Gentle Yoga To Release Neck And Shoulder Tension

Neck and shoulder tension can build gradually through everyday activities, long periods of sitting, or simply carrying the stresses of the day. This gentle yoga practice uses mindful movement, stretching, and breath to encourage greater ease and comfortable movement through the neck, shoulders, upper back, and chest. Move slowly and within a range that feels right for your body, allowing the shoulders to soften and the upper body to feel more open. No need to force or strive—simply give yourself this time to move, breathe, and let go of some of the tension you may be carrying.

Transcript

If your neck and shoulders feel tight or tension, Maybe from sitting or from stress. Then this short yoga practice will help ease that tension. And restore freedom of movement. Welcome, My name is Andrea. If you're ready to join me on the mat, Let's get started right away. I'll be your guide. You can also do this routine seated in a chair. So if you're at your desk at work, You could also use this routine to release the tension around your neck. And shoulder area. Super easy. So to start. Come into easy pose or be seated in your chair. We'll start with a nice chest opener. Take your hands. Some of this information is going to be behind the back. So I'm going to sit slightly so you can see me from behind the back as well. So we're going to take our arms, Swoop them behind you and interlace your fingers. Press down with your hands and your wrists toward the mat. And on the inhale, You're going to pick your hands and wrists up toward the sky. And allow it to roll the shoulders back. I'm Take a big inhale, Exhale to release. And as you release, Bring the arms forward, Cross your right wrist over your left wrist. Interlace your fingers and press forward. Now go ahead and allow your chin to come down toward your chest. Good, Inhale. Swoop the arms back behind the body once again. Pressing down into the mat and inhaling to lift the hands and wrists up toward the shoulders. That draws the shoulders back naturally. Take a big inhale to release the tension. Exhale as you release your arms, Bring them forward, Cross your left arm. Wrist over your right wrist. Interlace the fingers and now pull your chin in towards the chest and just allow the back to round out. Good, Inhale, Come back up to sitting. And release. Beautiful. What we're going to do now is bring your arms out towards your sides. Take your left hand and pull it across the front of your chest. Grip the elbow of your left hand with your right arm and pull it now. Past your chin. Take a nice big inhale, Sitting up nice and tall, Trying to keep the arm parallel to the floor. Exhaling now. Take the tension out of those shoulders. Take another big inhale. And a full, Complete exhale. As you exhale now, Go ahead and release. Take now the right arm, Sewing it out in front. Take the left hand, Place it on top of the elbow. Pull that elbow in towards the left shoulder. Take those nice big inhales. And then full, Complete exhale. Hold it, Take another nice big inhale. And exhale, Go ahead and release. We'll do it one more time on each side. Take your left hand up, Swing it across in front of the body, Taking the right hand. Gripping onto the or catching the left elbow and just pull that left elbow. So just allow your left hand to be nice and soft and release behind you. Taking a big inhale as you sit nice and tall. And exhale, Go ahead and release the left elbow down. Good, And now one more time with the right side. Swing your right arm in front of the face. Catch that elbow with your left hand. Oh, That'll do. Cross the body and just allow the right hand now to be nice and released and relaxed behind you. Take a big inhale. And on the exhale, Just go ahead and release it down towards the side of the body. Beautiful. Now we're going to do a tricep stretch. It's like a cow face pose, But just with the hands. I'm going to turn my back to you so you can see what's going on. You'll be able to hear me just fine. Now from this position, Inhale your right arm right on up overhead. Exhale just a Bend the elbow and let the right hand. Go behind the back. Now bring the left arm behind the back and pull the left hand up towards the right hand. If you need to have a strap, To grab hold of. You may certainly use a strap if your hands don't quite clasp together. You're going to inhale now, Nice and tall. Pull that left, Or correction, That right elbow back towards your back. Big inhale and a full complete exhale. So you're not only getting a good shoulder stretch, On the left side, I was actually able to rehabilitate my shoulder by doing this exercise and this pose it took me. A while, But I did get my mobility back. After quite a significant shoulder injury. So if you have a shoulder injury that's preventing you from doing anything, This pose and just do a modified version where you have a strap between the two hands and then hold on. And as you get. . . More and more flexibility, You will be able to join the hands together. Take a big inhale. Exhale to release nice and slowly as we come out of the breath. Cow feast. Go ahead now and inhale the left arm up overhead. And exhale, Just allow the left hand to drop down. Toward the middle of the back. Now bring the right arm behind you and now bend the elbow so that the hand comes up toward the left hand. Clasp hold of the fingers if you're able to and inhale to take a nice big stretch up. Toward the sky, Pulling that left elbow back towards your back. Really opening up the shoulders. And stretching out the triceps. Have a nice big inhale. Good work and on the exhale release nice and slowly, Nice and slowly as we come out of breath. Arms beautiful From here, Go ahead now and bring your arms out to the sides. Bring your right arm out in front of you. Take your left elbow and place it right on top of the right elbow. At right elbow. Twist your arms around. Until your palms grasp each other. Inhale as you pick up your arms to bring your forearms back. Parallel, A correction your. Upper arm parallel to the floor. Take a nice big inhale as you look just past your elbow. Your arms. And exhale it out. It's a nice stretch, Big, Deep stretch between the shoulder blades. Another nice big inhale. As you lift, Lift, Lift, Lift, Lift and hold. And exhale, Release nice and slowly. Go ahead once again, Inhale your arms out towards your side, Bring your left arm in front, Take your right elbow and place it on top of the left arm. Elbow, Wrap your arms around until your palms come together. That's eagle arms. Take a big inhale as you lift your elbows up, Bringing your. Upper arm parallel to the floor. And then pulling your elbows out so that they're at a right angle. Take another big inhale. Feeling that nice, Beautiful stretch between the shoulder blades. Really releasing any tension out of that area. Good, Take another big inhale. And exhale to release nice and slowly. Ugh. Now we're going to do a nice chest expander. You're going to take your hands, Take them behind your back and just interlace your fingers behind your back. Bring both your hands now over to the right side of the box. Inhale, Sit up nice and tall. Just allowing that left shoulder to really give way and release. Another big inhale as you sit up nice and tall. And exhale, Release the hands to the back and bring both the hands over to the left side of the body. Another big inhale as we sit up nice and tall. Exhaling it out. Any tension out of the shoulders, Just let them to release. Good. Another nice big inhale. Full, Complete exhale. Beautiful. Inhale to take the arms to behind the body. Let's do this one more time on each side. Bring both your hands over to the right side of the body as we sit up nice and tall on an inhale. And exhale. Inhale once again. And on the exhale, Go ahead and release the hands to the back and bring them over to the left side. Good, Inhaling to sit up tall. Exhaling out. Inhale to sit up nice and tall. And exhale to release to the back and release the arms, Roll the shoulders up. Got any gristly sounds in there? That's okay, Go ahead and just, That's why we do these things. Take to the front. And let's do our chest opener one more time, Interlacing the fingers behind the back. Pressing our hands and wrists down toward the mat and inhaling to pick the arms up behind us. Allowing that action of picking up the arms behind us to draw the shoulders back and open up the chest. On the inhale, On the exhale, Release your hands, Bring them forward. Cross your one wrist over the other wrist, Interlace the fingers. Bring your chin to chest and round it out. Good, Inhale to swoop the arms behind you once again. Resting the hands and wrists down toward the mat, Inhaling to let go. Lift them up and pick them up toward the sky. Exhale, Release, Crossing the left wrist over the right wrist, Rounding out the back. Bring the chin to chest, And then inhale, Come back up to center. And exhale it out. From here, We're going to do some neck work. It's going to be a series of movements we're going to make, Front and back, Side to side, And just follow along. You'll feel a lot better when we get all this tension taken out of the neck. So take a big inhale as you sit up tall. Just allow your hands and your arms to be nice and released and relaxed beside you. On the exhale, Go ahead and tip your head forward, Bring your chin to chest. Inhale, Now take your head all the way to the back. Exhale, Come all the way forward. Chin to chest. Inhale, Take the head all the way to the back. Exhale, Come all the way forward. Inhale, Bring the head back to neutral. Exhale, Take your. Ear to your right shoulder. Now allow the left shoulders to drop away so you give a nice stretch. Good. Inhale, Bring it up to center, Your head back to center. Exhale, Take your left ear over to your left. Shoulder. Inhale to come back up to center. Exhale, Right shoulder. Ear to right shoulder. And just allow that left shoulder to just drop. Creating lots of space in the hair. Side neck. Inhale, Come back to center. Exhale, Take it to the left side. That right shoulder nicely drops. You create lots of space in there. That's the way. Good. Inhale, Bring your head back up to center. And now exhale, Turn onto your head just to look over your right shoulder. So you're going to keep your shoulders square. Twisting the neck, Inhale, Come to center. And accidentally overflipped to the left side. Required to count off strength if the shoulders release. I'm gonna come back to center. Exhale take it over to the right side one more time Inhale, Come to center. Exhale, Take two. Gaze over to your left. Drop the shoulders, Come back to center. Exhale, Now tiptoe. Tip your head forward and bring your chin to chest. On your inhale, You're gonna. Just make a big circle and take your head to the back. On the inhale, On the exhale. Big circle coming all the way forward. Stop there. We're going to reverse direction. So we're not looping the head all the way around on the neck circles. You stop in the middle and reverse direction. Inhale now to take the head up toward the left, Toward the back. Or the opposite way that we did before. Exhale. Big circle, Bring the neck back down just a little bit. Starting position, Allowing the head to just hang. Stop there, We're gonna reverse direction. Inhale, Big circle, Taking the head all the way to the back. Exhale all the way forward. So just take any notice where we're pinching or grabbing. Of my new middle popper. Out of the neck go ahead and let the neck hang when you get back to starting position and then reversing direction inhale taking the neck all the way to the back I don't know, But let me do the back. Exhale, Bringing the head all the way forward in a nice big circle. That's the way. While the next. And the head to hang, And then inhale, And feel like somebody's got you pulled by like a little marionette string right from the top of your head. Pull your head back up, Tubi. Natural positions. Thank you very much for joining me. I hope this was of some help for you today. So as I say, You can do this routine sitting at your chair at work, Or you can be on your mat. You can be virtually anywhere. When you're feeling any kind of tension in your neck and shoulders, Feel free to save this. Video and return to it whenever you need to.