I don't know what area you're in, Reader...

But my house is buried in snow. Toronto has beat it's own record of most snowfall in a day, with some areas getting even more than what's reported at Pearson Airport (which unfortunately, seems like my area is one of those).

So today I know I'm going to be sitting a lot. Because what else am I going to do when snowed in, besides shoveling which I don't want to think about?

When we're sitting, a lot happens in our bodies! So I hope you don't mind that I nerd out on the body for a minute.

Because really, a lot is happening in our bodies when we sit for a long time that isn't really beneficial for us. Let's use the example of sitting in a classic office chair for say... an hour and a half without getting up.

So, first off no matter how great we feel we're sitting at first, after 60-90 minutes fatigue will set in.

What the body does: Your neck muscles and upper traps move forward (as to look closer at your screen, or whatever is at your desk), and they become locked in a shortened state.
​Symptoms: This leads to headaches, neck stiffness, and pain that can refer down between your shoulder blades.

What the body does: The spine and back realizing you're chilling, relaxing all cool have the muscles release (ie. do nothing), and then it's all on your ligaments and joints to do the work of holding you up right. Not to mention, when seated our lumbar (lower) region of our spine tends to flatten out vs holding its natural curve.
​Symptoms: Because of the added pressure on the spinal discs, this forces a lot of stress through our back, and for the most part - it's headed down. Hello lower back pain.

What the body does: In the nature of any seated position, our powerful gluteal muscles are lengthened and not doing really much of anything.
​Symptoms: We are welcome lower body and pelvic instability, knee and low back pain with open arms and weak glutes.

What the body does: Our dear hip flexors (the muscles many love to ignore in the front of our hips connecting to our legs) are in overactive mode by being tucked in nice, short and tight, pulling our pelvis forward and reducing blood circulation in the area.
​Symptoms: A uncomfortable and sometimes painful feeling of "why can't I fully extend my hip" once you stand up. And remember how I said your glutes are weakened? Well, with weakened glutes and very tight hip flexors, your back will be paying the price.

So hey, sitting isn't the worst thing in the world by any means. But it is a good idea to not sit for super long periods of time, like I mentioned in a blog post late last year about an 'ideal' posture.​

But if you read this and are noticing some tightness in the areas I mentioned, let's do a little bit of movement, shall we?

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Lateral Neck Flexion

• Get comfy in a seated position on the floor, or in a chair and make sure you're sitting nice and tall
• Slowly drop your right ear to your right shoulder, and let your left arm release beside you - you should start feeling a stretch here (and don't have to move past this)
• If you want to get a deeper stretch, bring both arms behind your back and grab onto your left hand or wrist with the right
• Pull your left arm across the back and down with your right hand just enough to feel the stretch get a bit deeper
• Hold for 15 seconds, and slowly roll your head down and to the other side to repeat

Quick note: Your foot doesn't have to reach the ground to get a good twist, though you can have a block beside you for your foot to reach to and rest on.

Shoulder Flossing

• Grab a yoga strap (or belt, or towel) and stand nice and tall, making sure your ribcage is tucked in ever so slightly - we want to use our shoulders not our spine
• With the strap between your hands, walk your hands out wider than shoulder width (if you haven't done this before, go as wide as you can, and adjust later), and make sure the strap is equally distanced from your midline
• Take a nice deep inhale bringing both arms up over head, and on the exhale, slowly bring your strap behind you. It may get 'stuck', which in that case stop at that range, or walk your hands out further
• Once your arms stop wherever they stop, take an inhale to bring them back up by your ears and exhale to bring the strap infront of you
• Make sure you go SLOW for this as this can feel intense if your shoulders are tight, or you haven't done much movement before this
• Go for 6-10x, focus on your breathing and again, go slow while keeping your ribcage still

Quick note: If even with a long strap or belt it still feels tough - you can opt out of the strap, you just need to be more mindful about bringing your arms up over head and back while squeezing your shoulder blades together as much as you can.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

• From a kneeling position, step one foot forward so your knee is at a 90 degree from your hip and ankle
• Keeping your hands to your hips, curl your tailbone in towards your belly button
• If you want to go a bit deeper, add a small side bend towards the side of the front leg
• Hold for 30 seconds before slowly returning back to switch sides

Variation tip: You can do this seated, just scooch forward on the chair and turn to the side so your front leg hip is on the seat, with your back leg hanging off the chair

Remember, not only does any movement count, but your best posture is your next posture - so keep moving, and stay warm out there!

Check out The Garden to keep stretching