Sitting all day? This is the break your body’s asking for

Transcript

Namaste everyone. My name is Radhika and I very warmly welcome you to Satwic Yoga, the yoga wing of Satic movement. Today we will practice a flow for our neck, shoulders and upper back. So if you sit for long hours on a desk hunched over a computer or if you have poor posture or if you're looking at your screen all day then you must be familiar with the stiffness that comes in the neck or in the shoulders. So today we will uh focus on opening up these areas with some very simple asas. You can even do this on your desk most of the asas. So you will need a strap for this class. Some of the asas we will do with a strap. If you don't have this no problem you can use a belt or even a scarf if you have one at home. So let us begin everyone. You can begin um standing up also. Uh I'm going to be on my knees but if you feel that uh you have any problem in the knees, you can do this standing up. So elongate your spine. Ensure that the stomach is flat and stretched and elongate the neck as well. Now we will not move the neck once this posture is fixed. We will extend our arms up very consciously and then release them. So the neck, the torso is fixed. Only the arms are moving. Inhale. Exhale. Release. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. As you inhale, ensure that you are stretching the armpits and exhale. Neck is fixed. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. One last time. Inhale. stretch and exhale. Very good. Now again we will keep the torso and the neck fixed and we will open the arms onto the side. With the inhale we'll open and ensure that you're feeling a stretch. So you'll open your arms wide until you feel a stretch and then we will cross the hands uh in front of the chest. Again, we will open. We will cross with the other hand up. Come on. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. You're hugging yourself. Exhale. Inhale. Keep going. Inhale. When you exhale, ensure that your shoulders, your shoulder blades are moving away from each other. So, your shoulder blades in the back should be moving away. And you'll experience a opening in your shoulders. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Last two times. Very good. Now come in vajrasan. So you'll be uh sitting on your knees and your hips will come on your heels. Now we'll use the strap. So you'll hold your strap or scarf or belt in front like this. And then we will take it back behind the shoulders like this. Inhale will be in front and exhale will be at the back. We'll do this a few times. Come on. [Music] Last two times. Neck is straight. You're not moving the neck. Very nice. Bring the hands in front and then release. Now see what I'm doing. Now we will hold the strap like this. The top arm is facing so the palm is facing away from me and I'm grabbing the strap with my left hand like this. Now we'll first take the hands towards the right but my upper hand is behind my head and then we will take it towards the left and again the upper hand will come behind the head. Come on, try. Feel the stretch in your left and right side body as well. So from the armpit going down to your side body, you will feel a stretch. And of course, you're experiencing an opening in your upper back, your middle back, and your shoulders as well. Neck, we don't want to move. You keep it bent enough during the day. Very nice. And release, my friends. Well done. Now you can sit in sukhasan also if sitting in vajarasan is difficult. Sukhasan is any simple seated posture. Now here we will take the right arm under the left arm and we will try and bring our palms together like this. Now here you'll experience an opening in your shoulders. So just try left hand under right and experience an opening. So try and move the shoulder blades away from each other. Don't keep the hands very close to you. See if the hands are against the chest, you'll not experience any opening. So move the arms away from you and then you'll experience an opening in the shoulders and just breathe. Very good. Release and change sides. So the left arm will wrap under the right. The palms will come together. If your palms are not able to come together, no problem. Just do as much as you comfortably can. Just ensure that the shoulder blades are moving away from each other. That's what we want. Breathe. One more deep inhale. And with your exhale, release. Now we'll come on to our hands and knees. The backs of the feet will be on the mat. Hands are directly under your shoulders. Now here with our inhale we will look up. We will open the chest. And with the exhale we will round the spine vertebra by vertebra and look down. Cat and cow bitalasan to bidalasan. Inhale. Exhale. Round your spine. Look down. Feel the opening in your shoulders, in your back. Push away from the mat. Keep your arms engaged. Inhale. Look up. Exhale. Round your spine. Last one. Inhale. Exhale. Very nice. Come back to center. Now we'll do udwa mukharasan. Just see what I'm doing. We will extend the right arm up and then thread it through the gap between the left knee and left hand bringing the right shoulder on the mat. And the left arm will extend. And our gaze will turn towards the sky. So come try this with me. It's a beautiful stretch. Inhale your right arm up and then thread it. Bring the right shoulder on the mat. Extend the left arm towards the top of the mat. Gaze goes towards your armpit and then to the sky and breathe. Thread the needle. Very relaxing pose. You can do it even in the evenings once you come back home after a long day of work. Very nice. To come out of the pose, bring the left arm in towards you. Take its support and then gently, very gently come up. Let's take it to the other side. Left arm opens towards the sky. This time we'll thread it through the gap between the right hand and right knee. Right arm will extend towards the top of the mat and you'll gaze towards the sky and breathe. Very good. Bring your right hand back in. Take its support and come up. Last pose. We'll take shashankasan. So just see what I'm doing. We'll bring the knees together now. And the top of the head will come on the mat. Now here it would be really nice if you can massage your neck while you are here. So this is the um location of the vagus nerve both on the left and the right side. So come to the pose first. Bring your head onto the mat the top of the head. And now once you're here, you're comfortable, you can gently massage your neck from top towards the bottom. [Music] So this nerve runs from your brain to your gut through a lot of other organs. And when we are stressed, it affects this nerve and also the functioning of all of the organs. So this gentle massage will stimulate the nerve, will help reduce stress, strain, help you feel relaxed. [Music] Breathe. [Music] Very nice. Very gently sit back on your heels. Taking child's pose, balasan. Take a couple of deep breaths here. [Music] Relax. [Music] Bring a gentle smile on your face and slowly come up. [Music] I hope your body is feeling more open now and you're also feeling more relaxed in your mind. So you can do this flow multiple times during the day whenever you feel stressed or you feel a strain in your neck and shoulders. I'll see you next time. Have a great day. Namaste.