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Posture Update

Posture is an incredibly loaded topic in our culture. If you’ve been involved in yoga for any time you’ve been receiving messages about posture that may not be helping you. We have hundreds of not thousands of sources daily telling us that our bad posture is the cause of maladies such as chronic pain functional movement issues breathing issues and more.

Podcast: Soothe Upper Back and Neck Tension

To be an adult is to sometimes struggle with upper back and neck tension and even pain. This is my professional opinion. Though this pain/tightness can really disrupt your life, it’s important not to get too tied up about it. This practice is to give you some go to tools for managing this suffering. Knowing that you have a way to feel better, is a medicine in its own right. Though you really feel the need to stretch these tissues, it won’t help. That is my professional opinion. There are better strategies to use, which I will show you here.

Yin & Meditation for Acceptance

This practice is about moving forward with compassion, rather than squashing our feelings or disappointment or grief. We will explore poses that focus on the shoulders, chest and upper back as we progress through a gentle meditation. Our meditation is loosely based on the Tonglen or Lions’ Roar practice from the Tibetan Buddhism.

Thoracic Expression

The upper back is an area that can be a big source of tension and even pain. We also have a fair amount of cultural baggage around the appropriate way to hold our upper back. Even in the Yoga world, we tend to favor a stiff and straight upper back above other shapes. But the upper back is capable of so much more, and I believe we suffer when we get locked in to a specific posture or expression.

In this practice, we explore the capacity of the upper back to generate movements, sensations and even emotions. We will use a somatic lesson adapted from Feldenkrais Method® supported by familiar Yin Poses. Your upper back and neck will really benefit from this practice.