wrists slowly. Try opening and closing your fists. Don’t rush these behaviors, take your time to give your hands and wrists a soothing stretch.
My favorite stretch for this is placing your hands straight out with your palms open and facing forward and using the other hand to slightly pull the fingers back to deepen your stretch.
Taking your time to do this yoga pose at your desk, can help keep hand muscles loose and flexible reliving any internal stress.
2. Seated Tadasana
Raise your hands over your head and gently reach for the sky. Take some deep breaths and relax your shoulders. Be sure to keep your posture as aligned as your know-how.
This asana will help loosen and stretch your shoulder muscles.
3. Side Stretch
You can do this directly after the last pose. Just place your hands over your head and slowly start extending your right arm towards the left part of your body. You can use the left arm to help deepen the stretch. Then, proceed to do the same with the opposite side with the other arm.
4. Seated Forward Fold
Lift your arms over the head and slowly lean forward. Reach towards your toes or as far towards them as you can get. This helps to stretch out your entire back which will easily tighten as you’re just sitting at your desk.
According to sources at yoga basics, this technique also can help calm the nerves.
So it’s a good yoga stretch to do if you experience a lot of at work stress.
5. Seated Cat-Cow
The seated cat-cow yoga pose is by far my FAVORITE. You do this one by placing your hands on your knees and sitting up straight. Then, taking a deep breath in, slowly raise your head and bring your chest outwards.
When you’re ready to let that breath out slowly; take your time and round your back while dropping your chin to your chest, pulling your belly inward. It’ll kind of look like a hunched back position. Go back and forth doing this on your breath for the best results.
The seated cow pose has a ridiculous amount of benefits which is why it’s one of my favorites.
- It helps to stretch your hips, back, and stomach.
- This yoga pose at your work desk can be fantastic for lower back pain.
- Ladies, it’s a symptom easer for that time of the month by massaging those reproductive organs.
- The seated cat-cow pose helps with back posture by keeping you loose but aligned while spending all of that time in a chair.
- It also has been proven helpful with anxiety and stress in the workplace.
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Concluding Thoughts,
Yoga is just intentional stretches that help calm your nerves and mind and helps keep you physically fit and healthy. It’s not nearly as complex as some people make it seem.
Besides, there are a lot of stretches such as these that anybody can do. You don’t have to be ridiculously flexible. I know people who do yoga basics that aren’t agile at all. They know the benefits of yoga for their bodies and those benefits are almost endless!
Yoga helps with back pains, yes, but it also helps with headaches and your digestive system as well.
Benefits of Yoga At Workplace
Yoga is not just about physical exercise. It does more good than that. Here are some key benefits of practicing yoga:
- According to studies, practicing yoga at the workplace showed a positive effect on the mental health of the employees.
- As I mentioned earlier, it does more than just helping your physical body. Yoga heals your body inside out.
- Yoga also enables you to focus on your mind so that you are less tensed and stressed.
- It’s hard enough working a high-stress job, and yoga helps take the edge off of that (like your morning coffee does).
I love yoga, and I do it daily, including when I’m at work and feeling wound up. When I feel clients are a hassle or I am behind on a deadline, yoga is the key!
There is some yoga dedicated for mornings, some for nights, and now you have some for working at a desk. Give some of these yoga poses a try and let us know how it goes!
Key Takeaways on Yoga at Work
- Practicing yoga at the workplace shows a positive effect on mental health by reducing stress and increasing happiness.
- When you’re at work sitting at your desk, or you spend hours continuously standing, it can cause back pain.
- Taking your time to do this yoga pose at your desk, can help keep hand muscles loose and flexible reliving any internal stress.
- If you suffer from shoulders and neck pain at the workplace, doing yoga regularly can help you out.
- Other benefits of yoga are that it relaxes your nerves and keeps a clearer mind.
- Seated Tadasana will help loosen and stretch your shoulder muscles.
- According to sources at yoga basics, seated forward fold technique also can help calm the nerves.
- Yoga helps with back pains, yes, but it also helps with headaches and your digestive system as well.
- Hence, yoga in the workplace is recommended if you wish to get rid of body pain and be flexible.
What stretches do you use at work when you’re feeling tight in your muscles? Is there any particular stretch you do to feel relaxed at work? What is your favorite yoga pose to do at work?
Do you think you’ll try any of these mentioned above? Comment below! We’d love to hear from you!!
