Shoulder Joy: A Desk Detox

Move and stretch out your shoulders with this short but powerful yoga flow. Sequenced to help you release tension, improve mobility, and build strength, this flow can be done at any time of the day - all you’ll need is a yoga mat and maybe a cushion.

Perfect if you’re looking for a break from your desk to stretch out your upper body, as well as taking a few minutes for you to reconnect with your breath. It will leave you feeling refreshed, open, and ready to take on the rest of your day!

Transcript

Hi there and welcome to this shoulder focused yoga flow which is going to help you release tension and stiffness,

Improve mobility and build some strength.

This flow can be done at any time of the day.

All you'll need is a yoga mat and maybe a cushion.

So it's perfect for if you're looking for a break from your desk to open up and stretch out as well as just taking a few minutes to press pause and reconnect with your breath.

We're going to start standing at the top of the and just take a few rolls into your shoulders.

Have a moment to check in.

How are your shoulders feeling right now?

Is there any tightness?

Maybe a little bit of clicking?

Are they feeling a little tired today?

Just take a few moments,

Forget about the emails,

The errands,

The to-do lists for today and bring your attention inwards.

What's going on in your shoulders right now?

Roll them up towards the ears,

Back and down.

Up towards the ears,

Back and down.

A couple more times.

Up towards the ears,

Roll them back and down.

Up towards the ears and then release them back down.

Lovely.

And now gently start to roll your head from side to side.

So tilting the head over towards one side,

Right ear over towards right shoulder let's say,

And then roll your chin across your chest,

Taking the left ear towards your left shoulder.

Just a few more times,

A few more rolls,

Not rushing,

Being present with this movement.

And then the next time that your head is over towards the left,

We'll hold there.

This is going to help stretch out into the right side of your neck and the top of the shoulder.

And you can deepen this stretch by holding your right arm out and away from your body slightly.

And then you could bring your left hand,

Bring it up and over so the fingertips rest on the side of your head,

Just above your right ear.

This will just add in a bit of extra weight to the stretch,

But it's just an option.

You don't have to do this if it doesn't feel right for you today.

Take a big full round of breath and then release.

And we'll take this stretch on the other side.

So start taking your right ear towards your right shoulder,

Tilting your head and pause.

And again,

You could take this stretch a little deeper by holding your left arm out slightly,

Or you could bring your right arm up and over so that your right hand just rests above your left ear to add in that extra bit of weight to the stretch.

And breathe.

And release.

Let your head come back up.

And again,

Maybe just taking a few shoulder rolls.

On the next breath in,

We're going to take the hands up overhead.

And then as we breathe out,

Release them back down by your sides.

Just a few more times,

Syncing up your movement and breath.

So inhaling to lift the arms up,

And then exhale,

Lower them back down.

And may the movement last as long as your breath in,

And your breath out.

Lovely.

One more time,

Inhaling to lift up,

And then exhale,

Let the hands come back down by the sides.

This time,

As we inhale,

Take the hands up overhead.

And as we exhale,

Start to pull forward.

Bring your chest down towards your legs,

Although you don't have to be anywhere near touching your toes.

Just keep your knees nice and soft with a gentle bend.

We don't want to lock them out.

Your arms can relax.

Maybe even take a hold of opposite elbow for a breath.

Now as you inhale,

Bring your palms towards your shins and lift up halfway.

So you're in what looks like an upside down L shape.

Exhale to fall forwards again,

And this time bend into your knees enough that your hands can come down towards the mat.

And step your feet back,

Coming towards an all fours position,

With your hands underneath your shoulders,

And your knees underneath your hips.

On your next inhale,

Let the spine dip into a cow pose.

So lifting your chin and tilting your pelvis at the same time.

Imagine you have a light in your chest,

In your heart space,

That you're trying to shine forwards.

And then on your exhale,

Rounding into your spine,

Bringing your chin in towards your chest,

And tuck the pelvis under for what's called cat pose.

Take a few more breaths here,

Flowing between your cow and your cat pose.

So inhaling to lift the chin,

Shine the chest forwards,

And then exhale round the spine,

Bring the chin in.

Inhale to lift,

Exhale to round in.

Keeping your elbows nice and soft,

And just flowing with your breath.

There's absolutely no rush.

If this is causing any discomfort for your wrists though,

You could always sit back into a kneeling position.

Have your hands on your thighs as you take these spinal movements.

If it's causing any discomfort for your knees,

You could also take cat cow standing.

These are really lovely movements for your spine,

For your shoulders,

And you can take them in many different ways,

Just adapting them to suit your body today.

Now you're more than welcome to stay in all fours if this is feeling really good for you today,

Or if you'd like to come towards downward facing dog.

We'll start to tuck the toes and press down through the hands as you lift the hips up and back.

And take a few pedals into the legs here.

So lift one heel,

Press the other one away,

And then lifting the other,

Press the other one away,

And so on.

So it feels like you're walking out in your dog.

Down dog is such a great pose for hamstrings,

But it's also really great for opening and stretching out the shoulders as well,

And it will help you to build strength in this area too.

So we'll just stay here for another couple of rounds of breath,

Spreading the fingertips nice and wide,

And then we'll start to make our way back up towards the top of the mat.

So just taking your time to step the feet up towards the hands again.

Pressing the palms to the shins,

Lift up halfway,

Lifting the chin,

Gaze forwards,

And then release back towards your forward fold.

Nice and soft into the knees as you rise up towards standing.

Take your arms out wide overhead as you come up,

And reach both hands up towards the ceiling.

Imagine you're climbing a ladder,

So reach one hand a little higher as you bend into the opposite elbow,

And then change arms.

So imagine you're drawing yourself up each rung of the ladder.

Again this is a lovely movement for releasing the shoulders and the upper back,

And you could do this sitting down too.

So if you've been sat at your desk for a long time and you start to feel a little tense in your shoulders,

This could be a nice move to do.

Lovely,

Now release the arms back down as you fold forwards again.

Hands come to the shins,

Halfway lift,

And then hands to the mat.

So two options here,

You could come back to all fours and take cat cows again just as we did,

Or you could step the feet all the way back to a plank pose this time.

Bring your knees down towards the floor and tuck your toes and bend your elbows,

Slowly bringing your chest down towards the mat.

Now keeping your elbows tucked in close towards the sides of your body,

Roll your shoulders up back and down and lift your chest forwards to cobra pose.

Pause here,

Check in.

Can you relax your shoulders anymore?

Can you open your chest anymore?

How is your breath?

Is it smooth?

Easy?

It might feel nice to turn your head and look from side to side a couple of times in this pose.

So looking over each shoulder,

How does that feel for you?

And then we'll gently start to release cobra pose.

Lift the hips up and back again to downward facing dog.

Maybe take another foot pedal,

Or maybe just holding in stillness for a moment.

And then let the knees come back down to the earth.

Bring the big toes together,

Take the knees nice and wide as you sink your hips back towards the heels for child's pose.

So hands can stretch away in child's pose,

Or maybe you bring them down so they rest by the heels.

This is a great pose for stretching out the shoulders and all the muscles around them.

So we'll just take another couple of breaths here.

Lovely.

And now start to bring your hips back over your knees like all fours,

But this time we're going to take the hands a little bit further away towards the top of the mat.

So allow your chest to sink down between your arms as you reach the hands away.

This is puppy pose.

Your forehead might come down towards the floor,

Or you might even be more comfortable lifting the gaze,

So looking forwards and let your chin rest on the mat.

This is a strong stretch for the shoulders,

So you might be feeling a lot of sensation there,

Which is good,

But be careful that you're not experiencing any pain.

If it is painful,

Ease out of the stretch or use your cushion to help prop under your forehead.

And just checking that your hips are still over your knees.

Taking another breath.

And then start to release back towards child's pose,

Or it might even be nice to take a kneeling position for a couple of rounds of breath.

Just checking in with how your shoulders feel now after puppy.

And then start to come back towards all fours,

Hands under the shoulders and knees under the hips again.

Take the right hand up towards the ceiling,

Opening the chest towards the side of the room,

And then thread the right arm underneath the left,

Reaching the fingers away,

And maybe the back of the right arm,

The side of your face,

Can come down towards the floor.

You could always grab your cushion here again if that would be more comfortable.

Let it rest for a couple of breaths.

This hand can stay on the floor next to you,

Or you could slide it up towards the top of the mat,

Keeping the palm in contact with the floor.

Thread the needle pose,

And this is going to stretch out into the back of the shoulder.

Just going to hold here for a few full rounds of breath.

And again,

There's an alternative to being on the knees in this pose if it's painful for them.

You could do it seated in a chair and hold the right arm across your chest and hook the left arm underneath it and draw the right arm in towards you to get into the back of the shoulder.

Taking another round of breath here.

And then release.

Draw the left hand back in and unthread the right arm.

We're going to stretch out the front of the right shoulder now.

So take your feet off to one side and sit back on your bottom.

Keep your knees bent and your feet to the floor,

And then take your right arm out to the side so it's in line with the shoulder,

And then turn the palm to face the back of the room.

Bend your elbow and bring your right arm behind you,

And imagine you have an itch just between your shoulder blades that you're trying to scratch with your fingers.

And then using the left hand to help you start to lie down so you're lying on your bent right arm.

Now you might just need to take a couple of wiggles or shuffles here to find the right spot for it,

And then relax over your arm and feel this stretch in the front of your shoulder.

Your knees could stay bent or the legs could slide out long.

Do what feels right to you here,

And then breathe and release into this stretch.

Lovely.

To come back out,

We'll bend back into the knees if the legs have gone out long,

And drop them over towards the left so that you can roll onto the left side enough that you can then slide your right arm out from under you.

Now just lie back for a moment.

Notice any differences between right and left side,

Between right shoulder,

Left shoulder,

Right arm,

Left arm,

The right side of the spine,

The left side of the spine.

Just being curious.

Does it feel like there's more space on one side?

Does one side feel lighter or heavier?

Longer?

Shorter?

There's no right or wrong,

We're just being curious.

And then we'll start to make our way back towards all fours to stretch out the left shoulder.

So starting with thread the needle.

When you're ready,

Take the left hand up towards the ceiling,

Opening the chest towards the side of the room,

And then thread the left arm under the right,

Reaching your fingers away,

And maybe the back of your arm and the side of your face can come down towards the floor again.

Same as before,

Right hand can stay on the mat next to your face,

Or maybe you slide it away from you,

Keeping the palm in contact with the floor.

And then settling into this stretch,

Holding for a few full rounds of breath.

And just noticing if it feels different with this side.

What does that feel like to you?

Our two sides of the body often feel poses differently,

And we can be open and curious about that without judging or finding criticism with ourselves.

Take another breath.

And then release,

Unthread the left arm,

Sitting back onto your bottom again.

This time,

Take the left arm out towards the side,

And turn the palm to face the back of the mat.

Bending your elbow,

Finding that imaginary scratch between the shoulder blades again,

And start to lie down onto your left arm.

Take any shuffles,

Release any tension in your jaw,

And breathe.

And then gently release,

And come to lie on your back again.

And just take a few moments here,

Feeling into the experience of being here now.

How do your shoulders feel?

How does the back of your body feel?

Any other sensations,

Emotions,

Feelings,

Thoughts present for you right now?

If you have the time,

I encourage you to stay here for a few more moments of stillness and quiet.

Let the practice soak in before you get back up and back on with your day.

I hope you have found this practice helpful.

Thank you so much for listening today.

Enjoy the rest of your day.