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shoulder and UPPER back,,, please stretch,,,,,,,,,,ahhhhh!!
please please please has anyone got any tips on stretching upper back and shoulders, my middle and lower back is quite flexy and i think it overcompensates when i’m stretching my back,, ? i really want to focus on shoulder and upper body more,, any tips and tricks any veeners have for this i’d be well happy 🙂 xox
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17 Replies
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One stretch I do is like an Upward Dog, but with the pole between my legs. To start, you can place one hand on the floor on the centre line of your body, then push up and twist so you can reach the pole with your other arm, above your head (cup grip, thumb down). Gently square your shoulders to the front again. As you gain shoulder flexibility, you can work toward reaching your second arm to the pole as well. When you get comfortable there (in a Dove position), you can gently press your chest forward to deepen the stretch… and then to get extreme, start with your crotch further away from the pole!! Please let me know if that made sense 😉
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I’m doing the wall stretch on the picture, have you tried that? Bridge is also a very efficient shoulder stretch if you push your chest out. I’m not totally sure what you mean by upper back, since the spine practically can’t arch where the rib cage is.
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thanks mulan it does make sense yes, i’ll give that a go!! not seen that one b4 lina, i’ll definitely try that one, i do the pigeon pose quite a lot and i just cant seem to get my elbows pointing up and straight to the ceiling?? so thats the bit i’m struggling with loads,, does that make sense? i guess i’m not exactly sure what i’m doing wrong, i’ll take a picture and post it tomo and hopefully you can give me some feedback? 🙂 xx
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Bexboo: Please post the picture, I’ll have a look for sure!
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heres a picy Lina,, i’m not sure what i should be working on ? i can get my leg up quite far, but getting my head and neck back further and more arched is really hard? does that mean its my neck thats inflexible , can you see what i should be concentrating on? x
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it just feels my arms will never reach my foot , foot to head maybe but never hands on it,, 🙁
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Thanks for the pic bexboo! Let’s start from that. It looks like that for you to reach your feet with this rope-method, you’ll really need to lean more backwards. With other words, you’ll need to bend your whole back more.
I’ve not worked with ropes, but I hope they are not just “fooling” you to just try to move your hands and pull your leg while not bending your back. Maybe it’s keeping me from seeing your full potential, I’m not sure.
Have you tried other ways to work with this, I mean other ways to reach feet to head and hands to feet?There are two ways I have in mind. I don’t know if they’ll work for you or not, it depends on how flexy you actually are. If you have tried them lateley and they didn’t work, then you’re obviously not ready for those ways, but if you have not tried, I’d suggest that you do.
The first one is when you grab your back foot with the same hand (in your case right foot and hand) from the side and then turn the shoulder so that the elbow points upward instead. If possible you can bring your foot to your head. I’m doing it at 2:18 in this video. I’m adding the other hand also, but you can skip that. I’m in the splits but you can keep the pigeon leg position.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb4TnHrcB5oThe second one is when you pick your back foot again with the same hand. Not so important how you hold it, the purpose is just to bring your foot close to your body in order to be able to grab it from there with the opposite hand instead. That means that you’ll need to cross your chest with that opposite arm to reach your foot with the hand. From there, you’ll put the right hand back on the floor and bring the other arm (which hand is now holding the foot) over your head. I’ve got a video also for that but unfortunately the very first part when I’m pulling the leg towards me with the right hand was cut out. Hopefully you’ll understand it anyway. It’s at 0:22 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeZKvbGrVtY
So these were alternative ways to be able to hold your feet in the pigeon, ask if something is unclear!
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My shoulder especially my left one is not very flexible and hurts when I’m in a Dove position or the pigeon pose, not sure if it’s all these years doing twisted grip lifts tho as my left shoulder bared all the weight!
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@Lina Spiralyne you are my bendy idol!!!
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that pigeon pose is definitely more of a backbend than an upper back stretch i think. (although it’s all important and connected)
I also struggle with shoulder and upper back flexibility and have found that the wall stretch that Lina posted has been amazing. I have made so much progress with it, and it can get so deep. -
Bexboo do you have the lessons? There are stretches for the shoulders and back in the stretching section. If you want a stretch as in away to get between the shoulder bladed then doing the Reverse Bridge would feel nice. If you’re looking to improve back mobility (for ARCHING the back) then look at then begin by looking at the Cobra stretch lesson and go from there https://www.studioveena.com/lessons/view/4de794f2-2bc4-4e78-938c-53a40ac37250 all lessons are in order so starting with that one will lead you into many more mobility lessons for the upper and lower back and shoulder! One of my favorite shoulder stretches is the up and over!
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@megsmith: You make me so happy saying that :):). I read in some thread about your torn hammies, and I’m sorry about that. Just take care of them and finally you’ll be back at where you were before. I’ve had setbacks as well and it does suck with a big S. You’re active and working on strength as well which will help you recover I’m sure.
@michaelaarghh: I’m in line with you there. In this form the pigeon will not target anything above the lower back too easily. Once the foot is reached and it’s possible to start straightening the arm(s) and lower the leg back towards the floor it will be another story. But then we’re already getting advanced in our backbending.
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Lina, your back end videos are so good to watch, definitely inspiration for me to try harder and consistently now! When you are in back ends, how do you get your head to look so far back? For example, say I was to be in cobra pose, when I try to extend my neck to look back, I feel as if it goes nowhere and the same in bridges my head will be fairly in line with my arms (see picture as I can’t explain this easily!). I don’t know how to stretch to extend it further or if maybe I’m not doing certain techniques? I also struggle in pigeon pose so I’m going to try out the tips above!
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Thanks sooo much for the advice! its really appreciated!! i’m all motivated to give everything a go! thanks veena i’m not on lessons no, but its on my birthday pressie list next month to get them 😉 xoxo
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@Lucyr118 I have never really paid attention to if my head looks far back, but I’m trying to be very relaxed in the neck all the time when doing cobra etc. And also, if the whole back bends more, the head will follow and look further back I guess. I’ve not worked specificly with the neck until very recently. Just now I did something very similar to this (hope the link works) https://www.facebook.com/165249780154439/photos/pb.165249780154439.-2207520000.1395617431./646784128667666/?type=3&theater
Maybe you can try that? It’s a passive stretch that you can stay in for a while and be relaxed in.
In the bridge you will have to actively lift your head up, but it’s not so easy in that postion!
@bexboo: You’re welcome:)
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