Yoga Cervical Warm Ups

Video Transcript

"Once you have your breathing down, and you have worked your way to the shoulders, we're also going to warm up the neck. We will be doing some cervical flexion and extension. This is just to work out some of that tension. First, you will begin by bringing your chin towards your chest. Don't force it. Always use active range of motion. Come up, in neutral, and release. Slowly bring your chin up, to about a 45 degree angle. You do not want to go any further back. You could create an impingement on the back of the neck. Now bring your head back down. Your chin should go down towards the chest; however, it does not have to touch it. You will feel a nice stretch in the upper back and shoulders. Going forward, come neutral first and then release back. You will feel the chest open and the front of the shoulders. Keep breathing the entire time. Be sure that your feet are nice and grounded to the mat. Looking down, come up neutral and release, about 45 degrees. Do not go all the way back. You do not need a chin that points towards the ceiling. Now, we want to get some lateral movement in the cervical and neck area. So, we are going to take one ear to one shoulder. I will begin by taking my right ear towards my right shoulder. First, I am going to find out what I am working with today as far as my active range of motion. You never want to force the movement. Inhale and exhale. Then you'll take the opposite ear towards the opposite shoulder. Always think, quality, not quantity. It is always slow and controlled, never forcing the angle. Always, stop neutral before you go in the opposite direction. Give the muscle a chance to relax back into neutral. And when you get good and warm at these, you can always extend one arm, my right one, on the diagonal and add in what we call passive resistance. We are not pulling on the joint, but just pressing against that, the left, hand. This is why it is called passive. It is gentle. It is subtle. Again, find our your active range of motion first, what your body is able to give you for that moment. Then, if you can go on any further, you can add in that active range of motion. Again, we are pressing against the hand, we are not pulling on the joints. If you need to have a more gentle approach, then simply take out the passive resistance. Then just move side-to-side, slowly and think of that nice separation between that cervical and the deltoids."