Sit too much? Exercise from your chair

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: sitting kills.

But for us working stiffs, there’s little we can do to avoid it. That is unless you take advantage of these stretches you can do from your chair…

Your backs stiffen with stress and too much sitting. Your shoulders tighten with too much keyboard time and not enough range-of-motion exercise. Add all that up and your mind can fry because of too much thinking and tons of stress.

In today’s video Dr. Luke Jih, director of the Golden Light Institute of Body Mind Advancement, will show you four Chinese seated exercises to not only help strengthen your body and relax your back and arms, but to destress, relax, release tension and invigorate all at once and from anywhere.

Seated Exercise 1 – Arm circles

Begin seated with feet body with and flat on the floor. Breathe in as you raise your arms up from their sides above your head.

Keep them parallel and exhale as you lower them to your thighs. But do not touch the legs. When the arms reach the thighs circle them out and back up again.

Do this five time while inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.

Seated Exercise 2 – Lean and stretch

From the seated position, inhale as you bend your left arm and rest the elbow over your left knee.

Exhale as you raise your right arm up over your head and bend 45-degrees toward the left. Reach for the stretch and hold for a few seconds.

Inhale as you slowly come back to center and exhale as you repeat on the opposite side. Do this five times on each side.

Seated Exercise 3 – Pressing upward

Place your right palm on top of your left palm. Inhale as you rotate your hands as your raise your arms up above your head. Lift your spine and press toward the ceiling.

Exhale as you unwind your palms and return to the starting position. Repeat five times. One the fifth, you will separate and lower your arms to their sides.

Seated Exercise 4 – Breathe and relax

Inhale as you place your palms in front of your belly button, close your eyes, relax and focus on your breathing for a few moments to center yourself.

If your days are stressful and full, it is advised to do this simple seated exercise routine first thing in the morning and again before bedtime. It’s a great way to warm up, cool down, release stress and feel great.