This week we focus on little 1 minute stretches, breathing and meditation exercises you can do as a break from work.
To start we do a few deep breathes.
Stretches
- Stand up and stretch your arms out
- Hold your breath as you’re doing it
- Squeeze your but and back muscles a bit
- Try to get a yawn triggered if you can
- Repeat a three times
- Shake it out
- Stretch forward
- Interlace fingers
- Place hands behind head
- Let gravity pull your head forward
- Take a few deep breaths
- Come up slow!
- Stretch backwards
- Interlock fingers
- Lean back
- Open your back
- Breath deep
- Don’t go too far and hurt yourself!
- Forward Bend
- If not flexible, do against a wall
- Bend forward, hold on to back of chair
- Activate legs
- Take deep breaths for 1 minute
- Lengthen the spine
- At the end, hang forward (hands on knees, shin or floor)
- Hang out for 1 minute
- Come up slowly!
- Squats
- Bend down into a squat
- Do a little light twist
- Shift weight between legs
- Activate the muscle legs
- Hang out for a minute (legs should burn)
- Stand up slow
- Squeeze all the muscles
- Shake!
- Shake out arms and legs
- Shake for 1 minute minimum (up to 20 minutes max)
Breathing
Today we practice Breath of Fire.
- Pump your navel as you exhale through your nose
- Let yourself naturally breath the breath through the noise
- Find a good pace
- Eventually pick up the pace a bit then a bit more
- Do for 1 minute minimum, ideally for 3 minutes
- End with big inhale and hold
- Squeeze all the muscles in the body
- Inhale more and squeeze
- Inhale more and squeeze
- Then do big exhale out through the mouth. Get it all out.
- Holding breath out, squeeze muscles
Meditation
Today we do a simple meditation. Just sit, close your eyes and relax. Don’t force anything. Don’t try to “clear your mind.” Just relax.