Threading the Needle for the Upper Back
I said the doorway one was the last on shoulders, and I fibbed a little. This one is really about the upper back, but your shoulders are in on it too, so here we are.
This pose has a foolish name, and I didn't invent it. "Thread the needle." Somebody decided your arm sliding under your body looked like threading a needle. Sure. Fine. I don't know the fancy name and I won't pretend I do. It's the thread-the-needle thing, and it works, so let's not fret over the label.
Why bother with this one
Everything we've done so far in these shoulder stretches has been upright — standing at a doorway, or sitting up straight. This one gets you down on the floor and twists you a little, which reaches a spot between your shoulder blades that shrugs and rolls simply cannot get to. That's the part that goes tight from hunching over a phone, or a steering wheel, or a garden bed, or whatever's got your shoulders rounded forward these days.
I'll put it plainly. If you wake up with a stiff, achy spot right between your shoulder blades that nothing seems to touch, this is likely your fix.
How to do it
You'll need floor space, and maybe a towel or a folded blanket if your knees don't care for hard surfaces. That's all. Nothing to buy.
- Get on your hands and knees, like we did for cat-cow. Knees under hips, hands under shoulders.
- Slide your right arm underneath your body, palm facing up, and let your right shoulder and the side of your head rest down on the floor. Your left hand stays planted for balance.
- Your hips stay up, stacked over your knees. Don't let them sink back toward your heels; that changes the stretch.
- You should feel this between your shoulder blades and into the back of your right shoulder. Not sharp. If it's sharp, back off — ease your arm out a little less far.
- Stay there for five slow breaths. Keep breathing; don't hold it — you know the way by now.
- Slide the arm back out, come back to hands and knees for a breath, then do the other side.
That's the whole of it. Two sides, maybe ninety seconds in all once you're used to it.
A caution, plainly: if you've got a shoulder injury, a rotator cuff trouble, anything of that sort, go easy or skip the arm-under-body part and just do a gentle upper back twist instead, staying upright. Don't force the shoulder down to the floor if it's protesting. An ache in the muscle is fine. A sharp pinch in the joint is not a message to push through — it's a message to listen to.
My honest opinion here
Slow beats hard, every time, and especially for a stretch like this one. You do not need to jam your shoulder down to the mat on the first day. Some mornings mine barely leaves the "getting there" stage and stays a few inches up, and that's a full stretch too. Your body, your rules. Nobody's handing out medals for how flat you can get your shoulder.
The power yoga story
I'll tell on myself here. A while back I got curious what all the fuss was about with these "power yoga" videos everybody online seems to love. Figured I ought to know what I was up against, competition-wise. So I found one and hit play, ready to be humbled.
I lasted four minutes. Four. I was sweating, my heart was going, and I remember thinking, this isn't yoga, this is aerobics with a mat under it. I turned it off, went back to my slow stuff, and never looked back.
I mention it here because thread-the-needle is about as far from that as you can get. You're not going anywhere in a hurry. You're lying there, twisted a little, breathing, letting a tight spot let go on its own time. That's what I like about it. Slow and dull, on purpose. If you wanted your heart rate up, you'd go for a walk up the canyon, not do this.
A few notes from watching folks do this
- Most people let their hips sink back when the arm goes under. Keep checking that your hips stay stacked over your knees; that's where the twist actually happens.
- If your neck feels odd resting on the floor, put a folded towel under your head. No shame in it — I use one myself most mornings.
- Some days one side will feel far tighter than the other. That's ordinary. Give the tight side an extra breath or two if you like; it usually asks for it anyway.
Before next time
Try this one after your bed stretches some morning this week, and notice which side of your upper back is the grumpier one. You'll likely have a guess before you even do it.