Don’t just do something… Sit there!

As our workdays get longer, the first casualty is daily exercise. Instead of giving up exercise completely because there’s just never enough time, use the 10-minute-breaks during office hours to do a few stretches, maybe even a few complex asanas, say experts.

Yoga, they say, is addictive. Once you start practising on an everyday basis, you feel uncomfortable if you miss a day’s practice, claim yoga ‘addicts’. So, instead of letting themselves feel uneasy because they missed an hour of yoga in the morning, they do basic asanas and pranayam while at their workstations in office.

There are a number of exercises you can do while sitting in your office chair, says Archana Vaibhavagore, yoga practitioner and instructor.

“Stretching, neck and back massages, twisting and anulom-vilom (basic pranayam) are easy to do and don’t take up much time. Once you’ve done it for a few days, it becomes almost second nature to keep practising.”

She has a client who spends 10-15 minutes practising yoga in the office conference room every day before sitting down at his desk.

“What makes yoga so convenient at the workplace is that once you’ve learned the basic asanas from an instructor, you don’t need constant guidance anymore,” she adds. 

Fewer stares if done collectively
While this may sound doable, very few people actually think ‘yoga’ during their breaks. Even those who want to practice a few stretches avoid doing so because of colleagues’ curious stares. That is why, says yoga instructor Sanjay Negandhi, both employer and employee should take a keen interest in yoga.

“It can get awkward for just one person doing an asana at his desk with colleagues looking on. Instead, when others join in as a collective, yoga isn’t just exercise anymore,” he says.

Some employers realise this. Negandhi recalls holding a workshop for an IT outsourcing MNC where, over three sessions, he demonstrated basic postures and breathing techniques that would help the techies relieve physical and mental stress. “Organisations realise that these small initiatives go a long way in improving the work environment and morale of employees. Employees, on the other hand, realise yoga’s benefits and start practising asanas even at home,” says Negandhi.

However, if an organisation isn’t proactive, it isn’t always the employer’s fault, says yoga instructor Nikhila Trikha. “Activities like a yoga course happen not because of the management, but because of the initiatives taken by people in the company,” she says. “Now, with more people becoming aware of yoga and its benefits, it is usually the employees who approach the company’s management.”

Trikha, who conducts a yoga class for employees of a leading international bank, says the organisation plays a huge role in encouraging its people. “At the bank, every week I notice posters explaining the benefits of yoga postures.” 

Websites not for novices
As awareness about yoga’s benefits increases, so have the number of websites offering graphic descriptions, pictures and videos on various asanas. This makes doing yoga at the workstation even more convenient.

Once you’ve got the hang of yoga from a class you may have attended in the past, it’s very easy to fall back into the habit of practising asanas every day.

“Yoga is, after all, about stretching. As long as you know your basics, it’s okay to try out new asanas but only after having warmed up properly. You have to condition your body before you twist it into a complex asana,” advises Trikha.

But, warn instructors, this can be dangerous if you haven’t been trained by a professional.

“Every posture has various interpretations. In fact, even in a class where I personally demonstrate a certain posture, I come across people who’re doing it incorrectly,” says Negandhi.

He adds that yoga postures are beneficial only if done correctly. “Mistakes can lead to injuries. Imagine the damage you can do if you’re trying yoga from the internet at your desk in office and you pull a
muscle.”