Shoulder Strap Series
Kneel on a bolster, a block or the floor with the yoga strap in your hands. As you inhale, elevate the strap overhead and just behind the head until you reach a sticking point. And as you exhale, slowly return the strap to your lap. Continue moving with your breath inhaling up to that sticking point and exhaling down. Even as the arms move up, try to keep the shoulder blades low on the back and right up to that edge of intensity, and then slowly returning the arms back down.
This is a great opportunity to keep your slow deep yoga breathing in and out through the nose to co-ordinate your action and your breath. Try to hold the spine stable as you inhale instead of letting it move to back. This should be all about the shoulders. This time through as you reach the sticking point, slacken your grip and continue moving your arms back behind you.
You might need to go really wide on the strap, that's okay. Inhale moves the arms back up and now, the exhale forward and down. Now, it takes two breaths to make this complete cycle. Inhaling slowly, exhaling down behind you. Inhaling back up, the arms come overhead, and exhaling forward and down.
Again, work to keep the spine nice and neutral as you go through isolating this action in the shoulders. This time through, let's pause with the hands overhead and take this to a chest and bicep stretch. Extend the right arm up, elbow alongside your ear, and the left arm down. You may need to slide it backward as well just a few inches until you feel this is a good stretch along the front of the left chest.
Try to keep the shoulder low with the right arm very active. Inhale up through center, exhale second side. The left arm straight, the right arm maybe shifting back just a little. You will see from the video, there is a huge spectrum of available positions for the arms here. Find one that works best for you. Inhale back up to center and exhale, bring strap back to your legs.
Now, let's take a much shorter grip on the strap, no wider than shoulder width. Inhale up overhead, and as we exhale, let's lower the strap just behind the head, elbows bend out to either side. Inhale, elevate, exhale, drop down, stretching the triceps, inhale up, exhale down. As we exhale, let's bring the hands back down in front of ourselves.
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