A five-minute morning sequence for desk workers

Most of the students who come in for our 6am Vinyasa class share the same complaint: by mid-afternoon, their shoulders are somewhere up near their ears, their lower back is barking, and they can feel their hip flexors clenched even while they're trying to relax. The cause isn't a mystery. It's the chair. The chair is undefeated.

I'm not going to tell you to quit your desk job. I'm going to give you five minutes.

What this sequence does

These five poses target the three places desk workers store the most tension: the front of the hips, the upper back between the shoulder blades, and the neck. You don't need a mat. You don't need to change clothes. You can do it on the rug next to your bed before you've even looked at your phone.

Do each one for about a minute. Breathe in through your nose, out through your nose, slowly. If a minute feels like a long time at first, that's information worth sitting with.

1. Supine twist — right side

Lying on your back, draw your right knee into your chest, then let it fall across your body to the left. Open your right arm out to the side. Look toward the right hand if your neck allows. This unwinds the lower back from a full night of sleep.

2. Supine twist — left side

Same thing, other side. People always assume both sides feel the same. They almost never do.

3. Bridge with shoulder rolls

Feet flat, knees bent, lift your hips. Walk your shoulder blades underneath you, one at a time. This is the antidote to whatever your monitor did to your upper back yesterday.

4. Low lunge — right knee down

Step your left foot forward into a low lunge with the right knee on the floor. Sink the hips toward the ground. This is the one nobody wants to do and everybody needs to do.

5. Low lunge — left knee down

Switch sides. Stay another minute.

That's it

Five poses. Five minutes. You can graduate to a longer practice later — we have classes starting at 6am every weekday, and Devon teaches a beautiful slow flow on Tuesdays — but you don't have to start there. You can start on your rug, before coffee, while it's still quiet.