This past month at focused space, we’ve been diving into staying healthy while working from home — we’ve talked about taking care of our eyes, and keeping our wrists healthy, and this week we’re going to continue that theme by diving into the magic of stretching, especially for folks like us who may spend a lot of our day sitting at a computer.  

With our world as it is, caring for our physical bodies by building a practice of stretching is relatively accessible, and can really make a difference. 

So why stretch? So many reasons! Here are some:

• Stretching keeps the muscles flexible and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without that flexibility, the muscles shorten and become tight, causing pain, and decreased mobility — in a word, creaky, slow, limited ranges of motion. No fun. 
  
  

• In addition, researchers have discovered something called fascia (fash-uh) — which is a thin, flexible layer of connective tissue that surrounds and supports every structure in the body, including organs, muscles, bones, nerves, and blood vessels. 

If we don’t stretch or if we have any kind of injury, the fascia can bunch up, causing pain and constriction — not just at that point, but throughout the body (imagine plastic wrap bunching and pulling).

Also, stretching releases endorphins, one of the happy chemicals! 😀 So there are many reasons to stretch!

Head, Heart, + Neck Stretches

First, let’s celebrate one of the many perks of working from home — and that is more freedom from self-consciousness, and having our own belongings to use to support us. Both of these come in handy for stretching.

At home, you can use accessories you have around the house to support you: your floor, couch to lean on, doorway, and more.

Now, we’ll learn some stretches that support our head, neck, and chest. These are especially helpful in preventing “tech neck,” or any stiffness related to a forward head posture.

As always, please be gentle and slow when trying these, gradually increasing your stretch and never straining. Also, please consult a professional if you are dealing with injuries or pain.

Two Stretches to Try

❤️🙂‍ Heart & Head Opener: Whether cross-legged on the ground (love this way), or in your chair, cross your hands behind your back, each hand holding the opposite elbow. Keeping your head centered over your shoulders, look up, down; then allow each ear to drop toward each shoulder. You will feel a stretch in your chest and neck. 

💪🏼💜 Shoulder & Chest/Heart Opener: Place your hand and forearm vertically in a door well. Keeping your back flat, step forward until you feel an opener in your chest and shoulder.

Arm + Torso Stretches

In addition to using furniture as props, another perk of stretching while working from home is that you can move more without feeling self-conscious (warning though, your pets may want in!) 

Now, we’ll learn three “Active Stretches" (where we use our own muscles to stretch and relax opposing muscles), and one “Dynamic Stretch” (where we increase range of motion as we stretch). 

Three Stretches to Try

🐱🐮🧘 Modified Cat-Cow: Put your hands palms flat on a table, a step back from the table. Round your back, then arch your back alternately. 

🐕🧘🏽‍♀️ Modified Downward Dog: Place your palms on the top of a chair (or couch), standing a long step backward. Keeping your arms and legs straight, drop your head downward and allow your upper arms, hips, and legs to release. 

🏊🏽‍♂️  Standing backstroke (“rotator cuff strengthener”): Stand, shoulder width apart, with your hands at your sides. Palms facing forward, allow one arm to rotate forward and upward, allowing the palm to begin to rotate out, back and downward as you circle back and down. Alternate arms.

Hip + Leg Stretches

Next, we’ll focus on the legs and hips — for those of us who work at computers all day, it’s easy to forget that we have legs!

Every structure in our body is connected by fascia (fash-uh), a thin layer of connective tissue, making it important to tend to all of our body when we stretch. 

Now, we’ll learn one “dynamic stretch,” (meaning we increase our range of motion as we stretch), one body-weight supported stretch for your hips and legs, and two stretches from Yoga.

Four Stretches to Try

🦵 While sitting, pointing your toes upward, and keeping your legs straight — bend at the hips to allow your hamstrings to stretch (also possible as a standing hang). 

🧘🏽‍♀️ Cross one ankle over the other knee, in a cross. Gently lean into the inner part of the crossed leg for a hip stretch. 

🪑 Bonus: Yoga’s “Chair Pose”: Standing shoulder width apart, and keeping your back straight, bend your knees like you’re about to sit in a chair, and raise your arms upward as far as you can, palms facing each other, while keeping your arms straight.   

👶🏼 Bonus two: Yoga’s “Child’s Pose”: On a yoga mat or carpet, kneel and allow your chest and belly to come toward the ground, arms straight forward. Your knees can stay together or turn out, however feels relaxing. 

Lastly, Shake it Out

We shared just a few of the great stretches out there for our Work From Home lifestyles. We’d love for you to share any that you love that we might not know about!

Again, when we move our bodies in unusual ways, it helps create fluidity, more range of motion, and most importantly — more ability to do all that we love in life, longer.

We’ll end this post with the practice of shaking — not exactly a stretch, but a helpful release nonetheless. 

Not only can shaking warm up muscles (think of athletes who bounce before a race), shaking can move emotions that are stuck in our bodies (such as anger and fear or anxiety — think of the gazelle who shakes after surviving a lion attack). 

Slower movements such as swaying can gently activate lower frequency emotions, such as fogginess. 

We don’t need to shake violently, but we can warm up to doing it vigorously. Play around with the spectrum of swaying to shaking that works for you! 

How to Try Shaking

• Find a space: Choose a comfortable, quiet place where you can move freely. 

• Get in position: Stand with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, and arms relaxed at your sides. 

• Warm up to shake: Start with gentle movements, such as swaying. Then start by shaking your hands and wrists, gradually including arms, shoulders, torso, and legs. Bouncing allowed!

• Keep breathing: Inhale through nose and exhale through the mouth, and move until you feel complete, then gradually slow to stillness. 

• Rest: Once you're done shaking, sit, stand, even lay quietly for a few minutes.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks theme, diving into the magic of stretching, to improve range of motion, flexibility, mood, and more!

Looking forward to seeing you around some of the sessions this week,

— Anna, focused space host

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Please consult your health care provider before making any health care decisions or for guidance about a specific medical condition.