Yoga guide
Desk yoga is short yoga you can do at work, in your chair or standing beside it, without a mat or a change of clothes: slow breathing, neck and shoulder moves, seated twists and side bends, wrist stretches and a few standing poses with a hand on the desk. In small trials, sessions of 10 to 15 minutes eased work stress, and some eased neck, shoulder and back aches about as much as stretching.
It won't undo a day of sitting: in over a million people, it took 60 to 75 minutes a day of moderate activity to remove the higher risk of early death linked with long hours of sitting. So the most useful part of desk yoga is the part where you stand up and move.
This guide covers what desk yoga can and can't do, the best seated and standing poses, wrists and eyes, who should change what, and a free 10-minute routine with a 3D demo of every move.
Slow breathing, neck and shoulder moves, seated twists and side bends, wrist stretches and a few standing poses, in work clothes and without a mat. The trial programmes used sessions of 10 to 15 minutes. Chair yoga is different: a class done on or holding a chair by people who need the support.
Across 6 workplace studies, yoga lowered perceived stress compared with no programme, with some concerns about how the studies were run. In 20 office workers, 15 minutes of seated yoga at the desk lowered stress compared with normal work.
In 150 office workers with neck and shoulder pain, weekly hatha classes with practice at home did about as well as a stretching class, and in 74 council staff, 8 weeks of yoga eased back pain and stress compared with no programme. The trials are small, and we could read only the summaries of most of them.
The UK Chief Medical Officers ask adults to "break up long periods of inactivity with at least light physical activity", and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says short, frequent breaks are better than long, rare ones. Activity breaks lowered blood sugar after meals across 37 studies, and in one small trial so did 3 minutes of yoga every 30 minutes.
Desk yoga is light activity, about as demanding as mild stretching. In over a million people, what removed the higher risk of early death linked with sitting more than 8 hours a day was 60 to 75 minutes of moderate activity a day. Keep up your walking and strength work as well.
Gentle wrist moves can ease a stiff forearm, but the evidence that exercise helps carpal tunnel syndrome is very low quality, and we found no trial of yoga to prevent it. Breaks help tired eyes; there's no clear evidence that eye exercises improve your sight.
Desk yoga isn't a separate style: it's ordinary yoga breathing and poses, chosen to work in a chair or beside a desk. The trial programmes show the range: 15 minutes of chair-based poses in the office; 10-minute daily routines of breathing, neck movements and standing poses such as mountain, chair pose and warrior I; 3-minute bouts every 30 minutes through a sitting day; and weekly workplace classes of 30 to 50 minutes with practice at home.
Our chair yoga guide is for people who need a chair for support, such as many older adults, people with arthritis or multiple sclerosis (MS), and wheelchair users, and everything in it can be done sitting. Desk yoga assumes you can stand, and uses the chair and the desk to break up sitting.
Our 5-minute desk stretches are a standing stretch break, and our 3-minute desk movement break is activity only: sit-to-stands, calf raises, marching, a turn of the upper back and chin tucks. The desk yoga routine adds breathing and yoga poses, sitting first and then standing.
The NHS says "many adults spend more than 7 hours a day sitting down, at work, on transport or in their leisure time", and people over 65 spend 10 hours or more a day sitting or lying down. In the evidence behind the UK guidelines, long hours of sitting went with higher death rates, from heart disease and from all causes; these are links from long-term studies, not proof. And "you can hit your weekly activity target but still be at risk of ill health if you spend the rest of the time sitting or lying down".
In a survey of 1,185 office workers, 63% had aches they put down to work over a year: the neck or head (42%), lower back (34%), upper back (28%), wrists or hands (20%) and shoulders (16%). A survey shows how common aches are, not that sitting causes them; our sitting guide explains why posture is a weak cause.
Source 18
Light. The Compendium of Physical Activities rates hatha yoga, general yoga and mild stretching at 2.3 METs (multiples of the energy you use at rest), vinyasa yoga at 2.7 and sun salutations at 3.5. The moderate activity the UK guidelines count towards 150 minutes a week noticeably speeds up your heart and breathing: you can talk but not sing. Most desk yoga is gentler than that, but light activity still counts for something: the guidelines say even light activity is linked with a lower risk of dying from heart disease.
Across 6 workplace studies (266 people doing yoga, 221 without a programme), yoga lowered perceived stress by a moderate amount, with some concerns about how the studies were run. A review of 13 randomised workplace trials found the effects were mainly on stress, and none reported harms.
Short sessions count: in 20 office workers, 15 minutes of chair-based poses at the desk lowered stress and slowed breathing compared with normal work. In 74 staff of a British local council, 8 weekly Dru yoga classes with a home DVD lowered stress and improved wellbeing compared with no programme.
In 150 office workers with mild to moderate neck or shoulder pain, 4 weekly 30-minute hatha classes with practice at home did as well as a stretching class: both groups improved, and muscle aches were the commonest side effect. In 80 office workers, 4 weeks of yoga, a Thai exercise routine (Ruesi Dadton) or stretching eased pain about equally.
These are small trials, and we could read only the summaries (abstracts) of most of them, so treat the result as encouraging rather than settled.
In the British council trial, 8 weeks of yoga reduced back pain on a standard back pain questionnaire compared with no programme. It's a single trial, so the size of the effect is uncertain.
Source 6
In home workers, 10 minutes of yoga a day for a month eased discomfort in the eyes, neck, upper and lower back, right wrist and hips compared with their usual routine. But people were allocated almost, not fully, at random (pseudo-randomised), 36 of the 90 who started the yoga didn't finish, and the yoga group started with more neck and upper back discomfort.
In 291 computer users given an hour of yoga a day or a place on a waiting list, aches, grip and flexibility improved with yoga, but only 118 people were analysed.
A review of 9 trials found "Strong evidence" for strengthening and endurance exercise in treating office workers' neck pain, though no exercise was proven to prevent it. In 198 workers with frequent neck and shoulder pain, band exercise for 2 or 12 minutes a day, 5 days a week, cut pain by 1.4 and 1.9 points out of 10 in 10 weeks. A 2026 review of 17 studies found resistance training eased office workers' neck and shoulder discomfort, with a lot of uncertainty.
The back-strengthening poses below fit here, and our sitting guide has a 2-minute band routine.
In 96 office workers with neck pain, neck and shoulder stretches twice a day for 4 weeks cut pain by 1.4 points more than advice on desk set-up alone. Daily stretching with endurance training twice a week cut new neck pain over a year from 26.7% to 12.1% in 567 office workers at risk. A 2025 review found less pain in 5 of 6 stretching studies (658 people).
Across 37 lab studies, breaking up long spells of sitting with activity lowered the rise in blood sugar and insulin after meals, more in people with a higher body weight. In 24 adults with type 2 diabetes, 3 minutes of light walking or simple standing moves (half-squats, calf raises, buttock squeezes and knee raises) every 30 minutes lowered blood sugar and insulin over 8 hours. These are short-term blood measures, not long-term health outcomes.
In 15 healthy young adults, 3 minutes of yoga every 30 minutes through a 7.5-hour sitting day lowered blood sugar compared with sitting straight through; tai chi breaks lowered it a little, not significantly. Concentration and wellbeing didn't differ clearly between the days.
Source 10
A 2025 Cochrane review of 9 small trials (626 workers, nearly all in offices) found that extra work breaks may make little or no difference to new neck or back pain or to back discomfort, at very low certainty.
Two other strands are more hopeful: a review of office-worker trials found moderate-quality evidence that active breaks with a change of posture reduce pain and discomfort without costing productivity, and in 193 office workers at high risk, prompts to take an active break or shift position cut new neck pain over 6 months from 44% to 17%. So move often for your health, and expect less from breaks alone for aches.
In a 1998 trial of 42 people with carpal tunnel syndrome, 8 weeks of upper-body yoga twice a week improved grip and pain more than a wrist splint, though nerve tests didn't differ. In 60 computer users with arm and hand symptoms, 12 weeks of yoga with counselling eased symptoms more than counselling alone.
A Cochrane review of exercise and mobilisation for carpal tunnel syndrome (16 trials) found "limited and very low quality evidence of benefit", and the NHS says "There's a small amount of evidence to suggest hand exercises help ease the symptoms". We found no trial of yoga to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive strain.
The HSE says screen work "does not cause permanent damage to eyes", but long spells can lead to tired eyes, temporary short-sightedness and headaches, and regular breaks help. In two Indian trials, 2 weeks of candle gazing (trataka) eased self-rated eye strain in IT workers compared with a waiting list, and no more than a cold eye pack; neither was blinded. Self-rated eye discomfort also fell in the computer-user yoga trial, which lost most of its participants.
A systematic review found no clear evidence that eye exercises help eye strain, short sight or sharpness of vision.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says "There is no perfect posture or right or wrong desk set up" and that "Your best posture is your next posture". In 686 young people, young women who sat upright at 17 had more persistent neck pain at 22 than those who slumped. Desk yoga is a way to change position often, not to hold a correct one.
In 13 groups of people followed over time, more than a million in all, the higher risk of early death linked with sitting more than 8 hours a day disappeared only in the most active quarter, who did about 60 to 75 minutes of moderate activity a day. Desk yoga is light activity, so it isn't that dose. The UK guidelines still ask for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, and strength work on at least 2 days.
No trial has compared how often to do it. Trials used 3-minute bouts every 30 minutes, 10 minutes a day and 15-minute sessions. Our editorial starting point: a 2 to 3-minute yoga break every 30 to 60 minutes you sit, and our 10-minute desk yoga routine once or twice a working day. The HSE says "5 to 10 minutes every hour is better than 20 minutes every 2 hours".
The guidelines ask you to break up sitting with at least light activity, and the HSE says breaks "should allow users to get up from their workstations and move around, or at least stretch and change posture". The blood sugar trials got people standing and moving.
Desk yoga sits on top of the guidelines, not instead of them: at least 150 minutes a week of moderate activity, the kind that lets you talk but not sing, and activities that strengthen your muscles on at least 2 days.
Source 7
Use slow breathing at the desk. Fast breathing such as kapalabhati raised blood pressure and heart rate during practice in a lab study, and the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) advises newcomers to avoid "forceful breathing".
The NHS sitting exercises use "a solid, stable chair that does not have wheels". Sit towards the front of the seat with your feet flat, and stand up for anything that needs balance.
Source 41
Slow breathing: 1 to 2 minutes at the desk (our editorial starting point; the move page's dose, at least 5 minutes, suits a longer break). The seated upper-back lift: 3 to 5 repetitions, each held 3 to 5 seconds, at least twice a week, and breath reach: 5 breaths, breathing out for longer than in (the moves' pages). Do breath reach sitting, with your arms at shoulder height if your shoulders hurt.
Chin tucks: 5 slow reps, holding each for a couple of seconds (our desk movement break). The side neck stretch: hold 5 to 10 seconds, 2 to 4 times each side; the upper trap release: 2 slow holds of 30 seconds each side; shoulder rolls: 10 to 15 slow circles each way; the chair chest and shoulder stretch: hold 15 to 30 seconds, 2 to 4 times (the moves' pages). Let the weight of your head do the neck stretch, skip chin tucks if they send symptoms down an arm, and stop the chest stretch if your arms tingle.
Cat-cow, done sitting with your hands on your knees (the demo is on all fours): 8 slow waves, keeping the rounding small if you have osteoporosis. Thoracic rotation: 6 each side, moving with the breath; the seated side bend: hold 10 to 20 seconds, 2 or 3 times each side; the seated twist with a forward reach: hold each turn about 5 seconds, 5 times each side; the table slide: 10 slow repetitions (the moves' pages). Twist smoothly, on a chair that can't roll.
Wrist circles and bends: 60 seconds (our wrist and forearm routine). The wrist extensor stretch: 2 holds of 20 seconds each side (our seated chair yoga class; the move page's 3 holds of 30 seconds are for tennis elbow). The wrist flexor stretch: 30 seconds each side (our desk stretches). Seated march: 1 to 2 minutes, and the chair leg extension and sweep: 5 to 10 slow lifts and sweeps each leg (the moves' pages). Ease off any wrist stretch that brings on tingling.
Sit-to-stands: 8 to 10 slow reps, on a chair that can't roll, and calf raises: 12 to 15, a hand on the desk (our desk movement break). Chair pose: 2 holds of 5 breaths, and tree pose: 3 to 5 breaths each side, fingertips on the desk (our morning yoga routine). Standing figure four: 30 seconds each side, and the doorway chest stretch: 30 seconds (our desk stretches). Mountain pose: 5 to 10 slow breaths, 2 or 3 times; the hip hinge fold: 5 slow folds with 3 breaths at the bottom; the standing quad stretch: 20 to 30 seconds, 2 to 4 times each side; the crossed-leg side reach: 2 to 3 holds of 20 to 30 seconds each side (the moves' pages).
3D demoSit to stand from a chairBeginner · A bench or box
3D demoMountain pose (Tadasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoChair pose (Utkatasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoHip hinge foldBeginner · No equipment
3D demoStanding figure four (chair pigeon, Eka Pada Utkatasana)Intermediate · A wall
3D demoStanding quad stretchBeginner · A wall
3D demoStanding crossed-leg side reachBeginner · No equipment
3D demoTree pose (Vrksasana)Beginner · No equipment
3D demoSlow calf raiseBeginner · A wall
3D demoDoorway chest openerBeginner · A wallOne trial programme used them, but fast breathing raised blood pressure and heart rate during practice in a lab study, and NCCIH advises newcomers to avoid forceful breathing. Breathe slowly instead.
A wheeled chair can roll as you twist or reach. Use a fixed chair, or stand.
Source 41
Tingling means a nerve is being provoked, as our carpal tunnel guide says, and a gentle pull is enough. Leave out stretches with your palms pressed hard against a wall or the desk.
Dizziness, light-headedness or tingling into an arm are stop signs, as our neck circles page says. Move your neck in one direction at a time instead.
Eye pressure rose within a minute in a standing forward fold in a lab study. With glaucoma, or high blood pressure that isn't under control, fold from your hips with your hands on the desk and your head above your heart.
Source 42
Gentle wrist circles and stretches can ease a stiff forearm after typing. With carpal tunnel syndrome, the NHS suggests cutting down on things that make you bend your wrist often or grip hard, and wearing a wrist splint at night. If your fingers tingle or go numb, our carpal tunnel and wrist pain from typing guides have a plan.
Our editorial suggestion, with each desk break. It's a rest, not a treatment, and it won't change your eyesight.
If your eyes are often tired or your sight seems to change, have an eye test. In the UK, employers must arrange and pay for an eye test for screen users who ask.
Source 16
Don't round forward under load: hinge from your hips with a long back, and keep the rounding in cat-cow small. The UK osteoporosis consensus says twisting movements "should be safe if performed smoothly and comfortably".
Source 43
Skip folds that drop your head below your heart, and leave out fast breathing. Eye pressure rose quickly in head-down poses in one lab study, and fast breathing raised blood pressure during practice in another.
Follow your surgical team's precautions: use a chair with arms, and ask before crossing your legs, as in the standing figure four, or bending your hip past a right angle. Our chair yoga guide has more.
Ease off any wrist stretch that brings it on, and see a GP if your carpal tunnel symptoms are getting worse or not going away.
Source 33
Keep twists gentle and open, and use slow breathing rather than fast breathing or breath holds, as our pregnancy yoga guide says.
If standing or balance is hard, stay seated: our chair yoga guide and its 15-minute seated class are built for that.
Start with our 10-minute desk yoga routine once or twice a working day, with the 3-minute desk movement break in between (our editorial starting point). The 5-minute desk stretches are a standing stretch break, and seated chair yoga suits days you can't stand.
Ten minutes of yoga at your desk, no mat needed: slow breathing, neck, shoulder, wrist and spine moves in your chair, then standing poses with a hand on the desk.
10 minBeginner13 movesA bench or box, A wallA 3-minute standing break to repeat every 30 to 60 minutes at your desk: sit-to-stands, calf raises, marching, an upper-back turn and chin tucks.
3 minBeginner5 movesA bench or box, A wallA quick stretch break you can do beside your desk: neck, back, chest, wrists, hips and quads.
5 minBeginner7 movesA wallA 15-minute chair yoga routine done entirely sitting: slow breathing, neck, shoulder and wrist stretches, seated twists and side bends, and a calm finish.
15 minBeginner16 movesA bench or boxEight gentle neck and shoulder stretches for desk stiffness, done standing or seated in ten minutes.
10 minBeginner8 movesA wallWrist mobility and forearm strength for desk work, climbing, push-ups and handstands.
10 minBeginner7 movesA wall, A dumbbellA 12-minute reset for stressful days: 4 minutes of brisk movement, 3 minutes to loosen your neck, shoulders and back, then 5 minutes of slow breathing.
12 minBeginner10 movesA bench or box, A wallA 12-minute routine for a stiff upper back and rounded shoulders: chin tucks, wall angels, Y-T-W raises and open books.
12 minBeginner8 movesA foam roller, A wallThese are the warning signs from our sitting guide. A&E means accident and emergency. In the US, call 911 for 999, and use your doctor's urgent line or urgent care for NHS 111.
Get emergency help for any of these:
Ask for an urgent GP appointment or contact NHS 111 for any of these:
Book an appointment for any of these; in many areas you can contact NHS physiotherapy without seeing a GP first:
If screen work makes your eyes tired or gives you headaches, or makes you notice a change in your eyesight, have an eye test. UK employers must arrange and pay for one for screen users who ask.
Source 16
Our wrist pain from typing guide lists the arm and hand symptoms that need same-day or emergency care.
Dizzy, faint, unusually breathless, or sharp or increasing pain. Sit until it passes, and see a GP if you keep getting dizzy or faint when you stand up. Dizziness, light-headedness or tingling into an arm during neck moves are stop signs, not sensations to push through.
Desk yoga is light activity, rated at 2.3 METs like mild stretching. What removed the higher risk of early death linked with sitting more than 8 hours a day was about 60 to 75 minutes a day of moderate activity, in over a million people. Desk yoga breaks up sitting, which the guidelines ask for; walking and strength work do the rest.
Physiotherapists say "There is no perfect posture or right or wrong desk set up", and young women who sat upright at 17 had more persistent neck pain at 22 than those who slumped.
We found no trial of yoga or stretching to prevent it. One small 1998 trial found yoga eased symptoms in people who already had it, and a Cochrane review calls the evidence for exercise "limited and very low quality". Stop any wrist stretch that brings on tingling.
A systematic review found no clear evidence that eye exercises improve sharpness of vision, short sight or eye strain. Candle gazing eased self-rated eye strain in small, unblinded trials, no more than a cold eye pack. Screen work doesn't damage your eyes for good: take breaks, and ask your employer for an eye test.
Breaks are worth taking, but a 2025 Cochrane review found the effect of extra work breaks on neck and back pain very uncertain. Strength training has the best evidence for desk neck and shoulder pain.
In trials of office workers, what cut new pain was moving regularly: prompts to take active breaks cut new low back pain over 6 months in one trial, and stretching with endurance training cut new neck pain over a year in another.
Short yoga you do at your desk, sitting or standing, without a mat or a change of clothes: slow breathing, neck and shoulder moves, seated twists and side bends, wrist stretches and a few standing poses with a hand on the desk. The trial programmes used sessions of 10 to 15 minutes. It differs from chair yoga, a class for people who need a chair for support.
For work stress, modestly: across 6 workplace studies, yoga lowered perceived stress compared with no programme, and 15 minutes of seated yoga at the desk lowered stress in office workers. For aches, small trials found it helped about as much as stretching. The trials are small and mostly unblinded, so the results are encouraging rather than proven.
No trial has compared frequencies. Our suggestion is a 2 to 3-minute break every 30 to 60 minutes you sit, and a 10-minute routine once or twice a day. The HSE says 5 to 10 minutes every hour is better than 20 minutes every 2 hours, and in one small trial, 3 minutes of yoga every 30 minutes lowered blood sugar over a sitting day.
It may. In 150 office workers with neck and shoulder pain, weekly hatha classes with practice at home did as well as a stretching class, and in 80 office workers, yoga, a Thai exercise routine and stretching eased pain about equally. Strength training has the strongest evidence: band exercise for 2 minutes a day eased neck and shoulder pain in 10 weeks.
No. It's light activity, about as demanding as mild stretching, and adults should also aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week and strength work on at least 2 days. In over a million people, it took about 60 to 75 minutes a day of moderate activity to remove the higher risk of early death linked with sitting more than 8 hours a day.
Yes, but for twists, side bends and standing up, use a chair that can't roll: the NHS sitting exercises ask for a solid, stable chair without wheels. Sit towards the front edge with your feet flat. If you need a chair for support all the time, our chair yoga guide is the better fit.
We found no trial showing it. One small 1998 trial found yoga eased carpal tunnel symptoms and grip in people who already had it, and the NHS says there's a small amount of evidence that hand exercises ease symptoms. Stop any wrist stretch that brings on tingling or numbness, and see a GP if your symptoms are getting worse or not going away.
Breaks help tired eyes, and screen work doesn't damage them for good. Candle gazing eased self-rated eye strain in small trials, no more than a cold eye pack, and there's no clear evidence that eye exercises improve eyesight. If your eyes are often tired, have an eye test: UK employers must arrange and pay for one for screen users who ask.
There isn't one. The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy says there is no perfect posture or right or wrong desk set-up, and that your best posture is your next posture. Change position often and get up regularly.
Usually, with changes. With glaucoma or high blood pressure that isn't under control, keep your head above your heart and use slow breathing rather than fast breathing. With osteoporosis, bend from your hips with a long back and twist smoothly.
Exercise education, not a personal prescription, and clinical review of these guides is pending. If you are pregnant, have a health condition such as glaucoma, high blood pressure or osteoporosis, or have had recent surgery, check with a doctor, midwife or physiotherapist before starting, and stop for sharp or increasing pain. Health disclaimer.
