Almost everyone has an occasional pain in the upper back and shoulders, often caused by prolonged sitting in front of a computer or just by stress. The pain is due to muscle spasm and keeping those muscles in good shape helps prevent this problem. It also helps to be aware of your body through regular meditation practice or Awareness Through Movement method developed by an Israeli physicist Moshe Feldenkrais. I’ve posted Feldenkrais exercise videos for neck pain here and here. Most people are shocked at the immediate improvement in the range of movements they notice even after the first set of exercises.
I recently had a tight knot in one of my shoulders which did not go away after 90 minutes of hot yoga. Lying on the floor at the end of the yoga session I did a 5-minute Feldenkrais exercise which made the knot melt away. In this video I demonstrate this exercise that relaxes tight muscles and stops shoulder and upper back pain. Instead of watching the video you can follow these written instructions:
Lie down on your back with a thin pillow or a soft pad under your head. Spend a minute paying attention to spots where your head, shoulders, back, arms and legs touch the ground. Then, bend your knees and keep your feet flat on the floor. Stretch your arms in front of you and put your palms together with your arms forming a tall triangle. Keep your eyes on the thumbs and slowly lift the right shoulder off the ground with your head rolling to the left. Press down the left foot to make the movement easier. Keep the shoulder lift small to avoid straining and time it with exhalation. Repeat this shoulder lift and head turn five times while maintaining the gaze on the thumbs. Then, do another five of these movements in exactly the same way, except now move your eyes from the thumbs as far as you can in the opposite direction from the head roll. It may be difficult at first because your head may want to move with the eyes. When you come back to the midline, your eyes return to the thumbs. Put your arms and legs down and again spend a minute noticing the areas of pressure where various parts of your body touch the floor. Now, repeat the same two sets of 5 movements to the left side and then rest for a minute to feel your body contact the floor.
Try to maintain regular slow breathing throughout this exercise.
