Reset Your Workday, Ease Chronic Pain with SomaYoga

It’s a new year, and with it comes the opportunity to feel better in your body. If you spend your workdays at a desk, chances are you’ve felt the effects, an aching lower back, stiff neck, or tight shoulders by the end of the day. You’re not alone.

Studies show that between 23 and 38 percent of office workers experience back pain in any given year. Since the shift to working from home, that number has only gone up.

Why Desk Work Hurts

Sitting for long periods shortens your hip flexors, weakens your core and glutes, and builds tension in your neck and back. Even with a good chair and desk setup, it’s easy to fall into slouched posture or hold tension without realizing it. Over time, your body starts to adapt to these patterns, and discomfort becomes the norm.

A Different Approach to Relief

Most of us reach for a stretch, a walk, or even pain relief medications when we feel discomfort. These can help, but they often don’t address the root of the problem. SomaYoga takes a different approach.

This practice blends therapeutic yoga with somatic education. That means instead of just stretching or strengthening, you learn how to retrain your brain and nervous system to release chronic muscle tension. It’s about becoming more aware of how you move and helping your body remember its natural balance.

Here’s how SomaYoga helps:

• Releases tension stored in the body

• Improves posture through gentle awareness

• Connects breath, movement, and nervous system regulation

Try These Two Simple Movements

If your goal this year is to move with more ease, start with these small but effective practices. You can do them right at your desk.

Pelvic Rocking

• Sit near the edge of your chair with feet flat and hands on your thighs

• Inhale and gently tilt your pelvis forward, letting your low back arch slightly

• Exhale and tip your pelvis back, rounding your spine

• Repeat slowly for 6 to 8 rounds, moving with your breath

This simple movement helps release low back tension and gently reengages your core.

Neck Roll for Tension Relief

• Sit tall with your chin slightly tucked

• Slowly tilt your head to one side and pause

• Roll your head forward and over to the other side

• Keep the movement slow and easy

• Repeat a few times, breathing softly

These movements don’t take long, but they begin to reset your body’s default patterns.

A Path Toward Ease

Back pain affects more than 80 percent of people at some point. And for many, it becomes a cycle of temporary fixes. SomaYoga offers a gentle, lasting alternative that invites you to move with care and intention.

There’s research supporting somatic practices as an effective way to reduce chronic pain, improve mobility, and lower stress. Sometimes relief doesn’t require doing more. It asks us to pay attention, move slowly, and reconnect with how we feel.

Start Fresh This Year

If you’re ready to bring more ease into your days, try these practices. Or reach out for a private session and learn how SomaYoga can support you through personalized movement and awareness.

This new year is a chance to feel better. Not by pushing harder, but by tuning in. Your body is ready when you are.