Long hours at a desk can take a toll on your body and mind. These simple stretches from Hotpod Yoga allow you to grab some much needed exercise without leaving the office.

Sitting on a chair

  • Take some deep breaths to get the oxygen flowing and help the body and mind to wake up.
  • Inhale deeply, extend your arms to the side and lift both up towards the sky. Feel your sides, shoulders and arms start to stretch open
  • As you breath out slowly bring your arms back down – feeling the sides of your neck and tops of your shoulders.
  • Repeat 7 - 10 times.
  • This exercise will awaken and open up the upper body. The intake of deep breaths calms and soothes the mind, heart, lungs and nervous system.

Standing

  • Clasp the hands behind the back with straight arms.
  • From a standing position, with a very slight bend in the knees, fold forward so the head comes towards the feet.
  • Feel the opening down the back of the legs, feel the shoulders get a wonderful opening and the neck and head feel light whilst gravity does its thing.
  • Shuffle or sway a little from side to side allowing the blood to flow to the brain.
  • Slowly (with a bend in the knees) roll up to standing. A refreshing feeling of openness should be restored.

City classes

Want a proper workout you can fit into your lunch? Hotpod Yoga is offering City workers a chance to supercharge themselves and their workdays, with the introduction of 20-minute power classes at One New Change from 12 September. The classes will combat sedentary whilst simultaneously providing a time-efficient way for office professionals to reach a physical and performance high.

Priced from £8 for 20-minute classes or £12 for an hour’s class:

  • Breakfast Booster class: 7pm-7:20am
  • Power Lunch class: 12pm-12:20pm and 12:40pm-1pm
  • Unwinder class (1 hour): 6:30pm-7:30pm

About the classes

Classes take place inside Hotpod Yoga’s inflatable pods, heated at 37 degrees to help melt you deeper into your practice.

The 20-minute Power Series is designed to completely immerse and reset the participant. Classes have been strategically choreographed; beginning with an intensive focus on the breath to turn your consciousness inward, the series is comprised of both passive and active postures, ebbing between a smooth flow and balancing series to empower and revive your mind and body. The interior of the inflatable, portable, heated pods will immerse you in an otherworld, far from the city centre.

The 60-minute Unwinder Class is based on the signature Hotpod flow class and are offered to allow workers to melt a little deeper into the immersion and practice. For those who can free up a little more time, the hour sessions increase the the amount of physicality; allowing the body to be strengthened, opened and energised. Mentally, the additional time spent in the pod increases the depth of practice and its propensity for calming and easing the mind.

If you want a more comprehensive workout, from 12 September Hotpod Yoga are offering 20-minute lunchtime classes at One New Change. For more information on the classes visit hotpodyoga.com