Ellen is a purposeful and holistic living coach, trained yoga teacher and advocate for moving more! At being-change.com she shares content on purposeful and holistic living, and ways we can make changes (small and large) to live our most purposeful and holistic lives. She firmly believes in the power of moving the body to help us create change in our lives and in strengthening the mind-body connection.
Her coaching work and her approach to living a purposeful and holistic life always comes from an embodied perspective. In this post, Ellen shares five simple tips to bring more movement to your working day to help avoid common work-day aches and pains such as tension headaches from tight shoulders, as well as to give you more energy throughout the day.
Five simple ways to move more during your work day
Deep down we probably all know that when we move more during our working day we’re more productive, feel less stressed and end the day less worn out. But just because we know something is beneficial doesn’t make it easy to do, right? Our bodies are programmed to exert the least effort possible whatever we’re doing. So bringing movement into our days takes a lot of conscious effort on our part. Here I want to share some ways I try to bring movement into my day, in a way that incorporates it smoothly into the working day (well that's the aim at least). Less going to the gym on your lunch break, more having a dance break after sending an email.
Dance break
This is perhaps my favourite way to bring movement into my day. I recently started dance breaking in the morning and it is a great way to start the day in a positive, energised place. The premise is simple, put on a tune, crank up the volume and dance it out. If you work at home give yourself full permission to go crazy – no-one’s looking! Work in an office? Try suggesting a dance break to your colleagues so you’re not the only goofball. If it’s a no from them, maybe a toilet dance break? Or a dance in your chair? And if you do go for it solo in the office you are my hero (and please share on Instagram?)
Stretches at your desk
Whether you stand or sit at your desk you’re still static and need to move every once in a while. I have a lot of Skype meetings and find this a good time to get some stretches in. But challenging yourself to stretch whilst typing is also fun!
In my video accompanying this post, I share some stretches that are good to do at both a standing and sitting desk.
Walking meetings
I don't have many in-person meetings, but that doesn’t stop me having a walking meeting with myself! When I have a lot of thinking work to do, be that solving a problem, generating new ideas or getting my thoughts together for a piece I’m writing I try to take myself out for a walk. When we’re walking we’re physically moving forward and this makes it much easier for our ideas to flow too. Top tip – take your phone with you to record voice memos of any notes you want to make. One of those people who has meetings with actual people IRL? Suggest making it a walking meeting next time!
Walking whenever you’re on the phone
This one I got from happiness researcher Gretchen Rubin who wanted to get more movement into her day. As a writer, she spends a lot of her time sat down, so she set a rule for herself that she will walk whenever she’s on the phone. This could be outside, but equally, it can be in your office too. And you don’t have to just walk, you could do any kind of movement whilst on the phone (squats anyone?). But I try to stick to the move whilst on the phone rule.
Set a timer for movement time
I’ve been experimenting recently with having a timer on my phone go off every 30 minutes, or sometimes less. Each time it goes off I take some movement, even if it’s just changing position, check in with my breath and with what I’m working on. This reminds me to move and to stay present with my work and make sure I’m being as focused and productive as I can be.
The following post appeared first on Ellen's blog - she's kindly sharing it with our community today. Want to hear more from Ellen? Check out her blog here.
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