Sitting Spine Stretches

We have been asked by many of you to send you the chair stretches we have been practicing in our studio. For those of you who have not tried them before, do not underestimate them.  Just because they are done on a chair it doesn’t mean they don’t have a  powerful effect on the health of your spine. In fact, because your sitting bones -your buttocks- are both placed squared on the chair, there is less asymmetry in the upper body and both sides of the back are stretched equally. Also, the hip flexors and the often too-powerful thigh muscles that tend to overtake many of the yoga poses, take a secondary place and the spine can flex, turn and stretch more freely.

Just a couple of guidelines:

• Keep both buttocks on the chair, observe, if you have the tendency to lift one.
• Feet parallel to each other and pointing straight ahead.
• Keep each position for at least 6 slow breaths, or as long as it feels good.
• Most of these exercises are contraindicated if you are currently suffering from a spinal hernia  -except the lengthening and the back bend-.

Take a seat and enjoy…

Spine lengthening

  Forward bend

 Sitting twist

 Back bend

Sitting pigeon

 Forward bend twist

Side stretches

Forward bend