Protect Your Shoulders In Inversions

Start to understand, lengthen, and strengthen your teres major— a little-known muscle that can make or break healthy shoulders when you go upside down.

- Tom Myers

IN EVERY INVERSION, from Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward- Facing Dog Pose) to Salamba Sirsasana (Supported Headstand), you are basically asking your arms and shoulders to act like legs. But there’s a difference: Your legs are well-designed for pushing, resisting gravity, and constantly bearing the weight of your body as it navigates through all types of terrain. Your shoulders, in contrast, are built for pulling and hanging. All the objects that are dear to us—tools, food, loved ones—are held by our hands and carried by our hearts through our shoulders.