Use Your Head About Shoulders
Practicing a few simple stretches can result in new freedom of movement in many standing poses, backbends, and inversions.
By Julie Gudmestad
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If you can't straighten your shoulders when you stretch your arms overhead, you're in for some
challenges in yoga. Tight shoulders can make Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand) a battle, compress
your low back in Virabhadrasana I (Warrior I), keep your arms bent in Urdhva Dhanurasana (Wheel
Pose), and disrupt the beautiful vertical line in simple asanas like Vrksasana (Tree Pose).
But you can make long-term changes in shoulder mobility with regular work on just a few simple poses,
and your more challenging asanas will improve noticeably. Several muscles can limit your ability
to stretch the arms overhead, but two of the most important are the pectoralis major and latissimus
dorsi. The pecs are large chest muscles that originate on the breastbone and collarbones and insert
on the outer upper arm bones (humerus). The lats are large, flat muscles on the back, which
originate on the pelvis and the mid- and low-back vertebrae. From there, they extend up and
diagonally out across the back, wrap through the armpits, and insert on the inner humerus.
If your pecs and lats are short and tight, they strongly limit shoulder flexion, the ability to
stretch the arm up. Sometimes these muscles are short because you've worked hard to strengthen them
through activities like sports and weight training. Often, however, the tightness is due to lack of
stretching. If you only stretch
your arms high enough to reach a cup on a shelf or get a comb to the top of your head, your
shoulders will maintain just that amount of flexibility. There aren't many activities in daily life
that use a full 180 degrees of shoulder flexion, so the average person probably only has 150
degrees, far less than you need for a good Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog).
Tight pecs and lats not only limit your ability to fully stretch your arms overhead, they also
strongly pull the shoulder into internal rotation. This causes problems in yoga because most asanas
require external rotation. To experience external rotation, stand with your arms at your sides and
turn the palms forward. If you hold that rotation and bring your arms forward and overhead, the palms
will face each other or even point slightly backward. This is the rotation you need in arms-overhead
poses like Warrior I, Tree, Handstand, and Headstand. If instead you internally rotate your
shoulders and then raise your arms overhead, the elbows tend to bow outward, and you lose important
alignment and support in weight-bearing poses like Down Dog, Handstand, Headstand, and Wheel.
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