Yoga therapists offer practices in a range of styles. The way they work is often based on the yoga lineage they follow in their own personal practice, as well as the styles in which they have received the most training. No matter the style, all yoga therapy is by definition customized to meet clients’ needs, address their individual health and wellness goals, and be accessible for where they are in a given moment. 

Yoga therapist Julie Shaw, MEd, LMT, C-IAYT, practices a type of yoga known as Viniyoga. In this video, she offers a general routine that can be done to get going in the morning or take a well-deserved break during the work day. It’s a great example of how therapeutic yoga can gently build strength and mobility in a relaxed way. Julie’s clear, detailed instructions provide a path to easily working with these simple but powerful postures, or yoga asana.

The exercises combine breath and movement to strengthen and stabilize the low back and sacrum while releasing tension in the upper back, neck, and shoulders—all common areas of challenge for desk-workers.

As Julie notes in the video comments, this particular practice is appropriate for people who have no serious physical limitations. Those with health concerns like osteoporosis may need more specific instruction, which can be provided by an IAYT-certified yoga therapist.

Yoga asana is infinitely customizable. You might find that you don’t have the strength or range of motion to do some of the exercises in the video—so feel free to play! Julie starts the practice on the floor, for example, but you could also do the first half of this practice in bed. The standing poses can be done near a wall or sturdy chair for support. And in exercises like the hands-and-knees “bird dog,” if you find that you’re not able to lift your leg, that’s OK. Simply feeling the work happening in that area and trying to do the motion is enough!

You can also enjoy a 5-minute breathing practice with Julie in this previous post.