Most yoga is designed for people who already do yoga. This is not that. This is for the desk-worker who just realised their lower back has been clenched for six hours.

The pose

Get on the floor — a rug, a yoga mat, a folded blanket.

Sit back on your heels (or close to it — knees together or apart, whichever your hips prefer). Spine long.

Place your hands flat on your thighs. Breathe in through the nose for four counts.

On the exhale: open your mouth wide, stick out your tongue, look up at the ceiling, and exhale through the mouth with a soft haaaa sound. (You will feel ridiculous. Continue.)

Three breaths in, three lion exhales out. Then sit normally for one more breath.

Why this is useful

The lion exhale activates the muscles in the throat and jaw — places where most of us hold tension we don't notice. The wide-open mouth and extended tongue release the small chronic clenching that builds through a workday of meetings and held conversations.

The forward-leaning posture decompresses the lower spine after hours of sitting. Two minutes does more than another fifteen minutes of stretching with no breath.

When to do it

Mid-afternoon, when the back starts complaining. Or right after work, before any conversation with the people you live with. Or on a Sunday morning, when the body is doing its own audit and reporting damages from the week.

It is the most embarrassing pose in this archive. It is also one of the most reliable.

Do it alone if you must. The body will not care that no one was watching.