Yoga for Tense Shoulders

The one of the best things about yoga and there are lots, is the improvement you see in your flexibility.  As someone who did gymnastics as a child and teenager and could do the full splits at one time, I was shocked when I discovered that I could not touch my toes.  I had always been vain about my flexibility but the old adage of if you don’t use it, you lose it is so true.  Even when you take a break in your yoga classes, you notice the difference when you come back to yoga although if the break is not too long you get back to your former level quite quickly.

Although yoga is a great exercise for all over fitness you can concentrate on certain areas with specific poses and stretches. For example if like me you get very tight and tense across the neck and shoulders because of lots of typing and computer work.  It is so hard to get a desk and chair to prevent this tension developing.  There are a few yoga positions that I love which helps me a lot for neck and shoulder tension.

The first is the standing forward fold or Uttanasana, this is a great posture to relax the muscles of your neck, it is a very calming pose and it is one of my favorite yoga poses which is deceptively simple.  You will know this pose from your class or DVD, remember to warm up before any exercise and do not attempt any yoga straight after eating, especially this pose.

First stand in Mountain pose with your feet slightly apart about hip width or two fists apart.  As one of my yoga teachers pointed out to her class it is not about the circumference of your hips but more about having your feet below your hip bones, which are usually about two fists apart in distance.  Check it out but remember to bend your knees and protect your back.

So from mountain pose, slowly slide your hands down the front of your legs and fold forward from your hips, not your waist. From there you can either clasp your elbows in opposite hands or behind your legs.  Relax your body into the pose, I love it here and when I do home practice stay it this for a while. Remember to bend the knees slightly do not lock them.  Relax and breathe, if you can not get down far at the moment brace your hands against your legs or bend your knees more but if possible just dangle and relax.  I find that if I stay in a pose for longer the body will relax more into it and go further but not forcing any stretch.

Another addition to the pose is to stand on the palms of the hand with the large toe pressing lightly into the fleshy base of the thumb.  To do this place your hand in front of the feet, knuckle side to the mat (do use a mat as carpets and hard surfaces hurt), fingers pointing to the feet, step the feet forward on to the hands.  I find this extremely relaxing, another variation is to clasp the hands behind your back and bring them over your head whilst in the forward bend, if you are flexible in the shoulders then you can get your clasped hands parallel to the floor, if like me you have very tense shoulders this is quite a challenging variation.

Donna Houston