Happy Shoulders

Connecting to our Heart Song.  

With shoulder opening naturally comes heart opening.  The yogis knew that the physical state of our body will affect our mindset/emotions and vice versa our thoughts will affect our physical well being.  

Think of the grumpiest person you know.  Do they stand tall with their shoulders drawn back and chest wide open?  Do the corners of their mouth naturally turn up?  If they did stand like that, how grumpy do you think they would be?

Think of the happiest person you know.  Is there a bounce in their step?  Do they light up in smiles when they see you?  Is their a twinkle in their eye?  

The way we carry ourselves will shape our experience of the world.

Scientific studies have now been done to prove that simply standing like Superman (hands on hips, elbows out, feet wide, cape blowing – ok maybe not the cape) will do wonders for our confidence.  They suggest you do this before giving important presentations.

So, hows about we just try a few simple yoga poses (with cape or not)  🙂 to lift our spirits!

Make sure to check out the next in this series of Knot Free Shoulders.

Pin these Happy Heart tips to your favorite Pinterest Board as a reminder!

happy heart tips

It’s amazing, but a simple smile will do wonders for your spirit!  Charlie Chaplin knew what he was talking about when he said, “Smile though your heart is breaking.”

I double dog dare you to try it!  Smile!  🙂

navasana boat pose garden yoga
yoga routine for shoulders

before you move on!

Grab this free Happy Shoulders Yoga Video

All the Happy Shoulder Tips listed in the blog are interwoven into a quick 14 minute practice!  It’s epic!  And we’re playing yoga outside!  Listen for the woodpecker at the very end.  He wanted to add ambiance to savasana!  Ha ha!

Happy Shoulders ?

TIP #1 – Happy Talk

shoulder release

“Happy talk, keep talking happy talk,
Talk about things you’d like to do,
You gotta have a dream, if you don’t have a dream,
How you gonna have a dream come true?” – Rodgers and Hammerstein, South Pacific

  1. Clasp your hands behind you.
  2. Bring your hands towards your right waist.
  3. Lower your right ear towards your right shoulder.
  4. Gently draw the shoulder blades and elbows towards each other.
  5. Breathe and switch sides!

Happy Shoulders ?

Tip #2 – Pause and Reflect

windmill shoulder opener

At certain points on a journey, we get stuck. Pause, ask for guidance, reflect. What will happen is that we’ll naturally soften and listen. When we make space for this, things start to flow once again.

  1. Grab a belt, rope, or tie.
  2. Hold the belt with your hands by your hips, about shoulder distance wide.
  3. Stand with your feet hips distance wide.
  4. Start raising your arms and pause when you get overhead. You’ll probably be stuck. Breathe!
  5. Widen your hands farther apart until you can safely continue bringing your arms behind you and the belt to your bottom.
  6. Come back up the same way you came down.
  7. Try this at least 2 more times!

Happy Shoulders ?

TIP 3 – eyes like an eagle

eagle arms garudasana

Eagle Arms/Garudasana

With eagle eye vision, colors would be more vivid, long distance vision superior, and we’d have the ability to almost see entirely around ourselves.

What do you need to keep an eagle eye on?

  1. Extend the arms into a T.
  2. Cross them in front of you.
  3. Place right elbow on top of left.
  4. Bend your arms and bring palms together.
  5. Take a few breaths and switch sides.

Happy Shoulders ?

TIP 4 – Shift your Perspective ?

prasarita shoulder opener

Sometimes you just have to look at things from another perspective. ?

  1. Grab a belt or tie.
  2. Stand with your feet wide apart.
  3. Hold the belt behind you so that your palms face away from you.
  4. Lift up the through the chest, draw the shoulder blades towards each other and down the back.
  5. Fold forward and bring your arms over your head.
  6. Very important: continue to draw your shoulder blades towards each other and the sky, so that your neck is long.
  7. Pull your hands away from each other on the belt.
  8. Breathe! ?

Happy Shoulders ?

TIP 5 – Time to wake up

shoulder opener tennis ball
  1. Grab a tennis ball.
  2. Lie down and place the tennis ball beneath you.  Start on the left side, specifically in the space between your shoulder blade and spine (the rhomboid).  Begin with the tennis ball more towards the bottom of your shoulder blades.
  3. Lie on the ball and do your best to breathe.
  4. Maybe roll side to side, forward and back a little, or just stay put and breathe.
  5. After a few breaths move your body forward an inch.  This way the ball moves ‘up’ your back.  Repeat step 4.
  6. As soon as you get to about two thirds of the way up your shoulder blade, make things a little more interesting by placing some height beneath your hips.  You can use a yoga block or a little stool.
  7. Move the left arm around now.  Across the body, to the sky, overhead, out to the side.  Notice all the interesting sensations.  P.S.  This might be a little uncomfortable as you work into all those tight knots in the upper back.
  8. Move the body forward again, moving the block forward too.  So now the ball is at the top of your shoulders.  Repeat step 7.
  9. Remove all props, rest on your back for 3 breaths.  Feel the difference between sides!  Wowsers!  This is the best part!  Your back should feel more open and free on that left side now.
  10. Switch sides and have fun!  Those shoulders will be ready for swimming in no time!

If you liked these tips for Happy Shoulders, here are even more yummy yoga ways to create happy, stress free, no more knots poses.  Just click here for the More Happy Shoulder tips.