Time Out’ for Body Awareness:

An Office Yoga Practice

Expanding your body is more than just stretching muscles, it is opening your body like a flower opens to the sun; it is opening your body to goodness and nurture. As the expansion cycle begins, vital nutrients will be released and allowed to flow into muscles and joints often starved of energy. With the increased flow of energy, you’ll experience an expansion of range of movements for each joint.

As well as increased suppleness and movement you’ll find stretching your body:

• keeps you young and healthy
• removes toxin and waste
• builds body awareness
• circulates lymph
• builds strength
• heals old injuries through increased oxygen flow
• prevents new injuries
  

Oxygen - petrol for your body.
Stretching and deep breathing puts life-giving oxygen into your body.
Just as your car will cough, splutter and eventually die without fuel in the tank, so too it is with oxygen and your body.

As you open your body you can begin to appreciate the reach of your arms, the length of your spine, the height of your grasp and the spread of your span. Being aware of your expansiveness is a wonderful reminder every day of the beauty and wonder of ‘being’.

For initial clarity, we’ve broken the practice into sections, beginning here:

1. Expand your arms outward
2. Turn your head first to look at the left finger tips then the right. Really make an effort to grow yourself out.
3. Expand yourself upward. Reach your arms up to the sky. First the left hand and then the right. Really reach.
4. Looking up notice that you can actually reach another 4 cm if you make an effort to separate your shoulder joint. Reach from the ribs and under the arm.
5. As you look up breathe into your abdomen. Take this opportunity to fill your abdomen and allow the diaphragm to expand.
   

Because you are looking up, you won’t see your tummy expanding, building a pot belly and therefore you won't feel so guilty.

1. Raise arms breathe in.
2. Lower arms breath out.
3. Repeat 4 times.
4. Then raise arms and hold.
5. Reverse palms lower arms to the sides.
6. Breathe in as you raise arms again, look up stretch right hand then left hand.
7. Breath into abdomen 5 times.
   

• Lower right arm to right side of thigh, just above the knee.
• Look up to left hand reach right arm down, left arm up.
• Look up, hold and breathe 5 breaths into abdomen.
  

1. Raise right arm, lower left arm to left thigh.
2. Reach up with right and look up. Stretch arms apart.
3. Lower both arms to shoulder height.
4. Push right arm away with breath, push left arm away with breath.
5. See if you can expand your width.
6. Look straight ahead and see if you can see both hands at once.
7. Bring your hands forward until you can see them both.
8. With feet hip width apart and parallel keep arms at shoulder height.
9. Rotate slowly to the right. As far as possible.
10. Now reverse slowly without jerky movements.
11. Now back to centre.
12. Bring arms to front palms together.
13. Interlock the fingers, and reverse the hands with palms facing out. Push away.
14. Raise arms above your head.
15. Lower left arm, then raise it.
16. Lower right arm then raise it.
17. Take both arms back behind your head, don't jerk.
18. Raise again, then lower in front.
19. Bend your knees as if you are skiing. Hold the imaginary stocks in each hand.
20. Now begins to squeeze everything. Feet, calves, knees, thighs, buttocks, abdomen,shoulders, arms, fists, neck, eyes, jaw and head. Go on squeeze.
21. Then hold your breath
22. Suddenly let go!
23. Stand straight, let your arms and legs hang loose shake them.
    

Now you should feel relaxed and energised.