I’ve been doing alot of Yoga Mudra lately - the juicy shoulder/chest stretch that feels so great if you’ve done alot of time at a desk or computer.

To get into Yoga Mudra - interlock your fingers together, clasping your hands behind your back. Ideally you want to have straight arms so if that’s not happening, grab a strap. Roll your shoulder up and back. *Squeeze* your shoulder blades together. Then straighten your arms, pressing your hands away from your hips so that you feel a stretch in your chest and the fronts of your shoulders.

It’s an arm position that you can use in all kinds of poses. Here are a few:

Standing Forward Bend - stand with feet hip width apart. Establish Yoga Mudra with your arms and then slowly bend forward, creasing at the hips. Keep a slight bend in your knees. Make sure neck is relaxed and head hangs loose. Keep letting your shoulders relax, keep breathing, this can be intense. Stay for at least 5 breaths. If you can really focus on relaxing your shoulders, often you’ll get just a tiny release your exhales. Come out of this slowly so you don’t reintroduce any tension. Bring hands back to hips first, unclasp your hands, then roll up, or with hands on hips come up slowly with a flat back. Stand and breath for a bit.

Wide Leg Forward Bend - use the same instruction as the last except with feet farther apart. Bring your arms in a t-position and widen your feet so that they’re under your ankles. The insides of your feet should be parallel to each other. Again, knees can have a little softness in them. Follow the same instructions as the Standing Forward Bend.

Warrior 1 - Hold Warrior 1 for a few breaths, then Yoga Mudra your arms and creasing at the hips, fold over your bent leg. Relax your arms away from you. Your torso can rest on your thigh. Keep your neck relaxed. Breath as you actively rest.

Kneeling - From a kneeling position get into Yoga Mudra and then fold forward so that your forehead is resting on the floor (or a pillow). Relax your arms away from you, finding the stretch. Then slowly lift your hips, getting a nice curve in your spine. You will roll from your forehead to the top of head as you lift. Keep your lower body active, so all your weight isn’t in your neck and head. Take a few breaths here and then slowly come back.

Locust - once you’ve done a pose using Yoga Mudra and another back bending posture to ensure you’re warmed up, try this one. Add Yoga Mudra to a Locust pose. Try bringing only your upper body off the floor the first time. Keep legs engaged so you have a firm foudation. And then for the second round bring upper and lower body off the floor. When you do the first one really focus on squeezing your shoulder blades together as you press your arms away and press your chest forward. Really work the curve in your upper back. Then in the second round work the curve in the lengh of your back. I love this one, it’s intense but delicious. When you finish each one, let your head rest on your mat and take a breather feeling the way the energy moves in the back of your body.

Relaxed Yoga Mudra - The other night in class we were winding down, almost to Savasana but I wanted to do one more shoulder stretch, so we did this one. Lay face down, put your arms into Yoga Mudra getting a shoulder stretch while the rest of your body is fairly relaxed. You can also do it lying on your side.

Yoga Mudra is such a good heart opener and it stretches all those muscles that get tight from slumping all day. It’s worth adding at least one of these to each yoga session.