Submitted by LKVM

The neck adds beauty to the face and figure. This slender stem not only supports the head but also provides mobility to your head and shoulders.

However, the neck is quite vulnerable to early signs of skin ageing because of the frequent movements, friction from clothing and external aggressions. Other than such natural phenomenon, different daily activities like poor posture, wrong sleeping habits, and physical stress can cause neck muscles to tighten and contribute to muscle fatigue. Do these seven yoga poses for a toned neck and you won’t have to resort to hiding it behing turtlenecks and collars all the time…

Griva Sanchalana asana
Benefits of Griva Sanchalana asana
– It helps in achieving a firm, toned and a tighter neck.
– This asana also helps in achieving a good night’s sleep along with perking up your hearing and vision abilities.
– Since the nerves of the neck are connected to the bran, Griva Sanchalana helps in keeping headaches at bay.

Method:
– Sit comfortably in an erect position and make sure your neck is straight and muscles totally relaxed. Keep your eyes closed.
– Push your head back to the rear position while keeping your facial muscles in a relaxed state. Now, bring your head back to the normal position slowly.
– Now do the reverse. Bend your neck in a frontward position and try and keep it as close to the sternum as possible. Gradually return back to the centre position.
– You have successfully completed one round of Griva Sanchalana asana. Try and repeat this process 10 times.

Ear to shoulder bend
Method:
– Sit comfortably in an erect position and make sure your neck is straight and muscles totally relaxed. Keep your eyes closed.
– Now keeping your shoulder in a fixed position, bend your head slowly to the left position and then raise it back to the normal (centre) position.
– Now repeat the same process on the left hand side.
– Make sure you feel the pull of the neck on the left hand side when you are performing the stretch towards the right hand side and vice versa.
– You have successfully completed one round. Try and repeat this process for 10 times.

Side to side rotation
Method:
– Sit comfortably in an erect position and make sure your neck is straight and muscles totally relaxed. Keep your eyes closed.
– Now by keeping your head and shoulders in an erect position, turn yourself completely to the left position, i.e. as far as you can comfortably go and then come back to the centre.
– Repeat this asana on the right side.
– When you turn you contract your muscles and when you return you relax your muscles.
– You have successfully completed one round. Try and repeat this process for 10 times.

Neck rotations (Clockwise and anti-clockwise)
Method:
– Keep your neck and shoulder muscles relaxed and drop your head down till you head is near the sternum.
– Now, rotate your head to the left hand side till the left ear is right next to the left shoulder.
– Make sure you are not raising your shoulder when performing this exercise.
– Roll your head backwards as far as you comfortably can and then rotate your head all the way to the right hand side, performing the same kind of exercise.
– Now bring your head back to the initial position.
– This completes one full round. Do five such rounds clockwise and five such rounds anti-clockwise.

Shoulder raises (shoulder lifts)
Method:
– Keep your face in a frontward direction and relax your neck and shoulder muscles.
– Now, slowly lift both your shoulders at once towards your ears and gradually bring them to the normal (starting) position.
– This completes one round of shoulder raise. For the ultimate benefits of this exercise, perform at least 10 rounds.

Jaw toning (variation 1)
Method:
– Open your mouth as much as you can and stick out your tongue as much as you can. Make sure you are pointing the tongue tip in a straight line.
– You will feel that the muscles in your neck are tightening up. Now clench your jaws till the cords of your neck stand out. Hold this position till the time you are comfortable doing so.
– This completes one round of jaw toning variation no. 1. Do 20 such rounds.

Jaw toning (variation 2)
Method:
– Keep your face in a frontward direction and contract the muscles in the front of your neck. Try to make them as rigid and tense as possible.
– Now grip your teeth tightly and tighten your jaws till the cords of your neck stand out.
– This completes one round of jaw toning (variation no.2). Do 10 such rounds.

Before you begin: 
– Make sure you perform all these exercises with no jerks whatsoever.
– People who suffer from health conditions such as high BP and cervical pain should not bend too much in the frontward or backward direction.
– Breathing, all throughout these exercises is slow and through the nose.
– As soon as you suffer from pain in any of the above mentioned exercises, stop immediately.
– Do the exercises with caution, moving slowly, smoothly and with no jerks.