Modern Dance Sternum Stretch

Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Chell Garcia-Trias. I'm a modern dance instructor in Austin, Texas. I'm going to show you how to reach up with your sternum, the way we would do it in modern dance. It's also the way that you reach back with your head without collapsing in your neck. And it's a great way to open up your sternum. A nice simple little stretch. So, I'll show you sideways so you can really see what's going on. The first thing I want to do is plant my feet in the ground. I really need to push through my feet. You might want to bend your legs a couple of times and find that you're really pushing through the ground, pushing through the ground. I'm going to reach all the way up through the crown of my head, make sure that my neck is pulled back just a little bit, probably a little more than you would think so that I have a nice alignment with my spine and my head is just resting on the top of my spine. I turn my head sideways, it just pivots gently on my spine. And then I'm just going to reach up with my sternum. I'm not going to drop my head to the back. I'm going to reach up with my head while I reach up with my sternum. So my head is going back, it's reaching up to this back corner at a little bit of an angle without collapsing. I can drop my shoulders while I'm here. Sometimes your sternum might pop when you get in to this position. I'm really reaching up, up, up with my sternum, back with my head. It's really important that you never collapse in your neck in this position and never reach it up like that. It's so horrible for your spine. Really reaching up with my spine and back with my head. And I feel a nice little stretch in my front of my body, in my sternum and I can feel it in my back. I can feel my back working a little bit, just holding from here. And I'm going to bring my head all the way back up to upright position. So that's a great way to reach up with your sternum in modern dance. It's a great healthy way to do it on your body.

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