If I could pinpoint one cue that needs to retire for the rest of eternity it would be this one.

Raise your hand if you’ve been told by a yoga teacher to draw your shoulder blades down in a shape like Mountain Pose with the arms overhead or Warrior I?

I can only imagine anyone reading this is literally raising their hand or at least thinking about raising their hand.

Now, if you’re raising your hand as high as you can, is your shoulder blade naturally lifting upward toward your ear or naturally being pulled down toward your hip?

How about when you reach for your favorite seasoning on the top shelf of your kitchen cabinet. When you reach for the seasoning, is your shoulder blade lifting up or naturally being pulled down?

Yoga is special. But yoga is not so special that it constantly goes out of its way to move your body out of its naturally occurring movement patterns.

When your arms move into an overhead position for shapes like Mountain Pose, Warrior I, Handstand, and Wheel Pose, naturally your shoulder blades elevate and laterally rotate. That’s a fancy way of saying that they lift slightly upward and wrap a little bit forward on your rib cage.

So why did I say “Draw your shoulder blades down” and “Relax your shoulders away from your ears” for YEARS in shapes where the arms are overhead? Because I didn’t know any better.

So why does the cue even exist and why is it still mentioned in yoga classes? I have a few theories:

The People are Always Hunched Forward Theory

I once had a fellow yoga teacher get pretty spicy with me when we were having a conversation about shoulder mechanics. They said, “Everyone is always hunched over and their upper back is always rounded. It’s important to always draw the shoulder blades down to combat the rounding.”

Sure. It is important to help folks move in ways that don’t involve hunching forward. But why don’t we highlight shapes like Locust and Cobra as shapes to actually engage the upper back and draw the shoulder blades together? Notice, Locust and Cobra are not shapes where the arms are overhead.

The A Portion of the Shoulder Blade is Lowering Theory

Technically when the arms are moving into an overhead position there is a portion of the shoulder blade that is lowering. The outer border of the shoulder blade elevates and wraps forward on the ribcage while the inner border lowers slightly downward.

For me, this is pretty technical and detailed. Even though I love to get real nerdy about anatomy and movement, in your average drop-in yoga class it feels like too much to tell people to slightly lower the inner border of the shoulder blades when they lift their arms into Warrior I.

Perhaps the lowering of the shoulder blades stemmed from a bad game of telephone. One teacher said, “Lower the inner border of your shoulder blade” and it eventually turned into “Actively and aggressively draw your shoulder blades down and together.”. (Remember, folks, sarcasm does not read well in written form.)

Is it worthwhile to draw your shoulder blades down? YES!

But it’s best to be done in shapes where the arms are at shoulder-height or lower.

It is remarkable for me to stand in the back of a yoga room and see so many people lift their arms overhead and then instantly draw their shoulder blades down. This is a taught movement pattern. We just typcially don’t do it naturally without putting in some effort.

Before I wrap up a post that has made me feel extra fiery, I want to mention one more important thing. If you’re working with a physical therapist and they have told you to actively draw your shoulder blades down when your arms are overhead then PLEASE listen to them! I am just a yoga and movement teacher and your highly skilled PT is giving you advice that is specific to you and your ailment, injury, etc. The general population in a group yoga class, however, does not need to be told to pull their shoulder blades down when they’re reaching upward.