Is the nagging pain in your neck and back distracting you and draining your energy?
Press PAUSE on your busy life with this free 10 minute "Yoga at My Desk" video to instantly feel better!
You work out, you get enough sleep, and drink half your body weight in water everyday and if you are like most people you will think this is enough to stay healthy....but here's the crazy thing: it isn't. Many people mistakenly believe that just because they exercise regularly that sitting all day won't effect them. But unfortunately this just isn't true. Even people that work out on a regular basis are still at risk for sitting disease.
Sitting disease...what's that?
Sitting disease is a collection of risk factors used to describe the negative health impacts of a sedentary (or in-active) lifestyle. These risk factors include: obesity around the mid section, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high blood cholesterol. These factors make it far more likely that someone will get injured, get sick more often, get diabetes, develop chronic disease and even die younger.
Given that people sit anywhere from 7.8 to 11 hours a day sitting disease is becoming an epidemic in many...
By now I'm sure that you have realized that Yoga has a long list of benefits such as relieving back pain and neck tension, lowering your stress level and boosting your productivity to name just a few! But did you know that it helps you build strong and healthy bones too?
Pretty awesome right?
In the poses we are placing our joints in a variety of positions which helps to circulate their fluid and stimulates renewal of cartilage, tendons and ligaments.
Simultaneously, the bones are isometrically subjected to forces many times those of gravity, which causes them to grow stronger.
Yoga uses such a variety of positions that it stimulates the muscles and joints from all sides! Which is also fantastic for building strength AND maintaining flexibility.
This signals the mechanosensor cells within our bones...
Spending a significant portion of our day seated can take a toll on us in many ways. One area of our body that is often effected is our lower back, that can get stiff and painful without regular movement.
Couple this with tension in the surrounding muscles: hip flexors, hamstrings and lower back muscles plus the extra pressure on the spine when seated and we could have a problem on out hands: LOWER BACK PAIN!
So what can we do?
SQUAT!!
Research shows us that doing hip flexor stretches combined with holding a deep squat is a powerful way to maintain lower back, hip and ankle mobility.
In just as few as 10 minutes a day we can go a long way towards keeping our spines healthy and pain free!
Mobility expert Kelly Starrett suggests that we start with 10 one minute squats every day, working our way up to a 10 minute hold.
Eventually, we want to work our way up to a more balanced ratio of time spent sitting, to time spent mobilizing our body….but we have to start...
At certain times of the year it seems like everyone around us is sniffling and sneezing right? With colds and flus going around like crazy it is so important that we do everything we can to stay healthy and keep our immune systems strong!
Remember the saying: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? Well it's true! The more that we can do on a regular basis to keep our vitality high the better, which means we will get sick less often and recover more quickly when we do.
Since it effects our body on many levels simultaneously, Yoga is an extremely powerful tool for boosting our immunity and keeping us feeling great. The key of course is to practice it on a regular basis to get maximum benefits and keep everything running optimally.
Curious how taking Yoga Breaks can help you avoid the sniffles, aches and fevers of cold and flu season?
Check out 4 ways Yoga helps you helps you avoid getting sick:
Did you know that the average American spends about 55% of their waking hours every day sitting???
This adds up to almost 8 hours everyday sitting, and this finding is on the low end, with other studies that many people are sedentary (ie: not moving) for 12 or more hours everyday. WOWZERS!!
So what does this all this sitting mean for your health?
Remember how we talked about how Sitting is the New Smoking ie: how all that time parked in a chair is not only wreaking havoc on your derriere, but also your health? Well unfortunately, it’s true and it even has its own name: SITTING DISEASE! “The growing body of research on sitting disease has found a strong correlation between long periods of sitting and elevated risk of illness or injury.” YIKES!!!…..like what you might be asking yourself????
It turns out that sitting for so long everyday puts someone at a higher risk for:
I am excited to share that I was recently featured as a Stand Out Expert on the Stand Out Be You Podcast! Take a listen to learn more about my journey as an entrepreneur and how I became interested in helping people integrate the tools of Yoga into their workday.
Yoga is such a powerful way to help you move, stretch, breathe to boost your energy, lower your stress levels and increase your focus for more productivity. And Im excited to share these tools with you!
Are you here on Maui? Learn more about my different in person Workplace Wellness services HERE .
Want to learn how to take Yoga Breaks at your desk? Check out the Yoga at My Desk Online Course or join the Yoga at My Desk Tribe on FaceBook HERE.
Want a simple yet extremely powerful way to ground yourself and return your focus to the present moment?
Ask yourself this question:
And then pay attention:
Where do you feel your breath? What is the quality of it?
Often when we are feeling stressed out or paying attention to things around us our breath is short and shallow and mostly in the chest and shoulder area.
Not only does this increase tension in this area because these muscles are not meant to be our main breathing muscles, it also triggers more stress in our bodies because it is the fight or flight breathing pattern.
As soon as you shift your focus to your breath and begin to pay attention to it you will notice a shift within yourself. As you tune into the flow of your breath, the feeling of it and the quality of it you will feel yourself becoming more relaxed, grounded, and present.
Tuning into the subtle rhythm of the breath is the easiest way we have to bring our attention into our body and into the now.
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Press PAUSE on your busy life with this free 10 minute "Yoga at My Desk" video to instantly feel better!