I work from home. I write. All day. In between dropping my kids at school and picking them up again. I try to swim three days a week somewhere in the middle of it all. But generally I’m at home, writing, and sitting in front of my laptop.
Surprise, surprise, my ageing body hates this. Sure, sure, it’s down to my posture. But despite trying tonnes of different chairs, standing desks, orthopaedic cushions, balance balls, I always find myself sitting cross-legged. I don’t know why, but it’s the comfiest position I can find and my body always retreats into it when I’m not paying attention.
Tell you what helps – setting an alarm every hour and when the thing goes off, getting up and doing something else for five minutes.
It used to be making a cup of tea (herbal these days – Pukka peppermint and licorice or chamomile and honey, depending on how much or how little my mind is buzzing. But that draws me into the kitchen and the millions of chores that that room reminds me of.
So lately I’ve been doing 5 minutes of yoga every time that alarm goes off.
Sure, I’m in the privileged position in being in the privacy of my own home. There’s no way I would get up every hour and strike a pose in an office – if you would, then more power to you.
I’m no expert. I use an app called Asana Rebel.* I love it. It has really slick, easy-to-follow videos, a choice of music and tonnes of routines to follow. The woman busting the moves is gorgeous – but in an aspirational, don’t-feel-threatened-by-her kind of way. The instructor has a gorgeous North American accent that doesn’t grate on my nerves but soothes me into a place of calm.
As a working mama I tend to go for the quickies. 5-minute routines that stretch and tone one bit of the bod. But I figure doing several of these mounts up to a longer workout over the day.
More importantly, just getting up and switching my mind to the poses helps me refresh and refocus in a way that switching on the kettle never did. I can’t keep thinking about work AND strike a mean warrior pose (maybe you can?)
So Day 3 into this alarm>yoga>feeling great thing, I’m pretty pleased. Whether I can keep it up is another story.
Oops! There’s the alarm again. Gotta go yoga…
*No need for a disclaimer. No affiliation with Asana Rebel except genuinely loving it x
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