Office workers are often troubled by body pain because of long hours of sitting, poor posture (such as hunching and aiming their heads downward), and not enough exercise and stretching exercises. Common pains include shoulder pain, neck pain, lower back pain and sciatica. Sometimes, these pains even extend to their heels, adversely affecting their daily lives. With this in mind, Channel 823 invited Joyce Lau, a yoga teacher at Fit-Max, to introduce four simple yoga poses for office workers to combat common health issues.
Cat-Cow Pose
Seated Side Bend
Seated Forward Bend
Neck Stretch
In addition to releasing stiff muscles, stretching your body and promoting metabolism, yoga is good for mental health as well. Joyce suggests using diaphragmatic breathing (i.e. breathe deeply in the abdomen) when doing yoga, as this helps you feel more relieved and reduces stress. What’s more, she says that yoga can help improve concentration too, as many poses involve meditation.
All in all, yoga is good for both physical and mental health. If you want to give it a try, Joyce recommends setting aside 15 to 30 minutes to practise the above four yoga poses each day.