Hello everyone 😁 This is my first time posting on the EXHAUST community and I'm really happy that today I'll bring you, dear reader, a 20 short minutes pilates class 😊. This is also my first time posting using the 3speak frontend, so today's post is filled with many firsts 😆.

This particular class is focused on exercises to relieve some tension in our shoulders and upper back as well as building some healthy mobility in that area, especially designed for those of you that spend your day in front of a computer or in a sitting position. I find these six exercises to be fundamental to work if you have any sort of pain or discomfort in your back, shoulder and/or neck.

Before you start, dear reader, please make sure you read the following section as I will leave there some important notes and considerations for you to be able to make fully informed choices. I'll also add up a section where I'll explain in more detailed instructions the movements you'll be seeing in my video. This is important to me as it was hard to say everything I intended during the recording of my video, so I want to make sure I don't leave anything out (note to self - and you're not particularly comfortable in front of a camera).

Lastly, please reach out to me in the comment section if you have any doubts or found any difficulty during the workout. I'll be happy if I can help you! 🤓Let's go!🤓

Keep in mind that with the involvement in any kind of physical activity there are risks of injury and the absence of a qualified professional presence leaves you, dear reader, as the sole responsible for the conscious use of this content. You are the only one who can acknowledge your own body limits, so please take this opportunity to observe and respect them at all times.

If you have any medical condition, chronic illness or physical limitations/impairments, please check with your physician or health care provider if you have any questions or concerns before doing any type of physical activity.

By engaging in this practice you acknowledge you were informed, therefore made an informed choice. You assume responsibility for any injury caused during the lesson.

These next few points are to maintain in all exercises and I'll leave here some more detailed info about each. You will also hear me say this a lot, so it is very important to me that you fully understand what I mean and try your best in following these instructions.

• Neutral and long spine | Grow towards the ceiling
  Grow towards the ceiling to engage in an active posture. Imagine like a little wire from the back of your head, pulling you up. It is supposed to be comfortable, so just ensure you don't overextend or project your chest to the front. An active posture is mainly about internal small movements rather than an overcompensation or uncomfortable positioning. When you try to grow up to the roof, if you feel discomfort or a sharp pain in the middle of your spine then you're gone too far. You may feel a little warmth in your back from the muscle contraction or even tiredness from being in this position but never pain or major discomfort.
  You should be able to freely breathe in all positions so, even if you can't achieve the "perfect" or intended posture just yet, try your best to slowly activate towards it.

• Shoulders far from the ears
  This one sounds easy to understand but my experience tells me it's the one most difficult to maintain throughout the exercises. I'll keep warning about this in my video and in the different exercises but feel free to pay extra attention to this and everytime you feel your shoulders going back up just re-activate by bringing your shoulders away from the ears. You'll feel a movement in your shoulder blades that should be down and in.
  Imagine you have really high waisted jeans, now place the tip of your shoulder blades in your back pockets. Now just try to keep them there 😉

• Deep breathing
  This is probably the most important one! Try and maintain a deep breathing through all exercises. Just make sure you're doing your best to inhale deeply and allow the ribs and belly to expand, exhale slowly through your mouth. To ensure you're doing a good deep breathing I suggest checking this previous post I made. Allow your breathing to be your guide for the movement and not the movement guiding your breathing 😊

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With that being said, let's go now over the six exercises as I'll leave here some written instructions with a few more added information that I didn't say in the video.

1 - Shoulder circles

This exercise is mainly to warm-up and feel how the movement of your shoulder blades is. If you have a lot of tension you can feel a little "crunchy" and a less fluid movement. Don't forget to breathe deeply while doing this.

Inhale - bring your shoulders up to your ears.
Exhale - circle back and bring your shoulders down, away from the ears.

Please feel and note the contraction that allows your shoulder blades to come down and in. Repeat about 10 times or until movement feels more fluid.

2 - Neck Stretches

This is to relieve some of that shoulder and neck tension so we can work and ask for contractions on the next exercises.

Sit up and maintain an active posture, neutral spine and shoulders far from the ears.
Keep weight well distributed on your buttocks. Body centred.
Pull your right ear aways from the shoulder. Hold it there for a few deep breathings.
Extend your right arm to the side like you want to reach further away. Hold for a few deep breathings.
Exhale and bring your chin towards your chest, still keeping the ear away from your shoulder. Hold again for a few breathings.
Repeat to the other side.

3 - Arm circles

For this one we're building some strength and mobility in our shoulders. Please keep in mind that only our arms move. If your shoulders also go up to the ears as you move your arms up, then you're gone too far. Just do a smaller circle in order to maintain all the posture requirements and progress from that.

Sit up and maintain an active posture, neutral spine and shoulders far from the ears.
Inhale - move your arms up, keeping the shoulders down and maintaining a neutral spine. Keep your shoulder blades in your back pockets.
Exhale - complete the circle with your arms and go back to the center. Repeat 10 times or until you can do a bigger circle.

4 - Cat&Cow

This exercise is one of my absolute favourites. When done correctly, it works the mobility of the entire spine also strengthening the arms and core.

Place your body into a 4-position. Keep alignment of your hands-shoulder and your knees-hips. Body weight is well distributed between knees and hands.
Engage an active posture with a long spine, shoulders far from the ears and push away with your hand a little bit. Maintain it.
Inhale - bring your belly towards the floor and project your chest up and forward, between your arms. Please keep your shoulders down and push away from the floor. Even if it seems like there is not much movement that's ok.
Exhale - bring your chin to the chest and imagine you have a tail and you're going to hide it between your legs. Push the chest away from the floor through your hands.
Let your breathing be your guide, don't force it.

5 - Child's Pose

Ufff, let's take a little break dear reader 😎. Now by break, I mean an active break. So to achieve the best of this stretch follow the instructions above.

From a 4-position push with your hands down and away.
Bring your hips towards your heels.
Place your forehead on the floor/pillow and relax your neck. Just keep your shoulders away from the ears.
Maintain the hand pressure going down and away

If you can't reach your heels or your head can't meet the floor that's ok. Just keep that hand activation and you will eventually get there!

6 - Upper back rotation

I always like to leave the hardest one for last so bear with me dear reader, we are almost finished!

Place in a 4-position. Active posture and neutral spine. Shoulders away from ears. Weight well distributed between knees and hands. Maintain it at all times.
Inhale - bring your right arm up towards the ceiling. You wanna open your chest to the right side.
Exhale - bring your arm down to the center again.

Be gentle with this one. Keep your support arm firm and active. If you feel movement is kinda stuck that's ok, just open your chest to the side as far as you're comfortable with and as long as your spine remains neutral and long, your shoulders away from the ears and weight well distributed. Then, just keep progressing and you'll see a big difference by the end 😁

That's it from me today and I really hope everyone enjoyed it or, at least, tried some of these exercises! I always think I'm being repetitive in my pilates classes but I really cannot state these instructions enough as they are really super important to follow. I'm very rigorous and demanding with my students because to me quality of movement is everything! And I really would like to pass on that message to all fellow hivers 😊

Let me know your thoughts about this. Did you enjoy doing them, did your body feel more relaxed afterwards, what major difference did you feel in your body when compared to the beginning? I'm very curious to know and interact to all of you 🤗

Lastly, these exercises can be done daily and if you work in front of a computer all day I would really recommend you to do them on a regular basis. Also I really hope this can help other fellow hivers that are currently joining DreemPort 6 week challenge to do that 20 minute physical activity task. 😉

Have a great workout! 💪