Let’s take a look at Camel Pose & the Benefits:
Stretches and strengthens the shoulders and back
Opens the deep hip flexors
Opens the abdominal area and helps improve digestion
Opens the chest to help breathing
Stimulates endocrine glands
Opens the heart, throat, and sacral plexus chakras
Check this pose out in detail and go to your first point of resistance for best results to open your shoulders and get all the other benefits:
Ustrasana/ Camel Pose
- Set Your Base- Place knees and feet hip width apart and press the tops of feet into the floor
- Align- Hips directly over knees with thighs vertical
- Place hands on the sacrum and draw tailbone slightly inward
- Elongate the spine and open the front line of the torso
- As your chest opens, let your scapulae slide down your back
- Adjust- by keeping your hands on the sacrum or if you feel like you can open further place your hands on your heels
- Lift from your heart and remember to only stretch to your comfort level and not past this point
- Modify- Keep chin pressed toward chin if this pose hurts the neck
- Place hands back onto sacrum or onto blocks if this pose stretches past your comfort level
- Press thighs into the wall for more awareness
To come out of this pose- Pretend there is a string pulling you up and out of this pose from your heart center as you slowly release your hands and come to a sitting position.
Yoga for Massage Therapists is pertinent. Shoulder openers are quite important for therapists to do on a regular basis. Let’s keep it simple: Strengthen and condition the larger and stabilizing muscles of the back and open the shoulders. Lessen the risk of certain injuries such as deltiod or rotator cuff strains by taking steps to release these tight and overworked muscles. What else can we do besides stretching and strengthening? Get bodywork! Yes you too need bodywork. It is important to release the adhesions in the fascia and surrounding muscles.
Namaste,
Karina
