This is a posture I often use at the start of my classes and my students love it!

It is relaxing. You are lying on the floor, grounding yourself, setting up for class….. But the great thing about it is that this is also a lovely chest opener, ideal to gently relieve upper back pain and help to correct bad shoulder posture (which us climbers are so familiar with!)

Getting into the Pose

You will need a blanket, 2 yoga blocks or a bolster for this one.

On the top of your mat place one block on its middle setting and the other on its highest. As shown below.

Fold the blanket neatly and place it over the blocks, making your support more comfortable.

Lie over your support so that your lower brick is in the centre of your upper back (between the shoulder blades) and your higher brick is supporting the nape of your neck, keeping the back of your neck nice and long.

Let your thighs roll out, let your arms roll out with the palms of the hands facing upwards. Relax your hips and shoulders. Relax the whole body!

Variations

If the above block set is too uncomfortable you can always lower the blocks making the stretch less deep.

You can also make the stretch deeper by bringing your arms over your head, holding on to your elbows. Stay this way for a few breaths then change the crossing of your arms.

Another option is to hold a yoga strap (or any strap) over your head and try to bring the tops of your hands down to touch the floor. You might want to start with your hands quite wide and then move towards a cactus arms shape as you become more flexible.