Don’t mind the stares, snickers and razzing from your coworkers. Just close your eyes and forget the e-mails shouting for your attention.

By day, Brittny McCarthy is director of federal relations at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. In the evening, she heads to Tranquil Space, where she works as a yoga instructor for the Yoga at Work program. She has tips for stressed-out staffers and lobbyists, so set the BlackBerry aside and find some tranquility.

Yoga “enhances your productivity,” McCarthy says. She would know. She formerly worked for Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and would encourage coworkers to stretch with her.

“It was a joke [to them] at first, but they felt good afterwards,” she says. “I would say, ‘It’s time to do a little stretching!’”
Here are some yoga tricks to do at your own desk:

The most important thing to do is breathe deeply and with concentration. “People stop breathing when they’re stressed out,” says McCarthy.

Sit up straight, with knees over ankles and palms resting on knees. Close your eyes, put your hand on your stomach, and inhale deeply. Exhale. Repeat three times.

To get blood moving after hunching over a computer screen all day, do “the twist.” Cross your right leg over your left leg and put your left hand on your knee and your right hand on the back of your chair. Stretch your body, then switch. McCarthy says the twist “wakens your body.”

Next, put your arms up over your head, with your feet flat on the ground. Reach your fingers to the sky, and inhale. Ease your shoulders down. Exhale as you let your hands fall. Stretch your spine by placing hands on the back of the chair and looking up to the ceiling. Inhale and exhale deeply.

McCarthy and her fellow instructors at Tranquil Space see built-up stress in what they call “Washington shoulders.” BlackBerry usage adds tension to the neck as well.

“Hill staff are holding lots of stress in their shoulders,” she says.

For these cases, McCarthy recommends a “shoulder opener.” Sit squarely in front of your computer and interlace your fingers behind the back of your chair. Stretch.

For ladies wearing high heels, McCarthy suggests the “intense toe stretch.”

“Otherwise,” she says, “feet start to look like the shape of your shoes.”

Take those shoes off and sit on the floor in a “hero’s pose,” with shins under you, resting on your heels. Stretch your toes to the floor.

“We have to counter the weird, awkward poses we find ourselves in, [and] the repetition of bad habits,” she says.

Drinking lots of water and eating fresh food also help relieve stress. If you need caffeine, McCarthy says, tea is better than coffee.

At least one presidential campaign is less stressed. According to The Washington Post, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) campaign takes a yoga break each week in Arlington.