Fitness - Seated Back Stretch for Long Trips
Long van, bus and airplane trips are hard on the back because of the lack of activity and reduced bloodflow. Also, a sitting position puts structural stress on the vertebrae of the lower back.
Here's a stretch you can use to relieve stress and fatigue when seated for long trips. Your students can also use it during brief fitness breaks in class.
According to yoga masters, this stretch releases locked vertebrae, massages internal organs and releases muscle tension.
Seated Back Stretch--How to Perform
Sit at the edge of your seat and cross your left leg over your bent right leg. Inhale, straighten your back, then place your right hand over your left knee and place your left arm on the left arm rest (if there is one).
Exhale while you twist your upper body to the left. With your chin level and your buttocks flat on the seat, look over your left shoulder. Hold for the count of five thousand, then perform in the other direction.
Reference: Well-Travelled: "Twisting the strain away." CAA Magazine, Spring 2006.[With CAA Membership, c/o Redwood Custom Communications, 31 Front St., Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B3, 416-360-7339 www.redwoodcc.com
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