Upper Body

arms behind back
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale raise your arms above your head
  • On an exhale bring your arms behind your back and interlace your fingers
  • Having the arms bent with your hands at the small of your back roll your shoulders back and down
  • If you have the ROM to you can start to bring your arms towards straight and your hands away from your back

chatarunga
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from either high pushup
  • On an exhale keeping your elbows tucked in towards the ribs slowly lower yourself down towards the ground by bending through the elbows while keeping the core engaged and the spine long
  • You can do this pose with the knees up or down

half bow
Cues:
  • Start by lying flat on your stomach
  • There are two arm positions for this pose:
    1. ​​​Stretch your right arm forward straight from the shoulder with the palm down pressing into the ground so that the chest comes off of the ground
    2. Place your right elbow under your right should with your forearm on the ground lifting your chest off of the ground
  • On an exhale press strongly into the top of your right foot so the quads engage and knee lifts off the ground
  • On an inhale bring your left heel towards your seat and hold onto your left foot with your left hand 
  • On an exhale kick your foot into your and if you have the ROM to you can begin to lift the left knee off of the ground

Bow
Cues
  • Start by lying flat on your stomach
  • On an inhale bend your knees bringing both heels towards your seat
  • Reach around behind you and hold onto your feet or ankles
  • On an exhale kick your feet into your hands and bring your chest and shoulders off of the ground
  • If you have the ROM to you can start to bring the knees off of the ground as well

Cactus
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • ​On an inhale Bring your arms so that your shoulders and your elbows are at a 90° angle
  • Continue to keep a long spine
  • On an inhale bring the forearms back stretching through the chest and shoulders​

cow face arms
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up over head
  • On an exhale bend your left elbow placing your hand on your spine
  • On an inhale bring your right hand back behind you along your spine with the palm facing away from you 
  • Bring your hands towards each other with the full expression of the pose being where you can interlace your fingers
  • Ensure that:
    • Your spine is long 
    • You are subtly engaging the core
    • You are pressing your head back into the left arm lengthening the neck

child's pose
Cues:
  • Come onto your knees with the top of the feet on the ground
  • Bring the big toes together and the knees out wide
  • On an exhale fold forward at the hips bringing the forehead down onto the ground while stretching the arms out in front of you
  • On an inhale walk your fingers out in front of you extending your arms until you feel a stretch in both sides of your back 
  • Once you have reached your make ROM press your finger tips down into the ground and feel as if you are pulling the mat back towards your armpits engaging the musculature surrounding the shoulder blades
  • If it is uncomfortable for you to have your knees wide you can bring the knees together
  • You can also do this pose in a streamline position

Child's Pose with Side Stretch
Cues:
  • ​Come into this pose from child's pose
  • On an inhale walk your hands and upper body over to the left side feeling a stretch in the right side of the body
  • To bring more intensity into this pose you can bring your right hand over your left and/or push your ribs out to the right side
  • This pose can also be done in a streamline position

Streamline Child's Pose

crow
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from a yoga squat
  • Place your hands down approximately a foot in front of your knees shoulder width apart
  • Have your fingers spread wide with the index finger pointed straight forward
  • Externally rotate the shoulders and put a strong bend into the elbows
  • Take your gaze to approximately a foot in front of your hands
  • Place left knee on your the triceps of your left arm and place your right knee on your the triceps of your left arm
  • Begin to lean forward
  • Start by bringing one foot off the ground
  • Once you feel stable lift the other foot off the ground and come into the full balance

Dolphin
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from a forearm plank
  • On an inhale staying connected to the core and put slight bend in your knees
  • On an exhale press your forearms down into the mat and in a forward direction pressing your hips up and back into an inverted 'V' position

down dog
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Walk your knees back about two inches
  • Ensure that you have your shoulders externally rotated
  • Exhale pushing through the shoulders press the hips up and back into an inverted 'V' position
  • Keep the spine long and the shoulders strong and stable

eagle arms
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up over head
  • On an exhale bring your right arm under your left
  • Start to bring the forearms towards each other with the full expression of the pose crossing being where your forearms are together and the right wrist crosses over the left and you can press your palms together
  • Keep the traps relaxed
  • You want to feel a stretch on the outside of the left shoulder and feel the space between the shoulder blades widden

forearm stretch
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Turn your finger tip towards the knees with your palm down
  • You should feel a stretch in your forearms
  • To bring more intensity into the pose bring your seat back towards your heels
  • To balance out this pose come back into table top and place the top of your hand onto the ground with the finger tips pointed back towards your knees

goddess
Cues
  • Find mountain pose
  • Bring the feet out about a foot past shoulder width and turn both feel out at a 90 degree angle
  • Inhale bring the arms overhead
  • Exhale bend into the knees pushing the hips back while at the same time bending the elbows to a 90 degree angle with the palms facing forward

Chest stretch - hands behind head
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up overhead
  • On an exhale bend your elbows and interlace your fingers behind the head
  • Press your head into your hands and your hands into your head feeling the neck lengthen
  • Keeping the spine in a neutral position with your core slightly engaged
  • On an inhale start to bring your elbows back stretching through the chest and shoulders

Neck Stretch
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale bring your arms up overhead
  • On an exhale bend your elbows and interlace your fingers behind the head
  • Press your head into your hands and your hands into your head feeling the neck lengthen
  • On an exhale drop you chin towards your chest and bring your elbows towards each other stretching the back of the neck

isometric neck exercises
​

high push up
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Walk your knees back about two inches
  • Ensure that your core is engaged and lengthen your spine is long from the tailbone to the crown of the head
  • On an inhale lift your knees off the ground straightening your legs keeping your feet hip distance apart
  • Ensure that your fingers are spread wide,that your shoulders are directly over your elbows and wrists
  • You feet should be hip distance apart

lateral neck stretch
​Cues:
  • Come into mountain pose
  • On an inhale lengthen the neck feeling the earlobes comming over the shoulders
  • Place your right hand on the left side of your head
  • On an exhale gently guide your right ear towards your right shoulder with your right hand stretching through the left side of the neck
*A variation of this pose can be done where your fingers are interlaced behind your back extending through the shoulders and dropping the right ear towards the right shoulder

thread the needle
​Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Press strongly into your left hand and on an inhale bring your right arm up and out to the side stretching through the chest and shoulder and twisting through the spine
  • On an exhale bring your right arm under your left placing your right cheek or right side of the forehead to the ground
  • An option is to bring the left arm forward as if you were in child's pose stretching through the left side of the back

wide legged forward fold - arms behind back
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • Widen your stance bringing your legs out wide
  • On an inhale bring your arms up overhead
  • On an exhale bring your hands back behind you interlacing the fingers at the small of the back
  • Keeping the spine long and the core engaged inhale and open up through the shoulders to whatever amount your ROM allows you to
    • You may keep your arms bent, bring your arms straight or your hands away from your back
  • With a small bend in your knees on an exhale leading with your chest slowly fold forward at your hips
  • Allow your arms to come into whatever position they will without forcing them

Lying chest stretch
Cues:
  • Starting flat on your stomach bring your right arm out wide from your shoulder like an airplane wing with your palm down
  • Place your left hand under your left shoulder push into the ground slowly lifting your left side off of the ground and come onto your left side stretching through the chest and shoulder
  • For stability you can also bring you left foot flat on the ground in front of you with your knee pointing towards the ceiling
*Be extremely careful as you do this because the shoulder is in a vulnerable position

Flying pigeon
Cues:​
  • Come into this movement from down dog
  • On an inhale bring your left foot off of the ground extending the leg up and away from the body keeping the hips even
  • On an exhale bring your knee towards your nose shifting your body forward so that your shoulders are over your elbows and your elbows are over your wrists
  • Round through back while dropping your chin towards your chest
  • On an inhale extend the leg up and back behind yousa

moving down dog
Cues:
  • Come into this movement from down dog
  • On an inhale bring your right foot off of the ground extending the leg up and away from the body keeping the hips even
  • On an exhale bring your knee towards your right elbow shifting your body forward so that your shoulders are over your elbows and your elbows are over your wrists
  • On an inhale extend the leg up and back behind you
  • On an exhale bring your knee towards your left elbow shifting your body forward so that your shoulders are over your elbows and your elbows are over your wrists
  • On an inhale extend the leg up and back behind you

flying sunbird
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Holding the foundation of table top on an inhale bring one hand up and off the ground with the fingers pointing straight ahead and the arm coming out straight from the shoulder
  • On the next inhale bring the opposite foot up and off the ground extending your leg straight from the hip joint and curl the toes back towards the shin
  • Continue to hold a strong core and long spine
  • Keeping both shoulders and hips in a level and neutral position
  • Balance your weight into the supporting arm and leg coming into sunbird
  • On an exhale bring your knee towards your elbow and your elbow towards your knee rounding your back and dropping your chin
  • On an inhale extend the arm and leg bringing the spine into a neutral position coming back into sunbird

moving plank
​Cues:
  • Come into this pose from side plank
  • On an exhale bring your top arm and hand down just tapping the floor with your finger tips
  • On an inhale bring your top your top hand and arm up and out back into a side plank

Scap push up
​Cues:
  • Come into this movement from a high push 
  • Keep keep your spine long, core engaged and arms extended
  • On an inhale allow the upper body to sink towards the ground
  • On an exhale press strongly into the ground raising the upper body up feeling your back back is pressing into your shoulder blades

ys, ws, ts and ls
Cues:
  • Starting flat on your stomach on an inhale extend your arms out in front of you on the ground in the shape of a Y
  • For all of these movement keep your body flat on the ground and focus on the shoulder blades  
  • On an inhale lift the arms off the ground
  • On an exhale bring your arms and shoulders into the shape of a W
  • On an inhale extend your arms straight out from the shoulders like arm plane wings coming into the shape of a T
  • On an exhale bring your elbows in towards your ribs with a 90° angle at the elbow so each arm is in the shape of an L

Shoulder Flossing

Melting heart
​Cues:
  • Come into this pose from table top
  • Contine to keep your toes tucked and your hips high
  • On an inhale fold forward at the hips bringing your forward down towards or onto the mat
  • At the same time extend your arms out in front of you slightly wider than shoulder width and have your fingers spread wide with just the finger tips touching the ground and the palms elevated
  • On an exhale push your chest down towards the ground stretching through the chest and shoulders
  • To intensify this stretch reach out further in front of you and increase the width between your arms

streamline side stretch
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale extend your arms over head and come into a streamline postion with the arms squeezing the ears and one hand in front of the other
  • Keeping the four corners pressing strongly into the ground on an exhale start to bring your upper body over to the left side and the hips out to the right

Triceps Stretch
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale extend your arms over head
  • On an exhale bend your left elbow bringing your left hand onto your spine
  • On an inhale bring your right hand onto your left elbow encouraging the hand to move down the spine and stretching the triceps

triceps side stretch

Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale extend your arms over head
  • On an exhale bend your left elbow bringing your left hand onto your spine
  • On an inhale bring your right hand onto your left elbow encouraging the hand to move down the spine and stretching the triceps

neck rotation
​Cues:
  • Find a comfortable position, either standing or sitting, where your upper body is in mountain pose
  • Put an emphasis on lengthening the neck feeling your earlobes coming towards a position where they are directly over your shoulders
  • On an inhale turn your gaze to the right keeping the length in your neck
  • On an exhale bring your head back to centre with your gaze facing straight forward

Forward Fold with Chest opening twist
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from a forward fold
  • On an exhale bring your right hand to the outside of the left shin or ankle
  • On an inhale slowly bring your left arm up and out to the side stretching through the shoulder and chest while twisting through the spine
  • Ensure that your left arm is coming straight from the shoulder blade and not collapsing back behind you

Wide Legged forward fold with chest opening twist

Cues:
  • ​Come into this pose from a wide legged forward fold
  • On an exhale bring your right hand to the outside of the left leg, shin or ankle
  • On an inhale slowly bring your left arm up and out to the side stretching through the shoulder and chest while twisting through the spine

Lunge with chest opening
Cues:
  • Come into this pose from either a high runner's lunge or a low runner's lunge with your right foot forward
  • Keeping your left hand on the ground bring the hand out wider to the left
  • On an inhale move your right hand onto your right thigh 
  • On an exhale twisting through the spine open up through the chest turning it towards the right
  • You can:
    • Keep your hand on your thigh
    • Extend your right arm from the shoulder so that the finger tips point straight up to the ceiling
    • Place your right hand behind your head and move your elbow where it is pointing up towards the ceiling

standing cat
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose
  • On an inhale interlace your fingers and bring your hand towards your sternum with your palms facing away from you
  • On an exhale extend your arms pushing your palms away from you
  • At the same time round through your back bring the shoulder blades away from each other and drop your chin towards your chest

nerve stretch on wall
Cues:
  • Find mountain pose close to a wall
  • Extend your right arm towards the wall
  • Place your palm flat on the wall with your finger tip pointing down
  • Maintaining the length in your spine exhale and turn your gaze to the left
  • Dependent on your ROM you might also open up through the chest bringing the left shoulder back

reverse namaste

Bent over shoulder swings
Cues:
  • Come into this movement from a halfway lift
  • Place your left hand on your left thigh and allow your right arm hang with the finger tips pointing towards the ground
  • As the arm hangs make small circles with the arm allowing more space to come into the shoulder socket

Hand Movements