Best Yoga Poses For Improving Men’s Shoulder Flexibility
Many people suffer from shoulder stiffness and pains throughout the day or sometime in the week. Especially guys. This stiffness might arise from a variety of reasons – be it due to postural issues, being hunched over the desk or computer for too long, or sitting sunk in on the couch while watching Netflix, or anatomically tight shoulders or even stress or disease.
No matter the reason, stretching and easing the shoulders always feels good. Remember that “ah” moment when we take a stretch as we get out of bed and feel that sigh of relief from our upper back and shoulders?
Philosophically, our shoulders are always there to be leaned on either for our family, friends, or well, ourselves, making them carry the burden of stress, anxiety, and responsibility. In yogic asana philosophy, we deem shoulders as the kingpin of bearing our weight in inversions which is why we focus so much on flexibility, mobility, and strength of the shoulders. This stems from the deeper belief that much of the weight that we bear in our daily lives burdens our shoulders, and thus, our shoulders need a bit of self-care.
Before diving into the best yoga poses to improve shoulder flexibility for men, let’s briefly understand what incorporates our shoulders.
What Makes the Shoulders?
The shoulder is made up of three adjoining bones – the upper arm, shoulder blade at the back and collar bone at the front. The head of the upper arm fits into the socket-like depression in the shoulder blade in a ball and socket joint enabling movement of our arms as rotations or up and down movements both forward and backward and sideways.
Moreover, our shoulders incorporate eight muscles majorly and several tendons and this combination keep the upper arm centered in the shoulder joint. In essence, our shoulder’s stability and mobility are derived from this entire mix of bones, muscles, and tendons as well as deeper connective tissues extending through our upper arm, chest, and back.
As much as this sounds like an intricately-woven joint, there is an extensive list of things we can do for our shoulders and the below-mentioned are a few drills and poses to improve shoulder flexibility.
Shoulders Warm-Up Drills
Shoulder rolls
These can be performed while seated or standing.
Getting into a comfortable stance with a lengthened spine, breathing naturally, roll the shoulders to the front, downwards, back and then back up.
Repeat the same for a few times and then change the rotation – rolling back first, down, front and up, repeating the same a few times.
Shoulder shrugs
These can be performed while seated or standing.
Getting into a comfortable stance with a lengthened spine, breathing naturally, shrug the shoulders up and pull them down. Try to pull them down as much as you can, moving the collar bone below the neutral position. Ensure that you move the shoulders slowly which helps to release tensions from the shoulders.
Repeat the same a few times.
Windmill Arm Rotations
These can be performed while seated or standing.
Getting into a comfortable stance with a lengthened spine, inhale to sweep your arms up from the front and exhale to take your arms back crunching the shoulder blades together and then down, making windmill-like rotations.
Ensure that you make these rotations slowly which helps to release tensions from the shoulders.
Try to keep your elbows straight to reach the maximum range of motion for the shoulders.
Repeat the same a few times.
Cat-Cows
Come into a tabletop position with the palms under the shoulders and the knees hip-distance apart.
Inhale to arch the spine, taking the navel down to the ground pulling the hip to the sky, and rolling the head back to look up. Shoulder blades feel a crunching action. This is the cow pose.
Exhale to round the spine, taking the navel in, spreading the shoulder blades wide apart and dipping the head down to look at the gap between the knees, coming into cat-like prance. This is the cat pose.
Repeat the same a few times following the breath.
Poses
Once the shoulders are warmed-up, we can move into a few yoga poses focussed on shoulder flexibility.
Thread in the needle pose
Begin from a tabletop position with the palms under the shoulders and the knees hip-distance apart.
Take an inhale and as you exhale, sweep your right arm with the palm facing upward under your left arm, placing the right side of the head down. The back of the right-hand rests on the ground.
Walk your left arm forward, with the inner side of the upper arm close to your ear.
Rest here for a few breaths.
To come out of the pose, walk the left palm back to your shoulder and push yourself up to sweeping your right arm out back into the tabletop pose.
Repeat the pose on the other side.
Puppy Dog Pose
Begin from a tabletop position with the palms under the shoulders and the knees hip-distance apart.
Take an inhale and as you exhale, walk both the palms forward to bring your chest down and as close to the ground as you can, keeping the hips stable.
Rest your forehead or chin on the ground, choosing whichever is comfortable.
Stay in the pose for a few breaths.
To come out of the pose, walk your palms back to the shoulders and push up into the tabletop.
Eagle arms
This arm variation may be performed while seated or standing and as a part of another pose too.
Taking an inhale, extend the arms sideways. Exhale bringing the arms forward with the right elbow going over the left arm and fitting into the left arm’s crook of the elbow. Rotate the right palm towards the left and try to join the palms together.
Stay here for a few breaths feeling the horizontal elongation along the upper back and shoulder blades.
Unwrap the arms to come out of the pose and repeat on the other side.
Broken Angel
Lie down on your belly and extend both the arms to the side with the palms facing down.
Bend the left knee and roll the entire body to the right, placing the left foot on the mat and walking the left palm close to the chest to push the ground away gently.
You will feel an extension along the front of the right shoulder (pectoral muscles)
Stay here for a few breaths.
To come out of the pose, gently roll back down onto the belly.
Repeat the same on the other side.
The Wrap
The shoulders are made up of an extensive network of three bones, eight muscles, and several tendons majorly, making our shoulders susceptible to stiffness and pains. The above-mentioned mobility drills and poses allow our shoulders to release tension by releasing these deeper tissues of our body from all sides of the shoulders and thus improving flexibility.
These poses might need to be adjusted to make the yoga practice safe and comfortable while catering to your needs and it is advisable to follow guided advice when performing these poses for the first time. If you feel any sharp pains or immense discomfort, do come out of the pose gently and seek advice from a certified yoga teacher.
While yoga can be great as a complementary tool for improving flexibility while incorporating holistic wellbeing into our daily lives, it is important to speak to your health care practitioner if you have any major concerns regarding your health due to shoulder stiffness or pain to ensure the best solution for you.
