How to take care of your back and avoid hunched shoulders? Discover 7 accessible yoga poses with all the steps that you can perform to take care of your back.
Have you already felt some tension in your neck and upper back after a long day? This is no secret that spending long hours in front of your desk, staring at your computer, and then texting on your phone doesn’t help to take care of your back.
Sometimes you end the days with some tension held in your upper back, neck, and lower back, but after months and years in the same posture, you might develop a round back, hunched shoulders a curvature spine. There’s even a name attributed to the lousy posture linked to the long hours spent staring at your phone, the “text neck.”
These bad posture habits might leave you with discomfort, tension, tightness, difficulty breathing, and even chronic pains.
Where does it come from? How to fix, reverse, correct, and prevent it?
Here are a few easy yoga postures that help to release the tensions in the back, develop awareness around this area and reshape your back.
What causes what we call the "text neck," aka hunched shoulders?
We named a few earlier, but bad posture can come from many factors. Most of the time it comes from an accumulation of minor daily habits, wearing a heavy bag always on the same arm, sitting in the wrong chair, staring at your phone for a long time, breastfeeding, caring children, prolonged screen exposure, mental and emotional stress but mainly a poor awareness on a better way to sit or stand.
Eventually, your back takes the shape of your habit. Practicing yoga is undoubtedly a great way to maintain a good posture by working on the upper back opening, strength, and spine mobility and releasing stress.
Eventually, your back takes the shape of your habit.
#1 - Shoulders rolls
This is a simple and highly effective exercise you can perform daily. Shoulder rolls will help you warm up the shoulders and relieve the stiffness and tension you can hold in the neck and shoulder area. It will also strengthen the muscle used for good posture. It will help to release stress and tension.
Sit up nice and tall, place your hands on your knees and. On an inhale, lift your shoulders towards your ears, exhale and roll them back and down. Repeat 5 times.
#2 - Neck side stretch
This is another simple stretch that will help to release tightness and tension stored in the shoulders, neck, and upper back. When we feel stress, the neck, and shoulders is the first area affected. By stretching this area, we send a signal to our brain to release the tension in our body.
1. Right side first: Raise your arm up and hold your head near your temple and ear.
2. Gently pull your head down to the right side, dropping your shoulder down away from the ear. Tent your left hand on the floor. Feel the stretch across the left side of your neck. Exhale, gently release back to center, and repeat on the other side
3. Then raise your left arm over your head and bring your palm to your right ear. Gently pull the head to the left side. Exhale and release.
Don’t overstretch, push or perform jerky movements.
#3 Thread the needle pose- Urdha Mukha Pasasana
This simple twist combines a forward bend, a stretch, and a twist of the spine, it helps to take care of the stiffness and, tightness, and tension around the shoulders, neck, and back caused by daily habits. It also benefits the lower back, gluteus, middle back, knees, psoas, shoulders, and neck. So, this is a comprehensive exercise to use daily.
1. Right side first, from child pose, raise your hips up and come in your tabletop position. Raise your right arm up, look at your fingertips, and then place your right shoulder just in front of your left wrist with the arm extended. The right cheek is on the floor; stay here for 5 breaths. To get out of the pose, push on your right arm and return to all four.
2. Do the same thing on the other side for 5 breaths.
#4 Puppy pose: Uttana Shishosana
This forward bending prone pose releases tension in the lower back and shoulders and helps to open the shoulders.
1. From the tabletop position, walk your hand forward. Make sure that your hips and knees stay aligned.
2. Rest your forehead on the mat and stay here for 5 breaths.
#5 Downward-facing dog: Adho Mukha Svanasana
This light inversion posture benefits your spine from the lumbar to your cervical. This pose opens the upper and middle back muscles. The shoulder blades are also opened, and the shoulder muscles are extended. This action opens the chest cavity, which promotes good breathing. This pose benefits the pelvis, lower back, legs, and feet muscles.
1. From the tabletop position, place the palms on the floor, and as you inhale, lift your body and place the feet on the floor, extending the hips upwards and chest inwards. If your hamstrings are too tight, you can keep the heels lifted, 2. Push your palms, shoulders, and arms. The face is being pushed downwards while the hips are raised upwards 3. Remain here in the downward-facing dog for about 5 breaths.
#6 Cobra pose Bhujangasana
This pose targets the lower back, chest, rib cage, upper and lower abdomen, arms, and shoulders. It helps to maintain the strength and flexibility of the spine.
This posture helps to boost your energy.
1. Place the entire lower body on the floor, lying on your belly.
2. With your next inhale, raise the chin, chest, and upper body off the floor to take the back in a backbend while resting the palms on the floor in Cobra Pose or Bhujangasana. Make sure that your elbows remain stacked on your upper body.
3. Exhale, release, and come down. Inhale up, exhale down. Repeat for a few breaths
4. Stretch the arms out completely, and with every exhalation, take the back backward while trying to gaze upwards in this simple back bend pose and remain here for a few breaths.
#7 Easy pose stretch on the side
This gentle side stretch acts as a gentle heart opener. It targets the shoulders and neck opening, working on the upper back while stretching the spine, the sides of the abdominal muscles, the rib cage, the sides of the lower back muscles, and the psoas muscles. It helps to release the stiffness in the spine and helps to create room, and improves the spine's flexibility.
It’s a great warm-up.
1. Sit in sukhasana, easy crossed legs position while you inhale, raise your right arm up, and while you exhale, bend on your left side. Keep your shoulders opened and aligned. The gaze is forward.
2. Stay here for a few breaths.
3. Repeat on the other side.
Every posture that promotes the shoulders and back opening (backend included) will help you to correct and prevent a bad posture.
To avoid a bad posture, include a few movements in your daily habits. Want to learn more? feel free to contact me.