11:24

Relieve Neck & Shoulder Pain With Movement

by DAYANA

Rated
4.4
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
2.3k

This movement meditation aligns your body and mind to reduce neck and shoulder pain while increasing your flexibility, stability, and coordination. Any practice can be enhanced with these gentle exercises and meditations of the world-renown Feldenkrais Method. Playful, yet highly studied and deeply instructive, this somatic meditation sparks surprising new connections within your body as you “rewire” your moving, thinking, and feeling habits.

Neck PainShoulder PainMovementMeditationFlexibilityStabilityCoordinationGentle ExercisesFeldenkraisSomatic MeditationLying DownBody AlignmentSpinal MobilityChest OpeningBody Mind ConnectionBody Mind Spirit ConnectionBreathing AwarenessRewiringShoulder MovementsVisualizations

Transcript

Please find a comfortable place on the floor and lie on your left side.

You can place something under your head if you need to,

But make sure that your head can still move freely on it.

It could be a towel folded or a little pad,

Blanket.

In any way your neck would like to be free to move.

Bend your knees about 90 degrees.

Place your left arm long in front of you and place the right arm on top of the left so both palms are in contact with one another.

Make sure your knees are comfortably bent,

Not too high and not too far away from 90 degrees,

Because the position of your knees will affect the length of your lower back.

If your knees are too bent you will tend to round and if your knees are long with the legs almost as if standing your lower back may contract.

Now imagine that your lying over a drawing of a big Sun.

This Sun,

Kind of like a child's drawing,

Has this big distinctive rays coming out of it.

So your hands are over one of the rays of this imaginary Sun.

Now let the right arm slide or glide above the left one.

So the left arm is passive and the right arm is gliding and sliding away from the palm of the left hand.

So you're moving the arm forward,

Letting your chest follow slowly.

Clarify the length of this Sun ray.

How far can you reach comfortably without straining?

And when you return to the initial resting position,

Can you take a breath and let the ribs sink into the floor a little more?

And a couple times you take the arm forward and let it return,

Rolling,

Sensing the ribs on the floor and seeing that maybe your legs are also moving,

Maybe your head is also moving.

Now next time you return to the neutral position,

Let the right arm come apart from the left a little bit above it as if you're looking for the next ray of this imaginary Sun in this drawing.

So you're placing the right palm above the left,

The arm is long,

And you continue reaching forward with the right arm now over this slightly different degree,

This different ray,

This different line.

Your left arm can remain long in front of you and you just let the right arm come up a little bit above the left and find this next position.

Reach forward and back,

Letting your chest roll on the floor and follow and sensing how is this for your eyes and your head?

Do you feel invited to look at the hand that is gliding forward and away from you?

Or do you feel invited to look around you down into the floor as if you were looking over your left shoulder?

In other words,

Do you arch your back or do you roll,

Turn,

Rotate your spine?

Now return to the initial place with your arms together and this time place the right hand a little bit below the left so you will find the next ray or degree or angle down in the direction of your knees.

And explore that direction,

That angle,

An invitation to fold,

To flex,

To look down maybe as you lengthen your arm down in the direction of your knees almost.

Reaching towards the knees may invite you to hold your breath if you're too tense so avoid this.

See that you can exhale as you move and you don't really need to hold your breath.

Now rest for a moment in the neutral position with both arms long in front of you,

The right arm on top of the left.

Picture in your mind's eye again this childlike drawing of a Sun and the different rays that come from the center of the Sun in all directions,

In all angles.

And now place your hand a little bit above the left,

The right hand above the left in a long line and then a little higher,

So more in the direction of your face,

At the level of your eyes and continue lengthening the right arm,

Rolling,

Turning,

Following the precise direction of this Sun ray and seeing what in your spine,

What on your ribs is becoming more and more flexible so your arm can get longer and longer.

Now take it even a little higher as if you're gonna really reach up for the space above your eye level.

One more degree,

One more angle of this imaginary Sun and then the one below and the one below until you find your palms together again and the right arm sliding over the left.

And do it now a little faster and a little smaller.

The palms together,

The right above the left and one degree above and one degree above and imagine which part of your spine can be linked to that particular place,

To that particular degree or angle as if you could evoke the movement of the spine to make the movement of the arm a little easier and rest for a moment.

Now come back with both arms,

One on top of the other and explore the area below your arm.

You can think of it as a rays of a Sun,

You can think of us a protractor or different angles or degrees in a drawing,

Semicircular,

Line,

Overline,

Little pieces of a cake,

Pie.

In any case make it very clear using any image that is easier for you to access what are the different directions for your ribs and for your spine as well as for your arm as the arm gets longer in the direction of your knee.

And make it playful,

You go one and then you return and then the next one below and return,

Take a breath,

Explore the next one below and observe that it might be more comfortable or easier for you to go down towards your knee than it is to go up towards the eyes,

Towards the top of your head.

And as you go down towards your knee the invitation is to fold and flex as you turn.

Now leave it again and take another little rest,

Sense if there's more contact on your ribs with the floor.

And now one last time,

Both arms together,

Palms together in front of you and let the right arm slide over the left in front of you,

Long as you can,

The spine turning,

Not arching as if you were looking up,

Not folding as if you were looking down towards your knees,

But just getting longer,

Just turning long,

Rolling on the floor,

Your eyes looking to the left as if you were looking over the left shoulder.

And make it simpler,

Faster,

Smaller,

Until it becomes just a little movement.

Reduce the effort,

Reduce the speed,

Let it be very quiet.

And if you like to,

You can take a rest on your back and then reverse it and do it on your right side.

Enjoy the Sun.

Meet your Teacher

DAYANAPennsylvania, USA

4.4 (117)

Recent Reviews

Rachel

October 14, 2024

Powerful! I initially tried this for tension and it worked, but it's unexpectedly improved my shoulder instability significantly. What a gift 🎁

Wendy

November 13, 2022

Thank you!

louise

July 19, 2022

Thank you 🥰🥰

Rebecca

August 25, 2021

Beautifully guided and very helpful. Thank you for sharing this with us here. I see you and the light within you. Be well. ❤ 🤲🏻❤

Teresa

February 17, 2021

Absolutely loved this mindful body practice, thank you

Susan

March 19, 2020

Thank you 🌷🌷🌷for the wonderful mowing meditation 🔆it is a pleasure to move the sun🔴take care🙏Namaste

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