Yoga To Relieve The Effects Of Sitting

Simple yoga practises to relieve the effects of sitting

Many of us have been moving less and stressing more in recent years. To combat the consequences of too much sitting, try some simple yoga positions and exercises.

You may have noticed yourself sitting a lot more over the last couple of years, you started working from home, you should move your body less and stress your mind more.

You're probably familiar with tense shoulders, back discomfort, pinchy hips, overworked eyes, and the merging of work and personal life into one never-ending sit-a-thon if your home office (or equivalent) setup is less than ideal… Many of us have heard the phrase "sitting is the new smoking," and while we're not fans of flashy headlines, there's no denying that sitting for lengthy periods of time can be harmful to our health.

So we've put up a survival guide for preventing and treating aches and pains when working from home, along with yoga positions and exercises to help you relax your body and mind!

Hip flexor muscles

When it comes to tight hip flexors, lengthy hours of sitting are the first suspect. Extended sitting sessions can shorten your hip flexors, whether your posture is ideal or slouched.

The 'hip flexors' are a group of muscles that help the pelvis balance over the legs. The iliopsoas (comprising the psoas major and iliacus), rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps), and sartorius are the most important.

Simple actions that alleviate and release the hip flexors can help improve balance between the legs, pelvis, and back, including:

Lunge Low

Bridge

Baby is content

Psoas-specific

The psoas has mild sensations. This hip flexor is buried in the lower lumbar area, extends through the pelvis to the femur, and tends to engage in habitual holding patterns - notably when sitting for long periods of time.

Walking activates the psoas, which flexes the hip joint and elevates the upper leg towards the body.

The psoas, which is deeply connected to emotions, responds best to quiet attention, patience, and endurance. Here are some yoga poses to help you with that:

Pigeon

Tree

Butterfly Resting

Shoulders

Shoulders play an important part in practically every yoga position and in everyday life. Their mobility and flexibility, or lack thereof, has an ongoing impact on us, especially because many of us are continuously bent over phones, computers, and steering wheels, putting our shoulders in protraction for lengthy periods of time.

Flexibility and mobility are just as vital as strength. These yoga poses will provide a stretch to open the tiny fibers between your joints:

Pose of a cow

Heart Melting Pose

Heart Melting

Back

The spine twists and moves forward and backward (flexion and extension), as well as side to side (lateral flexion). Sitting for long periods of time, especially if slumped over a computer, promotes flexion but excludes all other movements.

By strengthening and stretching the muscles that stabilize the spine, adding side bending, back bending, and twisting to the normal forward motion of sitting can help improve posture and reduce back discomfort. This is exactly what these yoga positions do:

Side Angle Extending

Pose with Revolved Head to Knees

Twist Reclined

Eyes

Do your eyes feel dry, itchy, or tired? Is your vision becoming hazy? The majority of our oculus uterque are suffering from screen time, whether we're working from home or binge-watching Netflix. Headaches and problems concentrating can result from tired eyes, as well as physical issues like tense shoulders and back pain.