Shoulders in a Knot Pose

Those shoulders feeling tight? Posture struggling from too much time hunched over a computer? Take some time (around 30ish minutes) to focus on stretching out and opening up those shoulders. Knot pose is coming; you won't regret it.

Transcript

Let's start standing today. A little bit different. Let's go ahead and come to our mat, Finding that mountain, Growing nice and tall. Make sure those feet are grounded down right underneath the sit bones. Not super wide, But not close together. Right underneath those sit bones. Grow up nice and tall. Drop the shoulders. Blink the eyes closed. And just focus on that breath, That inhale. The exhale. Feel yourself rooted to the earth. Growing tall One more nice big breath here. And then we're going to start in the shoulders with shoulder circles, Squeezing the shoulders up, Rolling all the way back and down. Nice big circles. Now let's switch directions. We'll squeeze the shoulders up and then roll forward. And as we release staying anchored in those feet we're going to swing the arms a little Side to side. Let momentum do the work here. Feel that twist in that lower side body. And then we'll slow things down and move into some standing cat and cow. So on that inhale, We're going to open up wide, Squeeze the shoulder blades together. On the exhale, We'll round the spine, Tuck the chin, Give ourselves a nice big hug. Inhale to open. Exhale to close. Two more And then as we release, We're going to bring that left hand to a bind back behind us. The right hand is going to grab that left wrist and gently pull the wrist off to the right as we drop our right ear toward that right shoulder. So we're opening up the left shoulder. We're feeling that stretch in the neck. As we release the hands, We'll drop that chin down toward the chest. We'll bind our right arm to the lower back. Left wrist, We'll pull. On the left hand, We'll pull on that right wrist and we'll drop our left ear over toward the left shoulder. And we'll sink the chin straight down toward the chest. Release the arms. Breathe into that back of the neck. And then we'll slowly. . . Roll back up to neutral and add the top of our salutations. Inhale, Sweeping tall. Exhale to hinge and fold. Inhale halfway lift, Nice flat back. Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall, Taking a lateral at the top. We'll exhale the fingertips to the right. Inhale, Center. Exhale, Fingertips left. Inhale reaching tall. Exhale fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall. Exhale, Fingertips right. Inhaling up through center, Exhale, Fingertips left. Inhale, Reaching tall. One more. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhaling tall. Exhale, Fingertips to the right. Up through center and to the left. Inhale to reach, Exhale as we fold. This time we're going to step back to our plank. We're going to hold our plank today. Really use those shoulders, Engage the core. And then on our exhale, We'll send it up and back, Down dog. That's our first one. So if you want to pedal things out here a little bit, Get settled. Our inhale will travel to the top of the mat, Finding that fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall. Axial lateral to the right. Inhale center, Exhale lateral left. Inhale to reach. Exhale, Fold. Winding plank. Hold. Exhale up and back, Down dog. On that inhale, We'll travel to the top of the mat. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Sweeping top. Exhale, Lateral to the right. Inhaling through, Center, Exhale, Left. Inhale to reach. Exhale. Folding, Finding our plank. Exhale, Down dog. On our inhale, Step walk or hop to the top. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall. Exhale, Lateral to the right. Inhale, Center. Exhale. Inhale, Reach. One more. Exhale, Folding, Finding plank. Exhale, Up and back, Down and on. We'll travel to the top. Exhale fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale full. Inhale tall. Exhale, Folding. This time we're going to step that right foot back and open up to a warrior two. Settling in. Reverse warrior, Flipping that left hand, We'll bring it up and back, Breathing into that lower back. And then to a side angle, Reaching that right arm straight up toward the sky, Really lifting in that top right side. Back to reverse. Take your time. Exhale, Warrior two. We're going to turn those hips and step ourselves to the top of the mat. Inhale, Reaching tall. Exhale, Fold, And we'll step our left foot back. Taking it on this side. Warrior 2. Reverse warrior And into our side angle on this side, Finding that space, Reaching up on that left side. And back to reverse. Exhale. Warrior 2. We'll turn and step to the top. Inhale, Reaching tall. I feel folding, Binding our plank. Exhale, Up and back. Down die. And as we're ready, We'll take the knees nice and wide and sink back for child's pose, Sinking those hips. Toward the heels, Forehead toward the mouth. On that inhale, We'll flow forward. Exhale, Send it up and back. Down dog. And we'll travel to the top of the mat. Exhale, Fold. Inhale halfway lift Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall. Stick that lateral at the top. Exhale, Fingertips to the right. Up through center to the left Inhale tall, Exhale, Folding right foot back, Warrior two. Reverse warrior. Into that side angle. We're going to take that top right arm and reach it right alongside the face by that right ear reaching toward the top of the mat. And then back tall toward the sky. Inhale, Reverse. Exhale, Warrior two. Then we're going to straighten that left leg, Reach forward, And then tick-tock for triangle. Maybe gazing up at that right hand. Then we'll slowly bend in that left knee. Close that right arm down toward the mat and step it back. The down dog or to a plank hold if you like. And if you're in that plank, We'll send her back down, Down. And on that inhale, We'll travel to the top. Exhale, Fold. Inhale, Halfway lift. Exhale, Fold. Inhale tall I feel that lateral to the right. Up through center to the left. Inhaling tall. Exhale, Fold. We'll step that left foot back. Opening up, Warrior two. Reverse warrior. Into that side angle. Taking that top arm, Reach it alongside that left ear, Reaching. Feel that length all down that side body. And then tall Back to reverse. Exhale, Warrior two. And then we'll straighten that right leg, Reach it forward, And then tick-tock for triangle on this side. And we'll start to bend in that right knee. Lower the left hand. Step it back to your down dog or to that plank hold. And if you're in that plank, Exhale, Down, Down. Last one, Couple of breaths to really feel the stretch. Enjoy the pose. Then on that inhale, We're going to roll to a plank. This time, Lowering all the way down. We're going to stack the forearms and rest the head. Then we're going to come up to a sphinx. So we want those elbows right underneath the shoulders, Growing up nice and tall. And we're going to bring the forearms parallel in front of us. Walk them in a little bit toward the chest. And then you're going to crawl your hands in opposite directions away from one another. Finding knot pose. Just go as far as you can. If you need to scooch the hips forward a little bit, You can so that hopefully you can hang the head in front and breathe into those shoulders across the back. And then we'll slowly walk those hands. Back to neutral. Notice which arm is in front. We're going to switch. Bring the other arm in front. And then again. Excuse me. Walk those hands. Away from one another. Hang the head. Breathe. And then we'll walk it back. Returning to that sphinx for just a couple more breaths. And then we'll slowly lower down as we slide those hands underneath the shoulders and we'll press it back to child's pose. Really stretching in those arms as we sink the hips. We'll walk our hands off to the left, Breathing in the right side of the body. And then through center, Hands off to the right, Open up that left side. Back to center. One more nice big breath. We'll rise up to our tabletop. And let's take a little cat and cow here with the breath. Inhale, Cow. Exhale, Cat. One more breath. And then we'll walk it out to a puppy stretch, Keeping the hips high. Walk the hands away, Melt the heart toward the mat. And we'll walk those hands all the way back underneath, Make our way into an easy seat. We'll do a little bit of boat before we roll all the way down. So we'll settle on those sit bones. Nice and tall in the spine. Walk the feet back. Lift the shins maybe work to let go if you want to play around with Reaching the arms up or extending the legs. Your boat here. Whatever you like. And as we release, Maybe crossing at the ankles, We'll hinge forward, Find a fold, Hang the head. And we'll lock it up. One more boat. Last breath. And we'll release nice and roll all the way down. Siggling in on the mat. Walk those shoulder blades nice and low, Saddle in the hips, And we'll windshield wiper the knees a little back and forth, Side to side. And we'll drop the knees to the left. Let them stay. Goalposting the arms or bringing the arms out to a T. We can drop our gaze off to the right if we want to. And then that inhale will come up through center. We'll drop the knees to the right. We'll tip the gaze to the left. And we'll come back up into center. Let's hug that right knee into chest. Extend the left leg nice and long. If you want to circle out the ankle, You could do that. And that right leg. Oh, Big right leg circles both directions. And then we'll switch. Pull the left knee in, Extend the right leg, Maybe circle out that ankle. And then the whole leg Giving a good squeeze in. We'll find a full body stretch mixed in both legs long. Point the toes, Reach the fingers overhead. Finding some good space. Opening things up. And then as you're ready, Start to release the feet. Maybe widen the legs a little bit. Let the feet fall open out to the corners of the mat. As you settle the legs, You can draw the arms down by your sides, Palms facing up. Again, Making sure the shoulders are nice and low. Settling that back body, Blinking the eyes closed. Maybe we think about the face, Softening the face, Unlock the jaw. And return to the breath. Slow. Deep. Steady breath. Feel more breath. Feeling all those connection points. Of the body to the mat, To the earth. Slowly inviting some movement back as you're ready. Fingers, Toes. Now we can draw those knees in towards the chest and roll ourselves to either side, To the left or to the right. So that we can feel in our practice. You can breathe in all the good. And we can exhale out anything we want to leave here. Pressing up as we're ready, Meeting back in our tall, Easy seat. Settled in the sit bones, Tall in the spine, Soft in the shoulder. I wish you a wonderful rest of the day. Namaste.