Ever feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Well that just might be the case. Sometimes our emotional energy will manifest itself in the form of pain or injury in a specific part of the physical body. For most of us, our shoulders and neck carry the brunt of our stress and if we are not careful, this stress can lead to shoulder pain, tense muscles, headaches and if ignored, can lead to injury.
Luckily, yoga can help! This week’s featured classes will be sure to help release pent-up tension and tightness from the neck and shoulders.
- Relieve Neck and Shoulder Tension with Maria Apt: Relieve tension in the neck and shoulders with these asanas/arm variations done from Tadasana. This practice is a necessary antidote to the stress that accumulates in the neck and shoulders due to our modern lifestyles.
- Strong Shoulder Flow with Dice Iida-Klein: This practice is all about the external rotation of our shoulders and the engagement required to sustain a healthy shoulder girdle. In order to strengthen our upper back and shoulders, we navigate through many different eka hasta (one hand) variations. The practice begins with solid block work for both the legs and arms, then we make our way through 5 Surya Namaskar A’s. We follow up with some leg work, side body core work and more external rotator work for the shoulders, ending with eka hasta mayurasana and mayurasana (peacock, one hand peacock). We close with backbends, twists, hip opening and forward folds. Enjoy my fellow yogis! Prop: Block
- Neck and Shoulder Release with Felicia Tomasko: This slow practice starts out sitting and utilizes a series of circular fluid movements segueing into twists to facilitate a greater sense of space in the shoulders, neck, and upper back. For the second half of this practice, we recline for a bridge and then a twist series continuing to unwind and release the neck, shoulders, and upper back.
- Shoulder Love with Kathryn Budig: Give your shoulders some love with a yin style class. Long holds in chest openers from the ground leading up into supported Downward Facing Dog and Headstand. Props: Two Blocks, optional wall space.
- Backbends for Tight Shoulders with Stephanie Snyder: Tight shoulders? Wanna get into some backbends like danurasana and wheel? Me too! Together we will coax and sweet talk our shoulders (and quads and psoas) to open enough to express those backbends that our body mind and heart love. Optional props: Block and strap.
- Relief for Challenged Shoulders with Amy Ippoliti: Prepare to ride your bike with more freedom in this quick practice designed to help clear tightness and discomfort in the shoulders. Props: chair, wall space
