Arm opening are fantastic for spinal rotation, mobilising the neck and creating openness around the shoulders.
Starting Position
• Lie on your side, knees bent in at right angles, stack one hip on top of the other, making sure than you are not leaning back. Pelvis neutral. Don’t let the weight collapse down onto the mat.
• Use a cushion under your head to maintain head and neck alignment.
• Lengthen both arms out in front of you, palms together.
Action
• Breathe in and raise the arm first towards the ceiling, and then as far back as you can towards the floor. Make sure that you keep looking at your hand, so that your heads rolls naturally with the movement. You aim is to try and get both shoulder blades to come into contact with the mat. It does not matter if your arm/hand touches the floor or not – do not force it. As you take the arm up and back, make sure that you keep your pelvis still.
• Breathe out, connect your abdominals and slowly return your arm and head to your starting position.
Tips
• Make sure that your knees are high enough up, it’s very easy to let them drift away.
• Keep the connection between your knees and keep them down on the mat as you do the movement.
• Think of the movement as spinal movement – therefore you are trying to get your shoulder blades to touch the mat – rather than arm movement.