What To Do With Your Shoulder Blades in Downward Facing Dog: Yoga Teaching Tips with Rachel

[@sanskritforyoga-brasstacks7359]

Very helpful with the articulation of the joints as well as the words! 😄 Thank you!

[@RachelScottYoga]

😃

[@miyukic3191]

your videos are so educational! i’ve been watching them between teaching, to continue my studies. a lot of topics and phrases are something i can use immediately in class and students understand it so well thanks to your clear guidance!

[@RachelScottYoga]

That is fantastic! I'm so happy that they are helpful :)

[@elaine7200]

I will nerd out with you anytime, anywhere and any place - this is such juicy information to take to my mat!! Namaste!!

[@RachelScottYoga]

😁🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻

[@darsh8397]

Thanks for your wonderful explanation 🙏 Excellent. Too good 😊

[@guygerard79]

Best explanation I have found. Thank You!

[@RachelScottYoga]

🤍🤍🤍I’m so glad!!

[@terysantos2810]

Thanks!

[@blackplague-x3y]

"palpate"!!! Nice word! You are a yoga nerd!

[@shankarsubramanian5421]

Loved it.. I am enjoying your videos 1 at a time

[@RachelScottYoga]

🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@cancerbby6]

Thanks so much Rachel!! I’m studying for my online yoga teacher certification and you make understanding this information so digestible and fun. ❤❤❤

[@RachelScottYoga]

Yay!!!! Music to my ears 😄I’m glad it’s helpful 💛💛

[@JenniferPaulTO]

Thank youuuu! This was part of my 300hr course focus last week, love your anatomy videos, really helps supplement my learning as I struggle with anatomy so much! Appreciate you posting these amazing resources for us.

[@RachelScottYoga]

My pleasure Jennifer ;)

[@clarabak4505]

Finally clear ! Thank you so much!

[@RachelScottYoga]

Yay!! My pleasure

[@wendywalsh3329]

Great stuff Rachel! I LOVE the "Nerd Factor" here, so interesting and insightful. Looking forward to nerding out with you some more ;-)

[@RachelScottYoga]

Yay!! So glad to meet and nerd out with you 😃

[@blackplague-x3y]

This is great and I will try and remember this along with the outward arm rotation in downward dog, but its a lot for someone to focus on without a teacher. Thank you for the tips!

[@RachelScottYoga]

🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@laurawellness9064]

You articulate in such a clear comprehensive way. Great video

[@RachelScottYoga]

Happy to connect Laura 💕

[@joystar7772]

oK. wow. great info.

[@RachelScottYoga]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rebeccaamodeo7901]

As always, you're super clear and helpful. Thank you, Rachel!

[@RachelScottYoga]

My pleasure Rebecca!! Thanks for watching ;)

[@debramcgonnell3631]

Great explanation!

[@RachelScottYoga]

Glad it's helpful Debra! :)

[@emmahenry1163]

This is soooo gooood! I have wanted clarity on this for so long, but at this stage in the game was too embarrassed to ask you! Thanks Rachel! 😘

[@RachelScottYoga]

Omg it’s complicated!! I’m learning new stuff every day 😍😁

[@studionicolafouche6767]

Fantastic explanation! Thanks Rachel :)

[@RachelScottYoga]

My pleasure! Nice to connect here!

[@abhijeetbhagat100]

Appricited your dedication towards your work..karma yogi

[@RachelScottYoga]

🙏🏻

[@lifescienceart]

i'm looking forward to learn eka padasirsasana anatomy. if you can please explain

[@RachelScottYoga]

Hi there! Well, that pose requires a lot of external rotation and flexion of the hip - if you have long femur heads (and long femurs), it will likely be easier, but there will be some body structures that simply won't do that shape (nor should they!). The straight leg requires hamstring some lengthening. The easiest way to practice is likely from your back first (at least, that's how I used to do it). Doing shapes like half happy baby and reclined thread the needle/baby cradle with the opposite knee bent so the foot can be on the floor to create a little more space. In Iyengar shapes, the reclined leg stretch series can help. However, the ligaments and joint capsule of the hip may not love extreme this twisting and stretching - and I don't really recommend going for this pose unless your body has a natural proclivity towards the shape. Does that help? Let me know what kind of info you're looking for :)

[@deepthisingoor1671]

You are best! Thank you

[@RachelScottYoga]

My pleasure! 🥰😄

[@vishalkumar6001]

That's really helpful ma'am 🙂

[@RachelScottYoga]

🙏🏻😀

[@vishalkumar6001]

@@RachelScottYoga 🙏☺️

[@gayatris4169]

wow what an incredible cue u shared....thank u Rachel.... plz share video on why neck extensor muscles pain in arm lifting practices...

[@RachelScottYoga]

💕Can you explain that issue a bit more to me?

[@gayatris4169]

Whenever I practice shoulder opening sequence holding a belt and stretch the belt by raising arms up above the head... my neck pains next day after I woke up.... I try to keep my chin tuck and core engage while practicing... hope didn't confuse u.... thank u Rachel for all the videos... it's really helpful😍😍😍

[@RachelScottYoga]

@@gayatris4169 hello! It’s hard to say without seeing you, and I’m not a Physio, but I may start with thinking that the neck muscles are doing too much work. I’d back out of the arm position a bit (don’t take arm up as high for now, and focus on space around neck and relaxation at top of shoulders)... see if that reduces tension?

[@gayatris4169]

@@RachelScottYoga thank u Rachel for the valuable input... will implement the tips suggested by you for sure and will share the result with u...

[@gayatris4169]

@@RachelScottYoga ur suggested tip really worked... now no more neck strain... thank u Rachel☺

[@coexist8677]

Thank you! I just came across your very good explaination! I wonder because some teachers say we should rotate our arms and ellbows in a certain way. Does that really matter because I dont know how to do that but its supposed to make a difference in the shoulderblades. Any idea on that?

[@RachelScottYoga]

External rotation helps to spread the shoulder blades 👍🏻

[@gayatris4169]

waiting for the video...

[@RachelScottYoga]

😁tomorrow! Look forward to hearing what you think!

[@gayatris4169]

@@RachelScottYoga Definitely Rachel would love to share😍 learning so much from you

[@lunawei5503]

Thanks Rachel! These video series are so good! I’m wondering though, why do we want to avoid hiking up the shoulders when we lift up our arms?

[@RachelScottYoga]

Good question! The simple answer is that it’s not necessary to hike up the shoulders when you lift the arms up overhead. And by hike up the shoulders, I I mean elevation of the scapula. Usually we have so much tension in our shoulders from daily life that it’s a nice idea to down train those muscles from firing and trying to do the job of lifting our arms up. They’re going to lift a little of course, but we don’t want to add so much excess tension. Just my two cents😀

[@woodlover5784]

Plz added caption

[@EviloveMetal]

Hi Rachel, is there a way I may donate or support your wonderful channel?

[@RachelScottYoga]

Oh my gosh that is just about the nicest thing I’ve heard all day! My favourite way to get support is if you share this with people who think may benefit from it 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🥰🥰🥰

[@Andrea-zk3qt]

@@RachelScottYoga OMG! that's the nicest thing I've ever heard with "the best way to be supported is sharing..." 🥰 I've just discovered your channel, a video on shoulder anatomy popped up in utube, I clicked on it and I was just scotched on the display, you're such a great teacher, your enthusiasm, your knowledge, the way to explain the things, the fire that you have in you, your passion... and and and... So I watched other videos from you, and cannot wait to see them all🥰. and so thankful to get all this information just free, thank you Rachel❤️. I m practicing yoga, completely fascinated by the anatomy, muscle and how all work together! would like to do the basic licence to teach, but need to get the money first. at the yoga classes, the teacher just do the asanas, without going deep in any explanations... 😔 if you're lucky, he takes - sometime-to a minute to correct somebody... so your videos are like a treasure that I just discover, thanks so much!

[@RachelScottYoga]

@@Andrea-zk3qt my pleasure! Come practice with me sometime the first class is free 😄 discount code: firstclass💫

[@pvspeaks]

Thank you for your super helpful anatomy and cuing videos. Please add a super thanks to your YT channel so folks can donate. 💕

[@RachelScottYoga]

Wow!! That is such a kind piece of advice 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻I’ll look into it 💛💛😄😘

[@Nirmalabhishek730]

Hey Rachel! Thank you for the video. I have seen Teachers like David Gurriges(Asana kitchen ytb channel), say that arms can be lifted upto the point where there are to the sides and in line with shoulders, without affecting the scapulae but when we go beyond that the scapulae come into the picture. But when you show in this video the point upto which arms can be lifted without bringing scapulae into picture, your arms were way below the point where the arms would be parallel to the shoulders. So I am contemplating the rolling the shoulder blade down cue in the poses like triangle, warrior etc where arms are lifted but not overhead, instead they are to the sides in line with shoulders. What do think?

[@RachelScottYoga]

Hallo! Awesome question....From what I understand of scapula humeral rhythm, you can abduct the shoulder around 30 degrees before the scapulae get involved. From there on up, the humerus and scapula have to act together. The cue to drop your shoulders I think is trying to prevent elevation (rather than upward rotation). So I don't think there' a lot of harm in that, as a lot of folks overengage levator and the traps. However...I'm a little more wary of a cue like, "squeeze your shoulder blades together," which seems counterproductive to upward rotation. I mean, a little hugging in isn't bad, as you're just creating some stability, but I wouldn't want to pull them towards each other. What do you think? PS: Page on scapulohumeral rhythm: www.physio-pedia.com/Scapulohumeral_Rhythm

[@Nirmalabhishek730]

@@RachelScottYoga In my experience and on the basis of opinions of many other teachers, rolling the shoulder blades down cue is problematic in arms overhead postures. See in the rolling the shoulder blades down cue we try to de-elevate(if you like) the scapulae which brings them back to their original position, meaning it does cause inward rotation of scapulae(even when we don't intentionally try to rotate them internally) which is quite the contrary of what should be happening in arms overhead postures. You may try that. Anyway, my question was regarding the point upto which we can lift the arms without affect scapulae, some say that point is when the arms are to the sides in line with shoulders, but you showed it was way below that. What do you have to say about it?

[@RachelScottYoga]

@@Nirmalabhishek730 Hi there - yes, I think we're making a similar point about elevation/ upward rotation. Though I don't have a problem with not elevating, I'm more on the side of "permit upward rotation" freely. See point on scapulo humeral rhythm, you can raise arms about 30 degrees, then scapula seem to get involved~ that's what I have to say about that ;)

[@Nirmalabhishek730]

@@RachelScottYoga @Rachel Scott I'm sorry, I think I made the things confusing a bit when I used 'de-elevate', I meant in the rolling the shoulder blades down cue we pull the shoulder blades down, when I said de-elevate I didn't not specifically refer to a situation when the scapulae are elevated and we pull them down. I also am a fan of natural anatomical body movements. Why I thought your opinion was different than mine or some teachers', was because I and the teachers I am talking about think that pulling the shoulder blades down does create problems in outward rotation of scapulae.

[@kajalmangukia]

🙏🙇‍♀️💝

[@epiphoney]

Should my arms be at 45 degrees in downward dog? In the mirror when my arms are straight up, my shoulder blade edges are poking out of the plane of my back.

[@RachelScottYoga]

It’s hard to say without seeing you… Come to class sometime! First class is free :-) but in general I don’t tend to prescribe angles for a position because every body is different. And I’m not sure what you mean by 45°… The hands should be out her shoulder distance apart. The upper arms are externally rotating, while the inner hands are pressing it down. But you can turn your hands out slightly if that helps you to keep them anchored.

[@epiphoney]

@@RachelScottYoga Thanks for the quick reply. I was trying to do it on the closed door in my bathroom, while I look in the mirror. I guess it's not as bad in downdog, as in warror 1, where my inner shoulder blade edges would poke out, if my arms were too close together.

[@RachelScottYoga]

@@epiphoney generally poking out of your shoulder blades is because the serratus anterior is not engaging properly, which would protract your shoulder blades onto your back and actually pull them apart and onto your ribs. You may be trying to pull your shoulder blades too close together when you lift your arms up overhead.

[@lucasmm3llo]

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