Hey all – Courtney here. We’ve been talking about posture over here the last couple of weeks and I thought today I would give you guys a little visual of some ideas to incorporate into your own routines at home. I know it can feel like there isn’t even time to BREATHE during the day, let alone find time to get into a yoga class. As much as we love our yoga here – it can be easy to forget that even just 5-10 mins of some movement and breath can make SUCH a difference.
Below is a video to go over some of my favorite stretches that are quick but very effective in helping out the tension in our shoulders, mid back, and hips, in turn helping the tug of war between the front and back and stress the nervous system is under, that essentially effects our posture.
Cat Cow – this one is great because it targets the mid back, diaphragm/psoas, and the hips as well with some gentle movement and stretch of the front and back of the body, and breathe filling the ribcage 360* as much as is comfortable.
Thread the Needle – this one opens up the front a little bit before weaving your arm through your body and arm, sitting your hips back like child’s pose, you will feel it around the outside of your shoulder blade and down the side of your back. I often find the bottom angle of the shoulder blade stuck down! If it is stuck down that means it is not moving well – this area needs to be able to move in order for the ribcage to expand when filling with breath.
Thoracic Openers/Book Openers – *USE A PILLOW TO SUPPORT HEAD*….. Clearly I forgot my pillow. 🙂 I really enjoy these, they are great for opening up the front of the chest and can really help when I am feeling very stiff in my mid back.
Psoas Release with chair/bed/couch/etc – This is a very nice/easy release for the hip flexors/psoas, when laying down this position allows (with some time depending how tight it is) the Psoas to have some slack. This also helps release other areas that sometimes help Psoas or other postural muscles. I often feel my quads/ IT bands let go, and many feel their glutes and low back release with this as well. 10-15 mins with slow breath, lengthening exhale or using Hum and swallow breath. *Always listen to your body, if something becomes uncomfortable after 5-8 mins then get out of it at that point, and as you do this more you may notice you will be able to eventually work towards the 10-15 mins.*
Simple Chest Opener/Pec Stretch
– Grab your foam roller, or large bath towel and roll it up so you can lay over it. Lay your arms out to your sides in a Y or a T for a gentle stretch. If having it up in a Y position is not comfortable or pulls, bring it down some.
Do you know?…..where your ball is?
That’s right! Your ball can be a great tool to help with keeping your body feeling at it’s best and to help release the fascia tension that is created sometimes from how we use our bodies throughout the day.
3 KEY AREAS IN UPPER BODY
Mid back area/over diaphragm/T9ish – Even though our diaphragm is on the under/inside of our ribcage, often times I still find a lot of tension over the back area over both sides of the spine in that area of the diaphragm, this can help improve tension wrapped around ribcage and also improve breath capacity.
In between shoulder blades – often when the pecs are very tight from the pulling on the front of the body, the rhomboids and traps often like to pull back trying to help even things out but the pecs end up being the winners, but the rhomboids still continue to try anyway. This is why we usually feel the pain in our shoulders and back, and not on the front of the body! Having the ball under you also in turn helps open up the front of the chest as well.
Laying on your side, over side of ribcage/bra line – most people get very stuck in this spot, there’s some muscles that overlap each other, and should glide and expand open when we take a good 360* breath, but when this area is stuck, it can’t glide and open up to take as nice of a breath as it could! Can you see how this is way more than just looks?
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