Yoga Wrist Care
Channel: Happy Holistics
Date: 22/09/2016

My website: http://www.happyholistics.ca

Transcript:

Hey everyone!  This is Judy and here are 5 ways you can take care of your wrists.  

Begin in a standing forward fold.  Bend the knees so deeply that you can step onto the palms of your hands, all the way up to the wrist creases.

Allow the shoulders, neck and head to be soft.  Explore how it feels to transfer the weight of your body from side to side and to press the toes into the fleshiest parts of your hands.

Transfer the weight into your heels and walk your palms out from underneath you.  Come to a comfortable seated position.  I am sitting onto my heels, but you can cross your legs, if that feels better.

Take circles with your wrists in one direction.

Then rotate in the opposite way.  This feels good if you’re like me and spend a large portion of your day in front of the computer.  Sometimes I do this right at my desk.

Next, flip your palms up to the sky, fingers spread wide.  Fold them towards the palms to create fists.  Then bend at the wrist to come into your full flexion as if you were a begging puppy dog.  Slowly release back the way you came with your hands facing up in extension, fingers spread.  Allow your hands and wrists to bow forward on the exhale and bend back to open on the inhales.

Do this a few more times, articulating the movements in the tiny joints of your hands and arms.

Then we’ll meet on our hands and knees in a tabletop position.  Stack the shoulders on top of the wrist creases and hip creases on top of the knees.  Turn your left fingertips to face your body and this can be where you stay.  If you want more sensation, slowly shift your weight forwards and back.  

If both of these sound ridiculous, turn the fingertips of both hands towards the sides of your mat and allow your weight to shift from side to side.  

Whichever variation you’re taking, be mindful and pay attention to the sensations so you don’t overdo it.  If it feels like a lot of pulling even without shifting your hips, then your pose today is keeping your hips on top of your knees.  

If you took the first variation with the fingers towards you, switch hands.  You might find that your two sides feel different. 

If the sensations are more intense on your second side, stay a little bit longer and see if you can use a full steady breath to create ease.  If this side is less intense, don’t stay as long as you did on your first side.  

Yoga is about finding balance, so if you always do the same amount of time on your two sides even though they started out differently, you’ll always leave not-quite balanced.  If you give your tighter side more time and attention, you will gradually become more balanced.

Come back into a seated position and either roll your wrists like before or shake them out if that feels good.

Open the arms out to the side and turn the thumbs down so your palms face behind you.  Bring your hands together, left arm under the right to interlace your fingers, I am mirroring you in the video.  Swoop the hands towards your body, then out.  

Try not to go to “as far as you can”, but stop at a place where you get a gentle stretch in the inner wrist of the now top hand.

I just bent forward so that I can show you where you’re stretching.

Release, then shake it out.  We’ll do the second side.  

T-shape your arms, then turn your palms to face the back.  Take the hands forward, right arm under the left to interlace.  Take the hands down and in, then up and out.

Release and shake it out one last time and we’re done.  

Have I left out any of your favourite wrist exercises?  Let me know in the comments below.  See you next Thursday!

Music:

Disco Lounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100602
Artist: http://incompetech.com/