Gentle Upper Body Stretch | Shoulder Opening to Release Tension, Wind Down, Calm Mind & Sleep Better

Hey there, welcome back. My name is Liberty and this is my evening yoga series. For today's class we're going to be using two blocks and a booster. So let's go ahead and get started. If you're in a place where you cannot practice with me right now, save this on your watch later and join me whenever you can. Hey there, for today's class we're going to be working on surrendering and allowing our whole front body to open and just having a good still time. We're going to start in an open heart position by bringing one or two blocks in the Once you're here, bring yourself right in front of it. Use your elbows to lay slightly lower and then you want to place your shoulder blades on top of your one or two blocks. If this feels too intense, you can use your booster and place it underneath your head to support it or maybe you allow for your head to fall down. Bring your feet together, knees apart, hands overhead. We'll be here for a few rounds of it. Take a deep inhale and deep breath out. Two more rounds just like that. Over it and let it go. Good. Once again, taking the deepest inhale, grab as much air as you can. As you breathe out, allow for your heart to keep opening towards the ground, towards the ceiling. Notice here if you're starting to feel some resistance, can you breathe through it? Maybe you close your eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Good. Try to make your breath a little bit longer every time that you inhale and even longer every time you exhale. Good. Slowly start bringing your attention onto your throat. To breathe out, try and release it, allowing for the hole opening on your throat to let go of any stuck energy that you may be feeling on it. Slowly start bringing your hands all the way forward, elbows out. As you breathe out, bring your chin to your chest. Use your elbows to help you lift all the way up until you come into a seated position. Take an inhale, set the blocks to the side. As you breathe out, slowly just take a few seconds to stay in an upright position to restentate your spine. Take an inhale, reach your arms up to the ceiling. Exhale, open your arms in cactus. Good. Once again, inhale, reach your arms up. Exhale, arms in cactus. One more, reach. Exhale, arms in cactus. Good. With the next inhale, press your elbows back, trying to open your heart a tiny bit more. As you breathe out, bring your elbow to elbow, chin to chest, arch the spine. Good. Inhale, open up. Exhale, connect. Breathe in, open. Breathe out, connect. Once more, open. Exhale, connect. Stay here until you take an inhale. As you breathe out, release your hands right in front of you. You can place your hands on the mat or maybe you grab onto your knees. Take an inhale, roll the shoulders forward, open your heart. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest, lean back. Good. Again, inhale, lean forward. Exhale, press back. Last one, breathe in, lean forward. Exhale, press back. Take an inhale, bring both arms up. Exhale, twist to the right side. Right hand behind yourself, left hand grabbing outside of your right knee. Use this connection to pull and twist. Take a full breath in here. Deep breath out. Once more, deep inhale, keep drawing the navel in and out. And let it go. With the next inhale, bring both arms up. Exhale, twist to the other side. Right hand outside of your left knee, left hand back. Breathe in to lengthen. Breathe out to twist. Full breath in. Let it go. Last inhale. As you breathe out, slowly start bringing yourself back into center. Bring your hands right in front of you. Lean forward, roll your shins back, finding yourself in a tabletop position. In your tabletop, with the next inhale, slowly start bringing your hands, your blocks, in a higher setting right in front of you. Walk your knees slightly forward. You want to bring your elbows on the far edge of your blocks. With control, make sure you're feeling stable, hands in prayer. Slowly start walking your knees back. Sink your torso in between your arms and allow for your hands to go in reverse prayer right behind your neck. Sink your hips a little deeper. Take an inhale and take an exhale. Good. A few more rounds of good. Notice here, if you're feeling some tingling sensation in your shoulders, you might want to readjust your pose to make sure that your elbows are not wider than your shoulders. You want to have shoulder distance apart, so there's just like six inches between your blocks, six inches between your elbows. If you want to make this a little bit more active, take an inhale, press the elbows against the blocks, your upper body will lift. Exhale, relax. Good. A few more like that. Breathe in, left. Exhale, relax. Inhale, left. Exhale, relax. Last one. Breathe in to left. Exhale, relax. Good. Take one more inhale there. As you breathe out slowly with out of here, set the blocks aside. Hands are right underneath your shoulders. Spread your fingers wide. Take an inhale to find stillness. As you breathe out, bring your chin to your chest. Push the floor away. Take an inhale, belly down, open up. Exhale, push away. Good. Again, inhale, belly down and open. Exhale, push the floor away. The next inhale, come back into stillness. Breathe out. We're going for puppy pose. Start walking your hands all the way to the front of the mat. Take an inhale to face forward. Exhale, send your hips back, bring your forehead on the ground. Good. You can stay here. Maybe you bring your chin to the ground, maybe your heart. Try to keep your hips away from your heels, tucked right on top of your knees, facing forward. Three rounds of breath. Let it go. Deep breath in. Deep breath out. Last two. In and out. Deep inhale. And let it go. With the next inhale, keep your hands where they are, elbows where they are. Slowly start shifting your body into a sphinx pose. Readjust your pose by making sure your shoulders are on top of your elbows. Press the pelvis down. Take an inhale, roll the chin upwards, gaze up. Exhale, bring your chin to your chest, press the pelvis down, lift your navel, look at it. Good. Inhale, belly down, open up. Exhale, chin to chest, push the floor away. Good. A few more. Inhale, belly down and open. Exhale, push the floor away. Last one. Breathing, belly down and open. Exhale, push away, hold it. Take an inhale. Take an exhale. Breathing to come back up. Breathe out, look at the right side. Inhale, center. Exhale, look at the left side. Breathing, center. Exhale, bring your right ear to your right shoulder. Good. Inhale, center. Exhale, left ear, left shoulder. Good. Inhale, center. As you breathe out, slowly start bringing your block towards the right side of your space and you're going to reach for the other one and place it at the same alignment as well. You can play with the height of the blocks. We're going to start opening your shoulders a tiny bit more. You're going to rest your shoulders on the blocks, allow for your arms to open in a T or a cactus and rest your forehead on the ground. This is opening your shoulder blades. It's pretty good if you're spending a lot of time on the computer. Maybe you stay here. If you want more challenge, you can try and do it with the blocks in the higher setting. This might feel too intense just when you use your breath to calm down your body. Arms are opening to the sides. Head can be hanging or maybe you can reach down to the ground. Allow for the chin to go to your chest. See if you can find more stillness here. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Two more rounds of breath and let it go. Last inhale. As you breathe out, slowly start lifting out of this pose. This time bring your block six feet, six inches away from your shoulders. Right arm on the block in a cactus position. Elbow bent 90 degrees. Left hand right behind you. Take an inhale, bend your left knee. Exhale, bring your left foot behind the right. This might feel too intense. You can always take the block away. We'll just do this for a few seconds and then we'll do a simpler version of it. Take one last breath in here. Good. As you breathe out, bring your back to center. Release the block. Open your right arm to the right side of your space. Right wrist as high as your shoulder. Once again, bend the left knee. Send your left foot behind the right. Good. You can stay here or bring your left hand behind your low back for half a bind. You can stay there. Maybe you reach for your foot and press the heel towards your glute for a half stretch. If this feels good and you want more, you can add on by kicking the left foot all the way up to the ceiling to add a hamstring stretch. Continue to lean towards the outer edge of your body towards the right side. Forwarding and deep breath out. Good. Two more rounds of breath there. Deep inhale. Let it go. Last breath in. As you breathe out, slowly start bringing your foot back down to center. Bring yourself back into that finch pose. This time, bring your right forearm underneath your right left armpit, opening your right left knee to the left side of your space. You're going to roll all the way around, bringing the left hand behind you to find yourself in a supine twist. You can use your right hand to press onto your left knee, gazing either straight up or towards your left hand. Take an inhale there. Take a bigger exhale. Good. Two more. Forwarding and deep breath out. Good. Last inhale. As you breathe out, bring yourself back into center. Coming back into that finch pose. Open your right knee to the right side of your space. Right toes flex. This time, it's the left forearm that goes underneath your right knee. No, I messed up again. Coming back to center. Keep your left leg open in a 90 degree wave. Left foot is flexed. This time, it's your left forearm that goes under the right armpit. You can rest onto your booster or your block to close the left shoulder that you just opened. Few rounds of breath here. Full inhale. Deep breath out. Keep your left foot very flexed. Good. Two more rounds of breath. Notice what you notice when the body is still, and the only thing you have to do is to be and breathe. What thoughts are arising? What worries are arising? Can you just let them be and step away as you bring your attention back onto your breath? Good. Slowly bring yourself back up. And we'll do the whole thing on the other side. Block goes towards the left side, six inches away from your left shoulder. Bring your left forearm in a cactus figure. Right hand underneath your right shoulder. Bend your right knee. Send your right foot behind the left. This feels intense on the left shoulder. We're just going to be here for three rounds of breath, allowing for your inner arm to open up a tiny bit more. Good. One more inhale. One big exhale. Slowly come back into center. Release the block. Lengthen your left arm to the left side. Bend your right knee again, and open once again to the left side of your space. Same thing that you did on the other side. You can stay here. Maybe you bring your hand behind your back. Maybe you reach for your foot and place it against your glute. Or maybe you kick your foot all the way up to the ceiling. Few rounds of breath there. Deep inhale. Deep breath out. Good. Two more rounds here. And let it go. Last inhale. Exhale. Release your foot back down on the ground. Bend your right knee in a 90 degree way. Knee as high as your hip. Heel right below your knee. This time slide the left arm underneath the right armpit. Roll the right armpit all the way to the side. Left hand can go on top of your right knee, looking to the right side of your space. Full inhale. Deep exhale. Two more rounds of breath. Over it in. And let it out. Last inhale. Exhale. Slowly start coming back into center. Keep your right leg as it is. Bring your right arm underneath your left armpit. You can use your booster or the block as a pillow, or no pillow at all, and just your head on the ground. And take a few more rounds of breath. Your hips are opening as your shoulder blades are opening as well. Last two rounds of breath here. And let it go. Slowly with the next inhale start bringing yourself back up. As you breathe out, release the blocks. Bring your hands underneath your shoulders. Tuck your toes. Press your body into a tabletop position. We're going to come into our last pose here. Grab your block and place it to the back of the mat in the lower setting. And then place the other block in the higher setting. Then reach for your booster and place it right behind, right on top of your blocks. You want to bring your sit bones right at the very edge of the booster. And with your hands reach for the block that is more far away so that you make sure that it's stable. Slowly start laying down onto your block, onto your booster. Your legs can be extended, hands falling to the outer edge. Allow for this pose to keep opening the front side body. Feeling supported there. Take a deep inhale as you hold. Breathe out to allow for your feet to open towards the outer edge. I invite you here to close your eyes and stay here for as long as it feels good. We're going to close today's class in this position. This can be your Shavasana or whenever you feel ready you can remove the booster and the blocks and just lay flat on the mat. Take one deep inhale. As you breathe out let it all go. And surrender. Your Thank you so much for practicing with me. If you like the outfit that I'm wearing today make sure you check the shelf below so that you can get one for yourself. Don't forget to check my next video. Bye. Welcome to Yoga Plus. Courses available from pupil to yogi. Sort by yoga, fitness, and instructors. Create your own routines. Access the Pose Library. Yoga Plus by Psyche Truth. Available on Google Play and the App Store. Join us for 14 and 30 day programs, hour-long classes, and much more on our yoga app Yoga Plus by Psyche Truth. It's free to download and features a variety of wellness content including yoga, fitness, Pilates, guided meditations, and interviews with dozens of wellness experts.