Three yoga exercises to relieve neck and shoulder stress
Tracy Adshead is a yoga teacher specialising in yoga for seniors. She is passionate about bringing healing and healthy ageing to the community.
Try letting your shoulders drop or settle now into their most comfortable position, take them back and down a little. It isn’t too difficult to do for the moment but to maintain this position unconsciously in our daily lives is another matter.
We raise our shoulders unnaturally when on the computer, when we’re shocked by a loud noise or when we feel stressed. All your muscles are all linked together, firing together, supporting each other. However, if one muscle group is being overused then discomfort (and possibly pain) will soon follow. It only takes a slight but frequent rising of the shoulders to create enough tension to throw the nervous system out of balance, producing anxiety, stiff necks or headaches.
An excellent way to start managing stress is to use these three yoga practices for necks and shoulders along with deep breathing. Practiced daily they will signal the muscles to release and to relax.
Yoga postures should be practiced slowly and gently, with awareness, ideally synchronized with the breath. They should not be practiced absent-mindedly as you may hurt yourself. If you encounter any discomfort or pain stop immediately.
For the shoulders
Sitting on a sturdy straight backed chair, lengthen your spine by lifting the crown of the head up towards the ceiling. Take the shoulders back and down a little. Hold this posture.
As you inhale lift the shoulders up towards the ears, hold the shoulders here and hold the breath. Count to four. Now slowly exhale, counting to eight, while relaxing the shoulders down. Repeat four more times.
For the neck
Note: For anyone with whiplash or neck injuries, take extreme caution in approaching any new exercises.
Lift your chin and look up as you inhale, exhale relax your chin down towards your chest. Repeat twice more.
Bring your head back to a neutral position; begin to move your chin around in small circles so that you are literally just moving your skull around at the top of your spine. Make it relaxing and easy. When you have gone seven to ten times in one direction, pause, and reverse the movement for the same number of rotations.
Over time, when it feels comfortable, you may find that you can increase the size of the circles you are making with your chin.
For the neck and shoulders
Place your fingertips on to your shoulders, inhale, as you exhale drop your chin towards your chin and bring the elbows towards each other, possibly touching them together in front of your chest. Feel the shoulder blades behind separating.
Inhale, take to elbows wide out to the side and lift your chin to look up. Press the shoulder blades together behind as you gently press the elbows back. Repeat this three to five times.
Awareness improves as time goes on
The key is to keep doing these practices regularly; you will eventually become aware of emotions or situations that trigger feelings of tension and be able to consciously relax, letting the tension go before it builds up.
Where do you find you hold the most tension, neck or shoulders? Let us know in the comments below.
Related links:
How to improve your balance with yoga
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10 reasons to give yoga chance