Wrist and Hand Stretches Before Yoga or Working Out

Forrest Yoga wrist stretches to decompress the bones of the fingers, hands and wrists. These are a great warm up before yoga or other weight bearing activities or to ease stiffness and pain anytime.

There are 3 stages to Forrest Yoga wrist stretches. They can be done as a series as shown in the video or you can do any one of them on their own throughout the day.

Stage 1: This can be done standing, sitting (as shown) or even lying down, reaching your hand palm up towards the ceiling and pointing the fingers toward your toes.
Reach one arm out in front, slide shoulder down your back and spread your fingers apart. Wrap all 4 fingers of the opposite hand around one finger at a time, starting with the pinky and gently draw the finger and hand back, getting a stretch through the finger, palm and wrist. Repeat on both sides.

Stage 2: From a seated position, places hands in front of legs with fingers spread and pointing back towards you, palms facing the floor. Keep the chest lifted and shoulders down your back with a slight bend in the elbows. Stretch the wrist forward and down, feeling the stretch through your fingers, palm, wrist and forearm.

Stage 3: This can be done in either a standing or sitting (as shown) position. Arms lift up to shoulder height or slightly lower straight out from sides. Flex your hands (as if you were pushing two walls away from you) and spread your fingers. Roll fingers down to palm, one at a time. Wrap thumb around fingers into a fist and roll the fist down to the floor to stretch the back of the wrist.
For the second variation, reach your arms and hands out but with palms facing forward. Roll the thumb down into your palm first, wrap the fingers around and then roll pinky side of the hand down to the floor, feeling the stretch through the thumb and side of the wrist. This variation is especially good for any pain or stiffness caused by cell phone use or too much driving or computer time.