RESOURCES FOR THE MODERN YOGI

Rejuvenate Your Neck In 30 Minutes

Uncategorized
Posted by: on Dec 29, 2014 | 6 Comments
Rejuvenate Your Neck In 30 Minutes

Allow us to introduce you to…

30 Minute Restoratives

Our newest resource for the Modern Yogi! Restorative Yoga should do just that – RESTORE you so that by the time you are done you feel clear. What better way to start your summer than centered and rejuvenated? This recipe for recovery is short, sweet and safe. The whole idea is to approach this sequence gently and playfully.

This sequence will help to ground your nervous system and restore the natural curves of your neck. The best part is you get to do it in the intimacy of your own home.

Enjoy!

1. Take A Hot Bath or Shower or give yourself an oily foot massage

2+ minutes

I want you to enter into this yoga sequence feeling watery; fluid; juicy; like your edges are blurred. If not a detoxifying bath, then perhaps get lost in your favorite chant, or give yourself a quick foot massage with oil.  Maybe try Ali’s abhyanga.  Please take a few minutes to soften.

2. Constructive Rest

5 minutes

This is THE #1 POSE I recommend for any type of back pain. Gravity will work with equal pressure on the entire back body and spine thus remedying anything out-of-whack. It’s seriously a miracle pose.

3. Supine Spine Waves

1 minute

Inhale: be in constructive rest

Exhale: curl your tailbone up, which will flatten your low back on the floor. From there, continue to lift the spine off the floor one vertebra at a time for the duration of your exhale until you are in a bridge pose.

Inhale: be in bridge pose and reinstate a natural curve into your low back and neck

Exhale: curl your tailbone up again as you begin to place your spine back down on the floor one vertebra at a time

Inhale: return to constructive rest making sure that the neck and low back are curving away from the floor into their natural curves

Repeat a few more times…

4. Bridge Pose

1 minute

Breathe freely in the pose for about 10 breaths, 2x.  Be in constructive rest between repetitions.

5. Legs-Up Pose (With Pelvis On A Bolster)

5 minutes

Your mantra here should be “Drop”. Drop the back of your head. Drop your shoulders. Allow your sacrum to melt in towards your belly. Drop your belly back towards your sacrum. Drop your thighbones into your pelvis. Drop into what feels heavy.

6. Modified Plow Pose (On A Bolster)

2 minutes

From Legs-Up Pose simply tilt the legs back so they are angled more back over your face. Tilt your chin away from your chest, and lift your chest toward the sky to encourage the natural curve of your neck. Continue to drop the back of your head into the floor and plummet your shoulders into the ground.

7. Seated Forward Bend

2 minutes

Hold on a sec before you go rounding forward… Rather than just folding forward and holding still, you are going to be gently rocking the whole time you are in this asana. With your legs straight and your hands on either side of your legs begin to tilt/lean/rolling-pin/sway… back-and-forth. It should feel a little bit like you are going down a loooooonnnnnnggggg green bunny hill as you gently lean from side to side. Breathe freely.

8. Staff Pose

2 minutes

For the first minute, come back to your mantra “Drop”. Drop your heels into the floor. Drop the back of your ankles & the back of your calves. Drop the length of your thighbones. Drop your sacrum FORWARD into your belly. Drop your belly back towards your sacrum. Drop your hands into the ground. Plummet your mind into your heart.

For the last minute here, make your legs as strong as you can. For a whole minute amp up the volume on your legs. Engage, engage engage and hold that strength!! Surround your bones with the strength of your muscles. It’s just one final minute!

9. Shavasana

10 minutes

“We must be steady enough in ourselves to be open and to let the winds of life blow through us.”
– M.C. Richards; Centering

Tags: , , , , , , ,

6 Comments

  1. di
    May 29, 2014

    where is the number 1 pose?thx

  2. Tracey Toomey McQuade
    May 29, 2014

    Hi, @di – the number one “pose” is the bath or massage – something to soften you and get you into restorative mode. Hope this helps!

  3. Tracey Toomey McQuade
    May 29, 2014

    Or did you mean #2: Constructive Rest? Joyce calls this the #1 Pose for any type of back pain. Here is a picture of a woman in Constructive Rest: http://truestar.com/yoga/pose_info.aspx?poseId=51&TB_iframe=true&KeepThis=true&height=525&width=648

  4. Skum
    September 16, 2014

    Curious.What is the significance of the drawing with the 12lbs 32lbs and 42lbs? I am very glad to find this post and so far it does seem to help. My neck got munched. Thank you!! How I found this post Is quite the funny story, Saw you on law and order and thought you were a friend I used to hang with at coffee bean. Looked you up on Imdb and checked out your FB page found this Neck Pain article…funny how things work when surfing. The only time I get true relief from the neck pain is in traction on the PT table. Im snoring in less than a minute. Gonna try inversion next.

  5. Tracey Toomey McQuade
    September 22, 2014

    Hi @disqus_aKfdm33Wp8:disqus ! The significance of the 12 lbs, etc. is that your head weighs roughly 12 lbs when your spine is properly aligned. As you move your head forward (as many of us do when we are texting), your head gets ‘heavier’ – it takes more work for the muscles in your neck and upper back to support your head when it’s out of alignment. This can lead to headaches, neck aches and all kinds of ailments! I hope your neck feels better!

  6. Darcy
    December 20, 2014

    This is an amazing sequence. I used it for my class, minus the bath. Thank you.