Hello and welcome.
My name is Leah Sugarman and this is shoulder relief.
Our shoulders bear a lot of the stress that we carry in our everyday lives.
We tend to hold a lot of tension in the shoulders and so a lot of us often need to find relief here.
So this practice is specifically designed to soften and unwind your shoulders.
The only prop that will be necessary today is a bolster,
But no worries if you don't have a yoga bolster.
You can instead use a rolled up blanket,
You can use a rolled up towel,
You can use a firm couch cushion.
So just grab anything that you have.
You can also stack some pillows.
Just grab whatever you have that kind of resembles a similar shape to a yoga bolster and start by coming into a comfortable seat.
So you might want to choose to sit onto whatever props you have so that you can elevate your whole spine,
Elevate your hips,
And this will allow your knees to relax away down toward the floor so that your hips are higher than your knees.
And then you'll be able to just gently tilt your pelvis forward as if you're spilling out the contents of your pelvic bowl.
And this can let you grow tall through your back body.
So start by softening your shoulders.
Really allow them to melt down away from your ears and you're welcome to use your hands and manually adjust yourself to do that.
And if you want to you can just gently give yourself a nice shoulder massage.
Just so you can notice where you hold the most tension.
And then once you have surveyed the area,
You can soften your shoulders,
Relax your arms into any position of comfort,
And close your eyes.
Tune in with your breath.
Notice it flow freely through your body.
Draw air both in and out through your nose.
And really work to lengthen your inhales and lengthen your exhales.
Imagine that you could send your breath directly to your shoulders,
Directly to those places that you just found filled with tension.
And just visualize sending your breath to those places.
Imagine that you could consciously tell that musculature to let go and soften.
Now keep this imagery with you.
Keep imagining that your breath could fill the space in your shoulders.
And gently flutter open your eyes and reach your right arm out in line with your shoulder.
And then allow your wrist to just fall limp.
Let your hand become heavy.
Inhale,
Grow tall through your spine,
Reach the crown of your head to the sky.
And exhale gently release your left ear towards your left shoulder.
Now soften the muscles of your neck all the way down through your shoulder and to your upper arm.
Relax your jaw.
And then you can play around with an experiment with the height of your right arm.
So maybe it feels nice to gently lower the arm.
Maybe it feels better to lift the arm.
So you can play around with this.
Find the position that feels like the best release for your own body.
And when you find that place,
Just soften and relax into it.
Really soften your jaw,
Your neck,
And your shoulder.
Let your arm become heavy.
If you'd like to,
You can close your eyes.
Come back to that visualization where you're breathing into your shoulders.
And allowing this movement of breath to give you permission to let go of tension.
Take a deep inhale.
And exhale,
Softly relax the weight of your right arm down.
Let it rest toward the floor into your lap.
But keep your head tilted to the left just a moment more.
Observe any new sensations that might have arisen in your right shoulder.
And then draw your left hand to your left cheek.
And use the strength of your arm to draw your head back up to neutral.
Reach your left arm out in line with your shoulder.
Relax the weight of your hand.
Let your wrist fall limp.
Stretch the crown of your head up toward the sky.
And then keep this length as you exhale,
Release your right ear toward your right shoulder.
Now again,
Soften the muscles in your jaw,
Your neck,
And all the way down your shoulder and the top of your arm.
And you can either stay here or experiment with lifting or lowering your left arm to find the place that offers the best relief for your body.
When you find that place,
Maybe close your eyes.
Soften into the surrender.
Let your arm become heavy.
Allow your head to become heavy.
And give yourself permission to release any unnecessary tension that you're holding on to.
Come back to that visualization as if you're breathing into your shoulders.
And let that fresh breath provide fresh energy and fresh release.
Take a deep inhale.
And exhale,
Relax the weight of your left arm down to the floor or your lap.
Keep your head tilted toward the right for just a moment.
And just observe any new sensations in your left shoulder.
Cradle your right cheek with your right hand.
And then use the strength of your arm to gently draw your head back up to neutral.
Can release any props that you might be sitting on.
Move them over toward the side of your mat.
Cross your ankles.
And roll forward onto all fours.
And then walk your knees back so you can slowly find your way onto your belly.
Plant your elbows underneath your shoulders.
Draw your forearms roughly parallel.
Roll your shoulders down your back.
Peel open your chest.
Expand your heart center forward and draw the tips of your shoulder blades toward each other.
Press into your forearms to lift up out of the crown of your head and draw your shoulders away from your ear.
From here,
Take your right hand behind your left elbow.
And draw your left hand in front of your right elbow.
And then keep this cross of the arms as you slowly start to walk your hands apart from each other as far as you comfortably can.
Release your chin either into this little pillow that your shoulders are creating,
Or you're welcome to rest your forehead onto your props.
You can place your bolster in front of you.
So just find a place where you can soften and relax here.
Let the weight of your upper body melt into the mat.
Soften your shoulders completely.
Maybe close your eyes.
And again,
Imagine that you could send your breath wherever it's needed,
Wherever you feel the most intense sensations.
Allow that movement of breath to create a gentle release,
Offering you relief.
On your next breath,
Lift the weight of your head and chest.
And slowly and carefully draw your elbows back to align underneath your shoulder.
Draw your forearms parallel.
Roll your shoulders down your back.
Expand and open your chest forward.
Draw the tips of your shoulder blades together.
And then this time,
Take your left hand behind your right elbow.
Take your right hand in front of your left elbow.
So switch the cross of your arms.
And again,
Walk your hands apart from each other as far as you comfortably can.
Release your chin either into your shoulders or rest your forehead onto a prop in front of you.
And completely melt into the release.
Visualize your breath moving to your shoulders.
Let your upper body unwind and release.
On your next breath,
Slowly lift the weight of your upper body.
Slide your elbows back to align underneath your shoulder.
Roll your shoulders back.
Open your chest.
Press down against the floor.
Lengthen the back of your neck.
From here,
Slowly release your whole belly down to the floor.
Release your chest to the floor and place your hands underneath your shoulders.
Reach your right arm out in line with your right shoulder and let your palm face down to the floor.
Root down against your left hand and roll over onto your right shoulder and your right hip.
Relax your head either to a prop or to the floor.
You have the option to stay like this.
If you'd like to,
You can bend into your left knee and place the sole of your foot behind your right knee.
If you'd like to,
You can reach your left arm to the sky,
Bend your elbow and release your left fingertips behind your heart.
If your left arm is behind you,
Slowly drop back toward the left side of your mat.
Straighten both legs if they are not already and gently and mindfully roll over onto your belly.
Softly bend into your right elbow.
Plant your palm underneath your right shoulder and reach your left arm out in line with your shoulder.
Turn your palm to face the floor.
Root down against your right hand and roll onto your left hip and your left shoulder.
Release your head to a prop or the floor.
Either choose to stay exactly as you are,
Or if you'd like to,
You can bend your right knee and release the sole of your foot behind your left knee.
If you'd like to,
You can reach your right arm to the sky,
Bend your elbow and then release your right fingertips behind your heart.
Wherever you choose to be,
Visualize sending your breath wherever you need it.
Give yourself permission to release any unnecessary tension within your shoulder.
Take a full deep breath.
And if your right arm is behind you,
Slowly release it back to the right side of your mat.
Use it as a break as you straighten both your legs and slowly roll your way onto your belly.
Gently bend your left elbow,
Plant your hand underneath your shoulder and press the floor away to rise up to all fours.
Slide your knees forward,
Cross your ankles and release your seat behind your ankles so you can just sit down on the mat.
And then grab your bolster or your pillow or your rolled up blanket or whatever you're using and place it lengthwise on the mat behind you.
So align the long edge of your prop with the long edge of your mat.
Release your pelvis toward the prop so it's directly behind you and then stretch your legs out long forward in front of you.
Slowly and carefully release your weight back over your prop so that it runs along the length of your spine.
Now here you have some options.
You can release your arms by your sides,
Turn your palms to face up and just soften the weight of your shoulders down toward the floor.
If you would prefer,
You can open your arms a little bit wider or you can take them out into a T-shape to soften the weight of your shoulders toward the floor.
If it feels good for you,
You can even reach your arms up above your head and soften the weight of your shoulders down.
So choose a position that feels really nice for your body,
Really relaxing and soothing,
And then close your eyes and really focus on melting your shoulders toward the floor.
Allow their weight to surrender toward the mat and think about allowing all tension to kind of drip down toward the floor with the weight of your shoulders.
Let any tension melt away as you soften into this shape.
So feel free to stay relaxing in this shape.
For as long as you would like,
Hopefully your shoulders feel a little bit lighter with a little less tension from this simple practice.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me.
Namaste.
