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When your job keeps you hunched over a computer, it can eventually start to pull your body out of alignment, making you feel lethargic and irritable and causing stiffness and fatigue in your back, neck and shoulders.

We asked Riana Singgih, head of the Iyengar Yoga Association for East and Southeast Asia, to simplify some complex yoga poses for the workplace using everyday office furniture — ideally without wheels ­— as props.

The Iyengar approach to yoga focuses on correct body alignment, which makes it particularly suitable for people with “office desk posture.”

Riana studied Iyengar directly under the grandmaster of yoga, BKS Iyengar, at his Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India. Her yoga center is the only one in Indonesia certified by the institute.

Riana gave five yoga positions suitable for an office workout:

Ardha uttanasana with desk

Ardha means half and uttana means intense stretch. The advanced version requires pressing your palms or fingertips into the floor, but as pictured, using a desk can help you achieve a good stretch if you are less flexible.

This one should be done standing about a meter behind your desk with your feet parallel and hip-width apart.

Raise your arms above your head. Slowly bend forward from the hip joints, not the waist, and lean your upper body toward the desk, pressing your palms into the desktop.

Straighten your legs, keeping the muscles tensed, and lift your sternum up and away from the floor.

Hold this pose for 30 seconds to one minute.

Bharadvajasana with chair

Sit sideways on your office chair, pressing your feet into the floor. Sit tall and grab the backrest of the chair with both hands. Inhale and turn to look over one shoulder, lengthening the spine as you twist. Keep your shoulders rolled back and your feet firmly pressed down.

Stay in this pose for five breaths, then repeat on the other side. This exercise is good to relieve the lower back, reduce stiffness around the neck and shoulders and work the abdominal muscles.

Adho mukha virasana with chair

Adho means downward, mukha means face and virasana is the hero pose. Generally, virasana poses are done sitting on the floor, which requires flexible leg muscles.

Using a chair makes the pose easier. Sit tall in your chair with your legs apart and gently lean forward. Reach back between your legs and hold the base of the chair as you gaze at the floor between your knees. Breathe normally and try to relax your neck muscles.

Stay in this pose for one minute. This pose is good to relieve the tension around the neck and the lower back.

Baddhanguliyasana

Baddha means bound and angula means finger or thumb.

To do this pose, stand tall and keep your back straight throughout the exercise. Interlace your fingers and slowly raise your arms above your head.

Bend your trunk sideways and stay in the pose for 30 seconds. Return to center and bend the other way, also for 30 seconds.

This pose is good to stretch the trunk and release stiffness around the shoulders and hips.

Trikonasana with a chair

Trikona means three angle or triangle. Without a chair, beginners usually find it difficult to do this pose correctly. It is important to have a chair that will not move for this exercise.

This pose definitely requires you to take off your shoes. Stand side on, about a meter away from your chair, with your feet about a meter apart.

Raise your arms to shoulder level with your palms up.

Turn your right foot away from your body in a right angle and point your left foot forward.

Exhale and bend sideways to right, feeling the stretch through your left leg. Place your left hand on your hip, open your chest and lean down, pressing your right palm into your chair. Make sure you keep your trunk straight and don’t drop your hip.

Stay in the pose for about 30 seconds, then repeat on the other side. This pose is good to reduce stiffness in the legs and hips, relieve backaches and neck aches, and strengthen the ankles.

To learn more about Iyengar Yoga:

info@iyengaryogaindonesia.com

Iyengar Yoga Center, Simprug
Ruko Simprug Galleri 10W
Jl. Teuku Nyak Arif, South Jakarta
Tel. 021 739 6930

Iyengar Yoga Center, Serpong
Jl. Raya Villa Melati Mas Blok L V No. 8
Villa Melati Mas Residence, Serpong-Tangerang
Tel. 021 537 3323