Turning Workplace Stress into a Simple Stretch

You want to exercise, you want to relieve stress and tension, but you dont have anytime to leave the office. Whats a busy professional to do? Lucky for you theres an easy solution. There are many yoga-based exercises you can do anywhere, anytime, whether youre in your office, at the grocery store or even in bed.

Workplace stress has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. Stress rates in the workplace have grown significantly in the past few years. The American Institute for Stress has implicated stress as the cause of nearly 90% of doctor visits in the U.S. The total annual costs of stress to the average employer are staggering.

This increase in stress has, for many companies, resulted in: 1) reduced productivity and morale, 2) increased injury (including Carpal Tunnel Syndrome), 3) higher costs for health benefits, and 4) greater turnover. Yoga can help. Yoga offers definitive results such as: reduced tension in the body and mind, increased energy, improved concentration and increased strength and flexibility for greater stress resistance and fewer workplace injuries. Yoga exercises are simple and can be modified for different skill levels and abilities perfect for the office environment.

The popularity of workplace yoga is spreading, as companies nationwide (including IBM, Microsoft, Nike, Intel, AT&T, GE to name a few) are embracing the practice as a low cost method of stress reduction that is extremely easy to implement. But, what if your company doesnt offer an on-site yoga program or you work from home or with a small group? No problem. There are a number of simple ways to bring the benefits of yoga into your daily life right now.

To feel your best at work:

1) Take a few minutes to focus on your breath.

When were anxious and stressed our breath becomes shallow. Notice the quality of your breath and improve the quality by using the following techniques:

Breathe through your nose. This slows your breath, lowers your heart rate, filters out allergens and relieves tension.

Breathe slowly and smoothly to relax your mind and body.

Relax your belly as you breathe, so your belly gently rises as you inhale and falls as you exhale. This allows for proper movement of your diaphragm, relaxes your muscles and brings oxygen to the lower part of your lungs where oxygen exchange is most efficient, increasing your energy.

Focus on your breath. Just a few minutes of focusing on your breath keeps you in the present moment and thereby relieves the anxiety and mental chatter around past and future events.

2) Take a few minutes every hour to do some simple stretches.

Stretching throughout the day will:

Reduce muscle tension.
Improve circulation.
Reduce anxiety, stress and fatigue.
Improve mental alertness.
Tune your mind into your body.

Here is a simple stretch you can try right now.

Crescent Stretch

Stand with your feet parallel, about hip width apart.
Raise arms overhead interlacing fingers (chest open, shoulders back)
Exhale, reaching your hands to the right.
Take 3 long slow breaths (while reaching to the right)
Inhale, reaching your hands up, back to center.
Exhale, reaching hands to left (3 breaths)
Inhale, back to center
Repeat 4-5 times
Release arms and shake them out.

Benefits:

Improves circulation and increases energy
Tones, stretches and relieves tension in muscles in your arms, shoulders, chest, back and abdomen
Limbers your spine
Trims your waistline

Give yourself five minutes a day to practice simple yoga-based breathing and stretching exercises. Dont be surprised when, within a few weeks, you feel more energy and less stress on the job.

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What is stress?

Stress (roughly the opposite of relaxation) is a medical term for a wide range of strong external stimuli, both physiological and psychological, which can cause a physiological response called the general adaptation syndrome, first described in 1936 by Hans Selye in the journal Nature.
An emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health which can be characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability and depression. Stress does not cause migraine but can be a migraine "trigger".
A condition in which the organism is subjected to unfavourable or unfamiliar environmental conditions, resulting in some alteration in normal physical functioning. Short-term stress can often be overcome. Long-term stress can reduce resistance to disease and parasites, inhibit self-healing processes, and reduce life-span.