STOP - Take a break...

Try this exercise to refresh your mind – at your computer now:

Sit back in your chair. Place your hands in your lap or on your thighs.

Allow the muscles around your eyes to relax so the eyeballs drop backwards and outwards so you can see what you’re reading but also notice whats in your peripheral vision.

Feel where your body makes contact with the chair and soften into the feeling of being supported.

Adjust your feet so you feel as symmetrical and upright and your feet are in good contact with the floor.

Now focus on your breathing – just noticing the movement of the breath in the throat, lungs, chest and diaphragm.

Breathe in and out of your nostrils

Notice how the inhale changes to an exhale

What do you notice at the end of the exhale?...

Follow the sensation of the new inhale…you can close your eyes and carry on for a minute or two. Occupy your mind fully with the fascinating details of your breath.

Now start to lengthen your breath, gently filling the lungs on the inhale and letting the breath go on the exhale, just let the exhale drop all your tension away from your head and down through your seat and your feet and into the ground. Follow the breath with your mind…you can close your eyes for a minute or two as you follow the breath with your full attention. Set a timer on your phone or calender if you like.

Now you can start to change the breath one more time. Visualise yourself sitting in a place that you love…

Inhale through the nostrils, blow out gently through the mouth.

On the inhale, soak up the atmosphere of this place and on the exhale, blow away anything that is in the way of your concentration.

Set your timer - Close your eyes again and carry on for a few minutes….When you open your eyes, pause for a moment before you carry on with what you were doing. Do you feel refreshed?

Yogaunited would love your feedback about this practice - how it affected you physically, mentally, emotionally or anything else that you noticed.