Is the nagging pain in your neck and back distracting you and draining your energy?
Press PAUSE on your busy life with this free 10 minute "Yoga at My Desk" video to instantly feel better!
B L O G
4 reasons to de-slouch yourself and sit up tall right now
Feb 06, 2020
Ever wonder why you feel so tired after sitting all day? One HUGE factor is the way that you breathe when you're sitting (and very often slouching)
Can you breathe normally when you are slouched over? Try it and see.... Not so much right?!
CRAZY FACT: Your ability to breathe deeply (aka: your vital lung capacity) drops by 30% when you are slouched over in a weak posture.
Here's the thing: whether you realize it or not you likely spend a significant portion of your day in that position. Your body has adapted to breathing in that position out of necessity, but that doesn't mean its very efficient at it.
Because your abdomen is compressed your diaphragm can't do it's main task of breathing so other back up muscles in your neck and shoulder have to kick in and pick up the slack.
When it isn't moving freely up and down with every breath your diaphragm isn't able to do one of its key other tasks: massaging your heart and abdominal organs. Bet you didn't know it...
Sit, Stand, and Walk taller: A workshop to de-slouch yourself!
Jan 30, 2020
Technology is a staple in our modern lives, which is extremely helpful, but can definitely take a toll on your body.
Spending long hours sitting and working on your computer or phone can easily leave you dealing with:
- chronic and nagging aches, pains, and tension
- creeping weight gain that is hard to lose
- muscles that are getting sleepy and weak from lack of use
- the posture of someone twice your age
You may not have realized it, but your mood and energy is strongly influenced by your posture. This means that slouching can:
- drop your levels of motivation and inspiration
- increase stress levels or feelings of anxiety, sadness, or worry
- effect your confidence and outlook on life
Your mind and body are powerfully connected. Which is why strengthening your core muscles so that you sit, stand, and walk taller is super important to your overall health and vitality!
When you hold strong posture you:
Breathe better, look and feel leaner, have less back and body pain, ...
3 tips to make self care a lasting habit
Jan 29, 2020
So how did the first month of 2020 go for you?
I'll admit it was kind of a weird month for me, but I'm settling into my groove again now which feels great.
If you are like me (and most people LOL) you start the year off with big gusto towards your intentions and then things kinda slow down when routine kicks back in. Sound familiar?
And like for so many people having a consistent exercise, yoga, or meditation practice is often part of the plan each year. Was that the case for you?
If so, here are 3 tips to help you get into the habit of practicing self care more often:
1) Decide how many times a week you want to do the practice and write it in your day planner at the beginning of the week. Note each time you do it throughout the week so you can see if you met your goal by week end.
2) Schedule the sessions into your planner/calendar as a NON-NEGOTIABLE appointment with yourself! You deserve your attention right? YES!!!
3) Set an alarm in your phone to...
Learn a powerful stress busting productivity boosting breathing technique
Dec 05, 2019
On a scale of 1-10 what would your average stress level be? What about when you are at work? What about during the holidays?
I remember a time when my stress level was so high that I was waking up in the middle of the night feeling like I was running a marathon: heart pounding, sweating, and feeling intense anxiety.
IT WAS STRAIGHT UP AWFUL, thankfully I knew I had to make a shift and took action to do so!
Stress is a reality of life: the issue is how high our stress level gets and what we do to manage and reduce it.
The American Institute of Stress reports that 40% of people say that their job is very or extremely stressful......YIKES!
And since stress is a known contributor to many health issues and problems including: neck tension, back pain, headaches, digestive issues, weight gain, anxiety, insomnia, depression and every major chronic disease it is VITAL that we take action to bring stress levels down.
Thankfully Yoga has a wide variety of tools...
Get back pain at work? Try the Seated Cat and Cow Move right at your desk!
Nov 19, 2019
Does your back get sore when you are working on the computer?
Do you feel sleepy throughout the day with brain fog slowing you down?
Take a mini Yoga Break with me!
This weeks move is: Seated Cat and Cow! It’s great for loosening up your back, easing tension and helping you sit taller so you feel more alert!
Did you know that 90%of the nourishment to your brain comes from movement of your spine? This means you have to moo-ve it, moo-ve it
TO DO THE MOOOVES
Sit tall with your shoulders back, take a deep breath in
As you exhale, allow your spine to round and your shoulders roll forward and your head drops down
As you inhale, shift your weight to the front of your sit bones as you lift your chest and roll your shoulders back and look up
Continue to breathe deeply as you shift back and forth between the two positions
Repeat 15-20 times
Finish by sitting tall with your shoulders back...
3 Ways That Being Stressed Out Slows You Down at Work and in Life (and what to do about it)
Oct 14, 2019
Does this sound familiar....?
Alerts pinging you from your email and phone, the world's longest to do list, clients sending in bizarre requests, sessions to be at and others to plan for, with no end in sight. You might even be clocking mad overtime hours and taking your work home with you, giving you no downtime to recover.
Stress at this level can be absolutely crippling to your performance, health, and ultimately your happiness, plus it's one of the biggest threats to work place productivity.
While some stress is helpful because it lights a fire under your booty to motivate you to take action, chronically high levels of stress can lead to burnout, chronic fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. Plus, stress is a risk factor for every major chronic disease!
A quarter of all Americans feel that their job is the most stressful part of their life!
This means that it is absolutely important that we become aware of...
Stressed to the max at work?
Oct 07, 2019
If so, you are definitely not alone and the truth is that way too many people feel this way!
Chronic stress can wreak havoc on your health and happiness, yet is something that far too many people deal with on a daily basis simply because they don't yet know what to do to ease the burden.
While some stress is helpful to get us up and motivated to take action, if left unchecked, stress can quickly take a toll on your body and your mind.
Take my client Emily for example: who when dealing with major family stress developed lower back issues and sciatica pain. Since it is very common for problems to manifest as physical symptoms it was essential that we integrated relaxation techniques plus stretches and exercises to help her feel like herself again and get out of pain. And thankfully she did!
Far too many people wait until they are in pain or are super stressed to take action because they think they just don't have the time, know how, or...
Desk job giving you neck and shoulder pain? Mini Yoga Breaks will help!
Oct 03, 2019
Have you ever said to yourself: It's not worth doing ______________
(fill in the blank with: Yoga or Stretching or Exercising) because I only have a few minutes?
If you have, you are definitely not alone! Learn more in this week's Vitality Tip!
It's funny how sometimes we use this logic on ourselves right?
By telling yourself: unless I have X amount of time, it's really not going to do any good or make me feel any better. FALSE!
The truth is: every little bit counts and does have the potential to make you feel better!
But the mind can be a funny thing sometimes. Talking you out of taking a few minutes to move, breath, and stretch by spinning a story about how its pretty much a waste of time unless you can do it for a long time......weird logic!
The truth is it is ideal to be moving your body frequently throughout the day, by getting up often, changing positions, moving around etc...all things that may not happen that often when you are working on a...
Back to School, Back to You Challenge Starting Monday September 9th
Sep 05, 2019
It's back to school time so that means it's the perfect time to get back into your routine too!
Life can be busy and work gets hectic so that means its super important that you take care of yourself!
This 5 day mini challenge is the perfect way to kick that off and give you tools to:
-ease chronic tension in your neck and shoulders
-strengthen your muscles so you stand and walk taller
-have consistent energy all day long
-lower your stress levels
-boost your focus and creativity to get more done!
All in just a few minutes everyday because Yoga is amazing like that ;)
Ready to sign up? Right on! You can by joining the Yoga at My Desk Tribe here
Because it works on many systems and parts of your body simultaneously Yoga is the ultimate vehicle to help you optimize your health on all levels!
The hard truth is that sitting can take a big toll on your body so it is vital that you take breaks...
Think working out will prevent sitting disease? Think again!
Aug 27, 2019
You work out, you get enough sleep, and drink half your body weight in water everyday and if you are like most people you will think this is enough to stay healthy....but here's the crazy thing: it isn't. Many people mistakenly believe that just because they exercise regularly that sitting all day won't effect them. But unfortunately this just isn't true. Even people that work out on a regular basis are still at risk for sitting disease.
Sitting disease...what's that?
Sitting disease is a collection of risk factors used to describe the negative health impacts of a sedentary (or in-active) lifestyle. These risk factors include: obesity around the mid section, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high blood cholesterol. These factors make it far more likely that someone will get injured, get sick more often, get diabetes, develop chronic disease and even die younger.
Given that people sit anywhere from 7.8 to 11 hours a day sitting disease is becoming an epidemic in many...