Yoga for neck, shoulders and upper back 15min

Transcript

hi everyone thanks for joining me today so today we're going to work on a neck and shoulder releasing sequence um it's quite short it'll only be about 10 minutes and you can do this either sitting on a mat or if you're in your office or you prefer to sit on a chair please feel free to grab a chair um so let's just start in our comfortable seated position resting the hands lightly on the thighs and just close down your eyes just taking the first few moments just to draw your attention inwards starting to focus on your breath taking a few slow deep breaths just slightly scanning through the body just notice if you're holding tension anywhere let's see if you can just soften into that part of the body particularly on the exhale feeling some length through your spine all the way up through the lower back middle back upper back through the neck and right up through the crown of the head and then let's Open the Eyes bring the arms down by your side and we'll just start by circling the shoulders forward and back so nice big circles and notice how your shoulders are feeling for a lot of us they can feel just a little bit crunchy we tend to hold a lot of stress in our shoulders and keep your breath going here as as well and let's change direction so going just back and forward just a few more like this try to Breathe Into Your Shoulder area and then let's bring the tips of the fingers to the shoulders bring the elbows together and then try to touch the wrist behind the neck and then Circle the elbows back so elbows and wrists elbows and wrists good and just continue here so now we're trying to make some really big circles with the elbows just getting that shoulder nice and loose just three more in this direction 3 2 and one and just change direction so we'll try to touch the wrist behind the head elbows wrists elbows and again keep lifting up through your lower back here so we want to try to avoid slumping into the lower back let's do three more three 2 and one release the arms down by your side let's take an inhale to lift the shoulders up as high as you can towards the ears so keep lifting lifting lifting inhale and then exhale release it down two more times just like that take an inhale lift lift keep lifting and exhale release and we'll do that one more time inhale and then exhale letting it all go good so if you are sitting on the mat let's just bring your right leg in front of the left yep and from here inhale to reach the arms up bring the right arm in front of the left turn the Palms to face each other and then into Rel the fingers take an inhale reach the arms up and just hold it here so you're trying to straighten your arms trying to press the upper arms alongside the side of the head and if you can't do this if it's really stressing out the shoulders or you feel like your rib cage is over uh coming out just bring the arms slightly in front of the head that's totally fine and then let's take an inhale reach the arms up and then exhale Bend those elbows pressing the elbows back and then inhale reach the arms up and then exhale drop the shoulders away from the ears as you do this inhale reach the arms up and then exhale Bend let's just hold it here for a couple of breaths you can either be looking at the screen or you can gaze towards the tip of the nose if you want a point of focus nice steady breath here and then let's take an inhale reach those arms back up try to straighten the arms and then exhale to twist to your right let the head go just a little bit further keep straightening those arms and then take another inhale reach up through the waist and then keep the twist we're going to just exhale release the hands so the back of your left hand comes to the outside of the right thigh and then just take the twist a little bit further to your right just allow the left shoulder to drop away from the left ear take another inhale lengthen up through the lower back and then exhale increase the twist now we're going to keep the twist just turn the head to look back to Center and from here drop your left ear down to the left shoulder and drop the left shoulder away from the ear as well and then you can close your eyes here just notice how that right side neck is feeling and breathe into it now we're going to just change the angle of the head slightly so turn your head to look down towards your left armpit or you could just experiment notice where you want to take the stretch just finding a spot that you need to work on today and then inhale come back up to Center and then just Release Yourself back back to the front take an inhale lengthen up through both sides of the waist and then exhale walk your hands forward coming down just to where you can relaxing the belly down towards the legs and if you if it's possible bring the forehead down to the to the mat to the floor and then take an inhale to walk the hands back up so let's bring your right hand down just give yourself a bit of space from your waist as well and then extend your left arm over either stay on the hand or come all the way down to the the forearm so if you are on a chair just hold the side of the chair you don't have to come into a very deep side Bend just hold it here keep pressing down through your left sit bone and if your neck's okay turn the head to look up towards the ceiling keep reaching out through the left fingertips and then let's turn the head to look back to Center and from here keep the body where it is but bring that left hand back down and then let the head just relax and imagine someone's pulling you up and you just let the Head trail behind as you come back up and then drop the left ear down to the left shoulder and then bring your left hand up and over just resting just behind the ear or just over the top of the ear don't pull the head down just let the weight of the hand relax over the ear and then point your right hand away turn the Palm to Face Forward we're going to do some little golf ball size circles here so we're just moving the stretch into different parts of that shoulder area and then let's change direction and then bring the hand behind the back your right hand behind the back and then from here we're just going to do a PNF stretch so we're going to press into the hand but with the head but resist so just press into the hand for three 2 one and then let it relax we're going to do that two more times pressing three 2 one and then relax one more time pressing three 2 one and then relax and then let's release that Top Hand release the head and release the arm good just give the shoulders a bit of a roll out swap the legs around if you're seated and we're going to go to the other side so you've got your left leg in front relax the arms down take an inhale reach the arms up left hand in front of the right turn the Palms to face each other interlace the fingers and let's reach those arms up alongside the ears just take a couple of breaths here trying to soften those floating ribs back in towards the spine take one more inhale lengthen up and then exhale to bend those elbows inhale reach the arms up and then exhale to bend and again inhale reach it up and exhale Bend and let's just hold it here in this bent position trying to drop the shoulder blades down hugging against the upper back but keep pressing the elbows back and then inhale to reach the arms back up and we're going to Exhale twist to the left let the head go a little bit further keep reaching those arms up keep straightening those arms one more inhale try to lengthen up and then exhale keep the Twist and let's release the hands back of the the right hand to the outside of that left thigh and just turn the head to look a little bit further over the left shoulder now keeping the twist let's just turn the head to look back to Center and then drop your right ear down to your right shoulder continue looking straight ahead noticing how your left side neck is feeling one side might be a little bit tighter than the other just be mindful of that and then let's just change the angle of the head so we're going to turn our head to look down towards the right armpit or remember that you could just experiment and just feel where you would like to rest rest your head last couple of breaths and then inhale come back up to Center and then let's release the body back to Center take an inhale lengthen up and exhale walk your hands forward just to where you can try to press down through the entire palm of the hand and inhaling to walk your hands back up bringing your left hand down and once again reaching your right arm over either staying on the hand or coming all the way down to the forearm extending out through that right arm try to lengthen out through the fingertips and press down through your right sit bone relax the shoulders away from the ears and then either stay here or you can turn your head to look up keeping the chin just very gently drawn in just so we're not getting a funny angle on the head and then turn the hch look back to Center keeping the body where it is let's bring that right arm down let the head relax down and then just let it trail behind as you come up and then drop your right ear down to your right shoulder bring your right hand over the head either onto the ear or just behind the ear and point your left hand away turn the Palm to face up and drop your right shoulder away from the right ear as well and then little golf ball size circles here and then let's change direction and then let's bring the right arm or sorry your left arm behind your back and once again we're going to go for our P NE stretch so we're going to press into the hand with the head but resist for three 2 one and then let it relax two more times pressing three 2 one and let it relax just one more time pressing three 2 one and relax and then let's release that AR a top arm release the back arm give the shoulders a few circles out take one deep breath in through the nose and and then out through the mouth so that's all we've got today so enjoy the rest of your day or evening and I'll see you next time namaste