July Theme of the Month

Following on from our last theme relating to creating space around the arms, shoulders and upper back, this month we will look at bringing some strength into our upper body and arms.

Yoga can be a great way to strengthen and tone the arms. Building strength in the arms can benefit us by making our daily jobs easier such as lifting, carrying and pushing. We can improve our posture and stability and balance through building up arm strength through our yoga. By bringing some strength into our upper body we can enhance our overall practice.

Yoga To Tone and Define Your Arms

Week 1 - Yoga for Fingers, Hands, Wrists and Forearms
As we use our hands for almost everything we do throughout the day it’s important to keep a good range of movement in them and to be able to strengthen these areas. Often movements like being on the computer and our phones regularly can cause these areas to stiffen up. We can use our yoga practice as an opportunity to take our hands and wrists through a wide range of healthy movement. Yoga is a great opportunity to help you to stretch and strengthen your hands, wrists and forearms without putting too much stress on them.

Week 2 - Strengthen Your Upper Back and Shoulders
Strengthening the upper back is key to improving posture. Rounded shoulders, bad posture alignment and wear and tear can make this part of the back ache. Including poses and movement that stretch and strengthen the upper back will help with this area. Both strengthening your upper body and loosening your upper body are important, and both allow us to receive different benefits.

Week 3 - Yoga for Biceps – Strengthen and Stretch Your Arms
Biceps run along the front of the upper arms and help you bend your elbow. Our biceps our engaged in most of our poses that include the arms working in a pose. Strengthening our arms helps greatly if we are finding everyday lifting a bit challenging. Strengthening our arms can also prepare us for more challenges in yoga such as arm balances. We can use our yoga practice to effectively tone the arms and improve upper body strength.

Week 4 - Strengthen and Stretch Your Arms
Triceps run along the back of the upper arms and help extend the elbow. Yoga poses that engage the triceps will tone and strengthen your upper body and help you with other poses and everyday actions you take. Poses help to increase your strength gradually and with effort and time. Your upper body also becomes stronger when you tone your triceps.

This Month’s Music

Here’s the usual selection of music that Vicky has been listening to this month.