How to do supported fish pose - release upper back tension and tightness

Transcript

hi friends my name's sophie and today we're doing a really simple pose this is called supported fish pose and this is my favorite pose and what seems like most people's favorite pose to do it's a really nice supportive comforting restorative posture you will need two blocks for this today and if you don't have two blocks go get some and save this video for later because blocks if you're practicing from home blocks are really a must it really really enhances your practice so we're going to bring the blocks into this position here start out on the middle height right so the block has three heights one two three the middle height one's going to go under your head and the other one is going to go in between your shoulder blades or right below the shoulder blades now let me show you what i mean by that because people tend to forget this and hence why i'm making this video so the block will feel you can feel where the bottom of your shoulder blades are just about and you'll put the block right below that so it's kind of like your mid back a little bit that's a more intense version if you want more of a relaxing restorative sleepy version for lack of a better word you'll put it right between the shoulder blades i don't know if i could reach up there but right up there okay in between the shoulder blades it's not going on your lower back so go ahead and set up your blocks and lay back and you can feel it out when you get there it's not a big deal if you don't don't know if it's exactly in the right place but once you lay back you're gonna want to readjust to where it feels comfortable and opening for you so um you might move it down you might move the block up if you feel like this is too intense too much then you can lower them down the one that's underneath your back you could lower it down a notch you can even lower the one under your head down a notch sometimes if people are super tight in the upper body here then they want to even have the head a little bit higher than the back um those of you who are really really open you might even be able to take the block away at some point but then it makes it not the one that's under your head but then it makes it not as restorative not as relaxing okay so we're gonna go here into whatever position feels most comfortable for you and then once you get comfortable your legs can be long another option is you can bring your feet together and your knees wide either one you can even have your knees bent feet flat close your eyes and take a deep breath in and out of your mouth [Applause] deep breath in [Laughter] exhale one more like that in and all the way out and just let your body melt over the blocks let the blocks hold you and support you soften the muscles around the neck the shoulders the jaw the cheeks the eyes soften now this is a position you can stay in for a long time 10 20 minutes if you want for right now we're going to take the arms overhead and you can either grab onto your wrists with your hands or grab onto your elbows to make a frame around your head depending on what works for your body and just really stretch your arms overhead while holding onto the elbows maybe even point the toes sometimes it feels good to do little tiny side bends here side to side inhale and exhale release your hands arms down by your sides to come out of it you're going to prop yourself up on your elbow either any elbow move the blocks out of the way and then just return to your back so you lay down on your back just take a moment to maybe feel what it feels like where the blocks were the imprints on your back and then when you're ready bring the knees into the chest and make your way up to a seat so that is supported fish and it's really good for opening up the chest for de-stressing for providing a little bit of relief i know a lot of us have tightness in our thoracic spines and so it helps open that up you can do that first thing in the morning you might feel your back crack in the morning feels pretty good you can do it middle of the day to center yourself you could do it right before bed as a really great way to set yourself up for sleep so if you enjoyed this make sure you comment on the video if you like it and maybe give it a like i'll see you next time you