Upward Stretched Legs - Shoulder

Yoga Discussion Structural Yoga Therapy
#1

Along with this posture, I find that figuring out where my shoulders go is a challenge. This is related to my previous question about shoulder position.

I try to keep my shoulders down (toward pelvis, not scrunched up), but that seems to require that I bend my elbows. If I do that, there is a constant interplay between activating my abdominals and my shoulders coming off the mat as an offset. I assume this is normal and part of the challenge of the pose? What you referred to as “proper way to use the abdominal muscles in harmony with the lower back”.

Thanks
hunter

#2

Hunter - I suspect from this that your shoulder are lacking full range of shoulder flexion motion (90 degrees). That is when you lay down and lift the arms over head the arms cannot make a flat line with the floor without arching the spine. Lacking this motion will compromise the pose making you bend your elbows due to the tightness of the biceps (which are one of the shoulder flexor muscles).
The abdominals are engaged only in so far as necessary to hold the legs they should not react due to the arms being placed overhead. The fact that they do react reveals weak abdominals and tight shoulders. namaste mukunda