There’s a mini sequence in yoga that takes under ten minutes, asks nothing of your hips or hamstrings, and yet manages to shift how you feel in your body almost immediately. It’s called the Circle of Joy — Ananda Mandalasana in Sanskrit — and if you’ve never heard of it, that’s about to change.

This is one of those practices that looks deceptively simple from the outside. A few arm movements. Some interlaced fingers. Breath. And yet done with care, it opens the chest, mobilises the shoulder girdle, lengthens the spine, and creates a genuine sense of ease in the upper body that most of us are quietly starved of.

Whether you’re a complete beginner, a yoga teacher looking for an intelligent warm-up, or someone who spends too many hours at a screen — this one’s worth knowing.