Alright, hello everyone! This is Tutu Mora with the Y bringing you
tools to feel well in your body, mind and spirit.
So, today we're going to be opening up the chest,
creating some more movement in the thoracic spine. And this is a space where
a lot of people can be really stuck just because of the nature
of our modern lifestyle, right? However, when this
space in our spine doesn't move, it means that
this and our low back starts to take on a little bit of that
labor. So, freeing up some space in this area is going to help relieve
pressure in the neck and in the low back. So, today we're going to be using a
couple props to help us do this. And we're just going
to take about five minutes to open up this space, so we can breathe a little
bit easier and go about the rest of our day
just feeling a little bit better, right? So, what we're going to need
is - I'm going to be using this kind of squishy
orange ball here. It's about the size of an orange.
It's called a Franklin ball, however you can easily recreate this at home
by balling up maybe two pairs of socks or maybe a thick pair of wool
socks - something that's going to be about the size of an orange
and isn't going to collapse right, right away when you
put your weight on it. So we're going to need that
or and, sorry, and you're going to need a yoga block or a
firm pillow to rest your head on. So, go ahead and collect those
items and what we're going to do is we're going to rest our head
on the block, lying down, and for the ball, or your balled up pair of socks, we're
going to be placing that right between
the shoulder blades. So, the ball is going to rest directly on the spine,
kind of right behind your sternum, and when we're lying down I'll give you
an extra cue just to check and make sure that ball is placed correctly. Now,
of course, this is always an invitation to just kind of experience your body in
a new way. So, if anything feels a little bit uncomfortable, you are more than
welcome to remove that and do the exercises without the props -
they're still going to be helpful. Okay. So, without the ball yet -
let's set that right to the side, including the block - we're just going to
lie down without any props. I'm going to tilt the screen down so
you'll be able to see my body here.
Alright. So,
just laying down here, feet about hip distance apart,
let's just start by taking a little scan of our body and by doing this we're
going to do a pelvic curl. So, really just letting
your tailbone scoop
up towards the back your knees, pelvis kind of
just tilts and then we're going to bring that back to what's called a neutral pelvis.
And so, let's take that back and forth a couple times, just
noticing how it feels. So, what tightness do you notice?
Maybe you notice that your shoulders feel like they're really involved in
this movement or it just feels, maybe, like
you're simply thrusting your hips forward and
there isn't a whole lot of fluidity to the movement. So, whatever that is, just
noticing - it's just feedback for you.
And so then, as you're here, we're going to
move towards the props. So, just as we talked about,
I'm going to have you take your ball, or your balled up socks, we're going to
place them right between the shoulder blades. So, right
behind the sternum and head is going to rest on the block.
So, go ahead and place that, that ball, once again, we want it directly on the spine,
sitting right between the shoulder blades. So, if you're not sure
how this is placed or if it's correct, go ahead and bring your arms up,
fingertips towards the ceiling. And what you want to feel is like your
shoulder blades are just hugging around the ball. So, find
out where that is for you. Right behind the sternum, little scapular
hug of the shoulder blade. And when you've found that, making sure
your block is resting your head, let's just bring the arms down to rest
on the mat. So, taking a few breaths, just like this,
letting your spine feel like, like it's just widening and relaxing
over the ball, or over your socks.
And then let's go back and take a couple pelvic curls here.
Just taking a few, maybe noticing where you try to put
pressure into the ball with your sternum as you curl. Maybe you notice that
pressure right away, which is just an indication of a little
tightness, a little immobility. And so, just taking that feedback in.
Let's take one more here.
And now let's try to take a curl without
putting any pressure onto the ball, which is going to be a little tricky and
maybe your range is super small, and that is okay.
Let's take one or two more, just feeling into what that could be
to take that curl without putting pressure into
the ball behind your sternum.
And then, you can let your pelvis rest in its neutral pelvis.
We're going to bring the arms up, fingertips towards the ceiling here.
And I'm going to have you make a little okay sign
with your hands here. So, through both hands.
Now, keeping that width around the ball, let's
open the arms out into a "T." And now, this will feel like a pretty big
stretch because the ball is there. The ball is there helping us to create
space and movement in the spine. So, if you reach a place where you're like - "Oh,
that feels like it's getting stuck." - let that be the end of your range and
bring those arms all the way back in.
So, we're going to move down to the thumb and the middle finger here on both hands.
Again, opening, keeping that width as if the shoulder blades are widening away
from the ball.
Opening until you feel that feeling of - "Oh, I don't think I can
open out anymore." - and then bring everything back in.
We're next going to move down to the thumb and the ring finger.
I'm just opening.
Breathing here.
And then lastly, the thumb and the pinky. Opening, once again, breathing through the
sides of the rib cage to help you create width.
You might notice that you have an even shorter range
on this one, and that's okay.
So, we're going to do just a couple more things with the arms, here, to open up the
chest. So the first thing, we're just going to
reach both arms overhead, keeping the bottom of the
ribcage firmly planted onto the mat. And so,
you'll notice it's almost like we're taking this into a little back
extension because the ball is here. A little reach away through the back of
the armpit at the bottom and then heavy through the shoulders as
you bring everything back up.
So, really letting the lower body just remain firmly planted.
No, no real helping in this movement. So, once again, let's do this two more
times. Bottom of the ribcage stays firmly planted on the mat as you take
the arms up and overhead.
Breathing wide through the sides of the ribcage, a little reach away
through the bottom of the armpit.
Last one.
And then, last movement here. One arm is going to come overhead
as the other arm floats down to the mat. And we're going to get a little reach
away in opposite directions here. Keeping that
width around the ball heavy through those shoulders as you switch sides.
Find that little reach away.
And we'll take two more sets here and then we're going to remove the ball.
Last set.
And then go ahead and rest those arms back down.
Let's go ahead and remove that block from behind our head and you can remove
the ball from behind your sternum, resting it back down. And let's just rest
all of you back down on the mat, feeling that space you created, let's
take another pelvic curl. Noticing how that's shifted. Maybe you've
got way more availability to take that
pelvic curl. Maybe it just feels a lot more spacious
in the upper body. So after that curl, let's rest that
pelvis back down, slowly go ahead and come up and off here.
And let's take a little stand up and just feel
how that chest feels after that ball has given you a little
space in the thoracic spine. Maybe take a deep breath here. Feel how
much space there is to take in oxygen. And feel free to return to this whenever
you need a minute just to kind of create some space there.
So, I hope you found this supportive and I'll see you back here next time on the
Y's YouTube channel. Take Care