Guest Author - Anne Asher

A quick way to bust stress out of your body after long hours staring at the computer screen can be accomplished with an exercise at your desk called squeezes. Squeezes can be done with the whole body or specific body parts, to provide stress relief when doing large movements is not practical.

Remember, that any exercise you do will be enhanced if you pay attention to your breathing. Generally, but not always, the hard work will be best facilitated when done on an exhale. Inhales tend to help you come back to start position or to come back to form.

When performing squeezes, its not important to squeeze as much as you can. What will bust the stress out of your body will be your doing the actions more than you have done before. For most people, that will not equate to a maximal effort. We just want to see improvement, not an Olympic Gold Metal!

If you have a medical condition, or an injury, check with your doctor to be sure this is a safe exercise for you. Should your doctor allow this exercise, perform it with less intensity than you would if your medical condition or injury were not present. Also consider skipping the body part with which you have a problem.

Whole Body Squeezes
Inhale. As you exhale scrunch up into yourself. The movement is a condensing of body parts into the center. Inhale again, and return to normal.

Body Part Squeezes
Now we will repeat the sequence, but focus on one part at a time.

Face
Inhale. Exhale and squeeze your eyes, mouth and other facial parts. Inhale, returning to normal.

Neck and shoulders
On the exhale, bring your shoulders in toward the center of your body, and also raise them in the direction of your head. Scrunch them up! Inhale to come back to form.

Trunk
Inhale, then exhale and bring your chest and pelvis toward each other by using your abdominals. Let this movement travel to its destination on the flow of your exhale. Inhale come back to form.

Legs
Position yourself by wrapping your arms around one shin. Inhale, exhale and bring your leg in closer to your body. Although you are pulling the leg in with your arms, be aware that the hip and knee joints have natural foldability. Allow the space in those joints to deepen. This will bring your leg even closer to your body. Repeat with the other leg.

Feet
Inhale, then exhale and curl your toes under and contract the muscles on the bottom of your feet. Inhale again and relax your feet back to normal.