Light on shoulders

Shoulders are a very common place in the body that we hold tension.  Many of us tend to tightening the neck and hold ourselves stiff. I constantly remind students to relax the shoulders, just as much as I remind myself daily. 

We have tremendous strength available in the body, if we know how to utilise it.  I cannot mention the strength in the chest and shoulders before mentioning the inner strength activating by mula bhanda and the inner strength coming from the lower chakras.  Then we have tremendous strength that flows from below into the chest area.  The strength is cultivated when the alignment of arms and shoulders are corrected. This is what I want to focus on.

Many or most asanas are influenced by the positioning of the shoulders. This includes all inverted postures and balances and postures that utilise the arms, such as cobra (Bhugangasana), downward facing and upwardfacing dog (Adho and Urdhva Muka Svanasana), the elephant (Ganeshasana).

First I want to explain how we often try and lengthen the arms out of the shoulder joints, (lifting the shoulders) instead of lengthening the arms, pulling the shoulders back, flattening the shoulderblades and relaxing the neck.(dropping the shoulders)

A good posture to experiment with this is:

Stand with feet slightly apart, interlock hands and push palms forward.  First push your hands away (closing heart) and then pull the shoulders back and shoulderblades down (opening heart).  Ensure that the ribs don’t poke out to the front, lift into the lower abdominal muscles to ensure softness in the ribcage.  Think of lengthening through the crown chakra, very much like a tortoise crawling out of its shell. Notice the looseness or tension in the neck in each posture.

Sitting in the Staff Pose (Dandasana): 
Very important to support the lower back with mula bhanda (root lock). This promotes the whole spine to grow out of the hips. Shift the sitting bones back behind you. Remove the flesh from under the buttocks so that you can sit up straight. (if hamstrings or tight hips prevent you from sitting straight, the n sit on a folded blanket or pillow. This small adjustment of the sitting bones will straighten the back and allow the shoulders to relax and chest to open naturally. Lengthen the crown of the head upwards, chin remaining parallel, slightly tipped downwards towards the floor. Now rotate the upper arms to let the inside of the elbow to face forward and relax them. Don’t pull on the shoulders at all - once the spine and sitting bones are in place, bandhas in use and breathing correct, the shoulder will look after themselves. Flatten the back by drawing the shoulderblades together. Gently push your heart forward, which could remind you to lift in the belly. Remember if the torso is not lengthened enough to have straight arms, then keep them bent instead of pushing the shoulders up to the ears. Ensure that in opening the chest that you don't push the ribcage out - try to find balance between sternum and T12 - Thoracic vertebrae 12. Just behind the heart. Relax the solar plexus - another place where unnecessary tension is held.
This concept is now ready to be taken to other asanas.

Let’s look at Downward facing Dog (Adho Muka Svanasana).  Very commonly we allow the shoulders to drop to the ears in this pose. Flatten the upper back by internally rotating the upper arms inside outwards. The inner eye of the elbow should be turned towards the front of the room at a 45° angle (not locked). Keep the thumbs down onto the floor. Allow the shoulder blades to travel up towards your sitting bones, so that there is space around the neck, allow it to completely relax. Lengthen the arms by pushing deeply into the Earth. Lengthen the entire spine by push and pull as in the previous posture, this requires an active stomach region (Uddiyana Bandha) suck the navel into the spine, lift the space between hips and pubic bone. This prevents an arched upper back and collapsed ribcage.  Think of gently pushing your heart through your shoulders, towards the feet.  Try this standing up and you'll get the sense.

 Purvottanasana, inverted pose

Toes tucked under or going onto the top of the feet, I don’t mind, let’s focus on the arms.  To ensure the chest opening, rotate the upper arms open, gently pushing the sternum forward.  Let the inner part of your elbow face forwards and if you were to bend the elbows they will bend backwards, allowing the elbow to stay close to the body.  Reminder to use mula bhanda to lengthen the back upwards.

 

Chaturangasana: 
Here again we want the upper arms rotated open to allow the inner fleshy part of the elbow to face forward. Gently push the heart through the shoulders and lengthen the neck, exposing the shy tortoise.  The shoulders wrap, flattening the back. Remember the hold mula bandha and uddiyana bandha to ensure that the pelvis doesn’t drop below the shoulders.

Now if you would bend the elbows to lower, either bent or striaght legs, allow the elbows to remain closely tucked into your sides. Keep reminding the body the keep the elbows as close as possible and the upper chest will strengthen in no time.

 

 Application:
Now we really come to the application of this view point. Before I knew about this concept I didn’t understand how Bakasana could be done without pressure on the head. Then one day my shoulders showed me. Whenever working with weight on your arms ensure that you have the correct alignment of wrist elbow and shoulder. Thus always keeping either the shoulder in line with the wrist (Bujangasana & Chaturanagasana) or elbow in line with the shoulder (Pincha Mayurasana) or elbow in line with the wrist (Bakasana).  Again we need to keep the shoulders away from the ears and to broaden the back, this activated the muscles below the collar bones into the pectoralis major (chest muscles).  Always keep the elbows in and check the wrists are directly under the elbows.  The wrists should not bend more than 90°.  Keep pushing into the hands and shoulders down and instead of having the weight on your head you may feel yourself shift back onto the hands. Freedom!

Shoulderstand (Sarvangasana):

 Very important to note, in your shoulder stand, that you want to stand on the shoulders and not the neck.  Ensure that the neck is lengthened,  pulling the back of the head further from the body, this will let your chin change. (rolling weight towards the back of the skull) This lessens the pressure into the cervical spine. To achieve this, firstly go into Halasana (Plough), legs overhead, interlock the fingers together and pull the hands away from the body, elbows to the floor. This allows you to feel that the shoulders are lengthened away from the ears, making space for the neck to lengthen. The closer your elbows are together, the easier you maintain the upward movement of the back and legs. The next tip is to keep the weight on the elbows.  If you are supporting the back, check that the elbows don’t lift off the floor, then you will not be pushing your back over your face but will lengthen upwards.The balance is on the shoulders not the neck. You could strap the elbows together at a convenient distance to give you a taste of what you are working towards.

 Purvottanasana, inverted pose
Before going into, already do half the posture by rotating the shoulders back and pushing the chest forward.  Keep working the feet to the floor.  The more you push the feet down, the more the pelvis lifts.

Bhujangasana, Cobra
We are often taught to squeeze the buttock to protect the lower back in back bends. We are aiming to lengthen the spine and squeezing creates tightness, not length. Broaden the calf muscles, stretch into the feet and keep the legs gently active. Encourage using mula bandha and Uddiyana bandha, lifting and lengthening the stomach, to support the posture. You are also then given the freedom in the lower back to, gently and with awareness, lengthen the spine. Back bending is something that should not be forced. Push deeply into the hands, press into all four corners of the hands, unlock the elbows and open the chest. Pull the shoulders away from the ears, shoulder blades down and together. Make sure that these movements do not create excessive shortness and tightness in the lower back. Let go just a bit if it does. These instructions are to maintain or create a healthy spine.