You’re sitting all day, your shoulders hunched, eyes strained and brain exhausted. So how do you fight this “work-from-home mind and body fatigue?
Simple, says yoga teacher Taryn Burns.
“Yoga is this incredible practice that allows us to release tension on a lot of different layers. So, whether it's your movement practice to release physical tension, a meditation practice or a breath work practice to release more of that mental and emotional tension, it's really, really efficient to bring yourself back to center and feel more balanced,” she says.
She has three simple steps to help us re-energize our day.
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Breath work
“The first thing to do is just become aware of how your breath is actually moving. So, we spend a lot of time breathing, but we're not actually aware of the breaths. So simply by turning our attention to the breath, we start to turn the attention inward.
“One of my favorite practices is something called the box breath,” Taryn says.
It’s basically breathing in a square pattern.
- Inhale for a four-count
- Hold it for a four-count
- Exhale for a four-count
- Let your lungs stay empty for a four-count
Repeat for three to five minutes. “And there's really no excuse not to do that if you can do it at your desk,” she says.
Work Life Balance
Yoga boost
“My go-to pose for people is a low lunge with the lateral bend,” says Taryn.
- Back knee drops down on the floor
- Same arm reaches overhead
- As you inhale, you're going to gently bend to the left.
She says it will help flex those quads and hip muscles that get “short” and tired from sitting all the time.
Backing up your back
- Grab a blanket
- Roll or fold it until an1.5 to 3 inches thick
- Lay down over blanket
“You feel the head of the shoulders start to drop back. The arms will rest by your sides or extend it out wide. And just by holding that pose without any effort, anywhere from two minutes to ten minutes, you're going to feel an energetic shift as well as that physical shift as you release the tension that's built up in the chest, in the shoulders,” the yogi insists.
If you want more tips from Taryn, you can check her out on Instagram at @Taryn Burns Underscore Yoga.
