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Ten Minute Yoga Sessions For Busy Professionals

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Are you feeling a bit bland in your day to day life? Are you looking for something to help inject some energy into your existence with a bit of spirituality perhaps? Why not consider starting a yoga practice? Even just ten to fifteen minutes a day can have a huge benefit to your body, mind and soul and can start you on the path to a beneficial lifestyle change. Here are ten easy poses you can do anytime – anywhere to start yourself a handy and meaningful yogic practice for a healthier, more balanced life.

Mountain Pose

A great starting position and an easy one. Stand straight up with your feet together, pressing your feet into the ground. Reach down with your arms and stretch your whole body as you stand still, bringing your abdominals in and up toward your chest. Hold for ten breaths.

Urdhva Hastasana

From Mountain Pose this is a natural transition. Raise your arms straight over your head and bring your hands together. Stretching as much as you can, continue to hold your abdominal muscles in and up and press your feet into the ground. Hold for ten breaths.

Warrior I

Step back with your left foot one legs length and then lunge forward on your right foot keeping your lower leg straight so the knee is directly in line with the ankle. Raise your arms over your head, keeping your abdominal muscles tight. Hold for ten breaths. **Repeat with alternated legs**

Warrior II

Repeat the leg positions as with Warrior I but instead of raising your arms over your head, spread them out at shoulder height in the directions of your legs, one reaching forward and one reaching back. Hold for ten breaths. **Repeat with alternated legs**

Triangle

From the position of Warrior II, straighten your front leg and lean forward, placing your hand on your shin or knee with your other hand reaching up. Turn your head to follow the upward arm. Hold for ten breaths. **Repeat with alternated legs**

Extended Triangle

From Triangle, bend your front knee again and pull your upward reaching arm over your head as you push your body forward over the knee. Hold for ten breaths. **Repeat with alternated legs**

Downward Dog

From Extended Triangle pose, instead of standing back up, put both hands on the floor alongside your forward placed foot. Step this foot back to meet the other and let your head hang between your arms. Hold for ten breaths.

Plank

From Downward Dog, lower your body to the floor until you’re on your elbows. Don’t worry if you can’t do it in one fluid motion – it might take some practice. Hold your body with shoulders parallel to elbows and legs straight without raising your buttocks, holding the position as low as possible for ten breaths.

Cobra

From Plank, lower your legs onto the floor from the hips down. Raise your body up as much as you’re able from the midsection and up, with your arms still flat on the floor to support yourself. Hold for ten breaths.

Child’s Pose

From the Cobra pose you can bring your knees up to your chest and then stretch your arms out on the floor, letting your head rest on the floor. Hold this pose for as long as you’re able, or for ten breaths.

You may wish to end this session with Savasana, laying in pure relaxation flat on the floor. Afterwards, make sure to hydrate and enjoy the energetic day you’ve created for yourself by taking some time to care for your whole being through yoga, even just for ten minutes.

Creating The Ultimate Soulful And Mindful Office Space

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It’s easy to get wrapped up in the workday and lose sight of continuing to work on yourself while you’re stuck behind a desk, but does it really have to be that way? With so many options these days for decorating our own space at work along with ways we can continue to focus on ourselves even while doing our day jobs, it’s never been easier to make our entire lives a beautiful display and collection of great opportunities for personal growth and awareness. But how can we really connect with our mind body and soul in the workplace? Here are some great ways we can create the best lives possible. Here are a couple of ideas on how you can create a better working environment and do an #OfficeMOT on your workspace.

Mind

Staying positive at work can be difficult – with so many demands on our time, energy, attention and more it can seem like a never ending whirlwind of “do this, do that” and more. By taking some time out from our keyboards and screens and doing breathing techniques or even some light yoga at our desk or in our cubicle we can help to realign and recentre ourselves and provide us a much needed boost to power through the rest of the day. Breathing deeply and holding the breath can be hugely beneficial to clearing the mind and helping to recenter yourself when you feel out of balance, pulled in all directions and depleted of mental energy. Yoga in the office can easily be helped with furniture such as desks and chairs like those from Furniture At Work, and you can even use the cubicle wall to help you keep your balance.

Body

The body itself can be a great tool and also a hindrance to our own spiritual progression. Blockages and problems with our bodies can arise from not sitting correctly, being hunched over, or by eating the wrong types of foods. While the clean eating trend is here for the moment, it’s important to find your own beneficial “type” of eating. Fruits, vegetables and grains are a great source of essential vitamins and nutrients to help keep us powered through the day and more mentally prepared for the challenges that face us in an office environment. The physical challenges that we can experience include improper ergonomics in the workplace including wrist rests, ergonomically designed mice for computers and chairs with proper back support. If your organisation doesn’t already have an ergonomics check in place, consider spearheading the project and encourage your company to invest in proper supports for the physical body. They may be surprised to learn how it translates into effective and measurable productivity.

Soul

Our souls are some of the most important aspects of being healthy and productive – not just in the office but in general. If we aren’t happy and content in our souls how can we effectively work in the modern world? By turning our cubicles at work into personalised spaces with our favourite things, inspirational quotes and more we can then effectively create a soulful and mindful work environment where we’re continually reminded of how much worth we have as human beings – both inside and outside the organisation. This also ties into our mind and mental wellbeing and through yoga and breathing techniques we can help create a space where we are continually emitting positive energy for the 8 hours plus that we’re in the office.

So if you’ve been looking for a way to truly get in touch with yourself and create the perfect working environment that continues to generate health and wellness in our whole beings – body, mind and soul.