Asana – yoga poses for feeling well at work

To stay well and keep up your best performance at work, add some yoga routines to your day!

Your breath is always the best measure of how well you are feeling – pay attention to it! If you feel tired throughout the day, make sure you are breathing well, and to do so you must be sitting or standing up straight - avoid slouching. If you can, take a short break in fresh air. 

Whenever possible, do a mental scan to observe physical sensations and emotions in the body.  Especially when you are doing yoga postures (but ideally most of the rest of the time, too!), make sure your head is over your heart, and your heart is over your hips. Whether standing or sitting, your feet should look like this ||, rather than this \/. Root downwards to grow upwards with stability. The body can be relaxed, even when making an effort.

Easy overall stretches

Raise your arms overhead, then take your wrist with the other hand and gently pull your passive arm to one side, pressing your seat into your chair or your feet into the floor. Stay for one or several breaths, and repeat on the other side.

Interlock your fingers behind your back with palms facing each other – try to have your wrists touching.  If standing, step your feet apart with knees slightly bent (otherwise just sit forward on your chair) and fold forward from the hips, stretching your arms up behind you. Stay for a few breaths.

While standing, plant your feet firmly in the ground and swing the upper body and arms side to side, letting go completely until the arms flop around you.

For the face and eyes

Lion pose: This is a marvelous way to reduce facial tension and improve your breathing, with the added bonus of deflating the ego!

For the neck and shoulders

Nod the head up and down (yes, boss!) and side-to-side (no, sir!). Remember, the head moves at the jaw, not from the base of the neck!  The Indian head roll (means yes, no, and maybe!) – make a figure of eight with your nose and relax your neck as you roll the head.

Neck rolls: gently roll the head keeping your focus on the nose and begin spiraling outwards until the head can no longer comfortably roll, then reverse the action until the spiral shrinks back to the centre. Stay still with the eyes closed for at least one deep breath afterwards.

Cow Face Pose: This is a good one for tension between the shoulder blades. Cross one elbow over the other and then wrap your arms together until you catch the fingers of the lower arm in the other palm. Relax the shoulders.

Backstroke – swing arms backwards like a windmill; reverse after a few rounds.

For the arms, wrists and hands

Wrist rotation and flexion: With arms outstretched, roll your wrists loosely ten times in both directions, then flex and extend your wrists several times.

Elbow rotation: gently curl your fingers around your thumbs in a light fist (this is known as adi mudra, and is very soothing on its own!). Extend your arms and pull them in towards the body then back out several times.

Press the hands down onto the desk until you feel your whole arm working. Start with fingers pointing away (thumbs face each other), then towards each other (thumbs face you), then towards you (thumbs face out to the side).

For the back and abdominals

Side stretch: hold your elbows overhead and reach up as you press the heels down. Slide the elbows up and to the right, then up and to the left, without moving the hips and legs.

Whole body twist: stand with feet wide apart, knees bent. Push hands into knees with strong, straight arms. Lengthen body and let tailbone move down keeping the abdomen strong. Push into one knee as you exhale, twist body and look up past the opposite shoulder. Inhale back to centre and repeat on other side. Push into the feet to move the body up and down as you twist, working every joint.

Fierce pose (also called chair pose): stand with feet hip-width apart. Press the feet down while straightening the arms overhead. Keeping the abdomen strong, drop the tailbone and bend at the hips as though you were going to sit down. Stay in a half-squat for a few breaths. Release by standing back up as you inhale and lower the arms as you exhale.

Sitting on the edge of your chair, open the knees wide with feet firmly on the floor; roll the body forward to hang down between the legs. Slowly roll back up, deliberately keeping the abdomen strong to lift you and support your back.

Place your hands on your desk and push your chair back until you stretch into the hips and lower back. Keep the abdomen firm.

For the hips and legs

Standing on one leg, raise your knee high up, and roll your ankles – really point and flex the foot so you also feel the effects in the leg.  Repeat on the other side.

Kick one leg out in front several times, and then out to the side (happy dog!).

Breathe and smile!

Striving for improvement, without struggle

Happy New Year!

I just returned from a week-long retreat at Thich Nhat Hanh's Buddhist Monastery near Bordeaux, France, known as Plum Village. The place simply brings out the best in everyone who attends, and I can highly recommend spending some time there. It is also very family-friendly, and kids usually love it, although the periods of Noble Silence usually end up more like Noble Whispering!

I have been a couple of times on my own, and this was the third time with my children, who get to see and participate in a very different side of life from the competitive, urban buzz they are accustomed to here in Brussels.

Although my daughter and son are naturally exposed to my yogic way of life every day (they still roll their eyes at times), I deliberately never impose my choices on them (apart from the fact that I only prepare vegetarian food - I'm the chef!). So I was truly surprised and delighted when my twelve-year-old daughter announced that she wanted to practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings, which are described below using the Plum Village wording. She took her ceremonial vow to uphold the essence of each of the Trainings, along with a promise to reflect upon them regularly.

The bar is set very high in taking this step. Much like the Yamas and Niyamas (the guidelines for ethical living in yoga) of the Yoga Sutras, but based on the teachings of the Buddha, the Five Mindfulness Trainings offer an ideal way of conducting one's self in all aspects of life. I now have an in-house practice partner, which makes it easier for both of us to see where we can do our best, and where we could use some improvement.

The Trainings are difficult to follow to the letter in our society - working towards them is the point. It is worth noting, for example, that the Buddha and his followers would have accepted and eaten meat which was offered to them, but naturally would never kill animals nor prepare meat for themselves. Even the Dalai Lama, Tibet's highest Buddhist teacher and spiritual leader, eats a small amount of meat now - after a lifetime as a vegetarian - on the advice of his doctor. He regrets this, he has said, but says prayers of gratitude for the life that has been lost to feed him.

"The Five Mindfulness Trainings represent the Buddhist vision for a global spirituality and ethic. They are a concrete expression of the Buddha’s teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, the path of right understanding and true love, leading to healing, transformation and happiness for ourselves and for the world. To practice the Five Mindfulness Trainings is to cultivate the insight of interbeing, or Right View, which can remove all discrimination, intolerance, anger, fear and despair. If we live according to the Five Mindfulness Trainings, we are already on the path of a bodhisattva. Knowing we are on that path, we are not lost in confusion about our life in the present or in fears about the future.

Reverence For Life

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life.  Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

True Happiness

Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I am committed to practicing generosity in my thinking, speaking and acting. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others; and I will share my time, energy and material resources with those who are in need. I will practice looking deeply to see that the happiness and suffering of others are not separate from my own happiness and suffering; that true happiness is not possible without understanding and compassion; and that running after wealth, fame, power and sensual pleasures can bring much suffering and despair. I am aware that happiness depends on my mental attitude and not on external conditions, and that I can live happily in the present moment simply by remembering that I already have more than enough conditions to be happy. I am committed to practicing Right Livelihood so that I can help reduce the suffering of living beings on Earth and reverse the process of global warming.

True Love

Aware of the suffering caused by sexual misconduct, I am committed to cultivating responsibility and learning ways to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.  Knowing that sexual desire is not love, and that sexual activity motivated by craving always harms myself as well as others, I am determined not to engage in sexual relations without true love and a deep, long-term commitment made know to my family and friends.  I will do everything in my power to protect children from sexual abuse and to prevent couples and families from being broken by sexual misconduct.  Seeing that body and mind are one, I am committed to learning appropriate ways to take care of my sexual energy and cultivating loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness - which are the four basic elements of true love - for my greater happiness and the greater happiness of others.  Practicing true love, we know that we will continue beautifully into the future.


Loving Speech and Deep Listening

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful speech and the inability to listen to others, I am committed to cultivating loving speech and compassionate listening in order to relieve suffering and to promote reconciliation and peace in myself and among other people, ethnic and religious groups, and nations.  Knowing that words can create happiness or suffering, I am committed to speaking truthfully using words that inspire confidence, joy, and hope.  When anger is manifesting in me, I am determined not to speak.  I will practice mindful breathing and walking in order to recognize and look deeply into my anger.  I know that the roots of anger can be found in my wrong perceptions and lack of understanding of the suffering in myself and in the other person. I will speak and listen in a way that can help myself and the other person to transform suffering and see the way out of difficult situations. I am determined not to spread news that I do not know to be certain and not to utter words that can cause division or discord. I will practice Right Diligence to nourish my capacity for understanding, love, joy and inclusiveness, and gradually transform anger, violence, and fear that lie deep in my consciousness.

Nourishment and Healing

Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I am committed to cultivating good health both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking and consuming. I will practice looking deeply into how I consume the Four Kinds of Nutriments, namely, edible foods, sense impressions, volition and consciousness.  I am determined not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programs, films, magazines, books and conversations.  I will practice coming back to the present moment to be in touch with the refreshing, healing and nourishing elements in me and around me, not letting regrets and sorrow drag me back into the past nor letting anxieties, fear, or craving pull me out of the present moment. I am determined not to try to cover up loneliness, anxiety, or other suffering by losing myself in consumption.  I will contemplate interbeing and consume in a way that preserves peace, joy and well-being in my body and consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family, my society and the Earth."

"Body and mind in perfect harmony, I send you my heart with the sound of this bell. That everyone who hears me emerges from forgetfulness and transcends all anxiety and pain. At the sound of the bell, I feel that the afflictions in me begin to dissolve. My mind is calm, my body relaxed. A smile is born on my lips. Concentrating on the sound of the bell, my conscious breath brings me back to my true home. In the garden of my heart, peace blossoms like a flower."

You might like to hear some talks given by Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village and at his teachings around the world. You can see each talk on the Plum Village Online Monastery, or look at www.plumvillage.org for more general information.

I invite you to reflect on how these principles could bring more harmony to you and others in your daily life, and - being realistic, and compassionate with yourself and others - gradually begin to adopt some of them. There is no need to struggle; nothing to be forced, and no holier-than-thou attitude to adopt. When something feels right, and it resonates with your highest principles, it will be easy and natural to work toward.

May this year bring abundant good health, joy and contentment to you and those around you.

Love and light,
Susan