Who has never experienced tight shoulders? They tend to be our number 1 massage target...
If you spend many hours in front of the computer, have a physical work, are a mum to a baby or young child (nursing, carrying your child around etc) or simply experience stress, your shoulders will definitely enjoy a good stretch. Stretching shoulders helps release muscle tension, pain, and tightness in the neck and shoulders (and get rid of related headaches).
Shoulder mobility is also essential in numerous daily tasks and activities that call for flexible shoulders: tennis, carrying shopping bags, driving, reaching for items on top shelves etc.
Flexible shoulders feel great, give you a better overall posture and ease your day.
If you are a yoga practitioner, flexible strong shoulders will help you in many ways:
- Achieve any basic postures where your arm lifts up close to your head (I have a stiff shoulder which used to impede me lifting my arm up in side angle pose).
- Perform yoga poses where strength is needed like the plank, upward facing dog or most inversions.
- Improve backbends
- Progress into more advanced postures: handstand, backbends etc
- Improve your breathing by giving more space to your lungs.
Many poses work as shoulder openers. Let's name some of them: child’s pose, cow face arms, eagle arms or downward facing dog. Another way to open your shoulders is by using a yoga belt as described in this blog post.
Let's now look at some shoulder mobility poses perform with a yoga chair.
