Mindful Multitasking
Chang Park | SEP 16, 2026
This past week, I was tasked with teaching yoga in two rather different settings...
The first: at the BSLM Lifestyle Medicine conference in Coventry, in a big university sports hall.
The second: a residential retreat for GPs in Windsor, outside on the lawn.
My brief for each class was something like this:
"Deliver a session between 30 - 45 minutes long. Assume no one has done yoga before. Assume no one will have mats. Assume people may come in jeans and be wearing shoes. Absolutely assume there will be no props. Assume folks may be reluctant to get down on the floor, especially if we are outside."
I'm rather spoilt by my regular students. They know me. When I teach in my own space, I have more time, with oodles of props at my disposal. I often love to luxuriate on the floor for quite some time. Here, I could rely on none of that. So I was thinking: what could we really achieve in a short amount of time, and mainly standing up at that?
As I sketched out a standing sequence with this brief in mind, something really struck me. Yes, yoga is highly adaptable - I knew that already.
But more than this - we can get so much done in such a short period of time.
Here's roughly what we did, with my annotations alongside of just a little of what is happening in each movement/posture...
Standing Sequence
| POSE | What is happening |
|---|---|
| Mountain pose + body scan | Centreing • focused attention • presence |
| Hands to belly + chest | Breath awareness • Diaphragmatic patterning |
| Neck stretches + circles | Neck mobility • tension release |
| Shoulder rolls + Gomukhasana arms | Shoulder mobility • internal & external rotation arms |
| Side stretch + neck release | Lateral extension • neck mobility • active legs |
| T-shape arms + standing Cat/Cow | Shoulder stability • chest open • spinal flex & extend • arm rotation |
| Eagle arms | Upper-back stretch • shoulder-blade protraction • softening the neck |
| Arms overhead + tiptoes | Calf & ankle strength • balance • spinal length • breath-led |
| Squats | Leg & core strength • hip & knee flexion • stamina |
| Standing twists | Thoracic mobility • breath-led rotation |
| Single-leg hip circles + rotations | Hip mobility • balance • coordination • patience |
| Runner’s stretch + half Dancer | Hamstring activation • hip extension • quads • balance |
| Standing Sun Salutations x 2-4 | Whole-body movement • strength • mobility • breath & movement coordination • pace & fluidity |
| Mountain pose + body scan | Grounding • breath • whole-body awareness • noticing what’s changed |
Look at what's covered: neck, shoulders, spine, hips, legs, feet. Mobility, strength, balance, coordination. Attention, breath, pausing, moving fast, moving slow. And that's not even a comprehensive summary.
Without a mat. Or a prop. Or having to touch the floor.
People come up to me at the end of a class and say - often with genuine surprise - "Wow, I just feel so great!"
It's no surprise to me, of course. But laying a sequence out on paper, seeing just how much is possible in so little time, even I was struck by it.
A short session of yoga is quite the multitasker.
Except it doesn't feel like multitasking. There's no frantic switching between seventeen browser tabs. And no ticking things off a list.
I used to take pride in being a great multitasker. Then I slowly fell out of love with it. It always promised productivity but ended up feeling frenetic, unsatisfying and rushed.
Yoga lets me multitask in a way that feels spacious.
And a little yoga really does go a long long way.
Let's practice.
Chang Park | SEP 16, 2026
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