Chair Yoga for Neck and Shoulder Tension

This chair yoga session focuses on releasing tension in the neck, shoulders, face, and head. Through gentle seated movements, you’ll improve mobility and ease tightness in the upper body. The practice is simple, accessible, and suitable for any time of day. It’s a great way to reset and feel more relaxed in just a few minutes.

Transcript

Here's a little practice you can do for the shoulders, The neck. And actually the face and the head. It's nice, You can do this in a chair, Just get nice and comfortable. And we're just gonna move through a gentle range of motion, Loosen everything up, Get some mobility, And hopefully release a little tension. So we're gonna start with the shoulders and we're just gonna do some circles, Some rolling motions. We're gonna start by rolling forward. But two key things here, You don't want to get the shoulders tight to the ears. So as you roll up, There's also a feeling as if the head and the neck gets long as well. So you're keeping a distance between the shoulders and the ears. The other thing is besides rotating on this vertical plane, We're going to also kind of be spreading out the upper back. So the way we do that, Is we're going to start off by moving forward. So you're going to start by bringing the palms forward and you like squeeze the shoulder blades so the chest comes out a bit and the shoulder blades as if they squeeze the spine. You inhale and roll up, Palms forward. And then as you exhale, Palms head back down and you roll forward. Squeeze, Palms forward, Roll up. Exhale palms go back Inhale and rise Exhale, Sing. We'll do the same on the way back. So now, Inhale, Coming forward with the palms facing back. As you come to the peak of your inhale, Palms come. Palms face forward, Squeeze the shoulder blades. Release and come down. Do a couple more. Nice and loose. Okay, The second movement we could do is we could take an arm. I'm going to start with my right. You could do the right or left if you're having a mirror issue. Bring across the body. Take my left hand put it on my right elbow and just very gentle make sure you're not cranking the arm and move slow Close your eyes. Slowly and mindfully remember that principle. Come to your edge and you relax. Do not overstretch. Make sure you're not bringing the shoulder close to the ear, Remember, Keeping the shoulders down, Just come across the body. Bringing the shoulder blade away from the spine. A feeling of opening up through the back of the shoulder. Same on the other side. It's hard enough. And just slowly and mindfully move it across the body. And when you hit your edge, You stop. And just take a gentle step back from your edge. And relax. Last thing we're going to do for the shoulders, Working really on this kind of opening, Closing, Horizontal plane, Is putting your hands in front of you as if you're reading a big book or a newspaper. So as you inhale, Palms start where they face each other face forward face out chest expands, Arch the back a bit, Shoulder blades move towards the spine. Come back in. Relax through the chest. Roll the shoulder blades away from the spine. And now. . . And exhale. A couple more. And one more. Okay, Now let's move to the next. With the neck, We're going to do two things. Some nice just kind of movement. As well as a little self-massage. The first one, I'm gonna bring the chin to the chest. So exhale, Come to your shoulder. I'm going to start with my right. You can go left, Right, Doesn't matter. Inhale, Come over the top. I recommend keeping the neck neutral here. A lot of people, If you like, You could arch the neck, But be very conscious. If you're having neck issues, I recommend not arching your head. I recommend keeping the neck straight here. Inhale, Come over to the top. Hit the other shoulder, Exhale, Chin to chest. Three circles each way. Now let's go the other way. Now over to top, Exhale down. No need to strain. Just loosening up. And relax. This next one, We're going to bring our hands up. I'm going to start on my left side, So I'm looking at my hands. Going to inhale look at the hands exhale i push the hands away and i look over the opposite shoulder Inhale. Exhale. And now. Exhale do at least three each side anywhere between three and six so inhale exhale create space let's introduce a little massage so i'm going to take my left hand i'm going to bring it up above my right Here, I'm going to gently, So we're not using this hand to crank hard, Just very gently bring the head above the left shoulder. Take your right hand. Give the right side of your neck a bit of a massage. Be very careful you're not pressing on the spine. No technique here, Just kind of gentle rubbing. And we'll do the same with the opposite. I'm taking my right hand, Bringing it above my left ear, Gently bringing it above my right shoulder, Taking my left hand. Massage in the left part of my neck. Then I'm going to have to show you this one sideways. We're going to take the fingers and bring them down to the base of the neck. So they're on the sides. Of the cervical spine so you don't want to press into the spine or on the sides This is if you're trying to extend the neck up. Through the Oxford up through the skull it's like you're creating taller. Neck and head Just rolling up making sure you're not pressing onto the spine. Finally, Just giving ourselves a bit of a face massage. I'm going to take the first index finger and the middle finger, Put them on temples, Sides of the eyes. Going to rotate three to five times each way. Then go the other way. Now taking either hand doesn't matter, First and second finger between the eyebrows. Third eye point. And just vibrate, Keeping the mouth and jaw loose and open. Then taking the index finger, Middle finger, Rub down the sides of the nose. And then bring it down the cheeks. Chin and jaw. Taking your thumb in first finger, Just pulling down the ears a bit. Then we're gonna take all the fingers, Bring them on top of the skull, And you're just like flicking fingers. Giving yourself a scalp massage. Jaw nice and loose. And then rubbing the hands together. Bring them before the eyes. So the eyes not just close. But it's as if the eyes just soften. Take the eyes out of strain. Not just Close. They relax and as if their gaze turns inward. Into the body and just relax. All right, This is a nice little practice you can do anytime while sitting. Kind of releasing some tension whether it be up here in the head in the face neck and shoulders thanks for joining me

Reviews

I love this short sequence, it really helps to release neck and shoulder tension. Thank you. 🙏🏼