20-Minute Yoga for When You Desperately Need to Stretch Your Upper Back and Shoulders

Ever have a day when you feel like you desperately need more space in your upper back, shoulders, and chest? This 20-minute yoga routine is for those days. The idea behind this yoga flow came from needing that feeling of not just stretching but finding some semblance of expansion and spaciousness.

This isn’t to say that the yoga routine doesn’t also include hip openers and hamstring stretches and balancing challenges, because it definitely takes you through those as well. But the idea is to bring more space to your chest, shoulders, and upper back through creative arm variations on familiar poses as well as some unexpected transitions, including between Eagle and Warrior 3. And, as always, there are options for any poses that require a little more mobility or steadiness.

By the end of practice, you’ll likely feel more in touch with that feeling of expansion, taking up space, and being comfortable in your body. Let’s get started.

20-Minute Vinyasa Flow

This practice works for anyone of any experience level with yoga, although beginners might want to pause a little longer in some poses and transitions. You will not need blocks and straps although you are welcome to use them in any pose.

Reclining Bound Angle With Cactus Arms Woman lying on her back on a yoga mat in Reclining Bound Angle or Supta Baddha Konasana with cactus arms(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Begin by lying down on your back and bring the soles of your feet together, knees apart, in Reclining Bound Angle. Here you bring expansion through the hips and the lower body, but you’re also going to reach your arms up overhead, palms facing toward the sky. Then to make the pose dynamic, you’re going to exhale as you bend your elbows and bring them down into a cactus shape, and as you inhale, straighten and stretch your arms overhead. Every time you go through this motion, see if you can keep your elbows and the backs of the arms  on the mat as you slide them up and down. Take two more here.

Reclining Twist Woman lying on a yoga mat in a reclined twist with her knees stacked and over to the left(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Keep the cactus shape in your arms and bring your knees toward one another and come into a twist by shifting your hips over to the right a little and then drawing both knees and thighs over toward the left. Think of pressing down into that right shoulder blade so your chest is still facing upward. Inhale as you float the knees back through center and exhale as you twist the other way, pressing into the back of the left arm and left shoulder this time. Inhale and float back  through center.

Then stretch your arms overhead, lengthen out through your legs, arch through your back, and point through your toes. Feel that full length through the spine.

Side Sphinx Woman leaning on her side and resting on her forearm.(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Turn onto your left hip and side body, propping yourself up onto your left elbow. Think of pushing and stretching out through the side of your waist here and creating lots of space along the right side body.

Woman leaning on her side with her bottom palm on the mat.(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

If you’d like to go further into this one, you can come all the way up onto the palm in this side-lying version of Sphinx. Take a few breaths here.

Sphinx Woman lying on her belly on a yoga mat with her forearms down in Sphinx pose or Bhujangasana(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Come onto your belly with both elbows down on the mat for your full Sphinx. Roll your shoulders back, pull your heart forward, and think of pushing down into the pubic bone, the front hip bones, and the tops of the feet. This engages the core as you lengthen and reach forward with your chest.

Then find Side Sphinx on your right side.

Reverse Tabletop Woman in Reverse Tabletop during a yoga routine(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Instead of coming back to Sphinx, you want to come to a seat with both feet flat on the mat, knees bent, and hands shoulder-distance apart behind you. Push down through your heels, squeeze through your seat, and lift your hips in Reverse Tabletop. So for me, this is a big stretch through my shoulders, which is where I have more limited range of motion. Maybe you don’t feel much in this one. All the poses are different for everyone. Think of pressing and lifting the pelvis up even higher, and let’s release and bring your hips back down.

Downward-Facing Dog Yoga With Kassandra in Downward-Facing Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana during a 20-minute yoga routine(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Cross your ankles, bring your hands shoulder-distance apart on the mat, and take your feet hip-distance apart. Press and lift yourself up into your first Downward-Facing Dog. Go ahead and move a little, stretching through the backs of your legs and trying to press your chest back toward your thighs.

Downward-Facing Dog to Plank Pose Woman in high plank or top of a push-up(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

As you inhale, lift your heels as high as they can go and shift forward into Plank. Exhale into  Downward-Facing Dog. Repeat twice more, just like this.

Cobra Pose Woman lying on her belly on a yoga mat with her hands on the mat in Cobra (Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Let’s lower all the way down to the mat. Point the toes back, bend your elbows, and inhale as you pull the heart forward and lift into Cobra. Then exhale and lower down.

Woman lying on her belly with her arms straight in front of her and her chest lifted in a version of Cobra(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Come onto the tips of your fingers, move them out to the side of your mat a little, and move like a wave as you come into little Cobras. So inhale and find that expansion, exhale as you soften back down. Do that twice more.

Three-Legged Dog Woman in Three-Legged Dog with her right knee lifted(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Come back to Downward-Facing Dog. Stretch your right leg toward the sky, bend your right knee, and open your hip. Push down a little more into your left heel. Then straighten your  right leg, lower the foot down to the mat, and do the same thing on the other side. Come back to Down Dog.

Standing Forward Bend or Rag Doll Woman in Standing Forward Bend or Uttanasana while holding onto her elbows and swaying slightly side to side during a 20-minute yoga routine(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Walk your feet to the top of the mat and come into a rag doll forward fold. Widen your feet as you do this, maybe bend your knees quite a lot, holding onto your opposite elbow. I like to sway a little side to side when I do this. You can play around with your body weight distribution through your feet. Is it more in your heels, the balls of the feet, one side of the foot versus the other?

Mountain Pose Yoga With Kassandra standing at the front of the mat in Mountain or Tadasana during a 20-minute yoga routine(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Bring your hands to the mat, bend your knees even more, and push into your heels as you slowly come all the way up to standing, inch by inch, into Mountain Pose at the top of the mat.

Eagle Pose Woman standing with Eagle or Garudasana legs, one thigh crossed over the other(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Start to bend both knees and wrap your left thigh over the right. If it feels okay for you, loop your toes behind your standing leg. Think of lengthening the tailbone down.

Woman in Eagle or Garudasana with her elbows and her thighs crossed (Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Then bend your elbows and wrap your left elbow under your right one in Eagle Pose. Even though we’re focusing on spaciousness, on expansion, we want to feel that contrast with this bind and its compression. Take one more breath here, bending more into both knees.

Warrior 3 With Eagle Arms Woman in Warrior 3 or Virabhadrasana III with elbows crossed in Eagle arms(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Keep your arms in Eagle as you slowly unwrap your legs. Send your left leg straight back as you tilt your chest forward until you are parallel to the mat in Warrior 3. Think of pushing the forearms against one another to broaden through your upper back.

High Lunge With Eagle Arms Woman in High Lunge taking a slight backbend with her elbows crossed in front of her in Eagle arms(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Keep your arms in Warrior 3 as you step your left foot back so your feet are hip-distance apart in High Lunge. Inhale and lift your chest to find a slight backbend.  Can you lift your elbows higher as you shift your gaze.

Yoga With Kassandra in High Lunge with her arms alongside her head(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Now release your arms, open them apart, and feel that space you’re creating through your chest. 

Low Lunge Woman kneeling on a yoga mat in Low Lunge(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Bring your back knee to the mat in Low Lunge. Interlace your hands behind your lower back, shrug your shoulders back, and take another little backbend here. Then release and bring your hands to the mat.

Pigeon Pose Woman with her right leg forward in Eka pada Kapotasana or pigeon pose with her chest upright(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Bring your right knee somewhere behind your right wrist. Straighten your back leg behind you and come onto your fingertips. Inhale as you lift your chest.

Woman lying with her chest toward the mat(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Exhale as you melt your body toward the mat. Do that twice more. Then linger in Pigeon Pose for at least 5 breaths. Only go as low as feels good for you today. The breath is the key to cultivating that sense of expansiveness within ourselves. So try to stretch the breath a little longer, getting the fullness in the inhalation and the total depletion as you exhale out, in and out through your nose.

Downward-Facing Dog

Come back up onto your hands and push back to Downward-Facing Dog. You can stay in Down Dog or take a vinyasa by inhaling to Plank, exhaling as you lower into Chaturanga, inhaling as you find Upward-Facing Dog, and then exhaling into Downward-Facing Dog.

Then repeat on the other side, beginning with Rag Doll followed by Mountain Pose, Eagle Pose, Warrior 3 With Eagle Arms, High Lunge With Eagle Arms, Low Lunge, Pigeon Pose, and Downward-Facing Dog.

Reclining Twist Yoga With Kassandra lying on her back in a twist(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Bring your knees down onto the mat, swing your legs out in front of you, and lower all the way down onto your back, finishing in a very similar way as you started but with a little bit more space and ease in your body. Straighten your left leg on the mat, bend your right knee and bring it toward your chest, and cross your leg over toward the left as you reach your right arm straight out from your shoulder. Think of pressing your right shoulder blade into the mat. Can you maintain the same quality of breath, even when we have a twist that adds some compression to the body?

If you’d like to go further, straighten your right leg and maybe slide your left hand further down the leg in a twist here. If having the right leg straight feels a little too intense, back off. The priority is on your supine twist, so you want to find any variation that feels appropriate to you. Then unwrap and come back through center.

Half Happy Baby Yoga With Kassandra lying on her back with her hand reaching for her right foot in Ardha Ananda Balasana(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Pull that right knee toward your chest and then a little more out toward your right shoulder and armpit. Stay here or grab hold of your big toe with your two peace fingers, using your right elbow to press your knee open a little wider in Half Happy Baby. But try not to use too much strength and effort in your arms. Keep pushing down into your left hip and left shoulder so  you’re not rolling over onto your right side. Then release and set yourself up to twist the other way in Reclined Twist followed by Half Happy Baby on the other side.

Savasana Woman lying on a mat in a version of Savasana with her arms overhead(Photo: Yoga With Kassandra)

Then release and slow down your practice by coming into Savasana. I’m going to do Savasana with my arms extended overhead because I am trying to improve my shoulder flexibility and this is a very simple way to do it. If it’s too much to have your arms up overhead, you can keep your arms at your sides. Wherever you are, try to tap into that feeling of space and expansion. Almost imagine you can breathe from your fingertips down to your toes for a few minutes here.

When you’re ready to reawaken, bring some movement back to the body, deepening your breath. Take one last stretch like this, pointing through the toes and arching through the lower back, stretching your arms. Then turn to one side, come to take a seat, roll your shoulders back, and lift out of the lower back.  Breathe in and out here and just pause. Thank you so much, everyone, for doing this spacious vinyasa flow with me. I would love to know how this went for you. How do you feel?

 

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