Practised with careful alignment, yoga
posses can help alleviate past
neck problems and prevent future
ones. Doing Sethubandhasana
(Bridge Pose) and Virabhadrasana for a
few minutes three or four
times a week can help prepare you for
Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand)
Sethubandhasana:
Lie flat on your back on the floor, and
if necessary,
place a thickly folded blanket under your shoulders
to protect your neck. Bend your knees and set your
feet on the
floor, heels as close to the sitting bones as
possible.
Exhale and, pressing your inner feet
and arms actively
into the floor, push your tailbone upward toward
the
pubis, firming (but not hardening) the buttocks, and lift
the
buttocks off the floor. Keep your thighs and inner
feet parallel.
Clasp the hands below your pelvis and
extend through the arms to
help you stay on the tops
of your shoulders.
Lift your buttocks until the thighs are
about parallel to
the floor. Keep your knees directly over the
heels, but
push them forward, away from the hips, and lengthen
the
tailbone toward the backs of the knees. Lift the
pubis toward the
navel.
Lift your chin slightly away from the
sternum and,
firming the shoulder blades against your back, press
the top of the sternum toward the chin. Keep the outer
arms firm,
broaden the shoulder blades, and try to
lift the space between them
at the base of the neck
(where it’s resting on the blanket) up
into the torso.
Stay in the pose anywhere from 30 seconds to 1
minute. Release with an exhalation, rolling the spine
slowly down
onto the floor.
Practicing yoga poses in Yoga Classes like
Virabhadrasana (Warrior)
with conscious awareness of your head,
neck, and
shoulder alignment will help you gradually break the
habit of chronic neck tension.
Virabhadrasana:
Stand in Tadasana. With an exhalation,
step or lightly
jump your feet 3 1/2 to 4 feet apart. Raise your
arms
parallel to the floor and reach them actively out to the
sides, shoulder blades wide, palms down.
Turn your right foot in, slightly to
the right and your left
foot out to the left 90 degrees. Align the
left heel with
the right heel. Firm your thighs and turn your left
thigh
outward so that the center of the left knee cap is in line
with the center of the left ankle.
Exhale and bend your left knee over the
left ankle, so
that the shin is perpendicular to the floor. If
possible,
bring the left thigh parallel to the floor. Anchor this
movement of the left knee by strengthening the right
leg and
pressing the outer right heel firmly to the floor.
Stretch the arms
away from the space between the
shoulder blades, parallel to the
floor. Don’t lean the
torso over the left thigh: Keep the sides of
the torso
equally long and the shoulders directly over the pelvis.
Press the tailbone slightly toward the pubis. Turn the
head to the
left and look out over the fingers.
Stay for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Inhale
to come up.
Reverse the feet and repeat for the same length of time
to the left.
With these asanas, you probably will
not have a yoga or yoga classes
-
related neck injury.
