chair yoga poses
Collage by KAD

5 Chair Yoga Poses You Can Do While Working

Quick ways to ease tension, lower stress and increase focus

For those times when you’ve lost control of your inbox, haven’t gotten up from your desk all day and have reached your video meeting limit (I call it having a case of the “Zoom gloom”), two words can save the day: chair yoga. 

Kristin McGee wrote a whole book about it. “I saw a demand for movement for desk-bound people,” says the famed yoga teacher and Peloton instructor (you can catch her many classes—from power flows to meditations—on the Peloton app). “There are many ways to move, stretch and breath when you’re stuck at work.” Or, you know, stuck working at your dining table or kitchen island.

Some quick chair yoga can help loosen up tight areas while allowing you to tap into your parasympathetic nervous system, leaving you instantly more relaxed. But that’s not all. “It can also help strengthen areas like the abs, assist in better posture and give people a chance to sneak movement breaks in throughout the day,” says McGee. 

Here, she takes us through five poses she swears by to relieve tension and feel more grounded.

 

chair yoga poses
Peloton

Cat/Cow

Sit up tall with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Inhale and open up your chest as you arch up and out of your lower back. Exhale as you round your spine and look to your belly. Continue this back-and-forth motion of arching and rounding as you link your breath with the movement. “This is great to open up the back, shoulders and hips, as well as strengthen the core,” says McGee.

 

chair yoga poses
Peloton

Chair Twist

Sit up tall with your feet planted firmly on the floor. Place your right hand on your left knee and your left hand behind you on the top of the chair (you can also place it lower if you like) and rotate to the right, initiating the movement from your core. Hold for five breaths, come to centre and repeat on the left side. “This is great for unsticking tension or tightness around the spine and through the back, hips and shoulders,” says McGee. “It also helps to give us a fresh perspective.”

 

chair yoga poses
Peloton

Eagle Arms

Sit up tall and place your feet flat on the ground. Open your arms to the sides, then cross the right arm under the left. Double cross at the elbows and press the back of the hands or palms together. Hold for five to eight breaths, then repeat with the left arm underneath. “Eagle arms are great for alleviating shoulder tension as well as wrist pain,” says McGee. “They’re also great for focus and concentration.” 

 

chair yoga poses
Peloton

High Altar Side-Lean

Sitting up tall, interlace your hands and invert your palms to the ceiling with your arms alongside your ears. Relax the top of your shoulders and lengthen up out of the lower back. As you stretch to the right, hold for five breaths. Come up to centre, then stretch to the left. “I love this pose for helping with our posture, opening up the shoulders and wrists, alleviating lower back pain and strengthening the core and obliques,” says McGee.

 

chair yoga poses
Peloton

Ankle-to-Knee Pose

Sitting up tall, cross your right ankle over your left knee, letting the right knee drop open to the side. Stay here and breathe or lean forward, placing your forearms on your shin for a deeper stretch. Hold for five to eight breaths and then switch sides.

Namaste, friends.

 

    More Wellness