If you are like me, Ms. Tight Shoulders, doing the reverse namaste pose in any asana (with full lotus or doing a standing forward bend as shown above) does not come easy. Office work and hours on the computer do take its toll on those shoulders.

So it was with some amazement that when I told my daughter C2 this, she said “Is it like this, Mama?” and immediately made the reverse namaste position with both hands way, way up her back. WHOA!!!

Now why can’t I do that????

Some sleuthing around the web got me some tips on how to do preliminary exercises to bring the body eventually to this pose:

1. Move arms up and down laterally (about 20 times)

2. Rotate arms at the shoulders, clockwise and counterclockwise about 20 times. First do one arm at a time, then both arms together.

As you continue the warm-up exercises above and as you try to do the Reverse Namaste position, you may start out with just the tips of your fingers touching your lower back.

From there you may find your flexibility increasing and slowly, the whole side of your hands can assume the reverse namaste position on the lower back.

With further flexibility, you can slowly inch those hands up your back until they are already past your mid-back.

Continue working on those tight shoulders. I know I will!

Namaste.