Yoga Practice - Sitting at a Desk

It’s quite common to hear people say ‘I’m going to my yoga class now’ or ‘I'm going to practice yoga’.
Many teachers and instructors also promote ‘yoga off the mat’.
All this sometimes really puzzles me.

Even if we were to reduce yoga practice to postures and movements - don’t tell me sitting on a desk is not a posture.
And it’s often our absence of paying attention to our posture , especially when we’re seated, that it is blamed for sore lower backs, tight shoulders, necks and hips.

Paying attention to how we sit, how we move - that is yoga practice in action.

Now you might ask, does it really matter? I need to focus on my work, not my posture, I’ll do some stretches later.

Here are two observations that may help you decide to pay more attention to your work posture.
And this is not about tight and tired shoulders. This is more profound.
1- forward head posture: can reduce blood flow to the brain, especially in the back of the head.
This reduces functionality of just that part of the body we need most when we work on a desk.

2- A slump or slouch forward compresses the ribcage down on to the belly. This limits the ability of the diaphragm to breathe freely. The vagus nerve is less stimulated, we breathe higher and more shallowly. As a result we feel more stressed - and that’s merely from just sitting there.

So, if we’re not paying attention to our desk posture, our blood flow to the brain - oxygen and fuels delivery basically, is impaired, plus we end up more stressed from unfortunate breathing patterns.
That seems to be perfectly acceptable, right, because on Wednesday’s I’m going to a one hour yoga class.?

NO! Stay mobile, take note of your posture and your breath. You’ll have more energy and a clearer mind.

I hope this inspires you a little, let me now how your posture changes, now that you’re more aware of it.