11 Yoga Poses To Stretch Out After You’ve Been Sitting All Day

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In addition, the external rotation of the front leg helps you increase mobility and flexibility in your hip joints.

How to: Come to standing, facing the long side of your mat with your feet parallel to the short edges of your mat. Stretch your arms straight out and face your palms toward the ground. Turn your right toes to point forward and bend your right knee. Line your right knee up over your ankle. Angle your left toes in at 15 degrees and press into the outside edge of that foot. Notice the stability this small adjustment creates for the foundation of your pose. Slide your tailbone down and lift up through the sides of your torso. Stack your shoulders over your hips and stretch your arms in opposite directions with a sense of purpose. Take your gaze softly forward to rest over your right forefinger. Take a breath in to broaden across the chest, breathe out to remain here.

To add a shoulder opener, turn your thumbs to face down as you bring your hands behind your back. Grab for opposite elbows (note which arm is on top) or connect your palms for prayer hands behind your back. Notice if your shoulders have slumped forward as if you are sitting at your desk. If so, give your shoulders a little more space by separating your prayer hands slightly or take your elbows out wider. Feel the shoulder blades knit together on the back body and counter the sensation of curling forward. Ease your focus back to your breath for 5–10 cycles.

Breathe in, straighten your front leg and reach your arms overhead. Breathe out and repeat this shape on the left side, switching which arm is on top if you grab opposite elbows. After both sides, come back to Downward-Facing Dog.

Salabhasana (Locust Pose)

Why it helps: This pose is so important for creating strength and stability along the entire backside of our bodies. It opposes the shape of sitting in a chair and thus helps us strengthen the muscles that are periodically neglected all day. To put sthria sukha into practice, we must create and restore a sense of equilibrium for our bodies through the movements we choose to make, which makes backbends a must.

How to: From Downward-Facing Dog, roll forward to Plank Pose and lower down to lay on your belly. Rest your hands underneath your shoulders. Breathe in and raise your head, chest, hands, and feet. Breathe out and stretch your arms back and interlace fingers above your bum. If your hands do not connect easily, use a strap, scarf, or towel to bridge the gap, or keep your arms alongside your body. Point your toes and lift your thighs as you keep your pubic bone on your mat. Move your heart up and forward to feel a sense of spaciousness in your back body. Keep your soft gaze about a foot in front of the mat so that your neck is a natural extension of your spine. Breathe with ease here for 5–10 cycles. Release your hands on an exhale and lower your forehead and toes to your mat.

Ustrasana (Camel)

Why it helps: This pose not only physically counters the typical shape of sitting in a desk chair all day, but also gives us a chance to practice finding ease in the more stressful moments of our days. The more we practice breathing a sense of ease and steadiness into the challenging moments on our mat, the more this tool comes with us off our mat and into our lives. Camel Pose is a challenging one for many of us. Backbends trigger the sympathetic nervous system, which is commonly described as the “fight or flight” defense system. This is why many people feel anxious in poses such as Camel. However, keeping a steady breath and gaze actually trigger the opposite and trigger our parasympathetic nervous system (think “rest and digest”).

How to: Come to stand on your knees and glance back at your feet to make sure they are in line with your hips. Check your knees to make sure they are under your hips. Place your hands on your low back with the fingertips pointing down. Use your hands to slide the skin of the low back downwards as if you are creating more space for your body to open from.

Choose one steady thing in front of you at eye level to look at when you come up out of the pose. Breathe in and lift up your chest, breathe out to pause and take in your stable connection to the ground. You can keep your hands on your low back. Or reach back for the heels while being conscious of your hips staying in line with your knees. Lift through the sides of your torso to create a sense of elevation in your heart. Check in with your gaze and breath, bring a sense of sthira sukha to both. Breathe here for 5–10 cycles. To transition out, return your hands to your lower back and breathe in as you rise up. Sit your bum to your heels, rest your palms on your thighs, and gaze softly at the one steady point you selected in front of you. Breathe in ease, breathe out steadiness. Come to Downward-Facing Dog and focus on lengthening your back body here for 5 breaths.

Malasana Variation (Supported Squat)

Why it helps: This pose counters the shape of being seated at a desk through external rotation of your hips. The bound arms in this variation initiates spinal rotation and shoulder retraction, which counter the typical posture of hunching over a screen.

How to: From Downward-Facing Dog, maintain a softness in your knees as you walk your feet up to your hands. Separate your feet mat width distance apart and point your toes outwards. Take a breath in and lengthen your spine forward, with your exhale lower your seat into a squat position. You can place a block or two stacked blocks underneath your sitting bones for support. If it is hard to keep your heels on the ground, try angling the feet out further.

Place a block in front of your right foot and take your right hand to the block. Breathe in and raise your left arm up and out to the left. Breathe out and slide your left forearm behind your back any amount. If you find that this variation causes your left shoulder to slump forward, take your hands into prayer instead and use your elbows against your inner thigh to create a sense of spaciousness in your back. If you take the twist variation, breathe deeply into ease for 5–10 cycles before switching sides.

You can take a brief standing forward fold between sides if your hips need a break. After you’ve completed both sides, bump your hips up and slide your feet in line with the hips for a passive forward fold with soft knees. Let the base of your skull drop as you let your breath ease you into the present moment.

Paschimottanasna (Seated Forward Bend)

Why it helps: An active forward bend creates length along the backs of your leg muscles, which are usually constricted when you sit in a chair with your knees in flexion. Additionally, the following variation asks you to keep your back body muscles engaged as you lengthen your spine to counter the laxity of slumping forward.

How to: Come to sit on your mat with your legs stretched out in front of you. If it is difficult to straighten your legs, you can keep your knees slightly bent or try a block or folded blanket underneath your seat. Take a breath in and stretch your arms overhead, let your breath out as you fold forward and reach for your feet. Focus on keeping a sense of length in your back body, even if that means your fold is not extremely deep, rather than rounding your back. You can rest your hands on your shins if it is difficult to reach your feet. Press your sitting bones back and your thigh bones downwards toward your hamstrings. Ease the muscles of your face and let your shoulders rest on your back body as you breathe for 5–10 cycles. Inhale and slowly rise.

Viparita Karani (Legs-Up-The-Wall)

Why it helps: This is a great pose to end a long day for many reasons. It’s calming and relaxing to the body and mind, yet it also stimulates your circulation after a long day of sitting still.

How to: Place a folded blanket or a shallow bolster about 4 inches away from a wall. Sit on top of the blanket or bolster with one of your hips against the wall. Slowly swing your legs up the wall as you lower your shoulders down to the floor. Slide your bum as close to the wall as is comfortable so that your sit bones are off the blanket. The bolster or blanket should be positioned between the bottom tip of your shoulder blades and your sacrum. If this is too much strain on your hamstrings, bend your knees slightly and scoot yourself slightly further from the wall. Your chest should feel broad and expansive and give way to easy breathing. Take in the feeling of the steady ground underneath you. Breathe a sense of ease into your shoulders, your back, and your legs. Rest here for 3 to 5 minutes.

(Courtesy: https://www.yogajournal.com/)