Stretching of shoulders?

[Coffee]

Hello everyone. Just joined the forums, but searched around first to see if I could find any threads on the topic before making a new one.

I was wondering if anyone cared to share their "secrets" on how they like to stretch their shoulders.

I've been used to carrying lots of stuff in my previous line of work and that has made my shoulders pretty stiff.

Lay it on me. I'm open to most suggestions and TIA for any responses.

[mickey]

Hi Coffee and welcome to the forum,

The shoulders are such a delicate area. That your deltoids are strong is a good thing. Have you simply tried massage?

mickey

[Coffee]

Thanks for the response, mickey, yes I have. I've been getting massages pretty regular (lucky enough to have one at current job if we need one actually )
Done needles too when I had some back trouble earlier also, but I was more interested in actual stretches.

What works for some of you guys might not work as well for me, but I'm eager to give anything a try to get them to ease up a bit and hopefully get my elbows more in and aligned towards center.

I'm all ears. Uuuhh... I mean eyes.

[rett]

Hi Coffee,

This might help, and it certainly won't hurt. It's not really a stretch but more of an indirect approach to detensing, combining attention, movement and breathing.

Song jian shi 松 肩 式 "shoulder relaxing pattern"

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZNTEuAZYk4

Some explanation here with pictures:

http://www.chanwuyi.org/showroom/mod...09311062457253

And some further tips or instructions (as best I understand them. I'm just a student):

Stand with slightly bent knees, butt a bit "tucked" as if you were sitting down on a high stool, spine straight, as if your head is suspended from a wire. Hands on your lower belly. Feet not too wide. Breathe from the belly and have your attention in your belly. Relax like this for a while.

After you're relaxed begin the movement on the vid. Elbows go up as you breathe in and in pace with opening the muscles alongside the spine (from the lower back up to the space between the shoulders. It's as if the expansion of the belly fills your body and you inflate.

Then the elbows go down as you exhale, attention on your nose (if you want this level of detail).

If you relax and start to feel good after a while you're probably doing it right.

Hope this can help.

[Coffee]

Thank you for your thorough response, rett. I'll be sure to give it a try over a period of time.

Feel free to keep the tips coming if you do something that works for you to stay limber like a Northern Lynx.

Be it breathing, stretches or your favorite combination of the two. (Yeah, hopefully we all breathe when we move... I'm aware of that. )

Thanks again guys, I really appreciate it.

Have a good weekend everyone.

[mickey]

Greetings,

I suggest that you check with a professional (yes, we are responsible here-- sometimes) before doing any of the exercises below. There is that chance that the tightness that you have is due to an imbalance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=...ture=endscreen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B8Bn...eature=related

I found these by using the word "loosen" instead of stretch at u tube. There are more responses than I linked to.


mickey