https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/yoga-know-need-3-smartphone-counterposes

Yoga We Know You Need: 4 Smartphone Counterposes

The hunch in your shoulders and knots in your neck aren’t just uncomfortable, they carry an orthopedic risk. Amy Ippoliti created this practice to counteract "tech neck."

REBECCA TOLIN

JUL 1, 2015

The hunch in your shoulders and knots in your neck aren’t just uncomfortable, they also carry an orthopedic risk. Amy Ippoliti created this practice specifically to counteract the "tech neck."

(Plus, want to practice or study with Amy Ippoliti in person? Join her at Yoga Journal LIVE New York, April 19-22, 2018—YJ's big event of the year. We’ve lowered prices, developed intensives for yoga teachers, and curated popular educational tracks: Alignment & Sequencing; Health & Wellness; and Philosophy & Mindfulness. See what else is new and sign up now.)

The first yogis came thousands of years before the smartphone, yet sometimes yoga feels like it was invented as an antidote to technology. After hours perched over my laptop or just minutes pecking my iPhone, I need more yoga! You know what it’s like, your shoulders feel frozen in an ape-like hunch and the back of your neck ends up in a throbbing knot. “It’s enough that we have to relate to technology because it exists and we have to use it to kind of keep up with culture, but when you consider there are orthopedic risks, it adds a whole other layer,” said Amy Ippolitiin a workshop at Yoga Journal LIVE! San Diego last weekend.

Even this superstar yoga teacher and earth conservationist is no stranger to the troubles of texting. Ippoliti designed an entire iPhone counter-practice after discovering her neck had degenerative discs. “Tech neck,” when the neck droops forward and down as you post a shot to Instagram, send a text, or email the boss, puts up to an astounding 60 pounds of pressure on the upper cervical spine, research shows. That is akin to carrying 12 yoga mats or a small child on your neck.

EXPLORE Office Yoga

4 Ways to Counteract "Tech Neck"

Ippoliti suggests doing these poses throughout your day to counteract the effects of phone and laptop use. These poses lengthen the front muscles of the neck, which tend to get shortened when we hunch over a screen or a keyboard. They also realign the shoulders and upper thoracic spine, freeing the lower cervical vertebrae. Restoring a natural curve in the spine also opens the shoulders and may even ease rotator cuff and elbow pain.

1. Gradual Cobra

From your belly, place fingertips over your head, a little wider than your shoulders. Keeping your head neutral, lift your elbows towards the sky. Lengthen your side body from hips to armpits. Soften the heart and pull the arm bones into the sockets. Curl shoulder blades down the back and into your heart. Extend forward to rise up. Lower down and slide your hands a few inches back towards your hips. Again, soften your heart and pull arm bones into the sockets. Draw scapulae down the back and lift up. Slide hands back another few inches and follow the same instructions. Then move into regular Cobra Pose applying the same principles. Once in Cobra, move the top of the thoracic spine (around shoulder height) and the bottom of the cervical spine (around shoulder height) in toward the front body and take chin up for an extra stretch.

See also Shiva Rea’s Cobra Mudra Vinyasa

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RELEASE WORK TENSION + STRESSAMY IPPOLITI

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 REBECCA TOLIN