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International Day Of Yoga 2025: June 21 is celebrated as the International Day of Yoga every year all around the globe. Initiated by the United Nations in 2015, this day urges people from all walks of life to take up yoga as an all-encompassing practice for physical, mental, and spiritual wellness.

For busy professionals who may spend many hours each day hunched over their desks, yoga might appear to be a luxury. A sprinkle of short yoga asanas during one's workday can help alleviate physical discomfort, improve productivity, and enhance mental clarity. Through easy stretches and conscious breathing, office yoga provides a refreshing break from the daily jam.

Here are some simple yoga asanas you can practise at your workplace:

1. Neck Movements:

Technique: Sit with your spine straight and feet flat on the floor. Lower your chin to your chest, then slowly rest the right side of your head on your right shoulder. Hold for several breaths, then repeat on the other side. Slowly roll your head in small, smooth circles in a clockwise direction and then anticlockwise.

Benefits: Relieves tension in neck and shoulders, improves circulation, lowers tension headache risk, and increases flexibility.

2. Seated Twist:

Technique: Sit with your back straight and your feet flat on the floor. Breathe in to extend your spine. Twist your torso to the right on the exhale, putting your left hand on your right knee and your right hand on the back of the chair. Look over your shoulder, hold for several breaths, and then switch sides.

Benefits: Releases tension in the spine, stimulates digestion, strengthens the obliques, and helps posture alignment.

3. Backward Bending:

Technique: While sitting, inhale and slowly arch your back, lifting your chest towards you. Place your hands on your thighs or back of your head, relax your shoulders, and lengthen your neck. Hold for a few breaths and return to a neutral position.

Benefits: Opens up the chest and abdomen, counteracts the effects of too much sitting, stimulates the nervous system, and increases alertness.

4. Side Bending:

Technique: Sit up straight with feet on the floor. Breathe in, lift the right arm up over your head, and lightly lean to the left side, making a stretch along the right side. Hold for several breaths and press with the other side.

Benefits: Increases flexibility of spine, stretches intercostal muscles, increases lung capacity, and decreases tension in waist and ribcage.

5. Deep Breathing:

Technique: Sit comfortably, shut your eyes, and inhale deeply, blowing out your stomach. Exhale slowly out of your mouth. Do this loop for some minutes, maintaining the breath consistently and with awareness.

Benefits: Calms the nervous system, alleviates stress, improves concentration, and enhances oxygen supply to the brain.

6. Shoulder Rolls:

Technique: Breathe in as you bring your shoulders up toward your ears and roll them back and down. Breathe out and roll them forward. Do this a few times in each direction.

Benefits: Releases tension in the shoulders and chest, corrects posture, and counters the effects of leaning forward over a screen.

7. Wrist and Finger Exercises:

Technique: Hold your arms to the sides or overhead. Trace 5–10 circles in and out through your wrists. Open your fingers wide, then clench into fists. Do this 5–10 times. Hold each arm out in front and softly bend the wrist with the opposite hand for a counter-stretch.

Benefits: Decreases fatigue in the wrist, eases tension from repetitive motions such as computer typing, and enhances joint flexibility.