Are you sitting too much lately?

I expect that many of us are doing quite a bit of sitting lately, whether this is working from home or watching box sets and generally passing the time we have. Many adults in the UK spend around 9 hours a day sitting, which proportionally, is a large part of our waking hours.

The effects of sitting on our body are well publicised, one of my earlier blogs ‘are you sitting comfortably’ mentions what is going in with our hip flexors but there are much wider ramifications with the lower back and potentially diabetes.

In yoga, we sit, easy pose, (‘sukhasana’ in Sanskrit), sitting cross legged on the floor or mat, like many of us did at school. This is supposed to be a comfortable resting position to facilitate meditation.

Later in our years this can seem rather uncomfortable having conditioned ourselves to chairs, but I would urge everyone to try this at home, in front of the telly and see how it feels. Perhaps by lifting the back of your pelvis up on a cushion or some books it is more comfortable, as high as you might need.

Try to do this at least once a day for as long as you can comfortably, for up to 10 minutes. Over time the soft tissue in the joints, hip flexors, adductors and fascia will lengthen, eventually removing the support and you will regain your normal range of movement.

This simple approach will help alleviate any stiffness in the lower back attributed to tight hip flexors and is a simple yet accessible way to recover your flexibility.

I have lots of easy techniques that will help regain range of movement throughout the body, without embarking on a full home yoga practice. Let me know if you would like to learn more.