Gentle Neck Stretch For Release And Ease

These simple stretches focus on releasing tension in the neck and shoulders through slow, mindful movement. You’ll be guided through simple stretches designed to support mobility and ease, while encouraging awareness of your breath and posture. This session is best practiced sitting in chair making it accessible for all levels and, can be done anytime you need a moment to pause and reset.

Transcript

Welcome, It's Amelia. Today's practice is for the neck. The neck and a little bit of the upper shoulders. So go ahead and take a seat. I would suggest sitting in a chair. And sit in a chair so that your feet can touch the ground or maybe put your feet on some blocks or something so the feet are relaxed. We're really going to focus just on the neck and the shoulders, The upper neck and the back of the neck, Which is where a lot of us hold tension. So once you're seated, Make yourself comfortable. And imagine that let's say that you're slumping. And all of a sudden, You feel the string and you lift yourself up. You just sit up tall, Sit up straight. And just notice how you feel. And let's start with dropping the chin down towards your chest just very slowly. And just see how that feels at the back of the neck. That connection where the neck connects to the shoulders and the upper back. Now see if you can let the head hang a little bit heavier. Now just using the weight, The gravity of the head, Allowing a gentle stretch in the upper back and the neck. And your breath work can be easy, Anything that's comfortable for you. If you would like to try something called an Ujjayi breath, You can keep the mouth closed as you inhale and mouth closed as you exhale. And just watch that you're softening your shoulders down from your ears. Hold this a couple more breaths. We're just letting the heavy, The head be heavy. We're just letting the head be heavy. Using gravity to gently release tension. And the back of the neck and the upper back. And you'll slowly open your eyes and very slowly bring the head back up, Straight back up. And then maybe feel that string lift you up again, Sitting up tall on your spine. And let's rotate the head to your right. And then slowly like you're looking over your shoulder. And just notice how you feel. And as soon as you feel a little bit of tightness, So you'll feel it in the other side of the neck. If you want, You can take your hand and gently massage where it feels a little bit tight. Maybe with the fingertips gently pressing in, Pressing into those muscle fibers that might feel tight. They might feel like rope. They might feel like steel. Sometimes these can be really tight. So just imagining that just gently, You don't have to turn the head very far. Just feeling into the neck and just kind of grab some meat. So with the hand, Just kind of hold on, Hold on here. And just gently rotating and just hold. And now just let the arm just rest and hang. And imagine that the palm of your hand, It's warm, Like you have one of those, Those warmers, Like you take up skiing, That the palm of your hand is warm and healing. Just letting that arm be heavy, Just relaxing. You can even use the other hand if you want a little bit of support. It'll give a little bit more weight on that hand that's holding the opposite shoulder. We'll hold here a couple more breaths. Maybe slowing down the breath, Softening. Open the eyes softly and then slowly relax the arms down as you slowly bring the head back to the center. Just go ahead and feel that string lift up the spine, The crown of the head. Just see how that feels, Just showing the shoulders. Maybe you notice what does one shoulder feel like compared to the other shoulder, Which we haven't really gotten into yet. And just notice. Sitting up nice and tall on the spine, Breathing in and slowly rotating the head to the other side. You just pause as soon as you notice any tightness in that opposite shoulder. And maybe you're taking the tips of the fingers again, Just gently, Just checking in, Just gently pressing, Gently massaging, Maybe gently grabbing with the palm, With the fist and give yourself this self massage. Maybe as you're rotating the head, Maybe your eyes are landing on something or maybe your eyes are closed. And once you settle in, Like holding on to that shoulder, Like just grabbing with that fist, Now letting that arm just relax, Letting it be heavy. So it's like the palm is just hanging on the shoulder. And if you did this on the other side, If you would like to bring the other hand in front of the other shoulder, It's just kind of like you're giving yourself a hug. It also gives a little bit more weight, Gives a little bit more self traction. It also lets the arms just relax. And imagine that the palm that's touching the shoulder, Imagine that it has that warmth, Like those hand warmers that is gently melting tension in the shoulder. And as you're rotating, Also creating a little bit of a stretch on the side of the neck. And slow, Steady breaths. And take two more breaths here. And one more breath. And slowly, As you bring the head to center, You'll slowly slide those arms down very slowly. Letting the arms relax down and then softly flutter the eyes open. And maybe feeling that string lifting up again. And shrug the shoulders, Just see how it feels to start shrugging back slightly. You might feel and hear a little snap, Crackle, Pop, And maybe the other direction. Just see if that feels good. You might feel a little stretch in the upper back. I don't know if you can hear my clicking. You might hear clicking like I'm hearing. And just kind of just wiggle it out, Just shake it out, Just see how you feel. And we'll do one more set of semi circles. So we'll bring the chin down, We'll just swing the head side to side, And you will go to your position to the right and left until the neck says, That's it. That's as far as I'm going to go. So be very mindful when you're moving, Especially when we're paying attention to the neck, Mindfully moving the neck. So we'll start with the chin down first. We're going to take semi circles. So let's just take a couple breaths here and let the head be heavy. Let gravity do its thing again. And with your inhale, Slowly rotate semi circles so the right ear is rolling towards the right shoulder. We're feeling the left side of the neck. Breathing into the left side of the neck and the upper shoulder. With your exhale, You'll slowly come back down to center slowly so you can feel in the neck and the shoulder. Take a pause, Laying the head, Just hang. Take a few more breaths. With your next inhale, Slowly roll the head over to the left slowly so that you feel that the left shoulder or left ear is reaching towards the left shoulder. I don't know if you heard that cracking in my neck when I went to the left. I had like three. There were slow pops and it's like I had a chiropractic adjustment. It actually felt really good. And part of that is because I allowed my head to be really heavy. And I'm allowing the body and the muscles and the fascia, This thin layer that surrounds the muscles. As I'm slowing down the breath and calming the mind, The body is also responding by opening up and releasing and letting go. I'm just allowing the head, The neck, The body to land where it is. No forcing. No rushing. Just feeling into what you feel. Letting the head be heavy. Breathing in and very slowly with an exhale, Slowly swinging, Slowly swinging the head back to center. Oh my gosh, I can hear my neck again. I guess I needed this. And then stay here a little bit and we're going to go up a tiny bit faster. Inhale to the right. I'm going to swing a little bit. Exhale all the way down to the center. And inhale slowly to the left. And then exhale slowly to the center. And now do this on your own. Move as slowly as you want. Yeah, I can tell I apparently need this in my neck. And I am feeling it more on one side than the other. That is very typical. We are not totally asymmetrical. And also how we hold our body can be different, Especially when we have one side dominant, Right side or your left side. Just notice. And moving in a way, Moving in a way that's loving and nourishing and mindful. Do it one more time. And gently pendulum to the right, Softly flowing through the center and then over to the left. And then to the center. Just let the head hang. So if you need to, Just listen to my words or you can peek and see what I'm doing. Take your right hand and grab the left shoulder. Take the left hand and you're going to cross it in front of the other arm. And do your best to grab the other and just see what you can grab. It might be a bit, So it might be kind of tight. And maybe just massage and then relax the arms down, Letting the head go down. And this time just do the right arm and just see, Especially if it was tight. If it was tight to get both hands in there, It can be especially if you're tight and just massaging. And then relax that arm down and then bring the other arm over and massage. And then relax down. So this might be easier to get both arms down. So now you're going to take your right hand on the outside of the left shoulder. So like you're giving yourself a half hug. Now the left arm is going to reach all the way over and actually you might want to do it under, Under the arm. So whether it's over, Under, Probably under. That allows you to grab behind and go ahead and let the chin come down. So you're holding yourself pretty tight, Just enough so you're snug, Giving yourself the self hug. You're slowly going to inhale the head up, Looking up. And still holding on, You're going to exhale, Rotate your head to the left. And just notice how it might not feel so tight. Just like, Hmm, Just get curious. Inhale back to the center and then rotate over to the other side. And then back to the center and then slide the arms down. Just let it go. And just jiggle it out. Just shake the arms down. And maybe shake and the whole upper torso side to side. Maybe let the head like be a little bobble head. And then the last thing, We're going to add the arms. Inhale as you interlace the fingers and reach them up towards the sky, Up towards the ceiling. And then if it's comfortable for you, Look up. Just stretch and hold here a couple of breaths. And then go ahead and circle the arms down and around. If that felt good, Go ahead and do that one more time, Interlacing the fingers. And then inhale, Palms are up, Reaching up, Stretching, And then circle the arms down and around. All right, How does that feel? It was about a little bit of a 15 minute neck stretch. I don't know, It felt really good for me. So let me know if you have any questions about this. You can find me at my profile, Ask me questions there, Ask me at my group. And let me know if you liked this neck stretch, And then join me in another video. All right, Thank you for joining me. Be mindful in how you move and breathe. Namaste.