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Workouts

Awake & Evolve: Cycle 4 – Shoulder Opening Practice

The fourth cycle of Awake and Evolve workouts focuses on energizing and lengthening the muscles to improve athletic performance, with a meditation component to improve concentration and mood.

Mindith Rahmat

Written by Mindith Rahmat Published on Sep 6, 2012

A.

Child’s Pose
Start your practice by finding Child’s Pose, coming onto your hands and knees, and placing your knees out as wide as your yoga mat. Press your hips back and down as put your weight back into your toes. Extend your arms in front of body, release your head down to the floor and close your eyes. Stay here for 3-5 minutes.
B.
Child’s Pose with Shoulder Opener

From Child’s Pose place your right arm under your body and turn your head to the left releasing your right cheek down on the floor. Stay here for 2 minutes, and then move slowly to the opposite side.
C.
Shoulder Rotation

Coming up to a seated pose, sit on your your knees and begin to rotate your arms in a full wide circle. Make 15 slow circles forward and then 15 slow circles backwards.
D.
Sphinx Pose

Come onto your belly into sphinx pose. Place the forearms in the floor in front of you, legs extended, and hands facing forward. Feel a deep opening in the shoulders as you gently press into the floor. Stay in this pose for 2 minutes.
E.
Seated Shoulder Opener

Come to a cross-legged seated pose and extend both arms up towards the ceiling. Reach over with the right arm and grab the left elbow in the shoulder release. Relax the head and neck by looking towards the floor. Stay here for 2 minutes and then repeat on the opposite side.
F.
Side Lying Shoulder Release

Lying down on your right side, extend the right arm along the floor, above your head. Release your head down towards the arm relaxing the head and neck. Let the left knee drape gently over the body. Close your eyes and stay here for 3 minutes, then move to the opposite side.
Mindith Rahmat

About Mindith Rahmat

Mindith is a born mover. She has spent her life exploring various athletic disciplines, starting with ballet and modern dance from an early age. She went on to become a E-RYT 500 certified yoga therapist and teacher and discovered CrossFit after the birth of her daughter.

Mindith coached CrossFit at a number of boxes near her home in Southern California, which lead to her involvement in Russian kettlebells and Olympic weightlifting. She has coached a wide variety of populations and cares deeply for women’s health, specializing in pregnancy and postpartum fitness. She is currently studying the principles of Natural Movement and Kettlebell Sport, and is working to complete an additional teacher training in the Taoist art of Yin Yoga with Master Paulie Zink.

Mindith founded Breaking Muscle in 2011. Over 5 million people a month have visited the site, hundreds of thousands of them follow Breaking Muscle on social media, nearly 2,000 coaches have written or appeared on its pages, and there are thousands of free, fully-formed training plans freely available. Breaking Muscle has won numerous awards in the industry and is recognized for pioneering new approaches to fitness and coaching techniques. In 2021, Breaking Muscle was acquired by Barbend. Mindith continues to devote time to her kids, pursue her doctorate in psychology, do research, and teach.

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