Hand and Finger Exercises | Hand Yoga

Transcript

This video will be helpful if you use your hands a lot [music] including typing and texting, playing musical instrument or any sort of intricate work. These hand yoga exercises are great for [music] text claw carpal tunnel and ganglionic cysts or baker's cysts. I've even gotten rid of my own ganglionic cyst in [music] my wrist and worked with my own hand arthritis through techniques like this. Hey, my name is Anne Swanson. I'm a certified yoga therapist and author [music] of Science of Yoga. So, start by just opening and closing your hands several times. Focus on that open action cuz we tend to be in that closed and flexed position in our daily activities. Couple more times. Now, interlace your fingers and do the wave. Once you get the hang of it, actually I'm going to have you reverse directions. And whatever direction you're going now is probably the more difficult direction, but this is good for your brain. Try to smooth it out. [music] And don't worry, this will get better with practice. So definitely come back to this video daily for prevention or whenever you need some pain relief. All right, let's do some dynamic stretching. [music] So bring your hands out and pull each finger back [music] gently just like this. One finger at a time, moving through one hand [music] and then the other hand. Of course, you don't want to have any increased pain or tingling or numbness during any of these exercises, so just adapt as needed. Next exercise, bring your [music] palms facing toward me. And then you're going to flex your fingers at this major joint here, [music] right at the hand. And you can imagine this kind of looks like a beak of a bird. So we'll see this [music] beak of the bird. And then we're going to flex all the fingers to come into a fist. This is the body of the bird. And then we're going to swoop down and fly. So [music] beak, [snorts] body, swoop to fly. Beak body swoop to fly. Beak body fly. Let's do it two more times and then relax your hands for a moment and we will strengthen which is really key. [music] It's not only about the stretching. So bring one hand into a fist and then the other hand is going to be flat. Bring the fist into the palm of the hand. Now you get to choose where you put the pressure in order to not cause any more pain and how much of an angle you have at your wrist. So find the place that's right for you and bring your forearms to be parallel to the floor. And you're going to press the hand into the fist and the fist into the hand at whatever level is tolerable. [music] Once again, if you need to make an adjustment, loosen up your fist a little bit to relieve any tension, feel free. What you should be feeling is strengthening and activation [clears throat] around [music] your arms, your wrists, your hands, even your shoulders are working here. Keep those shoulders down. Neck is long. Press for another moment. We are strengthening on this side with the neutral wrist. And I found that to be really key for my wrist issues. And then the other side here in [music] extension is helping to prevent carpal tunnel. But once again, you got to find that angle that's right for you. May even help with your carpal tunnel [music] symptoms as long as you don't do it too much. And then come out. We'll shake the hands out. We'll do the other side. So other hand into a fist. [music] Bring it into the palm. Find the angle of the wrist that's right for you. Make sure that the forearms are parallel to the floor. And then put as much pressure as you'd like. Pressing. You get to choose how much you do. Sometimes I have to tell myself to loosen that fist a little bit cuz I don't want to have any increased [music] pain in my wrist or in my fingers. But I do want to feel that sense of strengthening. So find the amount of intensity that works for you. Couple more breaths here. Keep those shoulders relaxed. Neck long and then shake it out. And last thing is to bring your palms to your lap and touch your thumb to your first finger or toward it wherever it can reach. This is to cultivate a sense of calm. Take a moment and allow a sense of calm to wash over you. Acknowledging the calm that you have within you. [music] Touch the thumb to the second finger, that middle finger. This is to cultivate patience. Maybe there's something in your life you'd like to set the intention to be more [music] patient about. Take a moment setting that intention and feeling and acknowledging the [music] patience within you. Take another breath here [music] and then touch to your ring finger. Confidence. Take a moment. Sit a little taller and feel confident. What does confident mean to you? What are you confident about recently? And then to your little finger, intuitive acknowledging the natural intuition you have within you with just a few moments of [music] silence. Release all of your fingers, palms facing [music] up, and simply feel the resulting sensations from all that you just did for yourself. Thank you [music] so much for joining me. Now, one more hand exercise. You can wave goodbye with a radial deviation and an allner deviations side to side a few [music] times. And now that you've refreshed your typing fingers, comment below how you feel. [music]