Modern technology showers endless benefits as the main source for inspiration and information. This keeps us connected easily, but the fact cannot be ignored that we spend hours before computers.
With the Smartphone’s being highly advanced, most younger generations and young adults are found hunched over tablets and mobile phones causing shoulder and neck strain. Realigning posture helps in promoting functional movement and releasing tension that considering yoga for neck and shoulders is recommended as it is effective.
Practice tips
- Coordinate your breath movement. The breath should help creating and feeling spine movement. This supports back enabling you to transform movement patterns.
- Ascertain the postures serving. Concentrating on mastering these postures, helps gaining deeper understanding, adapt creating functional change for better.
Neck and shoulders yoga
1. Child pose or Balasana
- Sit, resting on your heels, your hips, bend forward, lower your forehead touching the floor.
- Keep arms to your body side placing palms facing up.
- Press chest on thighs and stay for few minutes
- Sit on heels, straighten your vertebra and relax.
Benefits: It deeply relaxes your back and calms nervous system.
Avoid: People with knee injury or serious back issue, pregnant women and people suffering with diarrhea problem.
2 Reclining pose or Natarajasana
- Lie with arms stretched on your size horizontally on your back.
- Bend knees and bring feet close to hips. The feet soles must be on the ground.
- Now swing to left your knees ensure it touches ground and follow with right.
- Shoulder blades touching ground helps relax deep, observe the body experiencing the stretch.
- Repeat on other side
Benefits: Calms mind, releases neck stress and posture improves
Avoid: Pregnant women avoid this pose.
3 Marjariasana or Cat Stretch
- Keep apart knees to hip width
- Slowly, take back forming a table top and your feet and hands the table legs.
- Raise your chin, inhale and tilt back your head, push down navel and raise tailbone.
- Take deep, long breaths
- Drop your chin, exhale and arch up your back as possible.
- Hold for few seconds this pose and get back to table stage
- Pursue five or six rounds taking deep breaths.
Avoid: People with neck or back related serious issues and pregnant women.
4. Utthita Trikonasana or Extended Triangle Pose
- Standing position, extend hands sideward and legs wide spread.
- Slowly bend and inhale to the right side, touch ankle with right hand, while left hand is in upward direction.
- See your left hand. Breathe and observe mind and body settling.
- Gently breathe, lift torso and assume the standing position
- Repeat on the left side.
Benefits: Relieves during pregnancy mild backache, for others relieves stress and feel stretched spine.
Avoid: People with headache, heart condition, low blood pressure and diarrhea
5. Savasana or Corpse Pose
- Lie and close your eyes, legs apart allowing knees and feet to relax completely.
- Place arms alongside, palms upwards facing.
- Pay attention to your body parts starting from right foot by moving your right knee and then the other leg move slowly to your head, relaxing all the body parts.
- Keep breathing deeply, gently and enjoy relaxed breathing.
- Keep eyes closed and roll to right site, lie for a minute and sit with right hand support.
- Deep breaths to be taken feel complete and open eyes gently.
Benefits: This is good yoga for shoulder stretches. Relaxes body, muscles and improves overall health
Avoid: People having medical reasons to not lie on your back.
6. Downward dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana
- Keep your shoulder width apart.
- Press you hands and push them tucking your toes
- Lift hips up, keep helps up and knees bent
- Focus on spine lengthening and rotate sitting bones facing ceiling.
- Spin armpits across your back to broaden shoulders
Benefits: Strengthens arms, shoulders and upper body, calms mind, energizes overall and neautralize spine between forward and back bends.
Avoid: People who have undergone surgery and heart patients
7. Eagle Pose or Garudasana
- Bend knees and lift left foot up
- Cross over right foot and ascertain right foot is on the floor
- Ensure left thigh is over right thigh.
- Left foot toes pointing downwards
- Bring arms parallel to floor
- Cross right arm over left and bend elbows to stay perpendicular
- Ensure your hands back faces each other.
- Turn hands for palms to face each other
- Press palms, stretch fingers upwards
- Keep gaze focused and breath gently, release hands slowly
- Raise your leg and come back slowly.
Benefits: It stretches thighs, hips, upper back and neck to shoulders, strengthens calves, improves balance and loosens body. This is the best yoga for shoulder pain.
Avoid: People with hand or leg surgery
8. Bow Pose or Dhanurasana
- Lie down on your belly
- Bend knees and hold your feet tops and ankles
- Inhale, press ankles/feet to your hands and take natural chest lifts.
- Breath and hold for 30 seconds
Benefits: Bow pose opens neck, chest, abs and back. It relieves stress, supports spinal column, metabolism and energizes body.
Avoid: People with high blood pressure, heart problems and hernia
9. Locust Pose or Salabhasana
- Lie on the ground on your abdomen and place your hands by your side.
- You inhale, lift your upper torso and legs.
- Lift leg upward using inner thighs without bending knees.
- Rest on abdomen and lower ribs
- Hold pose for 30 seconds and release
Benefits: Acid-base balance loses weight, reduces stress, strengthened and toned back. It is an ideal yoga for neck pain relief.
Avoid: People suffering from migraine, spinal injury or neck and pregnant women
10. Sukhasana (Variation)
- Sit on a mat, fold left leg, tug inside the right thigh
- Fold right leg, tug inside left thigh
- Keep hands on knees posing for meditation
- Sit with straight spine
- Relax entire body and normally breathe
- Maintain this position.
Benefits: Relaxes brain, back and neck stress reduced, broadened collar bones and chest.
Avoid: People having chronic knee injuries, knee or hip inflammation, spinal disc problems
Hope you apply above neck and shoulders yoga to get relief. If you are using any other Yoga for the same then write us in comment.
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