This “Angel Wing Stretch” technique is a way to use the wall to open up your triceps and lats. I’ve had the privilege of working with people in their 70s and 80s in large rooms for many years and when I look around the room, if I have people raise their arm, very few people can get their arm right up against their ear with a straight elbow.

It seems simple, but if you don’t do that for 10 years or 15 years or 20 years, next time you try, you’ll probably get stuck somewhere about right here. So we’re going to make sure that we can reclaim that range of motion.

In the yoga practice, we often do downward dog pose and handstands where we’re weight -bearing in that position. So those things are certainly useful and this is helpful to help release the pressure from back here.

So you’re going to go sideways on the wall, place your hand on the wall, and walk your fingers up the wall. Practice keeping your shoulder blade going down your back as opposed to letting it go up like this.

So you’re consciously keeping the scapula down as the arm goes up. You might get to about right here and then move your arm in a little more by leaning your body. Notice that the body is not on the wall, but the tricep is.

So I call this the belly of the tricep. We want the arm slightly behind the head if possible. If you find yourself like this in the beginning, just do the best you can and over time that range will come.

Lean into it to wherever it feels good to you. Take your other arm and let it relax by your side and it’s going to be waiting for you in just a moment. Take your top arm and bend your elbow, patting yourself on the back, and then high -five the wall with your fingers spreading.

Put a lot of energy into your hand as that will help the tissue to stretch. Focus on your breathing. If you want to practice finding your hand, it’s there for you each time. And you can practice going in and out of that range.

Focus on your breathing. and move slow. When you’re ready to come down, walk yourself out slowly and pause with your hand below your shoulder and a significant bend in your elbow. Stand sideways so you’re truly side facing the wall, lift your chin, squeeze your shoulders back and do a nice set of gentle one -arm push -ups.

Concentrate on your breathing and make sure your shoulder isn’t rounding forward. In fact, if you can see it, it is forward. So bring it up, back and down. Over -emphasize lifting your chest as you do these one -arm push -ups.

This is going to get a little more heat into the shoulder joint. Then walk out until your arm is straight. Look at your hand. Turn your fingers backwards so your thumb is up and your fingers are pointing back.

Then begin to move your toes away from the wall, turning your chest and pelvis. There’s no magic position, so you might find a great stretch right here. where someone else might be turned a lot more.

So figure out what’s right for you. You want to feel opening in the pecs. Take your other hand to the side and to the back of your head. Take a deep refreshing breath and on your exhale, pull your head away from your arm.

Concentrate on your breathing as you lower your chin down on an exhale and up on an inhale. Moving slowly and gently, creating space between the vertebrae and stretching the muscles on the side of your neck.

Last but not least, come up onto your fingertips and twirl in, touching your shoulder to your hands and then twirl out and really turn your chest and shoulders. Take your time on the first few and once you get the hang of it, put a little oomph into it, really rotating your chest and body away.

All of this is aiding you in this range, which we just don’t do this very often. We spend so much time like this that we need as much of this as possible to maintain our best alignment.