Therapeutic Yoga Upper Body Practices: Pull The Thread

The upper body practices explore the pure movement of the arm bone in the shoulder socket, slowly and with attention, noticing where compensation creeps in before you've even realised it's happening. The goal isn't mobility or strength but relearning what effortless movement actually feels like from the inside.

In this practice, you'll explore horizontal arm mobility through the pull-the-string movement, lying in constructive rest with softly bent elbows at shoulder height, opening the arms out to the sides as if pulling an imaginary elastic band and bringing them back together again. The movement is more subtle than it sounds, and the curiosity is in keeping the elbow angle steady and the whole arm moving as one, noticing when the elbows start to drift downward or the shoulders creep toward the ears without you having asked them to.

Transcript

In this video we'll work with a movement that's called pull the string. So again, You bring your arms up in the air as you're lying in constructive rest. The elbows are a little bit bent. As if you're holding a really big beach ball. You can bring the thumb and the index finger together, Just for the idea. And your whole arm, Your hand, Your elbow will be at shoulder level above you. And then you're going to move your elbows and your whole arms out to the side. As if you're pulling an imaginary string that you're holding between your index finger and thumb. And then you're moving them back again. The angle at the elbow stays the same. And you're moving your arms as if they are between two glass plates. So that's the movement. So as you're making the movement now, Pay attention to what's happening. Are you breathing? Are you noticing that after moving up and down and opening and closing a few times, Your elbows are slowly dropping down moving towards your knees or your lower body. It's changing direction. So can you keep your elbows in line with the shoulders, Noticing the difference between dropping elbows? And keeping them up. And just notice if you're moving your lower arms. So that you're hinging around the elbows. Instead of moving the whole arm. The idea is that the elbow, The angle at the elbow stays the same. So notice what's happening there is that angle changing. Are you moving? Your elbow joined as well. So again here, You're also moving the shoulder blade in the back of the body. As you bring your awareness to your upper back while you make this movement. Notice that there's movement happening there. Shoulder blades are sliding over the ground, Moving towards each other. As you open the arms. And moving away from each other as you bring them back together. Maybe it's just one elbow that's dropping a bit as you make this movement. So you can check with your eyes. See what's happening. Because sometimes. . . You don't feel what's happening because that's your neutral way of doing it. And then doing it differently, Moving as if you're moving between two glass plates. Feels very different. And notice if maybe at some point you want to arch your back or grip in your belly or clench your jaw. Again just notice what else happens when you make this movement. How it feels, If there's resistance, Pain or discomfort. And can you move within a range where that doesn't happen? Or where you don't feel that, Or where it doesn't get worse. Where you don't enter into a compensatory pattern. You're just trying to move the whole arm and shoulder blade. In this opening and closing direction. And just notice how this feels around the chest. See if you can go for the movement and not for the stretch sensation. Center around the neck. Notice if you're moving your shoulders up as you're making this movement, Which is also not necessary. So the neck and the shoulders are staying on the same spot. Just a whole arm complex with the shoulder blades sliding over your upper back. Breathe. Then relax your arms. Bring them down to your side. And notice the effect of the movement. How do you feel? What can you feel? What has happened?