Chronic neck and shoulder tension affects millions of people, and can seriously detract from our day to day well-being. In this online course, yoga therapist Robin Rothenberg, author of The Essential Low Back Program: Relieve Pain and Restore Health, will discuss the factors that often result in neck and shoulder pain and offer a yoga program to address the underlying issues.
Neck and shoulder pain often reflects an imbalance in the muscular recruitment of the shoulder girdle, in particular the action of the shoulder blades. Rotator cuff injuries, frozen shoulder and bursitis all can manifest as a result of immobility and weakness in the stabilizers of the mid-back. Repetitive recruitment of the chest and neck with disordered breathing can also exacerbate tension and pain.
The good news is that there are numerous ways to restore a healthy balance of the neck and shoulder girdle, and yoga offers an important key. In this course, you will learn how functional movement in the shoulder blades through activation of the ‘mid-back core’ can help ensure healthy shoulder movement and release pressure on the tendons of the ball joint. We will also look at how proper breathing mechanics support relaxation in the neck, jaw and throughout the upper body.
The course will examine the anatomy of the shoulder girdle with an eye to increasing function and practical ways to adapt asana and facilitate shoulder stability, while reinforcing the importance of diaphragmatic-abdominally supported breathing to break chest breathing habits. In the yoga practice accompanying the course, you will learn a combination of techniques to restore the health of the neck and shoulder girdle, including somatic release, undulation, and strength work, as well as how to link posture and core support from the base of the spine all the way up through the neck core.
what you will learn
- Learn basic anatomy of the shoulder girdle.
- Become familiar with the ‘mid-back core’ and how to access it.
- Understand the proper ‘set’ or positioning of the shoulder blades.
- Develop proprioceptive awareness of the scapulae and how to mobilize them.
- Learn why stretching the neck and shoulders rarely results in lasting change.
- Develop appreciation for the link between the abdominal core, mid-back core, and neck core to sustain postural stability and mobility.
- Learn how utilize core engagement to transform the breath and release hypertonicity of the upper traps, levator scapulae, pectorals and scalenes.
Robin Rothenberg has been teaching therapeutically adapted yoga for over 30 years. She is the founding director of Essential Yoga Therapy, an IAYT-Accredited Yoga Therapy Training Program outside Seattle, Washington and runs a full-time yoga therapy practice near her home. Robin has spent years exploring functional movement, utilizing adaptive asana and breathing practices to break chronic pain patterns and reset the body to move with stability, integration and freedom.
Her work with the neck and shoulders has been honed through healing of her own injuries and her decades of work supporting clients in re-establishing balance and ease in their upper body. Robin is the author of The Essential Low Back Program and two yoga nidra CDs. She is currently writing, Transformative Pranayama, a text which weaves together the knowledge she has gleaned from the past three years of intense practice and study on the breath, as a guide to yoga teachers, therapists and serious practitioners.
This Course also Includes:
- Yoga Practice Video: Enjoy a yoga practice with Robin created specifically for this course.
- Recordings of All Webinar Sessions: It’s generally acknowledged that many people only retain 10-20 percent of what they learn in a workshop. You will get access to the recordings of both webinar sessions (both MP3 and MP4), enabling you to go back and listen to the workshop as many times as you like.
- Transcripts of Both Sessions: Ever wanted to refer to a certain part of a course? Even the best note takers miss a point every so often. With the transcripts of the sessions, you can go back and refer to particularly important passages or clarify sections you were in doubt about.
This course qualifies for 3 CEs with Yoga Alliance.
