welcome today the majority of us have a lifestyle that closes off the body daily
tasks like standing or sitting long hours working out running after the kids
hunching over our phones all of this often plays a role in our posture how we
feel physically and emotionally and how we breathe when the body is closed off
we feel stressed not only physically but emotionally as well creating anxiety and
anger unable to function at our best this pose I'm going to show you today
will help open the chest upper back shoulders to help counteract our daily
habits to help you feel and move your best for this pose you will need a yoga
block or as shown here a tightly rolled up towel or blanket that you can fit
along the spine let's begin place your block or rolled up towel behind you
come to your forearms and use your hands to adjust the prop as you begin to lay
back until the crown of your head rests on the mat
you
if the head doesn't quite reach the mat yet or it feels a bit too intense
feel free to place a pillow or prop under the head for some extra height
wherever you are here straighten the legs begin to allow the body to melt
over the block full inhale
exhales sighing out any tension within the shoulders the neck the upper back
just be surrendering even if it's just for one moment even a millisecond just
be enjoy allow here it's completely normal that when the
body is tight to want to pull away from the pose or tense up clench up it is our
human nature when we are on our backs or in a vulnerable position that we want to
clench or tense do your best here to utilize your exhales to sigh out all
that tension softening the body again even just for one moment surrendering
here with a slow gentle inhales and exhales no forcing
just allowing the breath to flow in and out at a nice gentle pace
option to rest here if this is enough for you you do not have to go any
further or deepen the posture really listen to the body be kind to the body
however if you'd like to go deeper go ahead and grab opposite wrists along the
belly to add a little more weight over the block
you can play around here if this feels good you can stay here or you can deepen
the posture a little more by grabbing the opposite elbows and taking an
overhead
again playing here see what feels good you can also take the elbows in line
with these shoulders for cactus arms this is quite an intense chest opener so
if you are just beginning this posture I advise you stay exactly where you feel
most comfortable
when you're ready gently come to your forearms and remove the block come back
to resting on your back you can to hug the knees to chest give yourself a big
squeeze here nice big hug
you
option to stay still finding some stillness here or begin to rock side to
side giving the back a nice little massage
release the feet to the mat allowing your knees to fall inwards resting
against each other
nice deep inhales here with your exhales softening the upper back shoulders no
attention here just be taking a moment to soak in the work that you did notice
your breath just observe how it's flowing in and out maybe it's easier
maybe there's no difference just yet just observe
when you're ready roll to your right side
slowly come to seated
take a nice big inhale hands coming up overhead
exhale heart center thank you for joining namaste
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you