Yin Yoga for the Shoulders & Arms

Hello yogis, Namaste, and welcome back to our Yin Yoga series for Yoga & You. My name is Pallavi Rajankar, and today we will be stretching out the shoulders and the arms. The Yin Yoga practice is one that is very special to me, especially in today's world, where all of us are being pulled in many different directions, all of us are trying to meet deadlines and take care of a million things, and this Yin Yoga practice essentially allows us to slow down. When I started yoga, running around and doing my inversions, handstands and headstands, were all very easy, because we're constantly running around, but to slow down and to kind of come back to center was quite challenging, and that's what we're going to move into today.

In today's video we're going to need some props, so if you have a yoga block, if you have something like this, you can use it. If you don't have a yoga block, that's also totally alright, you can use a box that's available in your home, you can use a stack of books, whatever is accessible to you, you can bring it. We're also going to need a yoga strap, this is just a strap that I got with my yoga mat, but if you don't have a yoga strap you can also use a towel, you can use a belt, be creative, right, you don't have to be buying these things. So take a minute, just grab whatever you want, and then come meet me here.

Today we're going to start with the shoulders, and I'm going to turn around so that you can see what I'm doing better, right. So for the first pose we're going to allow our right hand to kind of go up to the ceiling, bend at the elbow, right, almost so that your right fingertips are reaching to the back of the shoulder. With the left hand, it's going to go to the back of the room, bend at your left shoulder, see if you can interlace your fingers here and just hold. Okay, if this is something that is not accessible to you, you can very much use a strap, so with your right hand hold one end of the strap, with your left hand hold the other end of the strap, even if you're just here that's fine. As we go through the pose, try moving your hands closer and closer together as you come closer together, right. So hold your pose like this, remember we're not arching into the back, we're staying straight, open through the chest, look up to the ceiling, right elbow kind of moves towards the back. We're just staying here for another four, breathe through it, four, three, back is straight, neck is elongated, gaze is at the front of the room, for two and four. Slowly, carefully release your hands or release the strap, and we're doing the same thing on the opposite side.

Now when we move into our yin poses, one side might feel quite different from the other, and that's okay, right. So this time the left hand goes up to the ceiling, bend at your left elbow, right hand comes behind you, bend at the right elbow, and try to interlace your arms. Remember, if interlacing the hands is not possible, please use your strap, towel, use a belt, whatever is fine, and stay here. As you get more and more comfortable with the counts, see if you can inch your fingertips closer together so that you can eventually hold, maybe even just a tip of your finger, right. So staying here for another four, four, three, roll your left shoulder back, you'll feel the stretch in this left part of the arm, four, two, open the chest out, don't hunch through the back, open it, for two, remembering to breathe, last little breath here, and for one, slowly let go of your hand. If you have tight arm muscles like me, it'll already feel quite sensitive.

Yeah, from here, gently cross your legs, coming onto your knees, coming into your tabletop position. Okay, so just making sure your knees and your hips are in one straight line, your shoulders, elbows and wrists are in one straight line, allow the fingertips to spread wide. And from here, take this right palm, thread it in and through the left hand, and then flow, bringing your right shoulder down to the earth, and right ear also comes down to the earth, imagine like the earth is almost whispering something to you. It feels a deep stretch in the neck and in the hand. Level one, stay here if you're not feeling too much of a stretch. If you want to go one level higher, gently walk your left palm outside so that your left elbow straightens up and stay, you'll stretch quite intensely in this pose, so this is level two. Level three is you can take this left palm and take it around your hip and wedge it just in between your right hip and your thigh, and stay, take one, two, or three, whichever level is comfortable for you. Staying here for another four, look up to the ceiling, four, three, remembering to breathe, for two, last little breath here, go closer to the earth, roll your left shoulder up to the ceiling, and four, one, bringing your left hand back to the earth. Use that left hand to push yourself back, coming back into all fours.

We're doing the exact same thing on the opposite side, right, so take this left hand, thread it in and through the right hand, and then flow, bringing your left shoulder down to the earth. Level one, right hand stays where it is. Level two, right hand goes to the front of the mat, and you can even walk it down to the opposite side of the mat. Once you're here, roll the right hand up to the ceiling so that almost like your shoulder is trying to touch the ceiling, armpit opens up. Or level three, you can even move the right hand, tuck it in between your left thigh and the hip. Staying here for another four, three, four, two, push the right shoulder up, last little breath here, and for one, slowly bring your right hand back to center, push yourself up, coming back into your all fours.

From here you can just move one inch to the back of the mat so that you have more space next to you, in front of you, make sure you have your blocks next to you or your books. From here, gently walk your palms to the very front of the mat, bringing your chest and your chin down to the earth. If this is hard, you can move the block, keep it underneath your chest, one or two blocks, and then rest it down so that it's easier, do one or the other. And staying in this puppy pose for another three, if possible, elbows off the floor, four, two, you feel this deep stretch in the back of the shoulders, last little breath here, and for one, drop the elbows down. Slowly thread your chest in and through your shoulders and look up to the ceiling, feet are relaxed. You'll be in your sphinx pose as you look up to the ceiling, your lower back will also release. Staying here for three, four, two, and for one.

From here, take your block, put it right in front of you, relax your head down to the block, and allow both hands to come on to either side of the mat. Yeah, make sure you have your strap next to you as well. Now from here, left hand will stay exactly where it is, okay, flip it over so that the left arm is facing the ceiling. Use your right hand almost like a stand as you shift your way to the left side of the body, your right foot will come behind your left knee, almost like a cycle stand that you're using, right. Draw a big semicircle with your right hand, try to interlace your fingers behind you, if that's not possible use a strap and hold either end of the strap with your hands, stay here for four. You'll feel this deep stretch in between your shoulders, and keep walking your hands below closer to each other down the strap. Eventually you want to get to a place where you can interlace your fingers, but if you're not there yet, please use a strap. If your fingers are interlacing, get your wrists to touch, for three, for two, and for one. Slowly release the strap, release the interlace with kindness, come back into center. Extend your right hand down just like how it was before, you're basically using this block as a pillow, so rest your head here. Use your left hand to come down to the floor, shift your way to the right side of the body.

Okay, left hand will draw a big semicircle, interlacing your hands, if interlacing your fingers is not possible use a strap, using a strap will look something like this. With time, as you get even more comfortable, walk your hands down the strap, see if your shoulders can come closer together, squeeze your shoulders together, you feel a tightness in between the shoulders, that's where you're supposed to be. Hold it for another three, keep breathing, for two, last little breath here, and release the strap, release the interlace, slowly come back into center. And from here, move the block out, coming back into sphinx.

Now we're going to make an eagle-like shape with our hands, right hand in front of the left, and walk both palms into opposite directions, almost like forming an X with our hands. I'll show you guys very quickly, just like a little bit of a stretch in the front, that's so much more than you can feel in your chest, good enough to slow down. Open your arms, if you're just touching the front of the arms, let us try this a little bit more, for two, last little breath here.

Slowly walking your hands back to the center, and now we're going to switch arms, okay. So right hand comes below, left hand comes on top, walk the palms as much as possible, almost like you're trying to wiggle it out, the front of your arms will come into this X shape. And once you're here, slowly moving the arms, slowly releasing your hand, allowing your chest to come back down to the earth, palms going to either side of your chest. From here, lift the chest off the floor, coming into your upward facing dog, exhaling, curling the toes, lifting the knees off the floor, downward facing dog, and then slowly bring your knees back to center and rest your hips down.

Thank you so much for sharing this second practice with me, yogis. In today's episode we focused on our shoulders and our arms, and in the next episode we're going to move into our chest, belly and back. I hope to see you there, Namaste, and thank you.