Welcome to this yoga sequence for the neck and the shoulders.
I'm Kristen and we're going to do all of our postures today in Sukhasana or easy seated pose.
So come to sit on your yoga mat just like this.
And you can be in any seated position,
Really.
You can be in a chair,
At a couch,
Just about anywhere.
So take a moment to get comfortable.
And if you have a strap.
Please have it handy.
If you don't have a strap,
You can use a belt.
A long sleeve t-shirt,
A towel would also work.
And if you don't have any of those things,
Not to worry,
You can still follow along.
Once you're in your seated posture of choice.
We'll take a moment to arrive.
Close your eyes if you'd like to.
Ground into your sit bones.
And sit up just a little bit taller.
Relax your face.
Let your shoulders drop down.
And send your attention to the natural flow of your breath.
And just notice your body breathing.
Not to change anything.
Simply to watch.
And to feel.
And you can slowly open your eyes and we will start with a gentle assisted neck stretch.
So take your right ear over towards your right shoulder,
Take your right hand and bring it on the left side of your head.
And gently assist the stretch through the left side of your neck.
Go really slow here.
And keep your attention on your breathing.
The body cannot release tension if you're not breathing.
Try not to pull your body to the right.
Sit up tall and drop that left shoulder down.
One more deep breath here.
And release.
Switching sides,
Take the left.
Ear to the left shoulder.
The left hand comes to the right side of the head.
Drop the right shoulder down.
Send your gaze up.
And breathe into the right side of your neck.
One more deep breath here.
And release.
Will come into a side bend.
So take your right hand and place it on your mat about six inches from your right thigh.
Place your weight into your right hand as you bring your left arm up overhead.
And reach through the left fingertips.
Send your gaze to the ceiling and ground through that left sit bone.
Breathing into the left side of the body.
And if you'd like to deepen the stretch,
Take your right hand and place it an inch or two farther away from the body,
And that will give you a deeper stretch in the back.
Left sideways.
One more deep breath.
And release on your exhale.
Take your left hand to the mat about six inches from your left thigh.
Put your weight in that hand as you reach up with your right hand.
Ground through the right hip bone.
Reach through the right fingertips and gaze up.
Breathing into the right side of the body.
And adjusting the position of the left hand farther away if you'd like to.
Deepening the stretch through the right side waist.
One more.
Deep breath in.
And release the pose on the exhale.
Will come into eagle arm.
So take your arms out and take your left elbow,
Place it underneath the right elbow and bring your hands to touch.
Try not to let your elbows pull your body forward.
Sit up tall,
Ground through your sit bones once again.
And take a moment to simply feel the stretch here.
Breathe.
And on your next inhale,
Reach the elbows up.
Bring them up as far as what's comfortable for you.
Send your gaze up.
And as you exhale,
Bring the elbows down towards the body.
You can start to round your chin to your chest.
Doing that two more times at your own pace.
Moving really slowly.
Mindfully.
Continuing to breathe.
Pause any place that feels particularly good.
And the next time you come center,
Release the arms back out.
And we'll switch sides.
The right elbow goes underneath the left this time.
Bring the fingertips to touch.
Take a moment and pause here.
Make sure you're sitting up tall.
On your next inhale,
Reach the elbows up.
Go as far as what's comfortable for you.
Send your gaze up.
As you exhale,
Bring the elbows down.
And you can round your chin to your chest.
Two more times on this side at your own pace.
With your own breath.
Slow,
Gentle,
Mindful movements.
The next time you come center,
Go ahead and release.
We'll need our strap for the next exercise.
So take your hands on your strap about knee distance and then go about an inch wider on each side.
That will be our starting position.
Ground through the sit bones,
Sit up tall.
That's a theme.
Reach the arms up on your inhale.
As you exhale,
Bring your shoulders back.
Only as far as what's comfortable for you and this is where you can slide your hands farther away from each other if you need more space.
Inhaling coming back up.
You and exhaling down.
We'll do that two more times.
Inhaling up.
Exhaling back.
Pausing in any places that feel particularly good.
Moving at your own pace.
Continuing to breathe.
And the next time you come back to the starting position.
We will set the strap aside.
We'll need it again in a couple minutes,
So keep it handy.
Our next pose is a twist.
So we're going to try to keep our hip points forward as we do this.
Take your left hand,
Place it on your right knee.
And then bring your right hand behind you to the floor.
And you can press into your right knee with your left hand to assist the twist.
Send your gaze to the wall behind you.
Breathing.
Now option two,
Take your chin to your left shoulder to stretch through the right side of your neck.
And keeping your face soft.
Breathing into the sensations you feel.
One more deep breath.
And release on the exhale.
Switching sides.
Right hand goes to the left knee.
Keep those hip points forward if you can.
And left hand comes to the floor behind you,
Press into that left knee with the right hand to assist your twist.
And now slowly you can opt to bring your chin towards your right shoulder.
To stretch through the left side of your neck.
Keep dropping that left shoulder down.
Breathing here.
One more,
And deep breath.
And release on the exhale.
Our next pose is another variation on the neck stretch.
So bring your hands together.
Clasp them together and do it behind your back.
Once you have your hands here.
Take them both to your left hip.
Drop your right shoulder down.
Bring your chin to your left shoulder.
Breathe into the right side of your neck.
One more breath here.
And release on the exhale.
Keep your hands behind your back.
Bring them to your right hip this time.
Drop that left shoulder down.
And bring your chin.
To your right shoulder.
Breathing.
Feeling into the left side of your neck.
Keeping everything soft.
One more deep breath.
And release.
For our last pose,
We'll need our strap again.
So.
Go ahead and take your left shoulder down and back.
Take your left hand and start to walk it up your back until it stops naturally.
No need to force.
Take your strap in the right hand.
And just pass it to the left hand.
As you bring your right elbow up towards the ceiling and your left elbow should be pointing towards the floor.
Ground through your sit bones,
Sit up tall,
Open your chest and send your gaze up.
And you can adjust your position of your hands on the strap.
Putting more space in between them or walking them closer together.
Breathing here.
On your next exhale,
Release.
Take the strap,
Put it in the opposite hand,
Drop that right shoulder down and back,
Take the right hand down.
Start to walk it up the back until it stops naturally.
Now take your strap and pass it to your right hand.
Adjust your grip.
To suit your body.
The left elbow points up,
The right elbow points down.
Ground through your sit bones,
Sit up tall,
Send your gaze up ever so slightly.
Breathing here.
If this pose feels really different on the dominant hand side of the body,
That's totally normal.
Let's continue breathing and softening.
On your next exhale,
Release.
And we'll end the way we began.
By sitting and closing our eyes for just a moment,
Connecting to our breath.
And taking a moment just to feel.
How we feel now versus the beginning of the practice.
Slowly open your eyes.
Thank you so much for being here with me today.
If you have questions or comments,
Please drop them below.
I'd love to hear from you.
And I will see you next time.
Be well.
