Archive for the ‘Office Yoga’ Category

Mom was right. If you want to get ahead, you’d better not slouch.

Your posture doesn’t just signal confidence and leadership, according to a new study from the Kellogg School of Management at Chicago’s Northwestern University. It can actually make you think and act more powerfully as well.

“Posture expansiveness,” that is, adopting body positions that take up space, triggers a sense of power that makes people act as though they really are in charge, researchers found.

In experiments, researchers discovered that posture can have a greater impact on people’s behaviour than their rank or title, according to a press release.

Study participants were assigned high and low-powered roles and were asked to perform a series of tasks while adopting expansive postures (like placing one arm on the armrest of a chair and the other on the back of a nearby seat, with one ankle on the thigh of the opposite leg) or constrictive postures (like slumping their shoulders and sitting with their legs close together).

When asked to perform a word completion exercise and a blackjack game, those with expansive postures came up with more power-related words and took more action than those with constrictive postures, regardless of whether they were given a high or low-powered role, the press release says.

Job-seekers might want to take note.

“[O]ur research suggests that your posture may be quite literally the way to put your best foot forward in a job interview,” says professor Adam Galinsky, who led the study.

From The Globe and Mail Update by Wency Leung

Posted on Friday, January 7, 2011 2:29PM EST

We are pleased to announce that Staples is currently conducting a  trial of the Sitfit in 10 stores across Canada. If you live in one of these ten communities you can now save shipping by going into only these 10 stores and purchasing a Sitfit. Staples is only carrying black Sitfits so if you would like another colour then please order online. Each store also only has limited quantities.

Our commitment with this trial is to demonstrate that consumers are willing to support high-quality products that benefit their health and wellness when they are given the opportunity.

A Sitfit is an excellent way to either supplement your existing yoga practice outside of work or it can be a gentle way to begin a yoga practice.

Yoga is a series of physical positions, breathing exercises and meditation that have been practiced for over five millennia. These practices took on different forms in the East with some focusing more on breathing, others on difficult postures and others more on the meditative aspects. As yoga has become popular in the West, other forms with approachable names such as Power Yoga and Pre-natal yoga have emerged. Now we can add Office Chair Yoga to the list.

In terms of physical position, the Sitfit encourages you to sit with proper, ergonomically-correct posture (as opposed to slouching) and so allows you to practice good sitting posture during those periods that you are using it. As your body gets used to sitting correctly you will be conscious of your posture even when you aren’t using it.

While sitting doing Office Chair Yoga on your Sitfit your diaphram is more open and this promotes deeper and more health-conscious breathing.

Lastly, in being focused on your sitting posture and your breathing your experience even sitting in your office can be meditative.

One of my clients who is a dedicated yoga enthusiast, commented how her Sitfit allows her to continue practicing yoga all day long at work. Her job entails sitting much of the day. Her view is that the Sitfit helps her to strengthen her core and back while also helping her to maintain and be conscious of her breathing and posture.

The Sitfit comes with a series of excercises that can be done on your chair and on the floor. These are beneficial to the beginner as well as the the veteran yoga enthusiast who wants to strengthen and supplement their practice. Since you are sitting anyway, why not do so in a health-conscious and body-friendly way? Join me and countless others who do yoga at the office everyday.