KIOWS

She said her neck felt like concrete by Friday. Here's the 3-move sequence I gave her.

A month ago, I had a 12 pm class in my centre and taught Shoulders & Upper Back Stretches. One of my members, Thao, is 45 years old.

When I was teaching the class, she interrupted me 3 or 4 times, saying she was afraid to do shoulder stretches. Other members felt disturbed, and one member told her in a very resentful voice, "If you want personal care, you can buy a PT class from the teacher — the teacher is supposed to help everyone, not only you."

After giving everyone a rest in child's pose, I went to her and asked why. She said, "That stretch may break my neck."

I was shocked and didn't know how to react. So I told her in a whisper, "I will help you after class."

Before I finished my class, she was already waiting for me outside the classroom. I talked to her for 5 or 6 minutes. She told me she was a bank manager and had to work at her desk for 6 to 7 hours a day. She felt pain in her neck and shoulders—like when she tried to lift her head, someone had frozen her neck with concrete.

After hearing her story, the first thing I did was check her body alignment. You wouldn't believe it — her neck was misaligned with her shoulders, and her upper body was curved forward. I explained to her why this happened, and she was so excited to learn that.

I told her, "When you do the same work in the same position for a very long time without any change, your body adopts that position and reduces blood flow to that area, which is one of the reasons you feel pain so often."

🔷 After she heard that, her eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open.

❇️ I brought her to the yoga room and showed her these 3 exercises:

1. Sit on a chair, place and lock your palms behind your head, inhale, stretch your shoulders backwards and look up.

2. Stand up and hold the chair's backrest with both hands, keep your legs wide apart, and stretch your upper body by pushing it down towards the floor.

3. Sit on the chair and twist your spine by holding the armrests.

Do all three every 10 minutes.

✳️ I also suggested a few tips to minimise the pain:

>Try to avoid hunching towards your screen

>If possible, upgrade your chair with a headrest and backrest

>Keep your screen at eye level to reduce stress on your neck

>Before bed, try lifting your legs against the wall to reverse blood flow

She started applying everything from the very next day. It has been a month — her shoulders and neck are completely fine, and she is back attending my class.

🕓 If you spend 6+ hours at a desk and feel that familiar Friday neck ache — try these today. Which one will you start with?