Neck Roll Stretching Exercise

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Maryam Askaar and I'm with Expert Village and today we'll be doing a stretch class. So first we're going to work on our neck rolls. It's very important that you have a flexible strong spine and neck. A lot of our tension is held in our shoulders which tends to lead up to headaches and or migraines. So the stronger and more flexible you can remain through the shoulders and the neck, the more results you'll see. So I want to start with our posture first. So I'm just seated in a basic cross-legged position. My hands are on my knees, palms face up or face down is fine. Abs are engaged slightly, your spine is strong and straight. So right here my shoulders are down, my spine is lengthened, my abs are engaged and my hands are relaxed. It's very important that this is your seated posture. Next, I'm just going to drop chin to chest. Now I want you to notice what your body does when you drop chin to chest. This might seem like a simple movement but a lot of us tend to round through the spine when we do that. So I want to make sure you drop chin to chest keeping your spine lengthened, keeping your abs engaged, if so you should feel a deep stretch through the back of the neck. From here you're going to take your ear to shoulder. Again, abs are pulled in make sure this left shoulder is down. Make sure this right shoulder is down. Breathing and then rolling, as long as you have a healthy neck, a strong healthy neck feel free to round through the back dropping the neck slightly but keep in mind if I'm dropping my neck my abs are pulled in, my body is pulled up, my shoulders are down right. And then left ear to left shoulder, still staying pulled in. So when my abs are pulled in I'm assisting in this neck roll right. All the energy and movement isn't dropping in my neck. I'm pulling up through my center and we're going to feel an easy stretch to the right side of the body. Both shoulders are down and then we come back to center dropping chin to chest. Watch that spine; make sure it's strong and straight. And we take it to the left. Left ear to left shoulder. Hold it here; relax both shoulders, deep inhale, deep exhale pulling in through your center. And then coming all the way back again if you have a strong healthy neck feel free to drop it back staying pulled in through the center, relaxing your shoulders, deep breath. And then dropping right ear to right shoulder, both shoulders are down, abs are pulled in, again breathing deep, lengthening the left side of the neck and then slowly rolling through center again dropping chin to chest. Strong straight spine and then gently lifting the head."