Phase 1 · Learn the Two Exercises

Part of the 4 Week Yoga Program for Focus and Attention

3 Minute Yoga Sequence for a Screen Break

Three minutes between two blocks of work. Standing, quick, and it does not need a mat.

This is the one to use during the day rather than after it. Three minutes, standing next to a desk, no mat and no changing clothes. The theory behind breaking up screen work is that directed attention is a finite resource that recovers when you stop directing it, and the practical version of that is simply getting up and doing something else with your body for three minutes. Do it between two blocks of work rather than at the end of the day.

3 min · Level 1

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When it helps

Between two blocks of screen work, once or twice a day. Three minutes, standing, next to your desk. This trains attention and gives you a way to break up screen time. It does not reduce how much you use your devices, and it is not a treatment for ADHD.

Recovery

A genuine break from directed attention, which is different from checking your phone and calling it a break.

Physical effect

Gets you out of a chair and moves the spine and legs. That is most of what a screen break needs to do.

Realism

Three minutes is short enough to survive a working day, which is the only test that matters for this one.

Three minutes, at your desk

Sit, stand, fold, work, stand. No mat and no getting changed.

Sukhasana

30 sec

Easy Pose

Sit back in your chair, feet flat, eyes closed or soft. Count five out breaths.

Five breaths is enough to mark that this is a break rather than a continuation.

Learn more about Sukhasana

Tadasana

30 sec

Mountain Pose

Stand up. Feet hip width, eyes on one point across the room rather than on a screen.

Looking at something more than an arm’s length away is half of the point of getting up.

Learn more about Tadasana

Uttanasana

30 sec

Standing Forward Bend

Fold forward with soft knees, let the head hang. Come up slowly.

The spine goes in the opposite direction to the one a chair has been holding it in.

Learn more about Uttanasana

Utkatasana

30 sec

Chair Pose

Chair Pose. Sit back until the thighs are actually working.

Half a minute of real effort changes the next hour more than another coffee does.

Learn more about Utkatasana

Tadasana

1 min

Mountain Pose

Stand still. Eyes on the far point again. Breathe out longer than you breathe in, six times, and then go back to work.

Ending standing rather than lying down is deliberate. This is a break, not a wind down.

Learn more about Tadasana

Phase 1 · Weeks 1 to 2

This practice is part of a program

It belongs to Learn the Two Exercises, the first phase of the 4 Week Yoga Program for Focus and Attention. The program says how often to practise it, what comes before and after, and when to move on.

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Integration

Once or twice a day, every day, throughout the four weeks and afterwards. This is the piece most likely to still be happening in six months.

The teacher behind this sequence

Gründer & Autor

Manish Rana

Gründer von Asanaverse.de. Manish schreibt über Yoga, Ayurveda und Meditation und verdankt seine tiefe Verbindung zum Yoga seinen indischen Wurzeln. Mit über 1000 Stunden Yoga Alliance Teacher Training gibt er sein Wissen an die Community weiter.

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Go deeper into the poses

Every asana in this practice has a page of its own. You will find alignment cues, what the shape actually works on, and the energetics behind it.

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