It’s time to part ways with the pain in your neck.
(Photo: Andrew Clark; Design in Canva)
Published October 20, 2026 05:47AM
Calin Van Paris is a YJ editor and certified yoga instructor who works on her laptop all day long, making her no stranger to tech tension. Here, she discusses five yoga poses that help stretch and relax your neck.
There are around 30 individual muscles in your neck, each of which can be friend or foe depending on your habits. We talk a lot about tech neck here at YJ, mostly because it affects so many of us. Days spent tapping away on laptops and phones takes its toll, causing rounding in your spine (neck included), which can lead to stiffness and pain.
Building up an arsenal of neck stretches that allow you to release tension safely is one of the best ways to care for your head’s pedestal. Reducing your stress load is another. Research shows that there’s a causal link between stress and neck pain, and vice-versa. That means your stress can literally be a pain in the neck, and that tension is further wigging you out. The cycle must be stopped.
Adding simple movements, such as slow neck circles, to your routine can offer some quick and simple relief. And as it turns out, there are quite a few yoga poses that also happen to offer your neck a stretch, making your mat as good a place as any to do what you were probably already doing. Namely, letting it all go.
5 Yoga Poses That Double as Neck Stretches
In each of these poses—and in yoga in general—keeping your neck muscles relaxed is key. The goal is to relieve strain, not exacerbate it.
1. Revolved Head to Knee Pose
Stretching your side body is essential, and that includes your neck. Revolved Head-to-Knee offers a few different options for lengthening the sides of your neck. Taking your gaze upward stretches the front and side of your neck; looking straight ahead limits the stretch to the sides;and shifting your focus toward your knee or the floor provides some passive release to the back of your neck.
2. Cobra Pose
Lifting and lengthening your head, chest, and neck is one of the quickest ways to work against the collective human hunch. Pressing up into a Cobra Pose of any height encourages your neck to extend to its full potential, stretching your cervical flexors (the muscles responsible for stabilizing your neck and holding up your head).
To avoid hyperextending, keep your chin level to the ground or slightly dipped rather than lifting it toward the ceiling.
3. Camel Pose
All backbends require some level of trust and release, and Camel Pose is no exception. This neck stretch opens your anterior neck (aka the front of your neck) along with your throat chakra, helping you stress less and say more.
Avoid leading with your neck and head here. Instead, lift through your torso before gently bending back.
4. Bharadvaja’s Twist
Stop what you’re doing and look over your shoulder. Feels kind of amazing, right?
Bharadvaja’s Twist is a yoga pose that takes your gaze over your shoulder, gently lengthening one side of your neck while elongating your entire spine, cervical vertebrae included. Any sort of seated twist—Half Lord of the Fishes, for example—will have a similar effect.
5. Standing Forward Bend
There’s nothing quite like letting your head hang in Standing Forward Bend. Whether you choose to nod your head “yes,” shake your head “no,” or just allow everything to dangle, letting your head go heavy literally takes the weight and pressure off of your neck.
Stay here as long as you want while thanking the healing powers of gravity.
