Copy of Giselle's Yoga Online - Chair Yoga Video and Standing Stretches

Hi, everybody. I'm Giselle from EternityYoga.com and I'm going to give you some really wonderful ways this morning to open up the chest, the shoulders, release some tension in your back and release your hamstrings. And we're going to be doing a few things standing and then some chair yoga for those of you that are stuck in offices or in sedentary jobs where you're sitting all day long and you're feeling the crunch and the tightness that happens from staying either at a computer or just being seated for a long time. So we're going to start by staying where we are standing, if possible, and just a couple of little brief openers for the chest and the shoulders. The first thing that we're going to do is work on the breath. So breathing is critical, and we never take enough deep inhales. So we're going to start with an inhale way up to the sky. So let's take a really deep breath in, and I want you to just feel the breath coming into the bottom of your lungs. And we can take a couple deep breaths as we keep those arms reaching up. So the inhale is deep and long. Inhale, good. Now we're going to circle around, and I want you to clasp behind your back and just a little bit of an opening for your chest. So pull up on your arms. This should feel really good. You can even do a little arch back if you want to. Good. And now let's bring those arms back up again for another inhale. Now we're going to swan dive, and I want you to bend your knees, hold your elbows, bring your chest all the way to your thighs, and let your head relax completely. Now this is going to start to release all the tension in your back, your neck, and your shoulders. And let's just stay here for a few seconds as we release and breathe. So you're just hanging like a ragdoll, no tension anywhere, keeping your knees bent as much as possible. Now we're going to slowly start to straighten the legs and still holding your elbows, feeling that stretch intensify a little bit more in the backs of the legs, the hamstrings. So we're just completely releasing and relaxing here. You may not be able to go down too far, so just go down as far as you can, and let's just hold it a few more seconds. Really feeling that great release, breathing in, exhaling. Now release your arms. And you may not be able to go down too far. If you can only go to your calves or ankles. That's fine if you're more flexible. Palms can go flat. And just relax. Now take a deep breath in. Look up. Breathe in. Flatten the back. Straighten the legs. Inhale. When you exhale, wrap around the backs of your calves and pull, bringing your head to your shins. Good. Now let's take another deep breath here. And bend your knees and roll it up slowly. Let your head relax as you come up, feeling your spine release. Now we'll take a deep breath right back up to the sky. Another inhale. Really reach it. And another little back bend, bringing your arms by your ears. And reach. Good. And come up with an inhale. And on your exhale, bring your palms to your heart. Good. All right, now we're going to switch it over to the chair. Okay. So now we're going to stay in a nice, comfortable position on the chair for a couple seconds, but make sure that you're a little bit forward on your chair because we're going to start opening the arms up a little bit. The first thing that we're going to do seated on the chair is called ladder stretch. So you can do this at your desk or wherever you are. Hopefully people won't be looking. So we're going to reach it up to the sky, and we're going to start to reach one at a time. Inhale and really reach it. And I want you to really expand. Trying to grab an imaginary branch from the tree. And just reach it. And reach it. Good. And reach. So make it really strong. And breathe while you're doing this. You really want to feel it on the outsides of the ribs. Reach it high, Reach it. Good. Reach it. Let's just do a few more of these. Breathing in, Reaching high. Good. One more. And reach. Good. Now clasp your fingers. Press your palms way up to the sky. Inhale. Good. And exhale. Great. So again, that was ladder stretch. Just reaching up with one and then reaching up with the other. And then bring it down. Okay, so that's your ladder stretch. The next thing that we're going to do is a simple twist on the chain. So just take your leg. It doesn't matter which one. Just cross one leg over. Okay, so now I just want you to hug in just for a second and pull. And this is just a great way to release some tension from the outer thigh. We're going to hug. Good. And release it, switching sides, crossing over. And then really hug tight. So I want you to feel that whole outer thigh stretch. Squeeze and release. Good. Okay, now we're going to do a twist so keeping your feet flat, or you can even be on your toes, doesn't matter. I want you to turn around, grab the back of the chair, and then just take your hand beside you and look behind you. Now, it doesn't matter which side you're doing, so just as long as you're twisting here, look behind you and just hold it, squeezing it a little bit tighter as you look behind you. Now turn it back to the front. Press up with an inhale. Deep breath, high. Good. Now let's do the same thing on the other side. Take your arm around the back of the chair and take your other hand to the side. Twist, breathe in first and then twist on the exhale and look behind you and just hold it and turn it back to the center. And again clasp and press palms up to the sky. Inhale and exhale. Great. Now let's pull the right knee in. Or the left, it doesn't matter. Again, just pull it in. And then just gently try to come underneath your foot and just a little kick forward. Now, if you're really tight, you might not be able to go too far. But if you can, just kick it forward and feel that great stretch. So if you can go straight, that's great. If not, just halfway is fine. And gently bring it back and take a deep breath. Same thing on the other side. Pulling it in and gently coming underneath. If you can, breathe in and slowly kicking forward halfway if you're really tight. But if you feel good, kick it straight ahead and stay lifted in your chest. Just keep the breathing deep and steady. Inhaling, exhaling, and gently bringing it back. Good. Let's take another inhale up to the center sky. Breathe up and exhale. Now, the next thing that we're going to be doing is just a nice release forward from your chair. So I'm going to turn my chair sideways, and we're going to bring it up with an inhale and then just come all the way down. Now, if you want to, if you can, palms flat. If not, just hold your calves or ankles and let your head relax all the way down. And then roll it up slow and take a deep breath. Good. All right, now we're going to do a leg crossover. So I'm going to turn my chair again so you can see. Now taking the right or the left leg, doesn't matter. Again, take it and cross it so that you have a little bit of a level line here. Now, if you're really tight in your hip, your knee might be way up. Okay. But try to press it down A little bit. Okay. Make sure that you feel stable on your chair. And from here, just going to come down and keep your chin extended. And as you press down, you're really going to feel that in this outer thigh. So take it easy if it hurts. If you feel good, coming down a little further. Good. Now let's reach into the sky as we inhale up. Exhale. Good. Let's do that same thing on the other side. Crossing little press. Deep breath here and extend the chin. Try to come long first outward. And then relax the head a little bit and just gentle pressure so that you really feel that outer left thigh stretch. Breathing deeply. Good. And slowly come up and take a deep breath. Let's reach it up to the sky. Inhale and exhale. And now we're going to go into a forward extended stretch with the legs extending so just so you can see better. Legs extend. Kick your heels out, bring the arms up with an inhale and slowly try to come forward with an extended torso and grab your calves, your ankles or your toes again. And try to come down long rather than rounded. So try not to round the back here. We will always want to try to extend that chest first. Okay. This way you get a really good stretch in your hamstrings. And again hold your toes or hips or ankles and try to come down a little bit, breathing deeply. Good. Eventually, when the chest is all the way down to your thighs, then relax your head down. And now slowly bring it back up again and take a deep breath. High and exhale. Good. Okay, so now we're just going to go into a brief relaxation. So seated, I want you to sit comfortably in your chair. If you want to sit all the way back, that's fine. Bringing your palms facing upward on your lap. Let's just start with nice shoulder rolls. Okay, good. Forward and back and then the other way. Great. Now let's bring it up again with an inhale. Exhale, Maybe a little clasp behind your back, pulling up on the arms a little bit and relaxing. Now, keeping your hands just gently on your knees, we're going to take a deep breath in through the nose. Inhale. And now I want you to close your eyes. And now this is just going to be a moment of just releasing any stress or tension anywhere in the body. I want you to just completely bring your awareness on any tension in your neck or your shoulders or anywhere in your body that you're feeling tension and just start to relax it and release it. So we're inhaling through the nose. Deep breath in. And on Your exhale. I want you to release any tension anywhere. Just allow it to flow out of you through that exhale. Keeping the eyes closed now, keeping that awareness only on your breath. Feeling the gentle flow of the inhale and the exhale as thoughts arise. Just allow the thoughts to come and go. Let them float away like a cloud. Keeping your awareness on the gentle flow of your breath. And just stay here quietly just for another few more minutes. Sam, now we're going to take a deep breath in. Slowly open your eyes. Inhale. Let's bring the arms way up for another inhale and exhale. Great. So now that concludes your brief. Just stretching and releasing any part of the body that's tight or tense, especially if you're seated at a desk all day long. This will really help you along lot. Also, if you want to, you can go into my website, which is@enterityyoga.com and sign up for my newsletter. And from the newsletter, when you sign up, you can get a copy of an ebook that I just created called the Yoga three Step Blueprint. And the Yoga three Step Blueprint is going to give you a lot more of these kind of poses that are just really simple and easy to to do, but they will help you a little bit further. It goes into a little bit more of a meditation where it explains a little bit more how to meditate and it gives you a great affirmation. So this is a free ebook that I created for you if you're interested in it. So just go on to my website@enerityyoga.com Sign up and I'll send it to you immediately. And I hope you enjoy it. I think you will. Namaste it.