ashtanga yoga tight shoulders

[Guest guest]

I have the same problem, but it's gotten much better

with time, patience and careful work.

 

The thing about joints is this: you have a ball inside

a cup. If there is a stick attached to the ball, the

stick will only move around according to how wide the

cup is. Some shoulders, hips, ect. only go so far

until bone is hitting bone. Then there is muscle,

tendon, fascia, ect., all of which can be stretched to

a point.

 

Two things will help you get use of your full range of

motion: 1) regular yoga practice (astanga style is

BEST for opening shoulders!!) 2)the following

excercise is hard to explain via e-mail, but I will do

my best. Find a chair which has a seat about

knee-height, no higher. Kneel in front of it, and

cross your arms, hands touching elbows. Place the arms

in this position on the edge of the chair and rest the

forehead on the forearms. Walk your knees back until

the back is flat. Gently hold this stretch for 30

seconds or so, first with right arm on top, then with

left. Breathe deeply and focus on letting go. You may

want some padding under the knees.

 

If you do this every day, as I did, you will find the

shoulders opening up considerably. But as I said,

joints have limits, so don't try to force it, just let

go and you will gain your natural potential.

 

pranams,

 

Brianna

 

--- 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

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

lean on the wall - with your hands about a foot higher than your head placed

on the wall and look down to the floor between your hands. Than push down

with your body as much as it feels comfortable and hold for a while or make

slight rocking moves towards the floor.

 

You can try doing this also with your hands on the top of the door frame and

pushing your body forward like you'd want to walk in the room in front of

you. Same with opening shoulders to the side, put your arms on the side

frame of your door and push forward with your body, while firmly holding

hands in place on the door frame.

 

Needless to say, you should relax your shoulders and arms completely, same

with your face and neck as soon as you feel the tension in your muscles,

stop, take a deep breath and exhale that tension. It works best with your

eyes closed, so you can focus on your feelings in the shoulders and

surrounding area.

 

jana

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 4/22/04 3:36 PM, "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

Links

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