Strengthen your neck and realign your shoulders with Bridge Pose. If you have very tight shoulders or any neck problem use a blanket or two under your shoulders for better result and to avoid compression in your neck.
Lie on your back and bend your knees. Keep your feet, hip-width apart. Take a deep breath in and expand your heart from the inside out. Rock from side-to-side to bring your shoulders closer together. Bend your arm, open and stretch your hand and press down with your arm muscles. Press your head back gently to increase the lift in your heart.
Now raise your hips and clasp your hands underneath your hips. You can use a belt to help you clasp. Keep your weight even on all four corners of your feet, and hug your shin to the mid-line.
The goal of Bridge Pose is to open your heart fully, to move your heart toward your chin, not to lift your hips as high as possible. Hug your shin in and take your thighs back and apart.
Drag your heels back toward your hands and then exhale, lengthen your tailbone, all the way through your legs and down into your feet. Release your hands; lower your hips and rest. Soften your edges, open to something bigger.
Now repeat, inhale and lengthen the size of your body, exhale, lift your hips, press back with your shoulders, arms and hand. Hug your shin then to keep the weight on the inner edges of your feet. Make sure your feet remain parallel and do not turn out. This will cause your outer buttocks to overwork. It will make it impossible to lengthen your tailbone properly.
Rock from side-to-side to get up higher on your shoulders, interlace your fingers, or use a belt. Inhale and lengthen the size of your body. Exhale and drag your heels back towards your hands. Lengthen your tailbone all the way down to your legs and feet.
Inhale and expand your heart moving it more-and-more towards your chin. Keep your head gently pressed back, so you don't flatten your neck. Release your hands and lower your hips to the floor, rest.
This is what it looks like when the hips raise up too high. The neck is flattened. Here is what it looks like when the knees and feet turn too wide. The outer buttock muscles are too tensed and over-used, causing compression in the lower back.
If you tend to turn your legs and feet out, retrain your body. Soften, lower your hips a little bit and then turn your legs and feet to face forward. Hug your shin to the mid-line, take a deep breath in and press back with your arms and head.
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