Transcript for "15-minute stretch break":
Hey, everybody. Coach Ellie here with Exos at Intuit, and I'm gonna lead you through a ten minute movement session. We're gonna start off with some guided breathing right into some seated and then standing stretches. So join me at the edge of your seats. Feet are flat. Shoulders are pulled back. Hands are in your lap. Eyes open or eyes closed. And we're gonna inhale for four seconds, hold our breath for two, and then exhale for six seconds. And we will do that for four rounds. So, again, edge of your seat, eyes closed, eyes open, completely up to you. But here we go. Deep breath in and hold. Exhale. Big inhale. Hold and exhale. Good. Inhale. Hold and exhale. Last one. Big inhale. Hold and exhale. Very good. Inhale. Resume normal breathing. We're gonna go ahead and kick this off with giving ourselves a little bit of love with a massage. What I want you to do is take your right hand, pin those four fingers together. You're gonna drop your right ear towards your right shoulder, and taking those four fingers right along the top of your shoulder, maybe a little bit further back towards your back. But we're gonna do a trigger point massage. So this may actually hurt a little bit because we carry a lot of our stress and a lot of our tension here. So as you're moving those four fingers and you're pinning them in, if you feel a spot where you're kinda like, oh, I'm a little tight right there, stay there and go in a circular motion. Maybe two or three clockwise and then two or three counterclockwise. Or I like to continue just pressing my fingers in as opposed to a circular motion, so kind of like a pulsating. Completely up to you. Making sure we're breathing. Just trying to release some tension, and then we're gonna jump into some stretches that can release this tension even further. Good. Go ahead and move around to a different spot if you haven't already. Good. Ten more seconds, and then we will go ahead and switch sides. Make sure you're breathing. A little bit of a posture check too. Are you still sitting up nice and tall? Four, three, two, and one. Good. Release. Relax. Left ear down to that left shoulder, pinning those fingers together on the right hand now. Same thing, finding that trouble spot or spots and either applying that trigger point pressure, adding that pulsating tap or that circular motion once you do find that trigger point. Breathing in and breathing out. Holding our breath adds more tension, adds more stress, so let's not do that. We're trying to alleviate that. Go ahead and move to a different spot if you haven't already. We've got about fifteen seconds left. Good. Five, four, three, two, and one. Release. Relax. We're gonna move into cactus to eagle arm. For cactus pose, you're gonna sit up nice and tall, lift that chest, open up towards the ceiling. Arms come out at a 90 degree angle, and you're gonna pull your shoulder blades together. It's almost like I know it's physically impossible, but you're sending those elbows towards your back pockets so we can really open and elongate the chest. Tilt your head back just a little bit to really push the chest out and pull those shoulder blades together in your upper back. Breathing in and breathing out, holding this pose here. Allow yourself to stay seated up nice and tall. Sometimes it helps by pushing your heels into the ground to kind of ground yourself, to remind yourself to sit up tall, to sit proud. Good. Last five seconds, and we're gonna go into that eagle wrap. Three, two, and one. Take the right bony part of your elbow, set it inside the left, and then you're just gonna push those forearms so you kind of hide your face a little bit, and you're gonna drop your chin into your chest, allowing your shoulders to lift, rounding out your back. Pull your belly button in tight. This stretch only works if you do, so you really gotta push those forearms in towards each other. Beautiful. Hold here and, again, make sure you're breathing. Good. Continue driving those forearms in. You might even be shaking a little bit because you're applying that pressure. Very good. Five, four. Back to cactus. Three, two, one. Good. We're lifting that chest up, taking in those deep breaths. Beautiful. Five, four. Other side. Three, two, one. Left elbow inside the right. Push. Tuck that chin. Breathe and hold. Every exhale, see if you can drop that chin even more. See if you can push those arms in even more. Ten seconds left. Three, two, and one. Good. Very good. Release. Relax. Next step, we're gonna go ahead and work on some thoracic rotation of our spine. So I'm gonna give you two options. Feet can stay flat, keeping that 90 degree bend, and then using whatever kind of side of your seat you have. So maybe it's your actual seat, it's your armrest, or maybe it's the back of your chair, but something that you can use for leverage. So you can rotate keeping your lower body pointed forward, and then you're gonna look off to that right shoulder. That's option one. Option two, you're gonna bring that right ankle on top of that left knee, and you're gonna use one hand to push your knee down, and the other hand is gonna be on that chair wherever you've got it for leverage. Little thoracic rotation plus a little hip flexor stretch. This is one where we tend to hold our breath. So take that breath in. Take that breath out. Beautiful. Five, four, three, two, and one. We'll go ahead and switch. Same thing. Same options. Both feet are down or now my left ankle is right on top of my right knee. My right hand is pushing my left knee down, and my left hand is on my chair for leverage for that rotation. Every exhale, can you twist further? Ten nine eight seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Good. Bring it on back. We're gonna go ahead and stand up now from our chair, and we're actually gonna be able to use our chair as a little bit of a prop too as well. So standing with your right side towards your chair, you're gonna take your right leg and keeping it straight. We're gonna swing it across our body and as high up as we can get. Of course, without touching that chair, I don't want you to hit your ankle or your leg to your chair. A little bit of balance, so a soft bend in that left knee. Good. Four, three, two, one. Now staying on this side, same thing, but now that left leg across the body and up as high as we can get it. Point the toe, stretching out the inner and outer thigh here. Good. Five, four, three, two, and one. Let's go ahead and switch starting first off with cross body. So getting close to that chair or getting across that leg, excuse me, and then close to that chair without touching it. Keep that soft bend in that right knee for stability with that leg that stays down. Feeling this in the inner thigh of that working leg. Four, three, two, and one. Set it down and switch. Now we're working the outer thigh of that working leg. Soft bend now in that left knee. Good. Five, four, three, two, and one. Go ahead and move that chair out of your way. We're gonna go into a pyramid stretch. So right foot forward, left foot back, feet stay flat, soft bend in those knees to start. Go ahead and hinge your hips pushing them back. Straighten out that back left leg. You'll keep the soft bend in that right. Both hands rest on top of each other just above that right knee. Push those hips back. Pull those shoulders back. Your chest is parallel with the floor. Keep your eyes looking down as well, and just hold here, shifting that weight to your heels, pushing that butt back, getting a good stretch of the backside of our legs. And, again, I know I say it a lot. We're breathing. Right? Good. Keep that nice flat back. Four, three, two, and one. Let's go ahead and switch. Left foot forward, right foot back. Soft bend in the left, fully extended right leg behind you. Hips are pushed back. Shoulders are pulled back. Weight is in your heels. Hold and breathe. Five, four, three, two, and one. Very good. Come on up. Lastly, we're gonna go ahead and do some calf raises here, and we're gonna do it three different ways. So starting with your toes pointed forward, hands can be on your side or just extended down, but you're gonna lift up onto those heels, driving those balls of your feet and your toes into the floor, and just hold maybe for about a second at the top and then slowly lower down. Five, four, three, two, and one. Very good. Now you're gonna turn your toes out, heels in, and lift. Good. We're slowly working smaller and smaller muscles in your calves, the lower backside of your legs. So this can kinda play with your balance a little bit, and it also can kind of feel new. And sometimes when we do something new, we're kinda like, oh, I haven't worked that muscle before. So if you're feeling that, just know it's one of the smaller muscles, and it will feel a little different if you haven't moved this way before. Last three, two, and one. Now we're gonna get even smaller. Turn your toes in. This one can really play with your balance if you need that wall or back onto your chair. But lifting up onto those toes, more so the pinky than anything. That big toe is helping, but not very much. This is an even smaller muscle in the back of your calf here. And so this can really play with balance, and it can also kind of bring on that new sensation of a movement you haven't done before, so you feel a little awkward. Might feel a little weird working a muscle maybe you haven't before. Very good. Seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one. Very good. Shake that out. Thank you so much for moving with me today, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.