Joint Freeing Series

My yoga teacher introduced me to the yoga joint freeing series by Mukunda Stiles, who is a yoga therapist and well known teacher.

It is a great series but I even found some of the movements inaccessible for myself, as well as for my students with chronic pain and health conditions. I developed this series of joint warm-up exercises to be adapted in a chair for more accessibility and convenience. But, since we should start with the WHY: Why is doing a yoga joint freeing series so important?

Systematically warming up your joints like in the video below helps:

• Prevent injury: Did you know that, according to research, sprains and strains seem to be the top way injuries happen in yoga (as well as most exercise)? (Cramer, 2013)

• Increase circulation: Increasing the circulation of blood and lymph can help heal injuries and keep your joints and tissues healthy. (According to yoga philosophy, it also helps you move your prana or vital life-force energy.)

• Improve body awareness: By improving your body awareness (aka proprioception and interoception), you can:

  • improve your posture, balance, and even relieve pain. Wait, feeling your joints helps you relieve joint pain? Yes!

• Relieve joint pain: Personally, gentle joint movements have helped with my joint pain. (Strengthening has also helped, but more on that in another post.) This can be helpful for:

  • arthritis (both osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis)

  • fibromyalgia

  • lupus and more!

Put it to practice in 10 minutes with this Chair Joint Freeing Series video:

You can also scroll through the joint freeing series step-by-step. Repeat each set of movements 3x:

1a EXHALE flex the feet

1b INHALE point the feet down

2a INHALE soles face out

2b EXHALE soles face in

3 INHALE circling out, EXHALE circling in

4a INHALE lengthen out your leg

4b EXHALE hug in

REPEAT on the other leg

5a INHALE rotate out

5b EXHALE glide back in and REPEAT on the other leg

6a INHALE squeeze your thighs

6b EXHALE release

7a INHALE hands down

7b EXHALE hands up

8a INHALE palms flat and out

8b EXHALE palms flat and in

9 INHALE fists in one direction, EXHALE the other

10a INHALE reach the arms out

10b EXHALE touch the shoulders

11a INHALE out and around

11b EXHALE toward each other

12a INHALE palms up

12b EXHALE palms down

13a INHALE reach the arms up

13b EXHALE bring the arms down

14a INHALE sitting a little taller

14b EXHALE lateral bend

14c INHALE back to centre

14d EXHALE other side

15a INHALE sit taller

15b EXHALE other side

15c INHALE back to centre

15d EXHALE twist

16a INHALE chin up

16b EXHALE chin down

17a EXHALE lateral head bend

17b INHALE to centre

17c EXHALE other ear

17d INHALE back to centre

18a EXHALE looking over your shoulder

18b INHALE back to centre

18c EXHALE other side

Looking for a lying-down version of the Joint Freeing Series? Check the practice below:

You can also scroll through the series step-by-step. Repeat each set of movements 3x:

1a EXHALE flex your feet

1b INHALE point your toes

2a INHALE soles outward

2b EXHALE soles inward

3a INHALE circle out

3b EXHALE circle in

4a INHALE lengthen leg

4b EXHALE hug in REPEAT on other leg

5a INHALE rotate out

5b EXHALE rotate in

5c INHALE straighten your knee

5d EXHALE flex REPEAT on the other leg

6a INHALE glide your legs out

6b EXHALE glide back in

7a EXHALE squeeze your belly

7b INHALE to arch your back

8a INHALE to one side

8b EXHALE to the other

9a INHALE palms up

9b EXHALE palms down

10a INHALE fingers inward

10b EXHALE finger outward

11a INHALE fists rotate out

11b EXHALE fists rotate in

12a INHALE arms up

12b EXHALE arms down

13a INHALE glide the arms up overhead

13b EXHALE glide the arms down

14a EXHALE press the chin down

14b INHALE release

15a EXHALE rock head to one side

15b INHALE back to centre

15c EXHALE rock head to other side

15d INHALE back to centre

Download free step-by-step PDFs of all 3 versions of the Joint Freeing Series:

Ann Swanson, MS, C-IAYT, LMT, E-RYT500, yoga therapist and author of SCIENCE OF YOGA.

Let’s Connect:

References:

Cramer, H., Krucoff, C., & Dobos, G. (2013). Adverse events associated with yoga: a systematic review of published case reports and case series. PloS one, 8(10), e75515. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075515