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Disclaimer
Anyone who practices the exercises below should do so under the advice of their doctor. And shall not hold the author responsible for any injury caused to them by attempting to follow these directions.
Caution
Anyone with a weak neck or injuries to their neck should be very cautious and when in doubt, please consult with your doctor before carrying out any of these exercises.
If you suffer from stiffness in your neck, shoulders or upper back, then the yoga exercises below may be a good way to remove your stiffness.
Sometimes this stiffness and tension comes about from spending too much time working at a computer, or in a work environment where one is bending over, or in some way building up tension.
The whole idea to to bring in looseness to the area of the neck and upper back, and also to increase your sensitivity to feeling and becoming aware of how these areas feel throughout the day. So you should ideally practice these movements 2 to 4 times each day. That will prevent the tension from building up.
How you do these exercises is most importantThese yoga exercises should be practiced - slowly
- with awareness
- ideally synchronised with the breath
- gently
- sensitively focusing inwards trying to detect what you can feel
- a couple of times a day if one wants to remove pain
- even after the pain goes
They should not be practiced to music, or absent-minded, or with an attitude of 'i have done these 100 times, nothing new.... and now do it as a habit'.
They should always be practiced with heightened awareness. As well as bringing looseness to the area, one is also working with one's awareness... trying to detect what is happening inside as one does each movement.... which muscles are stretching, does the left side of the body feel differently to the right side, today at this moment how does this area feel?
Shoulder rotationFirst one, standing, arms hanging down alongside body relaxed, no tension in arms, and move both shoulders in rotations, inhaling move shoulders up and back, exhale as they move down and then start to move forwards. Very slow, relaxed, but large circles. Awareness on whats happening inside, awareness sometimes exploring whats happening to the shoulder blades, sometimes upper arm muscles, sometimes neck, sometimes upper back. Explore the sensations with your awareness. About 10 rotations 1 direction, then 10 the other.
Moving shoulders forwards and backStand again straight, relaxed, arms down. Try not to bring tension into any part of body but move shoulders forward as if they were moving in front of your chest and coming towards each other as you exhale, then inhale broaden shoulders and bring back behind you again if moving together, opening in the chest, inhaling.
Its not rocket science, be creative ;-)These movements are not exact. Be creative. You are increasing loosening, and awareness.
Swimming front crawlAs if you are swimmming front crawl, but standing arms down, only move shpoulders in a figure of 8. Similar to first movement above, but when one shoulder is forward and up, the other is back and down. hmmmmm maybe you will need to come back and i'll give you individual instruction ;-)
Gradual bend forwards and back upCaution for anyone with whip lash or neck injury
These postures must be done very slowely and gently and ideally in time with a slow deep breath through the nose.
Standing, allowing head to move forward and hang down, and then gradually let weight of head start to guide the upper back to bend forward more.... middle and lower back still up straight but not tense, exhaling as you move forward. Then start to straighten up upper back and finally lift head up, and then start to allow head move back, gently hanging back and allow upper back to arch backwards.
Neck movement, to sideNext movement; Standing straight, only move head and neck. First to the side exhaling right ear comes in direction of right shoulder, allow weioght of head to draw it down for a few seconds while holding breath out... feeling stretch to opposite side of neck. Inhaling back up to centre, and then exhaling down to opposite side.
Neck movement, looking to side over shoulderNext move; As previous, but exhaling look over your right shoulder as if you are looking behind you. Inhaling back to centre, eshaling looking over left shoulder.
Neck movement, head moving forward and backNext move; as above but forward, chin comes down in direction of chest as exhale, inhale back up to centre, and then exhale as very gentlty and slowely and sensitevley allow had to move back, opening up in the chest at the same time.
Neck movement; rotationsThese postures must be done very slowely and gently and ideally in time with a slow deep breath through the nose.
Rotations of head, right ear towards right shoulder, then allowing head move forward chin coming towards chest, then rising up left ear towqards left should and up to centre; 3 times one direction, 3 times other... all done very slowly and sensitively.
Just because these movements are simple, does not mean they are not effectiveThey all sound so simple, that you may discount them. But if you try them for 3 weeks, 3 times per day, (for example, morning, midday, evening) i guarantee you that yur neck will feel loose and without pain like before this tightness started for you.
Awareness improves as time goes onYou will become more aware of tension as you sit at work, so will begin to compensate how you are sitting or how you are leaning over.
If you do strenous sports which may be adding to the tightness or tension, such as bouldering, you bring that heightened awareness to your sport.
So if you are climbing you will begin to relax those muscles that you are not using, and between climbing manouvers, you will relax and conserve your energy.
Recommendation from one person who has benefited from the above movementsi think the key is just to keep doing them regularly, even if there's no pain.
And the secret is ...the real secret is to keep up the daily practice .... and to try not to do it automatically or absent mindedly... but still do it each day with a sense of freshness and interest to see how it is feeling today... and what new things if any you can notice or become aware of today.
And then the awareness will grow and grow, so that at any time during the day when you put any tension into that area, you will become aware of it as you do the posture or movemnet that causes the tension.... and then be able to let it go before it builds up.
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