Many moons ago, I remember learning about the benefits of stretching at school. At the time, I was on the girls’ soccer team and our coach would make us stretch out our hamstrings, hips, and quads before running around the pitch.
Back then, my supple self thought it was a pretty pointless endeavor. But fast forward 20 years later and I can now see and feel the tension-releasing upsides that carving out some minutes to stretch can bring.
Like the masses, I sit for long periods of time behind a screen. While this helps me get my work done, it’s my back, tight neck, and shoulders that pay the price.
To help turn back the hands of time on all this sedentary behavior, I’m always looking for quick stretching workouts I can fit into my day—which is how I came across yoga instructor Sarah Beth’s 10-minute stretch for neck, shoulder, and upper back stiffness. After rolling out my yoga mat, I was ready to begin. Here’s how it went.
How to do the 10-minute yoga stretching workout
This yoga stretch just requires a mat, 10 minutes of your time, and your body weight. I also placed one of the best water bottles by my side as a reminder to hydrate before and after the workout was complete.
Containing some of the best yoga stretches for beginners, like child’s pose,
Sarah Beth demonstrates how to do each of the stretching moves while giving instructions on how to modify them if needed.
Here's what I found after doing this 10-minute yoga stretching routine.
There’s a lot of stretch found in stillness
Generally speaking, I tend to lean towards dynamic stretches, like cat-cow and half-kneeling rocks, which are essentially active movements where joints and muscles go through a full range of motion.
According to a 2024 paper, published in the Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation journal, completing dynamic exercises plays a “pivotal role” in injury prevention by preparing the body both physically and mentally for physical activity.
But over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself completing more and more static stretches, which see me hold a child’s pose for two to three minutes or complete a cobra pose and forward fold for multiple seconds at a time. And Sarah Beth’s 10-minute yoga stretch was a great mix of the two.
But while this stretching routine involved a mix of dynamic and static stretches, my back and shoulders found a lot of relief from holding the puppy dog pose for 30 seconds, a thread the needle position for 25 seconds, and a chest opener position for half a minute. I found that there was a lot of stretch to be found in this static stillness.
One side was tighter than the other
Most people naturally have a more dominant side. Whether you’re right or left-handed or you’re stronger on one side—myofascial imbalance isn’t unheard of.
However, this stretching routine highlights in real time what too much time in unbalanced postures and slumped positions can do to your muscles, causing them to be tighter or shorter on one side.
When completing the chest openers, I found that I was tighter on my left-hand side than I was on my right. This meant I could sink into a deeper stretch on my right, compared to my left. Doing so on the latter felt a little bit stickier and while this is completely normal, amongst other things, it just means I need to stretch this area a little more to ensure no other muscles are picking up the slack.
10 minutes might not be long, but it made a difference
The great thing about stretching is that whether you have time for a little or a lot if done with the right form, you’re bound to feel a difference from doing so—my neck, back and shoulders certainly did!
I realize that sporadic 10-minute bouts of stretching won’t be enough to undo the tightness and tension felt from too much time spent sitting in one position forever.
However, according to a 2024 article, that looked into the effects of stretching exercises on muscle tension, if regularly completed, stretching exercises constitute one of the “preventive measures” that can be implemented to overcome tension muscle strength and increase soft tissue elongation.
In the same article, researchers noted that stretching can increase the range of motion, reduce soft tissue injuries, and address muscle imbalances leading to low back pain. Which is not bad for taking mere minutes out of your day, right?
