Back and Shoulders › Adam Hocke
“You are only as old as your spine”
Goes the saying. It’s really important for you to keep your spine moving so that it stays strong, healthy and flexible. But you knew that already. These videos are great if you have a desk job and don’t move as much as you could, or if you already have stiff spine, shoulders or hips. Just remember to do the practices in these videos. Every day. We have got videos of different lengths here so you don’t need to put your back out trying to fit it in your schedule.
We don’t guarantee that you’ll be ready to join the Chinese circus, but we think that your back will appreciate the extra loving you give it and will reward you with less pain. You’ll start feeling that your life has some backbone, quite literally. This will lead to you making better decisions, possibly leading a life from a position of courage. You may start to feel your back is longer, you may start to sit up taller, you may start to notice when you slump or st... Show more
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35:41
Your Calming Yoga Practice
This yoga class helps to ground and calm an anxious body or mind and bring us back to the present moment. Start with some grounding self-massage, then move gently with simple, repetitive, and breath-led movements to stabilise the nervous system. Additionally, we will pay particular attention to releasing tension in the head, neck, and shoulders to bring about a profound sense of relaxation and ease. This class is perfect after a long day or when we're overwhelmed. You will need a narrow block or a folded blanket and a brick.
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17:51
Your Daily Shoulder, Neck & Head Practice
This short yoga class mobilises, strengthens, and relaxes the shoulders and neck through their full range of motion. This is so important for our sedentary lives, and is a vital class for when you've ben busy at work, when you're feeling overwhelmed or when you're travelling. Additionally, you will give yourself a face, head, and jaw massage to help you release tension and find calm. Practise this class regularly as a preparation for your time on your mat or simply to feel good in your body. You will need a yoga brick or block.
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39:22
Slow Flow for Meditation
How can you tame a wandering mind in practice? How can you find solitude on your mat? This all-around yoga class will help you work with the concept of meditation in movement so that you can easily incorporate mindfulness into postures and flow. Expect to physically connect to the internal focus of your core and the external focus of your gaze while practising feel-good postures for head, neck, and shoulders.
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11:25
Learn Crow Pose
A workshop-style tutorial class in which Adam will help you develop your bakasana (crow or crane pose) practice with three different training variations. We will explore this shape in varying orientations to help you develop the requisite skills to execute it well. If this pose is difficult for you, you will find a path forward or learn some options on what to do instead. You will need a block.
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31:00
Hit The Wall Hatha
A complete hatha yoga class at the wall with alignment focus. The wall is a fabulous prop to give us support and give us feedback on our alignment, so move your mat to the wall for this fun and revealing complete practice. As you use the wall's support and feedback, you will learn much about the way you transmit force through your body and where there may be imbalances and inefficiencies in your alignment. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to invert, twist, and stretch with more leverage and depth. Meet your new favourite prop! You will also need a chair.
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44:38
Binding Party
Build strength and mobility in your shoulders and hips with this yoga class. Binding requires a combination of shoulder and hip flexibility that may not be easily available to everyone. Even if you can make the bind, are you doing so in a way that is strong and sustainable? This yoga class develops mobility and strength in your shoulder area, an area that often suffers from our technology-led lifestyle, and develops strength in your binding practice, whilst also working on hip flexibility and strength - perfect for those who spend a lot of time seated. We work skillfully with the strap and learn how to practise poses like bound side angle, bound twisting lunge, gomukhasana, bound bharadvajasana and more with strength and integrity. You will need a strap, a brick and a block.
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14:01
Everybody Flows: Refine The Shapes
As a follow-up to ‘Make the Shapes,’ this short practice will help you refine your understanding of down dog and standing poses with a few alignment cues to help your poses feel more sustainable and interesting. Although there’s a lot to learn, this practice focuses on feet, hands, and shoulders. You will need a tennis ball and a brick or something like it.
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19:51
Everybody Flows: Shoulder & Wrist Love
This yoga class explores new and classic ways to stretch, release, and mobilise your shoulders and wrists. This is your opportunity to care for parts of you that hold on to much stress and can take a beating in flow yoga. You can use this as a preparation for a more vigorous practice, or to just help to mobilise shoulders and wrists to help manage areas of the body that might be holding onto stress. You will need a yoga brick and a massage ball or tennis ball.
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12:01
Begin (again) 5: Open Up
This beginners yoga class focuses on the shoulders and upper back and is perfect for those of us who spend too much time seated or hunched over. Address chronic tightness in upper chest, back, and shoulders with this introduction to shoulder mobility and backbends. This is an active yoga class with chair poses, high lunges, and accessible backbend postures. You will need a strap. For beginners or refreshers.