3 Simple Yoga Poses to Ease Neck and Shoulder Pain
Whether you’re a new mum who’s got tension in her neck and shoulders from hours of feeding your little one or carrying them around, or you are a more seasoned mum who has tightness and tension due to computer work, teen stress, or menopause aches and pains here are 3 simple yoga poses that can help to ease your pain.
1 - EAGLE ARMS - this is a great stretch to open up the back of your shoulders and can be done seated or standing. Take a nice inhale and stretch your arms out wide. As you exhale bring your left arm over the top of your right arm and give yourself a little hug, dropping your chin as you pause here for a moment. Keeping your left arm on top of your right lift your forearms straight up so that the back of your right fingers touch the back of your left hand. If it feels good you can bring your right hand around your left so that the front of your fingers touch your left palm. Keep your chin dipped and your shoulders down. Take a few slow breaths here, then release and repeat on the other side.
OPTIONS: a) you can choose to stay in the initial ‘hug’ position if that feels more comfortable. b) if having your palms together feels good you can try gently lifting your arms up and down, moving with your breath to deepen the stretch. Play around with what feels good and remember to listen to your body.
2 - GENTLE HALF-HEAD ROLL - unlike a traditional head/neck roll which can cause neck issues in some people this ‘half-head roll’ is super gentle but very effective. You can do this either seated or standing. Have your arms down by your side, with your spine tall and your shoulders soft. Tuck your chin into your chest and pause for a moment to enjoy the stretch in the back of your neck, making sure your shoulders stay down and don’t start moving up towards your ears. Slowly roll your left ear towards your left shoulder until you feel a nice stretch - if you feel any pain, back off a little until you can just feel a gentle stretch. Hold for a moment and then roll back to the centre, pause, and then roll your right ear towards your right shoulder. Repeat.
3 - SHOULDER ROLLS - simple is usually best when it comes to mobility and easing pain and these shoulder rolls are super simple and highly effective. Again you can do these seated or standing. Keep your spine relaxed but nice and tall. Place your hands on your shoulders, making sure they are relaxed and not up towards your ears. Take a couple of breaths here, using the exhale to soften your shoulders even more. Keeping your hands on your shoulders slowly start to draw circles with your elbows. You can play around with making small circles, then bigger and bigger ones that really reach as far as you can go in every direction. Then move back to smaller circles again, paying attention to how your body feels with each movement. Keep breathing nice and slowly. When you’ve done several in one direction switch and make your circles in the other direction, again playing around with giant circles and smaller ones and noticing how they feel. You could also explore how it feels when you keep your neck long and when you dip your chin a little.
You can choose to do just one of these stretches or do all 3 in a mini-flow that only needs to take 5 minutes or so. Why not challenge yourself to see how often you can add one or more of these moves into your day as ‘mini-movement snacks’.
TOP TIP: these moves are great to do anytime you’ve been sitting for a while e.g. feeding a baby, driving, working on the computer, binge-watching Netflix, etc. Just a few minutes a day can make a huge difference in relieving neck and shoulder pain and keeping them tension free. Give them a try and let me know how you get on.
