15 Minute Yoga For Neck And Shoulders

Our shoulders and neck do a lot for us. Our head is heavy! And our shoulders don't have an easier job, given all of the funny positions they're put in to type on computers and phones. It's time to relieve some tension and increase some mobility in our necks and shoulders. Today's yoga practice is a super simple, do-anywhere stretch session that will calm your body and make you take a deep sigh of relief. No special equipment necessary.

Transcript

To set up for today's yoga session,

I invite you to get a yoga mat or even a towel,

Just a comfortable place that you can sit and also move your body around.

You shouldn't need any props today,

But you can always use pillows or extra blankets or books if needed.

So we're going to start in a seated position and I invite you to cross your legs and sit that way.

If that's not feeling comfortable,

You can always sit on your shins or even sit with your legs extended out in front of you.

And let's take the hands to rest on the thighs,

The eyes,

They can gently close or you can even have a soft gaze towards the front of the room.

We'll take a nice full inhale through the nose,

Long exhale through the mouth.

Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.

Breath in through the nose,

Exhale through the mouth.

And let's breathe in and out through the nose.

And what I'd like you to feel here is a weight underneath the tailbone or the sits bones.

The hips are pretty firmly connected to the earth.

That might mean that you have to lean the body back a little bit more.

A lot of us tend to sit really upright,

Really forward and can feel a little stressful on the body.

So can you find a grounding underneath the sit bones?

And from here,

Maybe you can even envision the spine traveling up through the back body.

Can you feel one vertebrae being stacked on top of the other,

Noticing if you're maybe leaning to one side or the other or leaning forward or back?

Can you just find a stacking one vertebrae on top of the other?

You also will find as you stack the vertebrae that you're also getting taller,

A little bit longer.

Maybe you feel a gentle stretch across the back body.

And continue to follow that up through the neck and up through the crown of the head.

The crown of the head,

It's slightly back.

It's not the direct center of the head,

But rather a little bit back.

There's that little extra bump.

So feel the lift coming just a little bit towards the back of the head.

And so the back body is what's creating your length here.

And those who are told to sit up straight,

We end up puffing out the chest and drawing the shoulders way far back.

Instead,

Can we think about lifting through the back body?

So feel that lengthening up,

The ease that happens in the body.

And everything is centered.

Everything is balanced.

On the inhale,

Let's reach the hands up to sky,

Stretch up tall.

And on your exhale,

Draw the arms back down by the sides.

You want the arms to come wide and then all the way down.

Inhale,

Lift the arms up and then exhale,

Relax the arms down.

Try not to stress the shoulders.

Inhale,

Lift,

Exhale,

Lower.

One more time,

Lift.

And this time,

Take the left fingertips down to the ground,

Right hand to the left side of the head and just gently draw the head over to the right.

So you create some length through the left side of the neck.

You're pressing out through the left hand so you get long through the arm.

You want to be gentle with the hand on the head here,

Just find a little extra stretch through the side of the neck.

Awesome,

You're taking the right hand to the right side of the head,

Just gently draw the head back up the center,

Helping it find balance.

Let's reach the arms up to sky.

Inhale,

Right hand down to the ground,

Left hand to the right side of the head.

And tip the head over to the left.

Length here.

Again,

There's a reach through the right hand,

A gentleness,

A gentle heaviness in that left hand.

Find your space right here.

Inhale,

You will press into that left side of the head,

Come back to center.

This time,

Let's just drop the head forward so you feel the chin reaching towards the chest.

Notice the inclination to round the entire upper back,

And you keep tall in the upper back and just tuck the head forward,

Just feel the drop in the head.

You continue to follow the breath.

Then you can take some little rocks with the head,

A little side to side,

Real soft,

Real small.

Then you'll still the head.

Fingertips will come to the forehead to press the forehead back up to center.

So just thinking we don't have to stress out the neck,

We do enough stress for our neck as it is.

So we press the hands behind the head,

And then start to tip the head back,

Holding on to the back of the head with the hand.

So we're stretching the front of the throat,

Getting a little tip back in the head.

But it's not about going as far as you can.

It's not about crunching the back of the neck.

It's about finding a length and a lift for taking care of our body.

Again we're going to use the strength of our hands to press the head back up to center.

I swear,

Hopefully there should be a little more openness across the muscles of the neck.

So we're going to reach the hands up to sky again.

And this time twist to the right side.

So left hand to the right knee.

Right hand is going to drop behind you.

Fingertips might tent on the floor.

Again if you need a little block to place the hand on,

You can do so.

Now notice temptation here to lean back into the right hand,

To round the spine.

Instead,

Can you think about all the lift that we did right when we were sitting at the beginning of our practice and just gently press on the left hand to help create your twist.

So I think here about pressing into the right hand to get taller and then pressing into the left hand to create twist.

Your gaze is going to start to come over the right shoulder.

Again can you feel that you're not pushing the neck up or pushing the chin down but rather nice tall long neck and just simply rotating over to the right.

One breath in and one breath out.

Keep the left hand where it is.

Right hand is going to reach up and over to the left.

So you create a twist,

Side stretch hybrid.

Reach the right hand way high up to sky.

Again notice if you create any tension in the neck or in the shoulders,

Give it a little bit of space there.

But find that length,

That reach.

One last breath.

And then right hand,

The one that's in the sky is going to dip down to the left knee so your arms are crossed and then you can pull on the knees,

Round the spine,

Tuck the chin.

So you just gently pull on the legs,

Round the spine,

Tuck the chin,

Feel that stretch.

Breath in,

Breath out.

Inhale unwind the arms.

Let's clasp the hands behind the back here and then draw the arms straight so you can just draw the shoulder blades together.

We're just moving the shoulders in the opposite direction now.

Maybe the chin lifts slightly but again not trying to tip the head back so much as we think about lifting through the front body.

One more inhale and exhale.

Unwind the arms.

Let's lift them up to sky.

We've got a second side and then we're going to twist to the left.

So right hand to the left knee,

Left hand behind the hip.

Gently press into that right hand and then press into the left hand so you get taller with the left hand.

You twist with the right hand.

You're not leaning back.

You're finding length.

Go unconsciously depending on how our desks are set up,

About our car shapes,

You know the ergonomics of our life.

We can put a lot of pressure on our upper shoulders and on our necks.

So here we're just letting them find ease.

We're giving them some flexibility,

Some mobility.

Keep that right hand on the left knee.

Left hand is going to reach up and over to the right.

So reach,

Side stretch here.

Feel about the stretch coming through the left side waist.

So more so than it comes from the arm or from the shoulder.

It's about the left side waist getting a little longer.

You breath in,

Breath out.

Inhale and exhale.

Keep the right hand where it is.

Left hand is going to drop down to the right knee.

Arms are crossed,

Spine rounds.

Inhale and exhale.

Breath in and breath out.

Unwind the arms.

Clasp the hands,

Open the heart.

Reach out through the fingers and through the fist as you open and lift the chin one breath and then back to center on your exhale.

Nice.

Almost there.

We're going to come to hands and knees here,

Tabletop pose.

When we get to our tabletop,

Let's start with some cat and cow.

So hands right underneath the shoulders,

Knees right underneath the hips.

And on your inhale,

Drop the belly,

Roll the shoulders back,

Lift the gaze.

And on your exhale,

Round spine,

Tuck the chin.

Belly drops on the inhale,

Open heart.

Spine rounds on the exhale,

Tuck the chin.

Belly drops,

Inhale,

Open heart.

Spine rounds,

Exhale,

Tuck the chin.

Nice.

Come back to your neutral spine.

We're going to take puppy pose.

So the hips are going to stay up into the sky.

You might take the knees just a couple inches wider and then you're going to walk the hands forward so that it's like your forehead can start to come down to the ground.

So you create this long slide from hips down to the head,

Arms reaching out forward.

They even like to take the hands a little wide here.

If getting the forehead to the mat is really easy,

You can always put the chin on the mat instead that's going to even increase the stretch.

If your forehead doesn't even get to the ground,

No problem.

Feel the length as you pull out through the fingers and then reach up through the hips.

You're getting longer in the spine,

Creating a little more space.

Take another inhale.

Another exhale.

Breath in.

Breath out.

From here,

Start to shift the hips back as you walk the hands back to find child's pose.

A regular nice child's pose.

Walk the hands back,

Walk the hips back.

Feel the head soft,

The heart relaxed,

The arms heavy.

Since this is feeling uncomfortable on your knees,

You can always roll up a blanket to put behind the knees and then that will make them not bend as much.

You can also put a blanket or a pillow underneath the forehead if it's not reaching to the ground.

And something to try here,

Maybe just rock the head a little right and left so you get a little massage on the forehead.

You can feel softness through the neck.

I really feel the head letting go,

The neck at ease.

Taking a moment to think your neck for all that it does for holding up your head day in and day out.

You're at these tiny bones,

Tiny muscles,

But so strong.

Take the arms down by the sides so that the shoulders can relax.

A moment to think the shoulders,

The arms for all they do,

All that they hold up day in,

Day out.

Trying you.

Gratitude for the beautiful machine that is your body and the way that it works without you having to even think about it,

Without you having to even try.

It's like that intention of caring for the body,

Of treating it with respect,

Of taking care of its needs.

You can come to sit back up onto your shins or if it's more comfortable,

You can sit in a comfortable seat.

Hands compress together at the heart.

Eyes again can close.

Notice the body,

Notice what's changed through our practice today.

Take a full inhale,

Full exhale.

The light in me very highly bows that same light in each one of you.

Namaste.

Reviews

So awesome
Thank you
Look forward to practicing with your other tracks
Namaste 🙏🏻

My shoulders needed this, thank you. I could use a little more space/time between the deep breaths but they also felt extra juicy in the practice!

Thank you so much for this wonderful practice. It was so helpful. Namaste

Excellent. Just what I needed today! Thank you for offering this beautiful practice of taking care of, and feeling gratitude for, our neck and shoulders, and magnificent body 🙏🌻

Oh my goodness! This is perfect for my morning (or evening) stretch. You give such clear instructions on how to move into the next position. My neck and whole body thank you! ✨ 🙏🏼

Great practice. My neck and shoulders were very tight and uncomfortable, but after this practice I had full range of motion without tightness or pain. 🙏

Short and effective 🙏 Clear guidance. Just right for a quick morning stretch.

Tension in my back and shoulders is a big problem. Feeling less tension after this. I will be coming back to this again.

This practice helped my neck and shoulders a lot. Thank you!

That was such a perfect little 10 minute pocket for my desk shoulders! Thank you so much. Saving this one for sure.

Did a lot of raking yesterday and this was wonderful!

Great short practice for the neck and shoulders, thank you and namaste!

calming and thoughtful practice for my mind and neck. thank you!

Loved this. Thank you! 🙏

Very relaxing. Relieves tension. Thank you.

Just what I needed. Thank you!

My body loved the criss-cross arm movement in between the seated twists. Namaste