9 Easy Ways To Get Flexible… Right Now

Last week, I can remember four specific occasions when someone said, “I’m just not flexible!” and when I asked them about it, I found out that they never even try! Just like anything worth having, flexibility doesn’t just happen without working at it again and again! The fun part is, you don’t need to take 2 hours out of your day to get to a yoga class in order to increase your flexibility and grow your range of motion! Flexibility can start where you’re sitting right now, while you wait in a line or queue, or  even while you brush your teeth! Here are my absolute go-to stretches that I can do any time, anywhere, to keep me on track to getting – and staying – flexible.

Touch the sky
Stand up straight and tall. Square your shoulders and hips and toes to your front. Bend your knees ever so slightly, arch your lower back to give some extra space to the fronts of your hips. Clasp your hands in front of you, alternating fingers and with elbows straight. Turn your palms away from your face and inhale up. You can look straight out in front of you or up towards your hands. Find the balance in your arms between stretch and strength, this stretch has so many subtleties to explore. Hold it for 5-10 breaths.
Hang out
This stretch feels exactly the way it sounds. Stand up straight and tall with a small bend in your knees and proud posture in your shoulders. Look down towards your feet, make sure they are parallel. Reach your arms towards the floor and roll down through your spine, neck, and head to bend over. Bend your knees gently until your back and hips are comfortable, and let your arms hang down towards the floor. No need to have perfectly straight legs or be able to touch your toes! Just practicing this one will increase hamstring flexibility. Give yourself a moment to inhale and exhale 5-10 times.
Foot circles
This one is great to do while on the phone or waiting for your train to arrive, and is great for your circulation! Since we are almost always standing or sitting with our head over our heels, blood can pool in our feet and ankles and needs a little stimulation to work its way back up our body to be oxygenated by the heart. It’s pretty simple, as you stand straight and tall, balance on one leg, lift your opposite foot up off the ground, and circle your foot outwards and inwards. Show your ankles how much you appreciate them by letting them stretch and extend around. Switch sides. Try for 4x each way!
Hip openers
Like many of us in the working world, you might spend hours per day sitting in a chair, car, or airplane seat. That causes tightness in your hamstrings, hips, and lower back, not to mention how much it might affect your posture overall! In your chair, sit up straight and un-cross your legs. Bring your right foot up to your knee, so your ankle can rest across your thigh or knee. If this is tough for you then slide it slightly more across so the outside of your shin rests on your knee. Use light pressure with your hands to press your right knee towards the floor to open your hip. Keep breathing. Repeat on the other side. Safety first! If it’s bad pain and not good pain, lighten the stretch!
Legs up the wall
Walking around, sitting, and standing all day keep our hearts above our feet, which leads to stagnant blood in our legs and brains. It’s a great thing to invert heels over head to reverse the flow and help our circulatory systems to refresh! I like to do something to get upside down every day. Just in case you’re not a handstand master yet, here’s a stretch which reverses the flow of blood, and lengthen your hamstrings. Lay on your back with your bum towards a wall or your headboard, torso perpendicular and knees bent. Get your bum as close as you can to the wall and straighten your legs up the wall, feet to the ceiling. Try to straighten your legs and get your bum nearer to the wall for increased stretch. Hold this for around 1 minute and wiggle your toes if your feet start to fall asleep!
Arms up the wall
To open your chest and shoulders, relax your neck, and improve your posture, you’ll need to do something to reverse your desk, computer, and phone slouch. Stand about 2 feet away from a wall with your feet parallel and knees slightly bent. Place your hands on the wall slightly over your head, wider than shoulder width apart, and with fingers spread wide. Gently lean your chest forward to move your torso closer to the wall, leaving your hips exactly where they are. Breathe into the stretch, moving your hands up the wall as your shoulders open up, and don’t go so far forward that you become uncomfortable. With stretching, finding that comfort zone where you can hold the stretch while still increasing your mobility is key. When it’s time to come out of the stretch, do so gently and slowly, feeling the blood rushing to your shoulders to bring nutrients and oxygen to your muscles, ligaments and tendons!
Back clasp
Ah, posture! Standing up straight is either a nightmare if you don’t do it often, or a dream if you’ve found a way to unlock your shoulders and chest. Though good posture relies on so many factors, from the arch of your feet to the strength in your abdominals, I like to take a moment each day to cut straight to the core of it – mobilizing my shoulders, upper back and chest! Stand straight and tall and bring your hands to clasp behind your back with your elbows bent and shoulders rolling back and down. Keeping your palms together, keep your eye gaze directly in front of you, and breathe as you straighten your elbows and raise your hands further off the floor. This stretch truly has no limits, and is safe to do multiple times per day. You’ll feel it in your biceps, triceps, abdominals, and more! Don’t forget to breathe
Easy twist
Chairs can be so constricting on our body’s mobility, but they can also become tools to help us stretch further and more safely than ever before. Next time you are sitting in any type of chair, try this twist to see how much energy you feel from changing your body position and wringing out your muscles! Sit up straight and tall, legs even and not crossed at the knees or ankles. Place your right hand on your left knee and move your left hand to the arm of the chair or further back along the seat. Use the strength in your arms to pull your torso into a twist, breathing to pull yourself deeper and never jerking yourself around. Keep your chest proud towards the sky and move your eyes back the wall behind you.
Warm welcome
If you sit at a desk all day, carry a heavy bag on your shoulder, or spend a lot of time behind the wheel of your car, then give your fabulous self a Warm Welcome. Plant all 10 toes on the floor, feet parallel, use your thighs to pull your kneecaps up. Open your heart to the sky and turn your palms facing the ceiling. Feel your chest move towards the ceiling and your fingers extend back and down towards the floor. Imagine you are creating space between your ear lobes and the tops of your shoulders. Try to gently straighten your elbows as much as you can. Take a big breath and experience the little or big stretches you feel and where you feel them.