Ever Tried Yoga at Work? Boost Productivity with these 7 Chair Yoga Poses

Did you know you can boost your productivity and incorporate movement into your workday with Chair Yoga? Taking the time to tune into your breath and stretch your body can benefit your mind, body, health, and work!

Chair Yoga – in addition to being the perfect type of yoga to do while you’re at work – is a wonderful way to practice if you are new to yoga, have limited mobility, or if you are dealing with an injury.

The only equipment you need is a chair, which makes this practice ideal for office and corporate settings. Chair Yoga is especially great for sneaking in some physical activity into your workday.

Taking a break from work to improve your productivity seems counterintuitive. Most employees operate by the principle that “the more hours we put in, the better.” Yet quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality.
 

Chair Yoga is especially great for sneaking in some physical activity into your workday.

 
In fact, a University of Illinois study found that participants who took short breaks better retained information than those not offered breaks.

Take a mindfulness break with 5 Ways to Weave Mindful Moments Into Your Workday

In addition to boosting productivity, Chair Yoga offers an important window of physical activity. According to the CDC, getting an adequate amount of physical activity lowers your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.

Consider yoga at work a win-win: You get a break, a nice dose of health benefits, AND you can increase productivity.
 

Ready to Try Chair Yoga? Here Are 7 Poses You Can Practice at Work:

Be sure to sit at the edge of your seat for each Chair Yoga pose. This encourages optimal posture.

If you’re short on time, you can always practice any of these yoga poses individually. A super quick yoga break is better than none!
 

1. Cat and Cow Pose

This exercise is a wonderful way to mobilize the spine and ease back tension. Cat and Cow Pose calms the mind by linking breath with movement.

Let’s try it:

• Sit up tall with your hands in your lap

• Inhale: arch your spine, open your chest and lift your chin

• Exhale: round your back and look down to your thighs

• Repeat 4-6 rounds

2. Neck Stretch

Staring at your computer for hours can be, well, a pain in the neck! Free up neck tension with this feel-good stretch.

Let’s try it:

• Tilt your head to the right by slowly moving your right ear towards your right shoulder

• Place your right hand onto your left ear

• Allow the weight of the arm to gently encourage the stretch to deepen

• Take care to not pull forcefully on the head

• Take 5-10 breaths and repeat on your other side

Check out the full article and 5 more chair yoga poses on YogiApproved!

Flow with me! Check out my 20-minute chair yoga video.

Oh Hey Self-Care! This Simple DIY Lavender Sugar Scrub Recipe Will Melt Away Your Woes

Self-care is a wonderful way to honor your body and tap into your reserves of inner calm.

A mindful time-out (such as the DIY lavender sugar scrub practice described below) nurtures your mind, body, and spirit, and offers a sense of renewal.

A homemade sugar scrub can transform your day by brightening your mood and relieving tension. This quick and easy-to-make DIY scrub is an excellent self-care practice to incorporate into your weekly routine.

Self-massage is a wonderful way to tune into your body and show yourself some love. And a homemade sugar scrub is perfect for just that.

This DIY lavender sugar scrub is a gentle exfoliator that can be used on your face and body. The calming scrub leaves your skin soft and smooth and the lavender scent will leave you feeling blissfully relaxed.

A simple practice like this proves that self-care does not need to be complicated, time-consuming, or expensive.

Check out the recipe and the full article on YogiApproved

Use These 4 Restorative Yoga Poses for Immediate Stress Relief

When we are at ease in body and mind, we feel open, expansive, and grounded. We are able to show up for ourselves, others, and our work fully, and we are our best selves.

However, when we experience stress, we tend to feel scattered, uncomfortable, and unsettled. The physical manifestation of stress might express as inconsistent and short breaths, tightness in the body, and tension in the face.

Stress is a mindset that we adopt (either consciously or unconsciously) in response to a given situation. More often than not, stress is an unsupportive addition to our daily lives.

Restorative Yoga is an antidote to the harm caused by stress, offering an opportunity to step back and reset the mind and body. A restorative practice offers a reprieve from stress that allows us to reframe our approach toward external stressors.

 
It can feel counterintuitive to take a time-out from our day when we feel pressed for time or burdened by an approaching event or deadline. Perhaps the very reason we feel stressed is because we feel short on time.

However, there can be value in taking a few minutes to change the channel in our minds and slow the pace of our inner dialogue. By taking the time to reassess, we might recognize the stress we carry to be unnecessary, and we can address the role of stress as an obstacle to our end goals.
 

Use These 4 Restorative Yoga Poses as Your Go-To Yoga for Stress Relief:

The Restorative Yoga poses below offer a holistic approach to stress relief. Restorative Yoga can imbue our lives with a fresh perspective, introspection, and a broader understanding of our response – a stark contrast to the narrow-minded thought pattern imprinted by stress.

Taking a moment to pause and break the cycle of tension can do wonders for your day, offering ease in the body, mind, and breath. The next time you need to recenter, give one or all of the poses below a try.
 
Props You Will Need: 4 blocks, 2 blankets, 1 bolster, optional eye pillow.
 
If you do not have the yoga props listed, please feel free to supplement with items found around your home. Firm pillows and/or a couch cushion can be a great substitute for the yoga props used in the poses listed below.

1. Restorative Twist

This Restorative Twist is a wonderful way to quiet the mind and gather grounding energy. Support under your belly offers a soothing effect, which alleviates feelings of worry and strain.

Let’s try it:

• Place two blocks on your mat, the first block on its lowest height and the second block on the second height

• Lay your bolster over the two blocks so you create a slope with the bottom edge of the bolster touching the floor

• Snuggle your right hip at the base of the bolster with your knees bent to the left and your hands framing your props

• Keep your navel as close to center as possible and lie down so the front of your body is supported by the bolster

• Tuck your arms underneath the bolster and between the blocks

• Your head can turn toward or away from your knees. Choose whichever option feels best for you neck

• Enjoy each side for up to five minutes

Check out the other poses and the full article on YogiApproved

30 Minute Vinyasa Practice

Hi yogis!

Join me for this 30 minute Vinyasa Yoga Flow. This practice is catered towards yogis with a regular practice. However, those working on building strength can enjoy this video by taking breaks when needed. Enjoy and please reach out if you have any questions!

xoJenny

Have you Subscribed to the Urban Om Yoga YouTube channel yet? Stay up to date with free yoga and meditation videos when you subscribe. Check it out 

Photo: Kristin Wolford

Yoga Corner

The best part of yoga practice is when you are truly tuned into your time on the mat. Having the best yoga mat and props makes it all that much easier to drop into that place where typical distractions disappear.

For this reason I have created a list of my favorite yoga props on Amazon.com. I have been using these products for years and I highly recommend all the products on my list.

You will also find a reading list for your yoga library with some of my favorite books, should you be interested in deepening your yoga practice off the mat.

Check out the link below and please let me know if you have any questions!

xoJenny

Feeling the heat? Keep it Cool with this Pranayama

Sitali Pranayama is a breathing exercise, perfect for finding balance during summer. This cooling breath is a quick and easy to way to both beat the heat and calm the mind.

This pranayama is said to not only remove excess heat from the body, but it also keeps the mind and emotions cool, calm and in check during fiery Pitta season. 

Sitali Pranayama is practiced with a rolled tongue. If you are not able to roll your tongue, instead gently place the tip of your tongue to the top two teeth.

Let’s try it:

1. Find a comfortable seat. A great option is to sit cross legged on a pillow, blanket or bolster. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.

2. Start with a body scan, checking in from the top of the head and moving down the body. Notice how you are feeling physically, mentally, & emotionally. Take note of any areas which show signs of excess heat.

3. Once you feel ready to begin the breathing technique, roll your tongue. Breath in through the mouth with your tongue rolled. When you are ready to exhale, close the mouth and breath out through the nose.

4. Continue this for about 8-10 rounds, doing your best to keep the in and out breaths equal in length.

5. Allow the breath to resume a natural rhythm, breathing in and out through the nose. Take a few minutes to sit in meditation and take note of any cooling sensations.

*As with all pranayamas, if at any point you feel lightheaded, come back to a normal breath rhythm and continue again as you feel ready.

Sitali Pranayama is a wonderful way to stay balanced and cool all summer long. Give this breathing exercise a try the next time you need to keep your cool.

legs up the wall: the cure-all yoga pose

Legs up the wall is sometimes know as the cure-all yoga pose. It boasts healing benefits for ailments ranging from anxiety to headaches to insomnia, making it a go-to yoga pose for just about anything.

I practice this pose almost every day as I find it to be a brilliant way to rest my legs after running around the city all day. It is also a wonderful way to find a bit of energy when you feel like you could use a boost.

Check out the video below for a rejuvenating, relaxing 5 minute restorative practice. This video includes a short and sweet meditation followed by legs up the wall with optional variations. You can practice this sequence any time of day, but it is especially helpful as an afternoon pick-me-up or an evening wind-down at the end of a busy day. I hope you enjoy this powerful healing pose as much as I do!

wishing you a bright new year!

As we bid farewell to 2017 and say hello to 2018, I would love to share with you a practice I have found to be a powerful way to ring in the new year.

A few years ago, I started the tradition of closing out the year by listing all the positive aspects of the past year. No matter how big or small the event, the accomplishment, the blessing, I sit with my journal and list all the beauty that has entered my life. This has proved to be both a wonderful way to reflect on the past year as well as a way to embrace a positive perspective for the year to come. 

Not only does this practice frame the closing year in a positive light but it is very telling as to what IS working in our lives and how we can grow the positive aspects of our lives rather than being overly focused on what we need to change, uproot and shed. 

I encourage you to give this exercise a shot for a happy and positive transition into 2018.

Wishing you and your family a bright and happy New Year!

Much love,
Jenny

Too busy for Yoga?

There is an old Zen saying, "you should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you are very busy; Then you should sit for an hour." 

This saying rings so true as I am currently moving out of my apartment where I have lived for the past 7 years. Between sorting through papers, organizing clothes and getting the room ready for the next tenant, this Zen reminder is just what I have needed to keep my practice going, even when super busy.

I think of all I have to do in order to get ready for my move (on Sunday!) and it feels like any spare moment when I am not teaching, I should be working to prepare for the move. However, knowing myself and knowing the power of meditation and yoga, most days I have carved out time for practice. Having a little time on my mat has given me the calm focus I need to stay on task and not get too distracted. This post-yoga focus has been a sharp contrast to days when I was 'too busy', didn't practice and somehow wasted more time than if I had spent just a bit of time on my mat.

I always love a nice, long yoga practice but it is true that we do not always have the time. That's why we could use a break from the all or nothing mentality. A 15-30 minute practice can do wonders, leaving you grounded, centered, focused and ready to take on whatever tasks are at hand. 

For this reason, I have been creating short yoga sequences and sharing them on YouTube. (You can subscribe here if you haven't already!) Anytime you need a shift of energy but don't feel like you have the time, try a video from the Urban Om Yoga channel, like the one below. Just 13 minutes is all you need for an afternoon boost :) Check out the video and, as always, let me know if you have any questions! 

xoJenny

This video was filmed in the loft I have called home for 7 years. Excited for a change but I will miss this dance floor!

Yoga for a Strong Core

Happy Self Care Sunday, Yogis!

I am excited to announce that I have started a YouTube Channel, Urban Om Yoga! 

I started this yoga channel to offer some peace and calm in an easily accessible (and free!) platform. Through various practices we will sweat, rest, restore and meditate. There will be a wide range of practices on the channel so you can find a practice that works best for your specific needs each day. I am so excited to share this project with you. Subscribe to the channel here and check out the most recent video below. 

A strong core supports from the inside out, promoting good posture and a healthy back. 

My yoga practice has been influenced by my recent pilates training and I have found some incredibly helpful exercises to weave into my everyday yoga flow. Check out the video and subscribe to Urban Om Yoga to stay in the loop for future videos- More coming soon!!

Have a wonderful Sunday! 

xoJenny