Julie Gudmestad: Yoga Foundations-
Creating Shoulder Strength and Stability
One of the most important shoulder muscles for upper body weight-bearing yoga poses is serratus anterior. It is a hard muscle to find and describe, and isn't mentioned often in yoga classes. That is especially unfortunate, because many students come to yoga with weak serratus muscles. Serratus weakens due to lack of strengthening activities, including weight-bearing exercises like push-ups, so women are especially prone to weakness there.
Strengthening the serratus anterior is key to building a strong foundation for weight-bearing on the arms in elementary poses like Downward Dog and plank, and especially important for inversions like headstand and handstand, in which the serratus muscles are bearing nearly the whole body weight. If the serratus isn't strong enough in these poses, problems with the neck, shoulders or wrists can be an unhappy consequence.
What You Will Learn
About Julie Gudmestad
Julie has devoted her professional life to integrating the healing benefits of yoga with her medical training as a physical therapist. She has integrated decades of patient care experience with 40 years of yoga teaching into a unique teaching style, and teaches workshops throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, often focusing on the anatomy of asana or therapeutic applications of yoga. She owns a combined PT and Yoga studio in Portland, Oregon, and has published over 45 articles and columns in publications such as Yoga Journal and Yoga International.