I took a 10-minute break from work to do this easy daily yoga routine and I returned relaxed and refreshed

I'm not the most flexible person, but as I get older I know my flexibility is something I need to maintain—and hopefully improve—so I can carry on doing the activities I enjoy. 

It's taken on even more importance since I've been going to the gym to protect against old running injuries reoccurring. While my gym visits have made me stronger, they've also left me feeling stiffer. I was already feeling tight from spending my nine-to-five sitting at a desk craning my head toward my screen.

Lately I've been working with Yazio, trying out its calorie-counting app, and while browsing its Instagram account I came across a yoga and stretching routine that seemed accessible. It included only eight moves and after an evening at the gym on a weight bench by the dumbbell rack, I felt like I needed something to rejuvenate my body before playing sports later that evening—without draining too much energy.

How to do this daily yoga routine

What I liked about this daily yoga routine

The instructor flows between the first two pairs of exercises, so she transitions between low and high lunge, then after repeating on the other side, moves between a passive squat and forward fold.

I enjoyed starting with dynamic stretches, as they gently warmed up my body, rather than immediately asking it to hold a more intense pose like pigeon. 

The forward fold was especially welcome. With my arms hanging down, I found a satisfying stretch in my upper back and shoulders.

One thing I like about this routine is there's no set time for holding the poses, so it’s easy to fit the routine into the time you have. It also allows you to spend more time in poses that feel good or where your flexibility could use a little more attention (in my case, the final folding position).

However, as someone naturally impatient, I set a timer of one minute on my watch for each movement, or pair of movements—otherwise I would have only spent 10 seconds on each. Spending a minute on each flow or stretch meant the routine took me just nine minutes and I was back at my desk in less time than it would have taken to fix a snack, feeling both relaxed and refreshed.

What I also liked about this routine is that it's not the type of holistic wellbeing practice you’d typically expect from a calorie-counting app. But that’s something I've noticed about Yazio, it has confounded some of my expectations. Rather than focusing solely on counting calories to lose weight, I've set my goal to building muscle, and my calorie goal has been adjusted accordingly. It has also been helpful seeing which vitamins and minerals I’ve been hitting the RDAs for and where the gaps are in my diet.

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