Chair Yoga For Neck & Shoulders

In this neck and shoulder yoga session, we'll gently work through movements to:
Release tension and tightness in the neck and shoulders
Ease stiffness and improve range of movement
Gently stretch the muscles across your upper back
Help you feel more relaxed and comfortable in your body

This practice is perfect if you spend a lot of time at a desk, live with arthritis or chronic tension, or simply carry your stress in your neck and shoulders.
Everything is done seated, completely accessible, and gentle enough to do every single day.

Transcript

Hello flowly friends and welcome to this chair yoga session which is focused on releasing tension in your neck and your shoulders. So this can be quite a problematic area for many of us. We get tech neck, We're always looking down at our phones, Maybe if you have a job where you're seated all day or maybe just the way that you sleep. For many of us we're not even really sure why we get tension and stress in the neck. So hopefully this session will give you a few little moves that you can do to help ease some of that tension. All you're going to need is your beautiful self and a sturdy chair to sit in and then whenever you're ready let's get started. So let's begin sitting nice and tall if you can just away from the back of the chair but if you need that support then by all means have the back of the chair supporting you fully. We are going to sit as tall as we can just let your shoulders roll down your back and then let's take a nice deep breath in, Exhale. Just settling into your seat take another big breath in, Sigh out any tension or the busyness of your day so far and then take one more big breath in and let it all go. Perfect. Okay we're just going to start with a little neck stretch so we're going to drop left ear to left shoulder. This is a really nice way to stretch out through the side of your neck so going for that right side first. Try and keep both shoulders nice and relaxed here. Let's take a breath in and exhale. Lovely. One more breath, Excellent. Slowly lift your head back to centre. Let's drop right ear to right shoulder this time. Same again just keeping shoulders relaxed. Sometimes when we move we kind of hunch up a little bit so keeping it relaxed. Two nice deep breaths here. Imagine you're breathing into the side of the neck and then each of those exhales is just allowing some of that tension to melt away. Perfect. Slowly, Gently lift your head back. Let's take it over to the left again. Left ear, Left shoulder. You're going to feel that little bit of a stretch. Take an inhale and then exhale bring your head straight back to centre. Drop right ear to right shoulder. Breathe in and then exhale release coming back to centre. Let's just go one more of those each side. So left ear, Left shoulder. Inhale, Exhale. Bring it back slowly, Gently. Take your time. Right ear, Right shoulder. Same again. Nice big breath in and exhale. Bring your head back to centre. Let's do some little nods now. So we're going to start by dropping the chin down to the chest. Feeling that lovely stretch in the back of your neck. Perfect. Let's take one full breath here first. Lovely. And then on your next inhale slowly, Slowly lift the nose and take a little gaze up towards the sky. Perfect. Nice and gently drop your chin back down to your chest and then inhale. Take it up. Just a little gaze up. We're not sending the neck too far back. It's just a little gaze up towards the ceiling. Exhale. Drop it down one more time. Lovely. And then lifting the gaze and then bring your head back into a neutral position. Okay bring your arms down by your sides now and we're going to roll the shoulders. I want you to go nice and slow with this so try not to rush it. Squeeze the shoulders up to the ears and then really take them back as far as you can. Nice big shoulder rolls. Squeezing up. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Big roll back. Notice it opens up your chest a little bit here as well which feels good as well. Squeeze it up. Roll it back. Squeeze it up and big roll back. Wonderful. One more. Squeeze it up and roll it back. Okay let this shoulders relax down. We're going to pull the shoulders back this time. So pulling them back as far as you can. Squeezing them up and then rolling them forwards. So again we want to go nice and slow. Pulling back, Rolling up and forwards. We pull back, We roll up and bring it forwards. Couple more of those. Nice big rolls. Wonderful. Once your arms come down just let your shoulders relax. Let's take a nice big breath in and let it go. Okay we're going to stretch out the back of the shoulders now. So we're going to press the hands away from us, Fully extending the arms out and what you want to do is just kind of the tops of the shoulders, Roll them forward. So as the arms are fully extended, You're rolling the tops of the shoulders and then notice how the shoulder blades press outwards. The rest of the torso stays nice and tall. We're not dropping the head or anything here but we're actively pressing away and then pressing those shoulders back. Feel that stretch. Take a nice big breath in. Exhale. Lovely. One more. Let it go. Perfect. Nice and gently just relax your arms. Let them come down to your lap and if you want to you could take another couple of little rolls just as a little counter release. It's sometimes just nice to do that. Okay so now we're going to take the hands or fingertips to the tops of the shoulders and if you can lifting the elbows up so they're relatively in line with your shoulders if possible. Try not to go above so have them level or a little bit lower if that's more comfortable. Okay sitting nice and tall through your spine we're going to start to draw circles with those elbows and start small little circles and then gradually get them bigger. This is why it's nice to go slow and what you might notice with this little movement as you might notice that there's a little bit of grinding in the back, A little bit of noise creaking in the backs of your shoulders and as long as this isn't hurting you then that's pretty normal to hear that and feel that. This is why as well it's always a good idea to go nice and slow. So this is tackling your rhomboids. Perfect. See if you can go really big. Don't worry if you can't. Perfect and then just come back to centre just kind of reset where you began and then start to take small circles in the opposite direction. Really slow. Bring your attention to your shoulders. Really noticing how it feels. Notice those little noises, Those little creaks we all get. Perfect. Keep breathing. It's so important to keep that oxygen flowing into these muscles and joints as we move. Wonderful. See if we can go our biggest circle. Nice and slow. Lovely. Then just come back to that little reset position. Just release your arms out. Take the arms up into the air. Nice big reach and stretch. Maybe wiggle the fingers and then exhale. Lower the arms down. Maybe take a couple of little rolls again. Okay let's take it into a little bit of a deeper neck stretch now. So we're going to bring the hands together in a little prayer position and have your hands at your chest but rather than having the elbows drop down, You're going to lift them up so you're making a long line from elbow to elbow and what you want to do is have gentle pressure with these palms. So gently pressing them together. We're going to sit really tall through the spine. Take a breath in and then as we exhale we're slowly turning the head to the right. Head and neck slowly, Slowly, Slowly turning to the right. Keep that pressure in those hands. We're going to hold it here for one breath. Inhale, Exhale. Perfect. Nice and slowly come back to centre. Take a breath. Exhale, Slowly moving the head and the neck to the left. Always going slow. This way you won't jar your neck and you're only going as far as your body will let you. Take a breath in, Exhale and slowly we bring it back to centre. Let's go one more time each side. We're not going to stop this time. So take a breath in, Exhale. We twist to the right. Lovely. Hold it there and then on your inhale slowly, Slowly come back to centre. Take a breath and then exhale. Stretching it out. Perfect. Straight back to centre. Gently, Gently. Wonderful and then as you're pressing your palms together just reach them up again, Up into the air. Nice big reach, Reach, Reach. And then exhale, Float your hands down to your knees. Lovely. Take another little roll of your shoulders. Perfect. So we're going to take a little bit of a squeeze of the shoulders now. So we're going to reach the arms up alongside the ears. We're going to take a little bend into the elbow so that we're grabbing opposite elbows and then we're going to give a little squeeze. So squeeze those elbows as if you're squeezing them towards each other. Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Take a nice big breath in, Exhale. Now with the arms still in this position, You're going to bring the arms just out in front, Nice and gently over the head, Out in front. So you're in this I Little Dream of Jeannie position. Take an inhale, Slowly take the arms up above the head again and then when you get here give those elbows a little squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Lovely. Inhale, Exhale. Nice and gently lower the arms down so they're about chest height again. Perfect. Inhale, Take it up and then when you get here squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze, Squeeze. Feel that tension building, You're engaging those muscles, Hopefully releasing a little bit of tension. Take a breath, Exhale. Bring the arms back down in front. Wonderful. Take it up one more time, Lift, Lift, Lift. When you get here, That last little squeeze, Squeeze it in, Squeeze it in, Squeeze it in. Wonderful. Inhale, Exhale. Keep the arms where they are and then slowly reach the arms up, Releasing those elbows and then floating the hands down to the knees. Again, Roll those shoulders out. Notice how your shoulders and your arms feel now. Perfect. Okay, We're going to take ourselves into a little bit of a shoulder stretch. Now, This is going to target your trapezius muscle which runs across the back of the shoulders. This muscle in particular can get really tight and this is a really nice little move to do. You can do it at any point. It's a very good standalone pose on its own, Little movement on its own, So you can do it at any time. You might want to sit forward on your chair just a little bit and we're going to just grab hold of the right leg first. So, You can lift underneath your thigh or around the front of your shin or your knee and you're going to squeeze the knee in toward your chest as close as you can. You want to make sure that your spine is really tall here, So lengthen up through your spine and then when you're ready, Take a big breath in and then as you exhale, Roll your nose down towards your right knee. It does not need to touch, That's not the aim here. You're just rolling it in that direction and then notice that stretch all the way across the back of the shoulders. It might feel a little more intense on that right side. Let's take a full breath in, Exhale. Perfect. Take an inhale, Slowly roll your head up and then gently release your leg. Okay, We're going to take that to the other side. So, Squeeze that knee to chest first, Squeeze it in, Make sure your posture is nice and tall here. Take a breath, Exhale, Roll the nose towards the left knee this time until you feel that stretch. Lovely. Breathe into that stretch, Inhale, Exhale. Wonderful. Take an inhale, Roll the head up and then gently drop the leg. Let's do one more of those each side. Squeeze up right knee, Squeeze, Squeeze, Tall posture, Inhale, Exhale, Roll the nose nice and slowly just so you can ease into the stretch. Breathe into it, Exhale. Wonderful. Inhale, Roll your head up and then gently let the foot come down. Back to the other side, Squeeze it up, Remember that tall posture, Inhale, Exhale, Rolling nose towards that knee. Feel that stretch. Oh, It's such a nice release. Big breath, Exhale. Wonderful. Inhale, Roll your head up and then nice and gently drop your foot down. So, You could hold that for more than one breath if you wanted to, If you really want to kind of stretch it out and yeah, Go to either side a couple of times and hopefully that will really release some tension in your neck, Especially if you do kind of feel it right across the back of those shoulders. That's such a really nice stretch for you to do. Okay, So we're just going to end with some little arm hugs. So, Take an inhale, Reach your arms out, Creating some length from your right hand to your left, Reach, Reach, And then bringing the arms in, Crossing one over the other for a nice big hug. Really squeeze here, So you've got your hands on the backs of your shoulders, Give them a nice big squeeze and then gently drop your chin down to your chest. Let's hold it here for a couple of breaths. Inhale, Exhale. Big breath, Breathe into the neck, Into the shoulders, Keep giving yourself a little squeeze, Sigh it out. Wonderful. Take an inhale, Release the arms as you lift your head, Taking the arms out, Nice big reach and stretch and then you're going to bring the arms in but then switch that cross. Take the other arm on top, Give yourself a big squeeze, Drop your chin down to your chest and again two or three big breaths here. Nice long sigh outs, Keep squeezing, Let it all go. Perfect. Take an inhale, Roll the head up as you release the arms, Reach, Reach, Reach. Lovely. Turn the palms up, Reach the arms up above the head and then exhale. Just bring your hands down to your heart space, Let your shoulders relax. You can release your hands down to your knees. Wonderful. Notice how you feel in your neck and your shoulders. Take a big breath in and last big sigh out here. And that brings us to the close of this yoga session focused on your neck and shoulders. So thank you so much for watching, Take care, Bye.

Reviews

Dear Rachel, can’t thank you enough for making this wonderful video. Because it is concise and highly effective, I was able to follow it during a time crunch. Made me feel great! Thank you 🙏🏼🌺

Thank you Rachel. Just what I needed for my tight shoulders....