You can reduce pain and stiffness without even getting up from your desk.
If you work at a desk all day, you’re likely familiar with the feeling of a sore back, neck, or shoulders from slouching at your computer for eight or more hours every day, five days a week. Sure, you can do a few gentle stretches in your chair as you’re working on a project, but ultimately, that won’t get to the root of the pain your poor desk posture is causing. Luckily, yoga has proven to be an effective way to thoroughly stretch out your body and improve your posture, and you can even do yoga at your desk!
Yogi and Playbook creator Morgan Tyler’s seven-day “Yoga for Desk Jobs” program is full of restorative poses guaranteed to provide relief after sitting all day — they’re quick enough to be done on a lunch break or between Zoom calls.
One of the best parts about yoga, and what makes it so practical for desk workers, is that it can be done virtually anywhere, including from the comfort of your own home or office. Tyler says that testing out new poses for her yoga fitness app and doing them at home actually helped her fall deeper in love with the practice, which inspired her to create the at-home program “Yoga for Desk Jobs.”
Tyler says that one of the best parts about practicing yoga from home is that you can show up exactly as you are, whether beginner or advanced, and still be able to have an amazing experience. “Outside of the physical benefits, you’re going to discover something about yourself when you step onto a yoga mat, ” she says.
With Tyler’s program as a helpful guide, you can kickstart your yoga journey at any time, anywhere — making it an accessible and exciting way to take a break from work and relieve any pain you may have from slouching over your desk or phone.
Tyler says she designed this program with efficiency and quality in mind. The classes in “Yoga for Desk Jobs” range from 10 to 15 minutes in length, which she says makes them “super easy to fit into your day,” even if you have a busy schedule.
“I’m a firm believer that you don’t need 60 minutes to make a difference in your body,” Tyler says, adding that one of the days included in the program can even be done from your desk chair. One basic yoga stretch that Tyler recommends, especially for people who need to feel some openness in the upper body, can be done right from your desk: “Cup your hands over your ears like earmuffs, and as you inhale, take those elbows side to side to open up the chest, and as you exhale, round through the back and take your chin all the way to your chest to feel that stretch through the back of your spine.”
There’s no exact definition of what a yoga practice should look like, Tyler says, and her program is catered to suit all skill levels. Anyone can benefit from these classes, not just people with desk jobs — even parents who are doing body-straining tasks on a daily basis like holding kids or lifting heavy things. Ultimately, the goal of her “Yoga for Desk Jobs” program is for users to leave each practice feeling a little more open, both mentally and physically.
“We could all use a lot of these stretches in our lives,” Tyler says. “There’s so much variety in yoga, and I think that’s something that will keep people coming back.”
If you enjoy Tyler’s “Yoga for Desk Jobs” program, you may also like the following programs available in her yoga fitness app:
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