Office Yoga

Ooooooooooooooom.

Oh. You’re here. Sorry. Didn’t mean to be rude, just getting into the spirit of things. It’s Krishna’s birthday this weekend. Big celebrations around town – and I’ve given a spot of yoga a go. Got me thinking…

This has nothing at all to do with New-Age propaganda. It’s a well-established idea that stress interferes with cognitive function and behavior. Put simply, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, you probably aren’t too nice to be around and you can’t solve problems as well as you normally can. And your muscles react. They clench up into balls and send additional signals to your brain telling it that you are stressed. A vicious…vicious cycle. Ooooooooooooooom.

Get your yoga balls out, team. They were all the rage in offices in the early nineties. And if you feel like a frootloop sitting at your desk on a slippery big ball and prefer the chair, try this exercise, designed especially for the covert yogi.

Drop a pen on the floor. Tuck your pelvis under (you do this by pulling your belly-button in), extend the arm which is on the opposite side to where the pen is and swing it around and to the ground to pick up the pen. keep your spine straight all the while. Repeat for the other side.

While you’re down there, check for lost coins…Ooooooooom.