Yoga Bites – Days 13-14
On days 13 and 14 we hope that you are having a break from your desk and getting active in your own way.
If you do have to spend time at the desk you can of course repeat any of the Yoga Bites and Yoga Sprinkles from the programme referring to the lists on the Days 11 and 12 information.
Joint Mobilisation and Spinning
If you have time we recommend that you practice Simon’s Joint Mobilisation sequence again.
This works through the main joints of the body from feet to neck and provides exercises to help maintain and improve their comfort and range of movement.
The last section of the video is a standing spinning practice which mobilises the spine.
The sequence overall is great to practice on its own to counteract the effects of periods of being static at work, or as a preparation of the body for more yoga, sport or fitness activities.
While you are practicing the sequence, we recommend that you think about whether you’d like to build some or all of the practices included into your workday routine going forward – either in the morning or at lunchtime.
If so would you prefer to do all of the practices at the same time or would you split them? Do some areas of the body need more frequent attention than others?
Breathing Practice
We also recommend this video which offers a breathing/meditation practice to help you feel calm, relaxed and centred. The technique shown may be something that you can use going forward when you have a quiet few minutes.
Review and reflect
After building yoga bites and sprinkles into your working week and trying some slightly longer breathing, mediation and restorative practices at weekends, now is the time to think about what you would like to take forward and how you can build movement and mindfulness habits into your working week to support your wellbeing.
If you don’t feel ready to freestyle your own programme you can of course repeat this one as many times as you like, taking or leaving the parts that you do or don’t enjoy.
Questions to consider
- Which poses/practices felt beneficial – mentally or physically? What benefits did I notice? What would I like to do more of? Or less of?
- Which parts of my body need the most care and attention?
- How much time per day/week do I want to spend on my own yoga practices? How should I organize this? In lots of short chunks like this programme or fewer, longer sessions? Do I need to take account of changing circumstances? Eg is my practice while working from home different to that when I’m in the office?
- Do I need to make any changes to my working set up or to my clothing that would make it easier to fit yoga bites and sprinkles into my working day?
- Do I want to continue with some breathing and meditation practices as provided by the videos?
- Do I need to continue to use the videos for these or should I practice by myself (with flexibility on time spent) after learning the techniques form the videos?
If you want to continue with the practices shared in this programme, you may find our YoPO planner helpful:
Yoga Bites for Desk Workers – Daily Planner
You can downloaded and used it as many times as you like.
This planner covers individual poses only.
For breathing and eye exercises and for videos, see our Exercise Library.
We recommend that where possible you include the practices that you want to be a regular part of your routine in daily “habit stacks” eg:
- Practice balancing on one leg while brushing your teeth
- Stretch your body before sitting down at the desk
- Sprinkle simple movements and/or mindfulness moments into your working day eg while waiting for a document to load or after completing a task
- Get moving during your lunch break, even if only for 5 minutes, making sure that you use your legs if you’ve been sitting down
- Build in a slot to move the body and calm the mind after work to create a transition between work and home activities – particularly if you are working from home
- Build in a short breathing/meditation practice at times when you have a little slot of quiet time at home or work
Taking it forward
Throughout the site next to the different types of poses, exercises, videos and sequences you’ll see the bookmark icon:
Click the icon to add that item to your bookmarked favourites.
You can then quickly access these under My Bookmarks or by clicking the bookmark icon in the menu when you’re logged in.
Keep an eye out for further programmes with different themes from YoPO and if you enjoyed Simon’s videos, see his website simonlow.com for more in depth recorded content and live online classes.
We’d love to hear how you get on! Contact hello@yoponow.com with any thoughts, comments or questions.
