Neck Pain & Tight Shoulders – Yoga Poses that Help Relieve Pain

Unfortunately, neck pain & tight shoulders seem to always come together.  Often in my yoga classes, I will ask students what body parts are not feeling good and what they want to work on.  The number one answer is always low back pain and the next body parts are usually tight shoulder, neck pain and also hip tightness.

I think every single yoga class I have ever done helps with low back pain, as long as the student does not get too aggressive and try to go farther in the pose than is appropriate, which is very common for very new students.  For new yoga students I am alw Pays reminding them to let go of striving and competition and if they are wincing or grimacing or worst, grunting in a pose  (yes, that happens) then they needs to stop, modify so it is more comfortable or get my attention in a big class so I can give them an alternate pose.

Neck Pain & Tight Shoulders Poses

Here is my youtube video on using tennis balls and laying on top of them to give yourself a neck and shoulder massage.

Often it is so relaxing and since I am releasing such deep tightness with the tennis balls from neck pain and tight shoulders that I fall asleep in when I am doing this.   I drop down into a deep place of relaxation that I tell my husband not to talk to me when I am doing this.  The dog also knows to give me some space when I am  working with my tennis balls.

I won’t travel anywhere without my tennis balls.   I put the balls in a sock so that they can work on  each side of my vertebrae evenly.  I probably have at least 4 pairs of tennis balls wrapped in a sock in my house, maybe even one in my car and I never travel anywhere without my tennis balls.

Another technique that works well is a very hot bath.  Sort of cliche but it is quite therapeutic.  Best to add a few drops of essential oil such as lavender and also Epsom salts which lets you relax further.  If you don’t have any essential oils, then you can also throw a few bags of herbal tea such as chamomile into your bath water to make it smell all spa-like.

Since I have been having some inflammation in my knees lately, I can’t soak in a hot tub or else my knees will start screaming at me at the top of their knee-lungs so another way to heat up this part of the body without inflaming another is I have a herbal collar that I heat up in the microwave.  I actually have my lavender, rosemary and some other yummy smelling herbs collar on right now as I am writing this.  Awesome to wear on a chilly night as well.  You have to be careful heating up an herbal collar since I actually burnt the last one in the microwave by trying to heat it up too fast.

Jill Miller Yoga TuneUp DVDs – Knee Hab

I was reading a review about Jill Miller’s Kneehab video  in a recent YogaJournal magazine and decided to go ahead and order it but didn’t give much hope to  this.

A month later, after doing the Kneehab video for almost every day and feeling a LOT of relief, I figured I should also buy her DVD for upper body pain .  When you are in pain, you often are open to trying lots of different things without having much expectation to them actually helping.  Her DVD for upper body pain is divided into parts that give exercises, poses and moves for people that are just recovering from surgery to seasoned athletes.

Not all of the poses will be accessible if you have a lot of neck pain & tight shoulders .  This DVD is divided into 5 segments specifically for pain in different parts of your body such as your neck, shoulders,  The segments range from 5-10 minutes …. easy to fit into your day.  I actually do some of the moves when I am watching tv or on the toilet (am I sharing too much again?)

Jill Miller Yoga TuneUp DVDs for Neck Pain and Tight Shoulders

Even though it is called Yoga Tune Up it actually feels more like a yoga-flavored physical therapy session.  If your primary purpose is to find a very-low cost way to find your own relief from neck, shoulder, hand, wrist or knee pain, you are going to have to carve out time to do these moves on a regular basis.

It’s not a tape to do once and then have you neck pain and tight shoulders be magically healed.  It is an on-going routine that will have to become part of your life.   It’s less time to do this tape then to have to see a acupuncturist, chiropractor or physical therapist though a few times a week.

 What have you done on your own, without seeing a health-care professional to relieve pain?  Write your answers here in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Jasmine Kaloudis teaches many yoga retreats near Philadelphia and is the author of the best spiritual websites list.

Jasmine Kaloudis