ashtanga yoga tight shoulders

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That first exercise you describe is excellent for keeping at bay

those "knots" you get at the interior side of the shoulderblade.

Those are so very common and rolling it out with a tennis ball with

the back against the wall as so many of us do only helps me

temporarily. On the advice of an acquaintance who swore this worked,

I do that strap exercise 8 times almost every morning and my

shoulderblade issues are essentially gone (unless I spend too much

time with my shoulderblade lifted while writing on a desk that is too

high, or anything like that). I know this is not on topic for the

original post, but I just want to spread the joy of the strap over

the head exercise

 

ashtanga yoga, "Linda Munro" <munro_linda@h...>

wrote:

> One of the best exercises that I've found for opening the shoulders

was

> given to me by a physical therapist when I had broken my shoulder

blade in a

> car accident. After several weeks of having my arm bound to my

torso my

> shoulders were practically frozen in place. The exercise was quite

painful,

> at the time, however now it feels great. Just take a strap, towel,

belt of

> some sort and hold it at either end with each hand. Then try to

lift the

> arms over the head and behind you without bending the arms. Then

back over

> the head and in front of you. Going back and forth as often as you

feel.

> As the shoulders open you slowly work the hands towards each other

so that

> the strap is shorter and shorter.

> Another thing I've found helpful is lying on my bed with my head

and

> shoulders over the side of the bed, arms hanging over the head.

Just

> staying there and breathing deeply for as long as I can.

> And the arm position of "eagle" posture opens the shoulders. YOu

can lift

> the arms higher and lower to get the stretch in the exact place you

need it.

> Or interlocking the fingers behind the back (as in Prasarita

Padungustasana)

> and standing with the arms over the head (maybe getting a friend to

push the

> hands slightly towards the floor>

> Lastly, sitting in any position on the floor and then bringing the

palms on

> the floor behind you as far as you can (fingertips towards you),

bending the

> elbows, then trying to work the shoulder blades towards each other

as you

> slowly sink closer and closer towards the floor.

>

> Hope my descriptions make sense and that they help you. I find

that the all

> work slightly different parts of the shoulders.

> Namaste,

> Linda

>

>

>

> Linda Munro

> Ashtanga Paris

> www.ashtangaparis.com

>

>

>

>

>

> "trulyscrumshess" <budokanasana@a...>

> ashtanga yoga

> ashtanga yoga

> ashtanga yoga Re: tight shoulders

> Tue, 27 Apr 2004 02:26:39 -0000

>

> ashtanga yoga, "dmtaviv" <dmtaviv> wrote:

> > I have very tight shoulders to the point where downward facing

dog

> > puts an incredible strain on my triceps and delts. What is the

best

> > stretch or exercise to loosen them? Thanks

>

> I had that so badly that I could not do downward dog without lots of

> pinching pain in the shoulder. I released this with constant

shoulder

> and pec stretches and after one particularly good release in a

> restorative class I was finally able to begin doing downward dog

> without incredible pain. The pose that released it was a lying twist

> using sandbags to hold the shoulder down on the ground. I also did

> side-lying shoulder clocks daily. Once I got the release from the

> restorative pose that day the shoulder clocks became less painful.

> Then I was able to start back to yoga. I didn't have frozen

> shoulders, per se, but they were pretty tight. If yours are not that

> tight then yoga might be all you need. I just needed a little (OK a

> lot) of remedial stretching.

>

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