Releasing Tension: Shoulders

This short practice helps you release tension in your shoulders—where a lot of us carry the weight of the world. It begins with gentle, seated movement. Then you'll rest into waterfall breathing to wash away any lingering bits of stress. I hope you’ll find a pocket of time to relax into it.

Transcript

Hi,

I'm Paige,

And this is a 15-minute session combining gentle yoga and a short guided relaxation aimed at releasing tension in your shoulders,

Where a lot of us tend to carry the weight of the world.

You can do this practice in a chair,

Sitting in a cross-legged position on the floor,

Or even in your parked car between one activity and the next,

Any place that's comfortable.

So settle in,

And as you're ready,

We'll get started.

Let's begin by taking an inhale and rolling the heads of the shoulders forward and all the way up to the ears.

And then with a gentle open-mouthed sighing exhale,

Release your shoulders around,

Back,

And down.

Try that again.

When you're ready to inhale,

The heads of the shoulders roll forward and way up to the ears.

And as you're ready to exhale,

Open-mouthed sigh,

Shoulders roll around,

Back,

And down.

One more just like that.

Exhale,

Shoulders forward and up on an inhale,

Gentle sigh,

Release and relax the shoulders around,

Back,

And down.

And then just pause.

Feel your body breathing.

Release around the shoulders,

Circulating.

We'll move from here into some easy,

Gentle arm circles.

When you're ready to inhale next,

Stretch your right arm right up alongside your ear,

Fingertips just effortlessly reaching up toward the sky.

And when you're ready to exhale,

Soft bend to that right elbow as you circle that arm around,

Back,

And all the way back down.

Inhale the right arm stretches up alongside the ear.

As you're ready to exhale,

Soft bend to the elbow,

That right shoulder and right chest might gently open as that right arm circles around,

Back,

And down.

Three more like that.

As you inhale,

The right arm reaches gently up alongside the ear.

As you exhale,

Soft bend to that right elbow,

Right shoulder and chest open as the arm circles around,

Back,

And down.

Inhale let the arm float up alongside the ear.

As you exhale,

A little cactus bend to that elbow,

Arm circles around,

Back,

And down.

Last one.

Inhale,

Arm just suspends up alongside the ear.

Maybe a gentle sigh as that elbow bends,

Shoulder opens,

Chest stretches,

Arm rolls around,

Back,

And down.

As you're ready,

We'll move to the second side.

Gentle inhale stretches the left arm right up alongside the ear.

Soft bend to the left elbow as that arm circles around,

Back,

And down on the exhale.

Inhale the arm floats up alongside the ear.

Just effortlessly reaching.

Exhale,

Cactus bend to that left elbow,

Left shoulder and chest might gently open as that arm circles around,

Back,

And down.

Inhale,

Left arm floats up alongside the ear.

Exhale,

Gentle bend to the elbow,

Shoulder opens,

Chest opens as that arm circles back down,

Around.

Inhale just effortless suspension of the left arm all the way up.

Exhale,

Roll through that shoulders,

Elbow bends,

And the arm circles back and down.

Last time through.

Inhale.

Just a gentle easy stretch of the left fingertips up toward the sky.

Maybe an open mouth sigh as you exhale,

Roll that arm,

Shoulder all the way around,

Back,

And down.

Again,

Just pause.

Rest the hands on the legs.

Feel the space around the chest,

The shoulders,

The upper back.

Feel the body breathe.

From here,

We'll gently cross the arms in front of the chest.

So let's start with the right arm over the left,

Crossing way up the upper arm so that you can gently hold on to opposite shoulders with your hands.

Arms are crossed right across the chest,

Right arm on top of left,

Hands gently resting on opposite shoulders.

As you inhale,

Let the elbows drift upward as if they're going to move up towards your nose.

And as you exhale,

Let them relax right back down to where they started,

Resting on the chest.

Inhale,

Elbows float up.

Exhale,

They gently relax back down to where they started,

Widening the cadence of your breath.

Inhale,

Elbows drift upward.

Exhale,

Like a little massage in the space in between the shoulder blades as they relax back down.

Inhale,

Slow flow to the elbows upward.

Exhale,

Relaxing the weight of the elbows and the arms back down.

Once more.

Inhale,

Elbows gently drift up in space.

Exhale,

They relax back down.

Unwrap your arms.

If you have space beside you,

It might feel good just to stretch them out and start to make some gentle circles with your wrists,

Nice and slow,

Maybe widening through the fingers,

Gently stretching through the hands.

As you maybe slow that circling down even more and reverse the direction,

You might feel that spiral action moving up through the tendons of the forearms and the bones of the upper arms.

And again,

Pause.

Just relax your arms,

Rest your hands on your legs.

Feel your body breathe.

And we'll do the second side.

Cross your left arm over your right,

Crossing way up in the upper arms so that you can gently rest your hands on opposite shoulders,

Arms crossed,

Resting on your chest.

And as you inhale,

Let the elbows float upwards,

Stretching that space right in the mid-back,

Even into the back of the neck.

And as you exhale,

Let the elbows fall back to their starting point.

Inhale,

Elbows drift upward.

Exhale a gentle release of the heaviness of the elbows and the arms back down,

Resting on the chest.

Inhale,

Drift upward of the elbows.

Exhale,

Allow them to relax back down.

Inhale,

Slow flow to the elbows up in space.

Exhale,

They rest back down where they started.

Once more.

Inhale,

Elbows gently float up.

And as you exhale,

They relax back down.

Once again,

You can unwrap your arms,

Perhaps stretch them wide,

Slow,

Almost underwater quality to the circling of the wrists one direction,

Maybe even gently stretching through the fingers,

The webbing in between the fingers.

Circle them the other way a few times.

And again,

Just pause.

Rest the hands on the lap.

Feel the body breathe.

From here,

Stretch your arms behind you.

If you're sitting in a chair or in the seat of your car,

You might even hold on to the edges of the chair or the sides of the seat.

And if you're just sitting without anything behind you,

You can simply stretch your arms back.

Let the chest broaden,

Let the heads of the shoulders draw back.

You may even feel a squeeze of your shoulder blades right behind your heart.

Simply take a few full breaths right into your chest,

Arms stretching back,

Collarbones widening,

Breath circulating around the heart and the chest.

Then relax your arms by your sides again.

Slip your shoulders up towards your ears again and draw in an inhaling breath.

Give your shoulders a little squeeze and this time as you exhale,

Just let the shoulders drop with a ha sound out of your mouth.

And again,

Inhale,

Shrug the shoulders way up toward the ears,

Give them a little squeeze and let them drop with a ha sound as they release.

Do that one more time,

The shoulders shrug right up toward the ears,

Squeeze,

Release with a ha as the shoulders drop.

Now just allow the backs of your hands to rest on your legs,

Palms facing up.

Imagine setting down something that's very heavy,

All the tension and effort involved in carrying it,

Releasing.

You simply resting back,

Feeling the unburdening,

Perhaps relief.

As your shoulders attune to this sense of release,

Feel them drop away from your ears.

As your shoulders drop away from your ears,

Notice the sides of your neck feeling very long and relaxed.

As your shoulders drop away from your ears,

The sides,

Even the back of your neck feel long and relaxed.

All the shoulder blades melt down your back,

Smoothing down the back body.

As you simply rest here and breathe,

Begin to imagine your exhales like a gentle waterfall washing off the back of the neck and over the shoulders.

A gentle cascade of soothing water,

Perfect temperature,

Just the amount of pressure to feel almost like a massage.

As you inhale,

The body gently fills with breath.

As you exhale,

That soothing cleansing wash back of the neck,

Off the shoulders.

Inhaling,

Letting the body just receive breath.

The exhaling breath bringing with it the soothing cascade of water washing off the back of the neck,

Rinsing off the shoulders.

Inhale,

Feel the body naturally fill.

Exhale,

Imagine that wash,

That release back of the neck,

Shoulders like a gentle waterfall rinsing off the body.

More around just imagining the inhale fills you up and the exhale like the gentle cascade of a wash of water off the back of the neck,

Off the shoulders,

Down the back.

As you feel ready from here,

You can blink your eyes open,

Preparing for what's next for you.

The next time you notice a holding pattern of your shoulders creeping up towards your ears,

Try relaxing them around,

Back and down with a gentle sigh.

See if that makes a difference.

Thank you so much for making this time for yourself and I'll be with you again soon.

Reviews

Grounding, soothing and enlightening

Wow! After a really stressful week, I was really feeling it today physically. This really has helped! Thank you 💜

I have done a handful of these now and they always make me feel better. They've become my go to. Thank you.

ETA: rediscovered this after discussing how best to manage my tension with my physio last week. In the time it took my husband to get our son to sleep, I was able to release all of today's tension and feel so much better! If I could give 10 stars I would - thank you 🌟🌟🌟

Just did this immediately after your neck release practice (5 stars there too!) and the combination is so great! I can feel my tension dissolving with each breath in the practice and in just 30 mins I fell better and more calm and rested than I do after a full night of sleep. Thank you!💜

That was marvelous. The guided stretching really helped my body so much. I could feel different areas of my shoulders, back, and neck letting go of tension and restoring movement and ease. Thank you.

So wonderfully helpful every morning. I think it would take me at least twice as long to limber up enough to get out of bed and start my day if I didn't have Paige's recordings, such as this one, on standby ready to go when I wake up, or anytime I need to totally relax and only actual movement will do the trick. Thank you so much for these little yet profoundly useful gifts, Paige. I see you and the light within you. Be well. 🤲🏻❤🤲🏻

Thank you, it was a very pleasant stretch 🤗 May you enjoy a beautiful day ✨ Namaste 🙏🏻

Lovely guidance and sequence. Thank you Paige 🙏💕✨

I feel much better after a day on the computer. Thanks so much!

Very relaxing, the music and your voice sound peaceful.

Beautiful practice, thank you 🙏

Soothing, gentle and effective. Thank you 🙏🏼🌸

Excellent practice!🙏

So soothing and calming. Thank you, Paige!

It felt so good!

All of these releasing tension meditations are really helpful. Especially during a break at work.

That was wonderful..thank you!

Amazing. Worked wonders for me. Thank you.

A short but efficient way to release shoulder and neck tension. Well worth your time!

Lovely, gentle practice. Thank you. May you know peace.