Shadowing Practice: 15 Minute Neck & Shoulder Stretch - Gentle Therapeutic Yoga - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Hi everyone, welcome to today's practice.

My name is Cassandra.

This is a neck and shoulders release flow.

I really wanted this to be a therapeutic, gentle practice that you could turn to if you are experiencing pain,

stiffness, tightness through your upper body, upper back knots, or just discomfort really through your neck and shoulders.

Personally, it's something I've been struggling with for the last few weeks.

So these are some of the movements and poses that I've found to be the most helpful and beneficial.

No props required.

We're only either laying down or seated.

So suitable for all experience levels.

Very gentle.

Let's begin lying down on our backs.

And we're going to start with our feet flat to the floor,

knees bent, inviting a gentle opening through the upper back into our shoulders,

I want you to think of pressing your lower back into the mat.

So closing the gap so that you can't put your fingers underneath you and then reach your arms up overhead.

So you'll notice for me right now, the only way I can get my palms to comfortably rest on the mat is

if I tilt and lift my lower back off of the floor.

I'm trying to keep my lower back pressing down just a little bit.

And the longer I hold this stretch, the more my arms and shoulders will learn to relax.

And then I'll be able to get the back of my palms on the mat.

You can have a little bit of a bend in your elbows.

so let's inhale to float the arms up towards the ceiling finding this neutral position

and as you exhale drop them back down towards the mat

inhale to lift keeping the spine in contact with the floor exhale to lower

and maybe every time you exhale you might notice

that you're able to get the back of your arms a little closer to the mat.

Let's just do two more like this.

Lifting up and back down.

Last one.

Lift and lower.

This time, go ahead and bend your elbows.

Think of sliding the back of your arms down into this little cactus shape.

And then inhale, reach the arms back up overhead.

so just these little like angel wing glides again I know I'm a bit of a broken record

but try to keep your lower back pressing on the mat

as you go through this range of motion bending the elbows

and then reaching the arms up overhead trying to find a

little bit more contact with the back of the arms and the mat as you go here

twice more bend and stretch

and the next time you bend the elbows in this cactus shape hold here

so my elbows are roughly in line with my shoulders I'm going to tilt

so that I'm now lifting the hands on the mat

and I'm going to see if I can bring my palms down to the floor

and I'm just going to do this almost like a windshield wiper motion with the arms back and forth.

Try not to tighten up through your neck or through your jaw, not using much force here.

It's a bit more of a passive range of motion.

Last one.

And now let's go ahead and straighten our arms, palms facing up, coming into a twist.

You're going to bring your hips a little over to the right

and let both knees and thighs drop down to the left.

I'm going to also turn so that I'm looking over my right shoulder.

A little bit of a neck release.

But I find having the arms straight here can really help to stretch out through the biceps, into the top of that shoulder.

Trying to stack our right hip on top of the left one.

your next inhale brings your head to center the knees float back up and we'll twist the other way

so our hips will go a little bit over towards the left knees

and thighs drop over to the right think of pressing down into

that left shoulder

and maybe looking over your left shoulder turning your head as well breathe all the way down into your belly

come back up and through to center and now go ahead

and straighten your arms up overhead straighten the legs let your

lower back arch a little bit here lengthening fingers away from the toes stretching through the sides of the waist

and we'll come up so you can just either roll to one side or lift yourself up.

Feet flat to the floor, knees are bent.

You're going to bring your hands back behind you about shoulder width distance apart.

Bend into your elbows.

Think of squeezing your shoulder blades, pinching them together, pinching the elbows towards one another, and then lifting your chest up.

so I'm not straightening my arms I'm keeping them a little bent

really getting into that shoulder you might feel it down the upper arm

or through your upper back

and let's come all the way up to take a seat

you can sit cross-legged here I'm going to turn just face over towards you.

You can bring your left hand to your right knee, right fingertips behind you as you open into a twist.

Crown of the head reaches up.

Keep your left hand on your knee as you come to face forward again.

We'll find a side bend.

Right arm reaches up and over.

So I'm using the hold of my knee to try to get a little bit of attraction through

that shoulder and now I'll add a neck release by hovering

that right hand just a little bit above or off of the floor and letting my head be even heavier.

Not clenching through the jaw.

You can play around a little bit with the angle of your chin.

Maybe drop it down slightly towards left shoulder, left armpit.

and lifting back up through to center nice

and slow let's find our twist the other way right hand

to your left knee left fingertips behind you for support think of pressing your shoulders down and away from your ears

keeping our right hand on the knee we'll just face forward we add our side bend first

left arm reaches up and over and then add your neck release so hover that left hand off the mat

maybe tuck a little bit chin to chest or towards that right shoulder

so let's lift all the way back up through to center tabletop pose just for cat and cow

palms under shoulders knees underneath your hips finding this stable shape

as you inhale we'll drop the belly lift the gaze exhale round and contract and depending on how much tightness and stiffness

you're experiencing right now you might need to go extra slow trying to get into those stickier parts

usually we do one breath per movement but you might hold a little bit longer

and we'll slide onto our stomachs

into sphinx pose so that you're propped up onto your elbows so you choose how deep you go into this back bend,

I want you to still think of pushing pubic bone and hip bones into the mat, finding a lift from here.

So there's a little bit of core engagement.

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Even in Sphinx, I'm pressing head of the arm bones, pressing those shoulders back, lifting up,

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even pushing into the tops of the feet, into the toes, so that I'm not creating any tension or pinching through my lower back.

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I'm staying lifted focusing on length instead of height

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and let's release slide your arms forward palms facing down just

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a little bit of strength work here through the upper back

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and through those shoulders as you inhale lift your right arm as along with head

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and chest off the mat and exhale to release

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and we'll alternate switching sides left arm reaches up keep the feet on the mats

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and down twice more each side right arm up and lower moving left

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one more inhale right arm lifts and down last one left

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and down let's come into a chest stretch really great for

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the shoulders i'm going to bend my left arm bending the elbow finding this 90 degree angle

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and I'm going to roll over onto my left ear, left shoulder, left hip.

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I like to bend the knees just stacking one leg on top of the other

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and my right hand is pressing into the floor to get me a bit of a deeper stretch.

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Try to relax your head, relax your neck.

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You should be able to get a little bit into the pectorals with this kind of move.

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So if any of your pain is caused by tension in the front of the body, hopefully this will provide you a little bit of relief.

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Let's straighten the arms.

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We'll go do the same thing the other side.

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So in yin we would call this broken wing pose.

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I'm bending my elbow at this 90 degree angle

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and I'm going to roll over onto my right side using my left hand pushing into the floor, relaxing my head, relaxing my neck.

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Thank you.

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one more deep breath in here let's straighten the legs back onto your stomach we're going to press back into child's pose

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hips reach back towards the heels i'm going to stretch my

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arms forward i'm going to keep my knees hip width distance apart and melt on down

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pressing the palms into the floor let's roll ourselves up

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and you can stay kneeling

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if it's comfortable for you otherwise you can just sit cross-legged

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our last little stretch here we'll come into eagle arms

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so i'm going to bend my elbows out in front of

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me i'm going to wrap my right arm under the left either once or twice

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if none of these are really working just grab a hold

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of your shoulders behind you lift the elbows up move your hands away from your face press your shoulders down

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and really push your forms and your palms together so

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that you're feeling this expansion through the upper back

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and maybe you also add a slight tuck of the chin

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to your chest just to stretch at the back of the neck a little more

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lift your head back up we'll release the arms find this little cactus stretch arch through your back

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same thing the other way so left arm under the right once or twice shoulders down elbows up

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hands moving away from you pushing the palms and the forearms together

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and then maybe adding a tuck of the chin to the chest just try to keep your elbows lifted

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and we lift our head back up to neutral we expand

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through the arms arch through the spine a little bit

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and let's release shrug roll the shoulders a few times sitting

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up tall I'm just gonna rest one hand on the other

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in my lap closing the eyes finding a neutral spine as

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I reach the crown of my head up noticing the effects

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of the practice where I feel it most what has changed

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and shifted hands can join together at front of the heart we'll chant om together one time to close.

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Let's inhale to chant.

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Breathe in.

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Aum.

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Thank you so much everyone for doing this neck and shoulders and upper back release flow.

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I really do hope that this was beneficial to you, that you notice a difference in your body.

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I know how frustrating it can be to have upper back knots or, you know, issues in the neck and in the spine, something I'm currently going through right now.

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So thank you for practicing with me.

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I hope you subscribe.

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I hope you feel a lot better.

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And maybe we will meet on the mat again very soon.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “15 Minute Neck & Shoulder Stretch - Gentle Therapeutic Yoga”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: arm, shoulder, elbow, mat, knee. This video has 160 sentences and 1996 words to shadow. The speech runs for 16:42. The speaker talks at a steady 120 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
bend verb	/bɛnd/	To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means.
elbow noun	/ˈɛlboʊ̯/	The joint between the upper arm and the forearm.
palm noun	/pɑm/	The inner and somewhat concave part of the human hand or other primate hand that extends from the wrist to the bases of the fingers.
inhale verb	/ɪnˈheɪl/	To draw air into the lungs, through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm.
straighten verb	/ˈstɹeɪtn̩/	To cause to become straight.
exhale verb	/ˌɛksˈheɪ̯l/	To expel air from the lungs through the nose or mouth by action of the diaphragm, to breathe out.
pose verb	/poʊz/	To place in an attitude or fixed position, for the sake of effect.
relax verb	/ɹɪˈlæks/	To make something loose.
spine noun	/spaɪn/	A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and…
overhead noun	/ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/	The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided.
chin noun	/ˈt͡ʃɪn/	The bottom of a face, (specifically) the typically jutting jawline below the mouth.
twist verb	/twɪst/	To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force.
breathe verb	/bɹiːð/	To draw air into (inhale), and expel air from (exhale), the lungs in order to extract oxygen and excrete waste gases.
cactus noun	/ˈkæktəs/	Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
tuck verb	/tʌk/	To pull or gather up (an item of fabric).

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
back up verb		To move backwards, especially for a vehicle to do so.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
back down verb		To take a less aggressive position in a conflict than one previously had, or has planned to have.
go through verb		To travel from one end of something to the other.
lift up verb		To elevate to a higher position.
look over verb		To check quickly; to make a brief or cursory visual inspection of.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
face down verb		To confront; to abash by stern looks.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We're only either laying down or seated.
Let's begin lying down on our backs.
Let's just do two more like this.
We'll find a side bend.
We'll go do the same thing the other side.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 52 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: breathe /bɹiːð/, thigh /θaɪ/, width /ˈwɪtθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, lengthen /ˈlɛŋθən/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, tension /ˈtɛnʃən/, windshield /wɪnˈʃiːld/, attraction /əˈtɹækʃn̩/
Long words — get the stress right: beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, therapeutic /ˌθɛɹ.əˈpjuː.tɪk/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like bend, elbow, palm.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: 15 Minute Neck & Shoulder Stretch - Gentle Therapeutic Yoga - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?