In the grand universe of yoga stretches, there are always parts of the body going,”Pick me! Pick me!”…and then there are those quieter parts that are never loud enough to get enough attention.

The wrists come to mind.

Well, maybe if you type or play the piano a lot, they shout “Pick me,” but the wrest of us need reminders for our wrists.

Sure, we’ve got downward dog and handstands and side arm balancing, but those merely utilize the wrists; they don’t stretch them. And yes, there are other ways to release the wrists, but they don’t fall in the category of “poses you can do at work when bored,” which, let’s face it, describes 98% of you reading this.

So here we go, in five easy steps:

 

 

 

 

1. Sit and hold out your arms. Actually, you can stand, you can kneel or you can sit—it doesn’t matter.

 

 

 

 

 

2. Cross your right wrist on top of your left wrist and turn your palms in toward one another. Thumbs face down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Interlace your fingers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Bend your elbows, bringing your hands down and in toward your belly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Roll your hands further in and raise them now (see illustration) to wherever your wrists and forearms can comfortably go. Hold this comfortably for five slow breaths, and then repeat on the other side, with the left wrist on top.

 

 

 

Benefits: It stretches your wrists. And your forearms.

Avoid if: Your wrists feel tender enough as it is with this stretch. If they are that compromised, you should seek out a physical therapist’s opinion as soon as you can.

Final thoughts: If you see your coworkers stretching out their wrists this way, it means they, too, were wretched and bored. So go over to their cubicle and trade your most embarrassing yoga stories with them.

 

 

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Ed: Bryonie Wise