Our modern lifestyle can be hard on the body. Stuck behind a desk? Trapped in your car? Using a mouse? Type all day? Stare at your phone? Scroll through social media? It can take a toll on the body.
While there is no perfect posture, the body works best when our pelvis is in a neutral position, the shoulder girdle is stacked over the hips, and our neck is long with ears above shoulders. Our bodies crave this alignment. When the body falls out of alignment, you may start to feel tight shoulders, a painful knee, or maybe your back aches a bit.
Bring some balance to your body and take a break from your daily work every half hour to hour and move differently.
Here are a few movements that will help counteract some of the aches and pains acquired from locking the body into one position for a length of time.
Sitting in a chair with legs hip width apart and feet on the ground pointed forward, place your hands on the back of your head with elbows out to the sides. Breathe in through the nose slowly, then pull the elbows in front of the face toward one another while the chin moves toward your chest and gently press the head up and back into the hands. Breathe out through the mouth (or nose if you have coworkers that look at you strangely), then open the elbows while lifting the chin parallel to the floor. Repeat about 8 times.
Next, kneel on the floor to the right side of your chair. The right knee stays down while the left foot steps forward. This position is a 90/90 lunge. Reach right arm up above the head. Use your left hand for balance by using the chair if needed. Then turn slightly to the left from the center of the body and reach the right arm to the left on an exhale. Inhale and return to center with arm reaching for the ceiling. Do each motion about eight times and then turn in the opposite direction. Switch the knee and forward foot. Repeat again.
You may feel like you have no time, however, give it try. Notice how the body feels. Is it a relief to move in a different way? Or does it feel constricted? Did it lighten your mood or make you smile to get off your chair and move to the floor like a child might?
Have fun. Move joyfully.