Hello, everyone. Tutu Mora here with The Y bringing you tools to feel
well in your body, mind and spirit. So, today, we are going to focus on opening
the chest, because when we are overwhelmed or there's a lot going on to
deal with, we can almost find that we collapse in a little bit protecting our
more vulnerable spaces, which can make it hard to take in the oxygen that we need
to keep our bodies healthy and strong. So, today, we're gonna focus on opening that
chest, realigning that posture, so we can take in the oxygen that our body needs.
All you'll need today is a thera-band or a pair of yoga pants—anything that has
like a little bit of give to it. And my thera-band is almost a Y branded color
here. Okay. So, you can set your thera-band aside somewhere handy for now. We won't
need that until later and I'll just have you begin standing here with your feet
hip-distance apart, and let's just land in our body a little bit. We'll
start by doing a roll down, tucking the chin, articulating down the spine, only
going as far as feels good for your body, so stopping wherever you feel any
tension or tightness, just using this movement as information, taking a scan
of where you're holding tension in your body. Okay. So, we're gonna start here
first by just bringing the arms out to the side. So, you'll take a second to
bring your shoulders down and away from the ears. Very common for people to brace—
right brace—like this when things are feeling really stressful,
to brace. So, let those shoulders relax, arms out to the side, gentle flex in the
hands as if you're pushing two walls away from one another.
Reaching through the heel of that hand and breathing into this space
almost as if your breath could swirl into those spaces that are feeling extra
tight. And then, we'll just curl those fingers in, rotate the wrists, opening
back out. And we'll take this again.
And then from here, we're gonna just take this into a side bend.
So, really keeping the hands flexed, as if you're now gonna push the floor and the
ceiling away and bringing a little bit of a gentle side bend in. Switching here.
One more time to each side.
Okay. So, before we grab our thera-band, I just want to bring your attention to
your posture. So, the posture that we want to strengthen and open up is going to be
an aligned posture, so I want you to feel as though (when you're standing straight
and tall) that your heart is almost on a string up to the ceiling. So, a gentle
lift upwards through the heart. So, not out as if you're flaring that
rib cage. It's more of an up towards the ceiling. And then from there,
bringing your throat slightly behind your heart, and now this may feel awkward,
but that awkward feeling should give you an indication of perhaps how maybe
collapsed or slumped your posture was before. So, really just finding that for
you and then holding on to that. And you're gonna grab your thera-band or
your pair of yoga pants, whatever you have gotten handy for yourself today,
and you're gonna find that posture. And from here, keeping those shoulders down and
away from the ears, you're just going to gently open that
band and close it. And so, it can be tempting to move really quickly, but
we're moving slowly so that we can be mindful of our posture, mindful of that
heart on that little string up towards the ceiling, throat behind the heart,
shoulders down and away from the ears.
And as you're doing this, you might even notice your low belly and abdominals turn
on to help you, which is exactly what we want. Those are the muscles that help you
stay upright. We're strengthening those muscles, so we can maintain this posture
in our day to day lives. Okay. So now, if you need a little break, you
can wiggle out your shoulders a little bit. And we're going to take this up a
notch just a little bit. So, we're gonna open that band, maintaining that posture,
taking that band up. And then, we're going to take it behind the head before taking
it back up, down and closing that band. So, as you do, you might be tempted to open the
band, flare the ribs out, maybe move the head forward, but see if you can avoid
doing that, keeping that alignment in your posture. So, I'll stand to the side so you
can see. And only going so fast or slow as you can keep that alignment.
So, it's not going to be worthwhile if you take this quickly and you strengthen
the posture that you maybe are trying to change. So, let's take this a couple times
here, nice and slow, opening that chest as if your heart
could now just breathe a little bit more,
closing that here. And we'll take that one more time, opening that band.
Okay. So, you can set that band aside for now. We're just gonna get rid of a little
bit more tension here. So, I would welcome you just to stick out one hand—
I'm starting here with the left side—and find that space where you feel the most
stretch all the way down this line here. So, you might need to take your hand out
a little bit more, maybe in front of you or towards the back. That's definitely
where I feel my more intense stretch. So, wherever that space is for you, finding
that. And now, give yourself a little reach through all your fingers. So, as if
you were going to shoot little laser beams out of all your fingers here. And
then, you're going to slowly bring your ear towards that stretched out arm,
deepening that stretch. And now, bringing your head back to center, we're going to
take that to the opposite side. So now, really feeling that stretch and let's
hold and breathe, reaching through those fingertips. And we'll take that head in
little circles here, keeping your ear towards that opposite shoulder. And going
nice and slow, so you can really lean into that stretch, lean into those spaces
in your circle that feel like the most stretch. And then, we'll reverse that
circle here.
Bringing your head back to center. Continue with those laser fingers. Your
fingers might be starting to feel a little tingly with that stretch, but
you're gonna bring—rotating your head to look at that side, deepening your stretch.
And now, bringing your head back to center, we're gonna rotate the opposite
way. Feel in that stretch now, nice deep breath, head back to center. And let that
arm go. It probably feels super long. You might feel really tingly through the
fingers, because it is such a big stretch. Let's take this to the other side, so
find that space. And you might notice one side feels more tight than the other, which
is normal. So, finding that spot, maybe it's behind you, in front of you, out
further. Wherever that is, just start to deepen that stretch. Find those little
laser-beam fingers. And bringing your ear towards that side, you're gonna just
deepen that stretch, deepen that feeling of shooting the laser beams out of your
fingers, before now, we're gonna bring that ear towards the opposite shoulder,
really feeling that stretch. Deep breath into that. And then, we'll take that into
our little head circles here, keeping your ear towards that opposite shoulder,
and really letting yourself feel into those spaces that are tight. So, the side
that we hold our phone on, the side that we hold a purse on, our dominant side,
that's usually going to be the tightest. Let's reverse those circles.
Head back to center. You're gonna rotate the head to look at that hand, deepen
that stretch, before now, taking that head back to center, and to the other side,
reaching through those fingers, shoulders down and away from the ears, deep breath,
and head back to center, letting that arm go. So, take a minute
here now and just feel into your posture. How are you standing compared to how you
were standing before? Hopefully you feel a little bit more upright. Maybe you're
able to breathe a little bit easier. But I hope that you found this supportive
and I'll see you back here next time on The Y's YouTube channel with more tips
to stay feeling well in your body, mind and spirit.
Take care.