Myofascial Release Yoga for Your Neck - a podcast by Dr. Melissa West

Yoga for Your Neck



If you have a stiff and painful neck, experience tension headaches, spend hours a day on keyboards and smartphones, spend a lot of time driving, have arthritis in your neck, poor circulation, weak immune system, heart problems or high blood pressure, this rather simple myofascial yoga series for your neck is a simple, quick routine with amazing results.



Inspired by the pawanmuktasana series, these yoga exercises and myofascial releases using your own hands restore the range of motion and proper alignment of your neck, but also relieve neck pain.



All the nerves connecting to the different organs and limbs of our body pass through our neck and the myofascial layers of your neck hold extra tension and tend to be over-recruited by disorganized postures. These movements are designed to gently free up the mobility of your neck and gradually improving your posture and restoring your range of motion.



So many of us experience the stress and tension in our necks from prolonged periods at our desks and working on our computers. This series of movements for your neck will quiet your mind and bring a sense of well being.



These yoga exercises for your neck relieve the tension from prolonged keyboarding, typing, gaming, hobbies like knitting, crocheting and cooking. Because we spend a lot of time overusing our thumbs on smartphones and the repetitive movements of our fingers, hands and wrists on keyboards for hours a day we have a lot of tension in our hands and wrists that move right up to our necks. This series reduces the pain and restores the natural range of motion in your hands and wrists from your neck.



These simple movements for your neck relieve rheumatoid arthritis and slow down its progression.



The series helps to improve the circulation of blood and lymph in the body. As a result there is an improved immune function. In addition this series is excellent for people with heart problems and high blood pressure.



This short video offers myofascial release yoga using your own hands. Myo means muscle and fascia refers to the network of connective tissue that surrounds and includes your muscle.



The fascial tissues get misaligned due to trauma, injury, poor movement patterns and emotional stress. Fascia is a system of proprioception. Fascia is rich in nerve endings, so it creates a direct pathway for nerve signals to flow to and from the brain which aids in proprioception, coordination and our ability to control our movements.



In this video we will use your own hands to isolate the fascia of your neck allowing you to create a neurophysiological response that will enable more range of motion in your neck as well as greater ease of movement and less pain.



Because seeing a registered massage therapist regularly is expensive, regular self myofascial release is an affordable alternative and offers many of the same benefits of therapeutic massage.



Using self myofascial release on your neck creates a neuro-physiological response. The myofascial release influences your nervous system which actually governs the baseline tone of your muscle. Because your fascial system is rich in nerve endings, the gentle pressure on fascia communicates that there is no longer need for tension in that area.



In the case of this class, the myofascial release using your hands creates a neurological response that allows you to have greater range of motion in your neck, experience greater ease during movement and less pain.



To unlock the full class as well as a whole series of 8 myofascial release yoga videos for all the joints of your...

Further episodes of Yoga Lifestyle with Melissa

Further podcasts by Dr. Melissa West

Website of Dr. Melissa West