How to Keep Your Shoulders Safe in Floor Poses

As I am still moving (it’s going well, thanks for asking!), here is another repost, from my pre-Substack days. Moving has me thinking about shoulder placement, so I thought this would be an appropriate post.

I am grateful for you and your support! New posts soon!

💜 Janine

As you age, your body become less tolerant of inefficient movement. As humans we are master compensators, and will “perform” movements, even in daily life, in ways that work, but are not always ideal for how our body should move.

One example of that is walking. You can walk through your day and never once use your glutes ( I speak from experience). This is fine for awhile, but after years of doing this, your hamstrings, hip flexors, and/or lower back can strain. When you actively engage your glutes while walking, the other pain goes away.

This post is about shoulder safety during floor poses when practicing yoga.

Through my 26 years of teaching, I have made it my mission to have every student do Chaturanga Dandasana (4-Pointed Staff Pose, aka Low Plank) correctly. Most Vinyasa and Ashtanga practices teach this pose, and when done correctly, it’s a powerful, strengthening pose.

When it’s done incorrectly, it wreaks havoc on your rotator cuff. Yoga practitioners commonly experience shoulder injuries. I blame doing Chaturanga and other floor poses repetitively with incorrect shoulder placement which overuses the rotator cuff muscles. Yoga can be a safe, empowering practice, but body awareness must be part of it.

Here is a post about Chaturanga specifically:

Does Your Yoga Practice Make Your Shoulders Cry?

Shoulder blade movement

Shoulder blades (scapulae) move in 6 ways:

• Upward toward your ears (Elevation)
• Downward toward your waist (Depression)
• Toward each other (Retraction)
• Away from each other (Protraction)
• The bottom tips moving away from each other, like when you raise your arms (Upward Rotation)
• The bottom tips moving back toward each other, like when you lower your arms (Downward Rotation)

This discussion focuses on the first 4 movements.

Floor Poses and their Shoulder Blade Movements

You Protract your scapulae in Cat pose and Downward Facing Dog, as they spread apart. You also Depress them, as you slide them downward away from your ears. A common mistake for both poses is for the shoulder blades to be Elevated/raised toward the ears. In Downward Dog, I often see shrugged shoulders, where they are both Elevated and Retracted. Ideally in both of these poses, the shoulder blades are down and apart.

Keep neutral shoulder blades for Plank pose. This means you neither Elevate nor Depress, and neither Protract or Retract. I often see Plank done with Protracted scapulae, which only increases tightness in the chest. Nobody needs that. It feels like you are working harder, but it’s not as stable for that particular pose, especially when moving into other poses in the Vinyasa flow.

When you maintain neutral shoulder blades in Plank pose, it makes it a much more functional pose. When you stand, you are essentially in Plank pose (the floor is just in a different place and our arms are down). Mountain pose is basically a vertical Plank.

Plank pose builds functional core strength so that you can move about the world with more stability and ease. You don’t want to emphasize a rounded upper back. Having the feeling of an “open chest” will then translate into standing with good posture.

Chaturanga Dandasana, Cobra, Cow Pose and Upward Dog all have scapular Depression and slight Retraction. You are not necessarily squeezing the shoulder blades together, but they move slightly in that direction. It’s the Depression that is most important in these 3 poses, and will keep you from injury.

When you either collapse into your shoulders or shrug in these poses, it not only creates tension in your neck and upper back, it can damage the rotator cuff. There will be too much weight falling into your shoulders and they strain. Over time, with repetition, they can tear.

Shrugging disconnects you from the Latissimus Dorsi (the Lats) and your Lower Trapezius (Lower Traps) which give you the support you need for these poses. Using the Lats and the Lower Traps takes the pressure off of the shoulders. It’s always better to rely on bigger muscles to hold you up.

Watch my short tutorial on shoulder safety with floor poses:

Yoga over 50

If you are interested in deepening your understanding of alignment and anatomy in 25 basic yoga poses, I have an online course called Yoga Basics Over 50. This is a self-study course with lots of bonus information to build your yoga practice from the ground up. Click the button below to see this an all of my online courses!

I teach Beginner Yoga every Monday and Wednesday live online, or you can watch it on demand whenever your schedule allows! Click the button below to see the full schedule of classes for active adults over 50!

Stay up to date with classes, workshops, courses, and retreats for active adults over 50 by joining my email list!