Few questions on yoga and need questions answered pls :D

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

so im a 28 year old guy who has spent most my life in a chair at a desk, im 6ft 6 and ive had enough of trying to find something that fits me, either the desk is to small/big or its the chair and recently it has started to really get to me and so ive decided to build myself a desk that i can sit on the floor and use with my computer.

But this will be a hard issue to get around due to the fact im gunna have to retrain my whole body to learn autonomous sitting. (part of me has always felt more comfortable sitting on the floor)

and this is where yoga comes in, will it help me? unstiffen my joints and really limber me up and get rid of all my aches and pains and stiffness that ive endured through the years

also whats better way to sit, cross legged or kneeling ( i think cross legged right? with feet on top, dunno what that position is called)

im going to try and do 2 sessions a week, but would really love some inspiration and feedback :smiley:

theres many more reasons i want to do yoga, like weight loss, spiritual, stress relief etc, but above is my main issue right now, as i have a lot of uni work to do and sitting at my desk on a desk hurts my lower back/bowls too much now.

thanks for reading :smiley:

#2

The cross legged posture you are talking about is called Lotus. That’s a good posture, but I really like Seiza, which is a Japanese sitting posture where your pretty much sitting on your calves, with your shins on the floor. I also like Burmese posture, which is like lotus, but with you ankles in front of you. I do Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and fighting proficiently from my back requires very flexible legs and hips. I can say with absolute certainty, that since I started sitting on the floor, my legs and hips have become very flexible and supple. I’m now convinced that chairs, couches, etc, are responsible for our bad posture in the west. I wouldn’t worry that much about what way to sit, just sit ion the ground and you’ll feel a difference fast!! Use your chairs for guests or fire wood :slight_smile:

#3

[QUOTE=zambz;52548]

and this is where yoga comes in, will it help me? unstiffen my joints and really limber me up and get rid of all my aches and pains and stiffness that ive endured through the years

also whats better way to sit, cross legged or kneeling ( i think cross legged right? with feet on top, dunno what that position is called)

im going to try and do 2 sessions a week, but would really love some inspiration and feedback :smiley:

[/QUOTE]

When the stiffness sets in after sitting at the desk I combat it with some:

qi gong or simple vinyasa (dynamic i.e. flowing yoga asana forms) stretching and stuff. Or I just get up and stretch my legs and arms above head and all that. or pace around a bit.

I do this maybe ever hour or two for 5 - 10 minutes or so.

For me I took the arms off my chair . . . so I basically sit in sukhasana or in english “simple easy cross legged” pose while I work, at a normal height desk - the chair is the modification. Simply taking the arms off so i have the square footage on the seat of the chair to accommodate the increased dimensions of the sitting base… Arms off to make room for my legs in that sitting position so to speak…

If I get tired of the easy pose I switch to what is called vajrasana by some of the indian yogis and I believe Adam mentioned it . . . basically sitting on your calves / ankles / or with your rump between them.

#4

zambz,

Have you considered raising your work surface to standing height? Your computer monitor to eye-level, or slightly below?

siva