MOVES TO DE-STRESS

18 April by Alessa Caridi

Stress, no matter the origin, can trigger mental and physical symptoms. At JōbuFIT our specialty is movement.

Movements to make your body stronger.

Movement to and protect your body from negative outside stimuli.

Movement to live a healthy life and age gracefully.

According to Harvard Health Publications: physical and mental stress often go hand in hand. When you are mentally stressed, it leads to physical stress. When you are physically stressed, it leads to additional mental stress. A harmful cycle that can be difficult to break.

The good news is, there are movements we can add into our day to help us de-stress and even be more productive:

1. You can try a #nothoughtlegworkout during lunch. (Check out some of mine on the JōbuFIT Instagram Page)
2. You can also try what I call Specific Muscle Tension for Relaxation. This is an exercise I did as a floor warm-up in my undergrad modern dance classes to increase body awareness and take away muscle tension. Now, we don’t think, or expect you to lay down on your office floor, hotel floor, or any other floor for that matter, so I’ve modified this simple exercise so you can do this anywhere– your office chair, airplane seat, or even while you are riding home in the back of a cab.

Here it goes:

Sit up as tall as you can. We are going to start from the face and work our way down.

For each body part: squeeze and hold for 10-20 seconds. Focusing on only that specific body part. When you release that body part, exhale and focus on the tension leaving that area of your body Then move in to the next body part.

Let’s start at the top, close your eyes and take a deep breath.

Face:

Squeeze your eyes, mouth, nose and cheeks as tight as you can- I like to think about making my face as small as possible.

Shoulders:

Lift them up and squeeze.

Arms:

Hug yourself as tight as your can

Abs:

Put your hands on your waist and pull your abs in a squeeze

Legs:

Make sure both feet on the ground and squeeze your ankles, knees, and thighs

Feet:

Think of making your feet a tight ball and squeeze

—

It’s a simple exercise that will only take a few min of your day, but I promise your body will feel lighter. Your body deserves to feel relaxed especially during national stress awareness month.

These moves can be done in conjunction with our daily workouts, which you can sign up for here.

All of these things will help you lead a healthy and active life.

Be FIT. Be Productive. Be Jōbu.

Want more tips and #jobufitquickfix? Sign up for our monthly newsletter!