• Student Management System
  • Yoga Sequence Builder
  • About Olga
  • Private yoga sessions
  • Virtual Yoga Studio
  • Body Map
  • FAQs
  • Contact
  • Sign up
  • Log in

Sequence Wiz

Every yoga practice must have purpose, order and meaning

  • yoga for your body
  • yoga for your energy
  • yoga for your mind
  • How to design a practice
  • Sequencing basics
  • Teaching tips
  • Yoga “snacks”
  • teachers’ stories

One simple move to loosen up your shoulders

2
  • by olgakabel
  • in yoga for your body
  • — 16 Mar, 2016

There are many suggestions on the internet on how to “loosen up the shoulders”. Most of them boil down to bringing the shoulders through the full range of motion: do several flexion-extension moves, few adduction-abduction moves, some internal rotation, some external rotation and some combinations of the above. Many yoga teachers do those at the beginning of their classes as well. There is nothing wrong with that, but you might end up having limited success with those because

A. Moving the arm without moving the spine is not nearly as effective
B. In real life we rarely do “pure” anatomical movements (ex: pure flexion or pure extension). We usually move the arms along complex trajectories that involve different combinations of more basic motions. That’s why when we attempt to “loosen up the shoulders” it makes sense to do more complex, integrative movements.

What if I told you that there is one move that combines ALL of the anatomical shoulder movements and brings the shoulder through the full range of motion? Any time you feel your shoulders tightening or your neck tensing, all you have to do is add this move to 2-3 yoga poses and you’ll be all set!

First let’s take a look at the kind of movement that’s possible in your shoulders.

Shoulder Motions

You could theoretically work with each one of those movements individually, OR you could combine them into the following move – side arm sweep. Let’s analyze this motion.

SideArmSweepWe begin with the arm folded behind the back, which places your shoulder into extension, adduction and internal rotation. When you sweep the arm out to the side you move through abduction (away form the body), then external rotation (to turn the palm up), then flexion (when the arm arrives at the top) with slight external rotation (since the palm is facing in). On the way down we are reversing the process, moving through adduction (toward the midline) – extension (behind you) – internal rotation (folding the arm behind the back). To take it even further you can try reaching toward the opposite shoulder blade with your fingertips. As you can see, we just took the shoulder through the full range of motion. On top of that, if you turn your head to look at your hand when the arm is up, and turn the head away from the moving arm on the way down, you will also alternately stretch and strengthen the muscles on the side of your neck that bind the shoulder girdle to the cervical spine and your head, which will help loosen up the neck in addition to your shoulder.

Try this movement by itself and you will feel the impact it has on your shoulders and neck. If you add this movement to other yoga poses, you will also involve the rest of your spine. This will make the effect even more pronounced, especially if you add it to the variety of spinal movements (forward bend, back bend, lateral bend). For example, Vajrasana, Trikonasana and Ardha Salabhasana work great for that (videos below).

View

Mar 16

Open
This version of Vajrasana is so simple, yet so effective for loosening up the neck, shoulders, lower back and hips. Check out my blog post today about this side-sweeping arm motion- it's very useful for the shoulders! #yoga #shoulders #vajrasanaAdaptations #armsweepadaptation #forwardbend

This version of Vajrasana is so simple, yet so effective for loosening up the neck, shoulders, lower back and hips. Check out my blog post today about this side-sweeping arm motion- it's very useful for the shoulders! #yoga #shoulders #vajrasanaAdaptations #armsweepadaptation #forwardbend ...

64 13

View

Aug 26

Open
This is one of my favorite versions of Utthita Trikonasana that I call "the arm sweep". It is excellent for relieving tension in the neck because here you alternately contract and stretch the muscles of the neck one side at a time. Important point: when the arm is over the head, the elbow crease should be pointing down, otherwise you can stress the shoulder. #yoga #LateralBends #UtthitaTrikonasanaAdaptations #armSweepAdaptation

This is one of my favorite versions of Utthita Trikonasana that I call "the arm sweep". It is excellent for relieving tension in the neck because here you alternately contract and stretch the muscles of the neck one side at a time. Important point: when the arm is over the head, the elbow crease should be pointing down, otherwise you can stress the shoulder. #yoga #LateralBends #UtthitaTrikonasanaAdaptations #armSweepAdaptation ...

35 2

View

Mar 15

Open
This is my all-time-favorite version of Salabhasana. It is excellent for loosening up the shoulders and relieving neck tension. It also helps to stabilize the lower back and gives a bit of a stretch to the hip flexors. In short, it is invaluable after all that computer work 😄 #salabhasanaadaptations #backbends #shoulders #neck #hips #yoga #armSweepAdaptation

This is my all-time-favorite version of Salabhasana. It is excellent for loosening up the shoulders and relieving neck tension. It also helps to stabilize the lower back and gives a bit of a stretch to the hip flexors. In short, it is invaluable after all that computer work 😄 #salabhasanaadaptations #backbends #shoulders #neck #hips #yoga #armSweepAdaptation ...

63 4

Add some simple forward bends in between for compensation and you got yourself a short straightforward yoga practice that it very effective for loosening up the shoulders and neck. So next time you spend a bit too much time on your computer or mobile device, give it a try and see how it makes your shoulders feel. Keep in mind though, that it will not work for everyone. If you have trouble sweeping the arm all the way up, you might need to limit the range of motion to begin with. Also, for persistent shoulder pain and tension this might not be enough, since in those cases we usually need to strengthen the structures surrounding the shoulder girdle as well.

Check out this full yoga practice for the neck and shoulders utilizing the side-sweeping motion. Give it a try and let me know how it feels!

horizontalBar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

 

Tags: yoga for shouldersrange of motionshoulder tensionloosen up the shoulders

You may also like...

  • Four easy ways to train your balance for daily life 27 Apr, 2016
  • How to prepare for “pelvic opening” poses 16 Sep, 2015
  • 20 superposes that carry maximum benefit with minimum risk 7 Dec, 2016
  • Three ways to protect your shoulders in your daily life and yoga practice 2 Mar, 2016

2 Comments

  1. MELANIE weschler says:
    March 25, 2016 at 12:30 am

    Looking forward to your monthly informative newsletter

    Reply
  2. L.A. Paveling says:
    March 25, 2016 at 10:57 pm

    I also look forward to receiving the newsletter.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Previous story How to heal your shoulder by working around it
  • Next story Two fundamentally different ways to do Bridge pose
  • Securely store and easily manage all your records about classes and students

  • Create effective yoga practices online using customizable stick figure images

  • Just added to home yoga practice app

  • Unearth your inner joy

  • MAXIMIZE THE EFFECT OF YOUR PRACTICE

  • Reignite your home yoga practice

  • Check out our home yoga practice app

  • GET OUR BEST STORIES
    in a monthly newsletter
  • SAVE ON SEQUENCE WIZ MEMBERSHIP

  • Popular posts

    • 20 superposes that carry maximum benefit with minimum risk

    • “Why is my balance not improving?”: 7 ways to troubleshoot your balance training

    • Three ways to protect your shoulders in your daily life and yoga practice

    • How do you know what a yoga pose is meant to accomplish?

    • Let go of the iHunch: Improve your posture yoga practice

    • How to lengthen your spine without strain

    • Four steps to minimize the stress placed on the intervertebral disks

    • Vital Vagus: What is the vagus nerve and what does it do?

    • 3 types of pain in the butt and what you can do about it

    • Too many asymmetrical poses can create sacroiliac joint issues

    • Rolling up from a standing forward bend can damage your spine

  • Archives

        © Copyright 2013-2020 Sequence Wiz - resources for yoga teachers and yoga enthusiasts | Privacy Policy