Move into Happiness › Back and Shoulders

“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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  • Ease into your Morning: Side Bends and Breathwork26:15
    Ease into your Morning: Side Bends and Breathwork

    Margi Young

    A luscious, evenly-paced slow flow vinyasa flow which is the perfect way to start the day. Full body stretches focusing on side bends and breathwork. A great class for after driving, travelling, or just to awaken and enliven the whole body. BKS Iyengar said, “if you open your armpits you won’t get depressed” and I believe it! In this sidebending class we open the armpits and stretch the whole side body. Including side bends lying down, seated and standing, your side body and lungs will be ready for some gentle breathwork. This is a soothing, feel good practice- one Margi's personal favourites! You may need a strap, block and blanket.



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  • Morning Vinyasa Flow 3: Replay of Live Class45:20
    Morning Vinyasa Flow 3: Replay of Live Class

    Lucy McCarthy

    Wake up, move and breathe with the MFML community. This is an all-levels, well rounded vinyasa flow class to gently energise. There is plenty of breath work and movement to warm the body. The class focuses on back bending. It explores the delight of working on foundational alignment principles for backbends to create freedom in the lower back and expansion and ease in the chest and heart. This is part 3 of a 3-part online series of live classes with the MFML community.



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  • Dynamic Yoga To Awaken Our Shoulders44:59
    Dynamic Yoga To Awaken Our Shoulders

    Vanessa Michielon

    Strengthen and mobilise the shoulders and upper body with this challenging, dynamic Vinyasa flow. Feel more energised and spacious, especially in the upper body, whilst also mobilising and strengthening the whole body. This is a challenging class, go gently whilst exploring flexibility in the shoulders with binds whilst opening the chest through backbends, including Camel, Locust and Floor Bow Pose. Suggested prop: 1 belt.



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  • Vinyasa Energy Boost19:24
    Vinyasa Energy Boost

    Lucy McCarthy

    Get energised and feel revitalised - even in a short time. Perfect for building heat in the winter, or whenever you're in need of some inner fire. This short, punchy vinyasa practice will give our whole being a big energy boost. Starting with Kapalabhati, to build heat, then building heat through the core, opening the spine with twists and build to a sweet lunge backbend.



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  • Barre Fitness Energy Flow35:34
    Barre Fitness Energy Flow

    Amy Holly

    A fabulous Barre class for all body strength and balance. This upbeat, and quite challenging Barre workout is strengthening muscles without increasing bulk and will improve stamina, balance and posture. The focus of this class is 'every move you make' because every move has to come from the core! Done regularly barre workouts will increase your bone density, which will help prevent conditions like osteoporosis.



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  • Prenatal Pilates - Arms and Back focus (for all levels and trimesters)27:58
    Prenatal Pilates - Arms and Back focus (for all levels and trimesters)

    Vanessa Michielon

    Strengthen the upper body, arms and back. Using an elastic band, or a long strap, or tins of beans work just fine too, this class targets your arms and back muscles. You will begin with standing arm exercises, such as biceps curls and triceps work, and explore further upper body focused patterns, including safe modified press-ups on your knees and triceps dips, with variations to suit your energy levels. The practice will help you improve your posture and strengthen your back, so that you can better accommodate the changes your body is going through, and reduce back discomfort and weakness. Suggested prop: long elastic band or tins of beans! If practicing pregnant please contact your healthcare provider to check the suitability of this class.



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  • Yoga for Full Body Strength45:34
    Yoga for Full Body Strength

    Clive Fogelman

    This yoga class will strengthen your whole body. Join Clive for an levels class focusing on how we can use our yoga practise to develop strength around both the upper and lower body, covering all the major muscle groups. Perfect for anyone looking to work on building strength and a great complement to anyone who enjoys walking, running, cycling, working out in the gym and other physical activities. A great class for those of us who are moving through the decades to keep our physical strength to prevent osteoporosis.



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  • Yoga For Happiness (2): Gratitude34:30
    Yoga For Happiness (2): Gratitude

    Nikita Akilapa

    Adopting an attitude of gratitude is a game-changer for journeying into joy. Gratitude for your breath and your body; gratitude for your relationships and experiences; gratitude for who you are and what you bring to the world; gratitude for the opportunity to see yourself clearly and non judgementally. This beautifully paced and sequenced vinyasa flow yoga class has shoulder and upper back opening focus, great to release tight shoulders and stiffness in the upper back and perfect to open the heart to gratitude. This class is about shifting from our habitual responses. You will need two bricks.



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  • Flow Towards Freedom: Radical Radiance50:53
    Flow Towards Freedom: Radical Radiance

    Lucy McCarthy

    A beautifully uplifting heart and chest opening flow yoga class. Starting with breathwork to feel deeply into the heart, this class has the intention of lifting and clearing out the heart space so you can move into joy. A playful, uplifting all-levels vinyasa flow class that includes chest opener at the wall, handstand at the wall followed by some fun backbends. This class aims to help you remove the blockages that get in the way of experiencing your innate joy and bliss.



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  • Kundalini Kriya55:04
    Kundalini Kriya

    Kiranjot

    A kriya is a specific sequence of postures or actions for a specific purpose. I like to call them recipes, each step works in turn to create a specific effect for your body, mind and spirit. There are hundreds of Kundalini Kriyas, this one is called the Kriya for Elevation. It is a simple practice involving lots of flexing the spine, stretching of the legs and stimulating breath of fire. The practice finishes with a more challenge held meditation Sat Kriya which is a key practice in kundalini Yoga. It encourages circulation of panic life force through all the chakras. It’s a great practice to help relieve symptoms of depression. This sequence has breath of fire to begin with so please watch my introduction to Kundalini Yoga if this is a new practice for you or you haven’t quite mastered it yet. Tune in to this traditional Kundalini yoga class or Kriya, as they are known in the Kundalini tradition. This full Kundalini yoga class involves chanting, mudra and physical hatha yoga poses and a beautiful, long Savasana to finish.



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  • Flow Towards Freedom: Vibrant Vitality35:21
    Flow Towards Freedom: Vibrant Vitality

    Lucy McCarthy

    A fabulous, uplifting, awakening yoga class to super-charge your life force energy! This class will leave you feeling bright, alert and ready for action. Including breathwork, kapalabhati breathwork some juicy core work, and the peak of royal dancer with a strap. This class is all about connecting to your life force energy, prana, and tuning into to its power potency, and is a wonderful class to get you moving in the morning!



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  • Flow Towards Freedom: Bountiful Body21:42
    Flow Towards Freedom: Bountiful Body

    Lucy McCarthy

    A beautiful, well-round 20 minute flow yoga class to get you in your body finding joy from the simplicity of moving and breathing mindfully. Connect deeply to your body and the miracle that is it is with this wonderful, all-levels yoga class. You will need two bricks or blocks.



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  • Everybody Flows: Refine The Shapes14:01
    Everybody Flows: Refine The Shapes

    Adam Hocke

    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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  • Transformation Through Tapas01:09:27
    Transformation Through Tapas

    Kristin Campbell

    A strong and empowering, spiritually uplifting, intelligently sequenced, alignment-based Hatha yoga class which will leave you feeling balanced, grounded and calm. With plenty of backbends, as well as balances and twists, this is a wonderful class to explore the full spectrum of a hatha yoga, whilst retaining aligment. Also wrist-free options. You may need a block.



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  • Jivamukti Happy Heart50:45
    Jivamukti Happy Heart

    Lizzie Reumont

    Open the heart and the hips, areas which most of us hold tension, with a beautiful, well-rounded Jivamukti yoga class which will open and mobilise your shoulders, hips and most importantly, your heart. You will need blocks or bricks and a strap.



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  • New Mums Series (1) Nourish Me26:00
    New Mums Series (1) Nourish Me

    Kristi Rodelli

    A yoga class in the Forrest yoga style to open the shoulders and the upper back whilst strengthening the core. Feel your heart opening as your upper back opens. Starting with shoulder openers, then shoulder opening child's pose variation, abdominal strengthening and backbends. This class is perfect for those of us who need an antidote to time at a desk, or have stiff shoulders and upper back, and wonderful for new mums too. You will need two blocks.



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  • Creative Morning Flow33:52
    Creative Morning Flow

    Naomi Absalom

    Start your day the right way with lots of moving, a lot of breathwork, no static holds with plenty of mobility work on the shoulders and feet. Just bring in the breath and an intention of joy and you'll be set to have a fabulous day ahead!



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  • Happiness Toolkit Part 117:49
    Happiness Toolkit Part 1

    Sylvia Garcia

    A heart-opening practice with back-bends, giving yourself space to focus on here and now.



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