Keeping a practice going through the festival season
From Navaratri to Pongal, routines slip. How to pause, scale down and come back to class without starting over.
Ten minutes for desk workers, between meetings
A short sequence you can do in office clothes, in a chair or standing, from our stretch and mobility class.
Many of our members work long days at a desk in the IT parks along Avinashi Road and in Saravanampatti. Our stretch and mobility class was built for them, and this is a short version you can do between meetings. It is general movement, not treatment; if anything hurts, stop, and check with a doctor about any ongoing pain.
Sit near the front of your chair, feet flat. Roll your shoulders slowly back five times, then forward five times. Lace your fingers, turn the palms out and reach your arms forward at shoulder height, rounding your upper back, for five breaths. Then reach them overhead for five breaths.
Still seated, place your right hand on the outside of your left knee and turn gently to the left, keeping both hips on the chair. Hold for five breaths and change sides. Next, tilt your right ear towards your right shoulder, keeping the left shoulder down, for five breaths, and repeat on the left.
Now stand. Place your hands on the desk, walk your feet back and fold forward with a flat back until your body makes an L shape, for eight breaths. Step one foot back into a short lunge, tuck the tailbone and feel the front of the hip open, for five breaths each side. Finish standing, eyes closed, for ten slow breaths. The whole sequence takes about ten minutes and needs no mat, and our Wednesday evening class goes through a longer version.
