Table of Contents
The importance of having your shoulders open
Our posture presents itself before ourselves and the way we present ourselves to others has a lot to do with first impressions. This doesn’t mean wearing a mask and always trying to look your best. But if we know that the form in which we present ourselves creates a certain impact, the opposite is also true: when we feel in a particularly sad or dejected condition, raise and open your shoulders it could give us the strength and the desire to smile at the world and see things from another perspective.
When the shoulders are open you breathe better, in a broad, rich way, which transmits and brings abundance. Keeping the shoulders always curved or adducted could accentuate a significant kyphosis and compromise the balance of all the muscle chains, leading to inflammation of the surrounding tissues. Starting to do postural gymnastics or PIlates or yoga allows us to really enter the body and its sensations, rebalance the lines and feel deeply how to proceed through the breath and movement to realign and harmonize.
The hunched shoulders and the emotions
Most often the hunched shoulders represent the weight that we feel we carry, the responsibility that we feel burdening ourselves. In fact, these positions do not always and only have to do with mechanical components, traumas, congenital or structural reasons, but they can also depend on emotional states that overload the diaphragm or stiffen it. Sometimes the shoulders close for the sensation of overload and heaviness; sometimes it is a question of real weights, sometimes of projections and conflicts.
When the shoulders are really curved towards the central axis, the body goes into protection, defends itself, keeps the heart safe, perhaps due to previous injuries and situations. Shoulders closing in on themselves indicate a sense of shame or guilt. Curved shoulders can also mean a lack of awareness, of being aware of what you want, of confidence in being able to pursue it. Sometimes this postural attitude means abandonment, disappointment, fear of the world, fear of others and of what one does not know.
A good psychological job, combined with a path which includes the body, allows you to work on the present in the light of the past, to modify the paramorphism and to restore a sense of well-being that passes through both the body and the mind. The time it takes to re-harmonize both the body and the mind is a nice long-term investment.
Exercises to correct hunched shoulders
Let’s see together 3 exercises to correct curved shoulders in a gradual and lasting way that bring blood flow, increase the sensitivity of the nerve receptors and loosen the tension of the muscles of the upper trunk:
Circulation of the shoulders
The arms are opened to the side and performed 15 turns in one direction and 15 in the other, keeping the abdomen active and the knees slightly flexed. The adducted shoulder blades must be maintained to activate the rhomboid muscles and the posterior deltoid and infraspinatus. Keeping the abdominal center active avoids swinging the body too much and in particular the cervical tract.
Lateral thrusts upwards
In an upright position, with the legs spread shoulder-width apart, one hand is left on the side while the other reaches upwards and pushes the whole body in flexion towards the side opposite the raised arm. The shoulder should not be too close to the head and by inhaling at the moment of maximum extension, the intercostal muscles are also worked, improving breathing and diaphragmatic work. This exercise could also be done by staying in a lateral position with respect to a part or a door, pushing with the fingertips of the hand that rises upwards and then flexes laterally.
Back extension of the arms
You cross your fingers behind the butt and inhale pushes your fist back. The execution must be repeated at least 15 times, without arching the lower back. This exercise greatly improves the condition of the pectoral and paravertebral muscles. The abdomen must be kept active throughout the execution. The same execution could be done by lying on the ground face down, crossing the fingers over the sacrum and pushing the hands towards the ceiling, always inhaling. Also in this case the abdomen remains active as well as the buttocks.
Activation of the paravertebral muscles
From the prone position, the arms are brought over the head with the thumbs towards the sky. The whole body remains active, and the nose right on top of the mat. Inhaling, both thumbs are brought towards the ceiling or sky and hold for a moment in the suspended position without going into apnea. Breathing out, bring your arms back to the ground. At least they must be carried out 8 repetitions maintaining long and deep breathing, without arching the lower back too much.
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