good morning yogis welcome this is a 10-minute morning yoga practice focusing heavily on neck and shoulder tension relief this is also day four of the morning yoga movement challenge i hope you've been participating with me if not it's not too late to join you can just click that first link below in the description box and you can also go watch the day zero video to learn all about this morning yoga movement so we are working on neck and shoulders today you will need two blocks you can just have them towards the back of the mat
it's just for the supported fish pose that we're going to end with today and we're going to start seated so any way that's comfortable for your back and for your hips you can roll your shoulders down and away from your ears lengthen your spine and just close your eyes find a steady rhythm with your breath and our affirmation today is i have all the answers within me i have all the answers within me connecting to your intuition and your own inner knowing and allowing this to guide you not only in your yoga practice but also
for the rest of the day ahead and you can keep your eyes closed if you'd like here we're just going to drop right ear towards right shoulder and you might lengthen lift a little bit with your shi your chin getting a big stretch to the left side of your neck and if you'd like to intensify this you can crawl your left fingertips out to the side maybe using your right hand to lightly pull your ear further away from your shoulder so no pressure down really just lengthening away try to relax your jaw i have all
the answers within me you can roll your chin down a little towards your right shoulder stretching more at the back of the neck let's bring the head all the way back to center and take a few shoulder rolls before we go to the other side so rolling all the way up and down releasing any tension that might accumulate there and we'll go to the other side so this time left ear down towards your left shoulder keep your chin slightly lifted and if you'd like to go further crawl the right hand out and maybe use your
left hand to pull your ear further away from your shoulder okay you might roll your chin down towards left shoulder and left armpit try to keep your spine nice and tall so you're not rounding or contracting really just focusing on your neck and come all the way back to center and just do some shoulder rolls in the opposite direction so reversing whatever you had been doing and we'll come to tabletop pose on the hands and knees setting up for thread the needle so palms under your shoulders knees underneath your hips keep your hips over as
you inhale reach your right arm up to the sky open up and on the exhale thread your arm underneath you to lower right shoulder and right ear to the floor you might keep your left hand as it is or you can always straighten your left arm reaching it up overhead push into both palms both arms we're trying to stretch in between the shoulder blades but everyone will feel this one a little bit differently soften your jaw soften your neck try to breathe into your upper back one more big inhale here and slide your left hand
back in push into your palm come all the way back up right arm to the sky tabletop pose and we'll switch sides inhale left arm rises exhale thread it through shoulder and ear to the floor and maybe you extend your right arm up overhead just to get a little bit deeper into it right hand slides back push into the palm re-open up through that left arm tabletop pose to our downward facing dog walk your palms forward tuck your toes under and lift your hips all the way up and back and really emphasize or release through
your neck here so let your head be heavy maybe do a little yes or no motion just to make sure that the head is dangling roll your shoulders back and now let's reach our right leg up towards the sky bend your right knee open up your hip and we're going to step that foot forward in between the palms and widen your feet a little bit so you're just a little bit wider than hip width distance apart and you want to be able to ground that back heel towards the floor so a wider variation of warrior
one as you inhale and because we're emphasizing shoulders here bend into your elbows big cactus stretch and then go ahead and interlace your fingers behind your lower back roll the shoulders back open up through your chest inhale and as you exhale you're gonna dive down either resting on your thigh if you need more support or going to the inside of the leg and again the emphasis here is on relaxing your head and trying to squeeze your shoulders back as you lift your knuckles up even higher so big stretch here stay low to the ground just
let your hands come down to the floor lift your back heel off the mat and you can drop your knee down to the floor right hand onto your thigh start to look back a little bit of a twist and maybe you hang out here maybe you add a little quad stretch bending into that back knee reach back with your hand and because we're working on neck and shoulders here rather than focusing on pulling your heel in think of pushing your foot into the palm and let your head relax as it opens up through your shoulder
big breath in here very carefully release that back foot facing forward once more into your low lunge let's take eagle arms bend the elbows right arm under left binding once or binding twice and just tuck your chin towards your biceps push your forearms towards one another big opening here and release downward facing dog you're welcome to hang out in down dog if you'd like or you can take a vinyasa inhaling to plank exhale chaturanga upward facing dog downward facing dog left leg rises bend your knee open up your hip and step it through for a
wider variation of warrior one push into your feet lift on up and again here cactus with your arms and then interlace the more unusual way so the other thumb on top roll the shoulders back open up and then dive down either resting on the thigh or going to the inside of that leg pulling your shoulders away from the floor i have all the answers within me release hands down to the mat find your low lunge adding a little quad stretch bend into your right knee reach back with your hand and go ahead and push the
foot into the palm and relax your head down release the hold of this back foot low lunge lift up with your chest and with your arms eagle on the other side this time left arm under your right binding once or twice push your forearms together and just drop your head down downward facing dog your last opportunity to take a flow inhale to plank exhale chaturanga inhale upward dog exhale to our last downward facing dog and let's bring our knees on the floor we'll set up for supported fish pose before closing our practice so really lovely
pose for the upper back shoulders and neck you can place that first block in between the shoulder blades under your upper back and the second block supports the back of your head legs can be straight or in any other position just try to relax your arms and your shoulders find a slow steady breath rhythm feeling the effects of this morning practice setting this intention i have all the answers within me take your last three deep breaths here and we'll come up to take a seat you might use your hands to tuck your chin to your
chest lifting back up you can close your eyes sit any way that's comfortable for you hands at your heart showing yourself gratitude for this time you've taken for your health your practice we'll close with a big breath in through the nose out your mouth [Applause] namaste i hope you have a wonderful rest of your day please leave me a comment down below let me know how this went for you and leave me a little hashtag good morning so that i know you're part of the morning yoga movement thank you again you are not done yet
i would love for you to click on this video right here to do a five minute guided affirmation meditation also click the link down below right here in order to be notified of every new video that i release part of this morning yoga movement thank you again and i'll see you tomorrow
