Shoulder Mobility & Tension Release: 60-Min Yin Yoga for BJJ

Keeping the legs exactly where they are. Release the hands and place the left hand on the ankle closest to you, your right ankle and lower over to the left side. So gentle spinal twist with an outer hip stretch. Reach the right arm up towards the ceiling and lower it behind you.

If it's too intense to hold on to the shin or the ankle, sorry, you can go ahead and let it go. Last deep breath. Using the inhale to slowly come to center, both feet on the floor, recenter the spine. Now plant the feet on the floor, lift the hips, bring the hips towards the right so they are off center towards the right.

Lift the knees so they are above the hips and lower them to the left side. I want you to bring your entire body over to the left side. Left arm out straight, right hand on top. So knees are stacked, hands are stacked and from here, inhale to lift the arm and release.

Knees are stacked, hands are stacked and from here, inhale to lift the arm above you and all the way behind you. I have a wall so I'm not going to go all the way back, but I want you to. Exhale lower, inhale lift, exhale lower. So moving through this movement with the breath and this is allowing us access to the thoracic spine between the shoulder blades and if you have access to that thoracic spine and the shoulders are warmed up, it allows us to get into the shoulders better.

And same thing with outer hips, we just stretch those. If those are really, really tight, it's going to be harder to do this twist. It's all connected. And the next time your arm is behind you, your right arm, I want you to keep it behind you and lower it as close to the ground as you can get.

As close to the ground as you can get. It doesn't matter if the knees are right on top of each other or if one leg is floating, that's okay. It doesn't matter if your arm is floating, that's okay. Just want that gentle stretch to the front of the shoulder and a gentle spinal twist.

And then the shoulders, we will target the entire body because the whole body needs this. It's like flossing. It's like brushing your teeth, flossing your teeth. You need to do it every day.

You feel so good after. Last deep breath. Slowly come to center. Re-center the spine.

Take a moment. Feet on the floor, hands beside you, palms facing up, close eyes. And take a moment to recognize the difference between the left side and the right side and how good you feel already and what an entire hour will do. An entire hour will do.

Slowly gathering both knees into the chest, gently rock side to side. Placing the right foot on the ground, interlocking the fingers on the left shin, pull the left shin towards the left armpit. Moving into figure four, left ankle on the right quad and make sure it's the ankle closer to the foot side, not the shin, ankle, maybe even some of the foot. And if this is enough for you in the figure four, stay here or reach the hands through the thighs, interlocking the fingers by the side of the foot.

And then the right side of the foot, the left side of the foot, interlocking the fingers behind the leg. Finding your breath, inhaling into where it feels tight. Exhale to release. Last deep breath.

Keeping the legs exactly where they are. Release the hands, right hand on the left ankle and lower your body to the right side. Left arm stretches up and behind you. You can continue holding the ankle or if this is pretty intense, go ahead and let it go.

So breath. Last deep breath. So slowly come to center, both feet on the floor, recent to your spine. And plant through the feet, lift the hips, bring the hips to the left there so they are slightly off center to the left.

Lift the knees so they are above the hips. Lower the knees to the right side and allow the entire body to follow. So I'm completely on the right side, knees are stacked, hands are together in front of me, arms are together. And on your inhale, lift the arm up and behind you.

Exhale. I think of this as a door, close the door. Inhale, open. Exhale, close.

And again, I have this wall behind me. Otherwise, I would bring my left hand all the way back, but you shouldn't. So I want you to bring that left hand all the way back. And the next time your left arm is behind you, I want you to keep it behind you.

So finding the deep breath, inhaling into where you feel tension. Exhale to release. Last deep breath. Inhale.

Last deep breath. Use your next inhale to pull yourself slowly to center, feet on the floor, recenter the spine. Take a moment to notice. To notice the difference that a few moments has made.

To notice how good the body feels already. The difference between your left and right side again. Maybe they feel closer to being balanced this round because we've stretched both. Maybe one side feels a bit warmer than the other.

Just notice. And rolling to your favorite side, use your hands, push yourself to a set grabbing your belt or if you don't have a belt, you will do this without one. Getting a good grip, lift the belt up above you and behind. Bringing the shoulders through their through their entire range of motion, blood flow, a bit of blood flow into those joints, some synovial fluid into the shoulder joints before we move into really stretching the shoulders.

I'll go ahead and release that belt. Come onto your belly, onto your chest, onto your chest, onto your chest, onto your chest, onto your chest. And then release that belt. I'll go ahead and release that belt.

Come onto your belly, onto Sphinx pose. So elbows under your shoulders. Make sure I'm still on camera. There we go.

Elbows under the shoulders. Palms to the ground and engage gently through those quads. Palms to the ground and engage gently through those quads, through the glutes. Pull the belly button to the spine.

Elbows under the shoulders to pull the torso up and forward, creating a small traction of the spine, making the spine longer. And this posture is incredibly important because we spend all of our days doing the opposite of this. Doing forward flexion, always leaning forward. So to do extension, that's what this is called, is really, really important for the spine and spinal health.

And that's why I put it in basically all of my in-videos. And to release, lower everything to the ground. Look to the left, place the left hand in what's called a cactus, and left knee up towards Frog. So the left knee is up, the left leg's at a 90 degree angle, the left hand's at a 90 degree angle, and this will give you some relief through the lower back, but still keeping you in a really, really slight and gentle flexion.

Last breath. Slowly returning to your Sphinx. Elbows under the shoulders, fingertips grip the floor, engage through the quads, pull the belly button to the spine, and use the elbows to lengthen the shoulders, make the shoulders and torso taller, and pull the torso up and forward. Visually not much will move, but you'll feel it.

Last deep breath. And release. Creating that cactus with the right arm and with the right leg. So this time, left ear on the floor, cactus with the right arm and the right leg, giving you that relief through the back.

This feels so good, sometimes I feel like I could stay here forever. Make it a true yin session, 10 minutes in each posture. And slowly transitioning into Child's Pose, plant the hands to push the torso up, knees underneath you, and create wide knees moving into a wide-legged Child's Pose. And you have options for the hands.

The hands can either reach forward, or you can rest the forehead on the back of the hands, or the hands can be beside the hips with the forehead resting on the ground. So play around, try each variation, and it's not that one variation is better than the other, it's just that they're different. And what you need each day will be different. So find the variation that you need today, and then settle into the posture.

Last deep breath. Planting the hands, come to Tabletop. From Tabletop, hips stay stacked above the knees, walk the hands forward for Melting Heart. Walk the hands forward as far as they will go, allow the head to rest on the ground, stay active through the fingers.

So create activation through the fingers, and you will feel this through the shoulder. Last deep breath. Slowly find your way to Tabletop. From Tabletop, lower the entire belly to the ground.

From Tabletop, lower the entire belly to the ground. Finding a cactus arm with your right hand. So lining up the elbow with the shoulder, and once the elbow is lined up with the shoulder, use the fingers to pull the elbow slightly higher than the shoulder, like maybe a millimeter slightly higher. Right ear on the ground, use the left hand to turn the body.

So this stretch, it doesn't matter how much or how little you turn, all that matters is you feel a stretch through the front of the right shoulder. And you can play with the intensity. You do this by having the right elbow lined up with the shoulder. So you can move out of the stretch, line the right elbow up exactly with the shoulder, see how that feels.

Out of the stretch, move the elbow above the shoulder, and see how that changes the stretch. So I want you to play with the elbow. A really good starting point is elbow in line with the shoulder, in line with the shoulder, then just above it. Because we want to keep that true 90 degree angle, or perhaps, I don't know what you would call it, above a 90 degree angle.

But find your, find your posture, and then settle in. Last deep breath. Go ahead and release. Come into your Sphinx, but only for a transition.

Elbows under the shoulders, now reach the left arm forward, creating space under the left arm to sneak the right arm underneath, palm facing up. I'm just going to move my mic here so you can still hear me. So palm facing up, then turn your torso so it faces the ground. And you'll feel this glorious stretch through the outside of the right shoulder.

And I want you falling over to the right hip. I want you to attempt to face both hips towards the ground. Left hand can stay reaching in front of you, or you can rest your forehead, your head on the hand. So we are only staying in each of these stretches for about a minute, because they tend to be quite intense.

But we will cycle through this twice, so you still get your minimum two minute cycle through each stretch. Slowly release both elbows under the shoulders and bring, bring the entire body to the ground, hands beside the hips, palms facing up, taking a moment of rest between sides and close the eyes. Recognize the difference between the right side and the left. Perhaps you notice that the right side shoulder drops lower to the mat than the left side, perhaps the right side just overall feels better.

Maybe it feels warmer, maybe you don't notice much difference yet. So coming near Sphinx, bringing the left hand to cactus, left elbow just above the left shoulder a tiny bit, like a millimeter. Look to the right and I'm going to move my mic just so you can keep hearing me. It's my pet peeve in classes where you can't hear people during class because they're a jerk with their mic.

Looking to the right, left hand on, so yeah looking to the right right hand on the ground and turn to the right. You may find this side is different than the last side and remember you can play with the height of that elbow. You can move out of the posture, find, play with the height of the elbow then move back into it. For me, my right, my left side is not nearly as tight as my right side.

My guess would be I'm right-handed. That's probably why that right shoulder is so so much more stiff, probably why it needs this stretch so much. It's interesting to observe the differences between both sides. That's why these stretches become so important to begin to bring balance between both sides.

To begin to bring balance between both sides. 20 more seconds. Last deep breath. Slowly coming to Sphinx and from Sphinx, elbows under the shoulders.

This time reaching the right arm forward just enough to sneak your left arm underneath, palm facing up. And remember I don't want your hips shifting over to the side. This time would be towards the right. Face them towards the ground as much as you can.

Once you've found that, you can leave your head exactly where it is or you can rest it on your right hand. Last deep breath. Slowly find your way to Sphinx. Pose elbows under the shoulders.

Then I want you to release, push through the hands finding your way to Child's Pose. Knees wide in Child's Pose. Rest the head either on the floor with the hands stretched in front of you. Rest the forehead on the back of the hands or rest the forehead on the ground with the hands beside your legs.

Breathing into the back. Inhaling into wherever feels tension in the back. Commonly it can be the lower back but every body is different. For that matter every day is different in every body.

Inhale into where it feels tight. Exhale to release. Inhale. Moving through this a second time.

Coming all the way to your belly. Sphinx Pose. Then bring the right arm out to the right side, Cactus Arm, and walk the elbow so it's barely above the shoulder and turn to the left. So left ear on the floor, left hand posts and push off the ground with that left hand.

And again you can play with the height of the right elbow. Just make sure it is either in line with the right shoulder or higher. Going into a 60 to 70 percent intensity of this stretch. Last deep breath.

Find your way slowly to Sphinx Pose, elbows under the shoulders. Walk your left hand up just enough to sneak that right arm underneath, palm up. Square the hips to the ground as much as you can. Option for this second time to bring the left arm overhead, over across your body.

Both arms are crossed and I call this I call this Shoelace Pose for the arms. So this may be too this you might love this and it might feel really good or it may be too intense. And if it is too intense go back to the variation we did before or if it feels pretty good then stay here. So last deep breath.

Slowly release elbows under the shoulders finding your Sphinx. Bringing the left arm out to Cactus. Elbow just higher than the shoulder start with barely higher. Left ear on the ground post through the right hand, turn towards the right.

And I remind you one more time you can you can play at the height of that left elbow so you can get the most stretch out of it. And the second time through we are moving through it a little bit quicker. But I'm still feeling more of a release then than through the first time. So last deep breath.

Slowly come to center finding your Sphinx Pose. Walking your right hand forward just enough to slip that left arm underneath, palm facing up. And same thing you have two variations for this side. You can either stay where you are or try bringing the right arm underneath you palm up.

So both arms will be basically across your torso and try it and if this is too much then just move to the variation before it. And don't expect the right side to be like the left. Maybe this you're able to do this on the last side but doesn't it's too much on this side or vice versa. Just respect what your body needs.

Last deep breath. Slowly come to your Sphinx Pose. Propping the elbows up under the shoulders and releasing palms to the ground, hips to heels for a wide legged child's pose. And in your wide legged child's pose this time forehead to the ground as much as you can.

Elbows forward palms together behind the head. So last deep breath. Last deep breath. Slowly come to Tabletop.

Transitioning onto your back. Last few postures. Extend the feet with the right hand. Place the right palm on the ground beside you.

Then and there's yeah you want your arm bent almost like the cactus arm that we did on the floor. This will be the opposite. So the palm will be down beside your hip and I want you to sneak it underneath of your lower back. So palm is on the ground.

Sneak that hand under your lower back. Extend both legs. You will feel a stretch through the front of the shoulder. Now if you don't quite yet, walk the hand further up the back.

In Jitsu I call this my Kamora stretch. So continue walking the hand further and further up the back until you feel the stretch. Then I want you once you really feel it, I want you to release it a tiny bit and settle into the posture because the stretch will intensify with time. Legs can stay extended or if there's any irritation or soreness or tightness in that lower back, both feet on the floor, feet wider than the hips, knees together.

That can feel nice on the lower back. So close the eyes and breathe. It's not COVID, I swear. So deep inhales, exhale to release that tension.

Being conscious of any tension you might be holding. Maybe you're holding it in your face. Maybe you're holding it in the shoulder that we're stretching without realizing it. So deep inhales, exhale to consciously release that tension.

Using the breath for intentional work. Last deep breath. Last breath. Slowly release the hand, palm face up.

Put both hands, both palms face up. Take a moment to recognize the difference between the left and the right side. Moving into our other side, placing the palm on the ground beside your hips and then underneath you. Underneath the lower back, basically where the spine is.

And if you don't feel a stretch, walk the hand further and further up the spine, making sure the palm is down. And when you found the stretch, it will be through the front of the shoulder, through an area in the front of the shoulder. Once you've found that stretch, then relax into the posture. Closing the eyes.

Deep inhales, deep exhales. Last deep breath. So finding your last deep breath. Slowly release both palms facing up.

Take a moment. Notice the difference between the left and right side. And from here, extend the legs, reach the arms up. Big stretch.

Make yourself as long as possible. And walk the feet towards the left. So walking the feet towards the left. Walk the hands towards the left, creating a banana shape with your body.

Left hand holds the right wrist. You can cross the left ankle over the right. And this may not be the same for the other side. So, if you're feeling a stretch, then you're going to be able to do this.

And this is a fantastic stretch for the entire side body. My main focus is through the through the bottom of the arm and the lats. That can be hard to target. That can be hard to focus on and release.

This is a fantastic stretch to do that. Might as well do the entire side body. Might as well let the whole body join the party. So closing the eyes and relax.

This will be our last posture. Might sound, that might sound a little crazy, but don't try too hard. Just find your deep breaths. Relax more with each exhale.

That is our one minute. Last deep breath. Slowly find your way to center. Hands beside the hips, palms up.

Notice the difference between the right and left side. Those, these pockets of pause, that's what I call them, pockets of pause, are incredibly important to allow the body, but also the mind and the nervous system, to process the work we're doing and to allow the work we're doing to integrate. So we take a deep breath. Moving into the other side.

Reach the arms up. Reach the legs low. Make sure you're in the right position. Move your arms up.

Reach the legs low. Make sure you're in the right position. Moving into the other side. Reach the arms up.

Reach the legs low. Make the spine long. Move the legs towards the right side. The arms towards the right side.

Create your banana shape. Right hand grabs the left wrist and the right ankle crosses over the left. Find the intensity of your banana that feels good. Your banana shape.

Once you've found that, close the eyes and find your breath. So you may find this feels really nice or you may find the shoulders get a little bit irritated being over the head this long, but that's important. This is, this is a movement of the shoulders and it's because quite often most of us don't have the shoulders above the head, but it's important to move the body through its entire ranges of motion to keep it healthy, to keep the joints healthy. So that's why I kept this posture only about a minute each side.

If you find those shoulders are talking to you a little bit, that's okay. That just means that they need this. You only have 20 more seconds. Last deep breath.

So slowly find your way to center. Moving into our Shavasana. So hands beside the hips, palms facing up, an option for the legs to stay extended or feet on the ground further than the hips, knees together or the feet together and knees out. So try all three.

Find which one feels good. Once you've done that, walk the shoulder blades towards the spine a little more underneath you. So shoulder blades towards the spine and then release. Close the eyes.

Taking a few moments to allow this work to process and to integrate into the body. And you can always move the legs. It's really important here to move from the thinking body into the feeling body, being aware of how you feel. If you're working within that 60 minute time frame, this is it.

Or if you're able to stay a little longer, then please do so. This is incredibly important work, allowing yourself to just be. So often we live in the yang and the busy and the to do and the chaos. You forget how important it is to be on the other side and again, and the relaxing and the processing and the breathing.

So if you're able to stay longer, go ahead and stay longer.