The Stretching Minute
There are things in life that we know are good for us, but for a strange reason we don’t do them enough. The stretching minute is a simple solution we can implement in our lives to become more efficient. We all know that to be productive, we need to take some breaks. The stretching minute allows us to connect with our bodies, reminding us we are a human beings, not just productive machines.
I illustrated the Stretching Minute one day, inspired by my dogs. I was at the computer writing when the two dogs woke up. One looked at the other one stretching and was inspired to do «Downward dog».
It inspired me ! Maybe I should stretch as well.
– I stood-up, stretched my two arms toward the selling. I intertwined my fingers and inhaled deeply.
– I kept my hands together and brought them in front of me and rounded my back, creating space between my shoulder blades.
-I inhaled again with my hands joined together behind me and opened my ribcage looking toward the sky.
-Keeping both hands behind my neck, I bent toward one side to stretch, then the other side.
_I sat again, I put my right hand on the back of the chair, then my left hand on my knee and I twisted my torso to the right. Then I reversed the process and twisted to the left.
-I moved my head, forward and backward, then I turned it right and left. Then I brought one ear closer to one shoulder, then the other ear closer to the other shoulder. Then I circular sweeping motion with my neck- forward, left, back, right, forward. And reversed the motion – forward, right, back, left, forward.big circle one side and then the other side.
-I inhaled again with my two arms up towards the sky and I brought my arms down to the side.
Wow, it feels so good !!!
You should try it, follow the little drawings and breath consciously!
Imagine an hour…
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Did you know that in Japan, in certain companies, ring a bell to signal that employees have 5 minutes to do some individual stretching close to their desk. Other compagnies have special places for employees to take a 5 minutes nap.