Supine trap stretch & cervical vertebra

this stretch is pretty famous one in yoga.

I 've done many times but never touched the floor  even with straight legs.

When I do this, my legs are afloat and my so much of weights are distributed on cervical vertebra.

It hurts and uncomfortable. I do feel some stretch in traps but am afraid of hurting my bone.

Is it normal to have pressure on cervical vertebra? or I'm doing it wrong? 

I feel like my chin is jamming into my neck and it makes it difficult to breath,i wonder if i need more flexibility in my back and my neck is hyper flexible. Does this sound similar to you?

Some of the methods we used in yoga to help this are

1) Set it up with a blanket under your shoulders; here is plow pose set up with blankets, This will take the pressure off your neck and throat.

2) Rest your knees on a block

Also with the throat pressure, you will bring your chest to the chin, and as the pressure on the neck increases, you can try breathing from the throat. The trick is figuring out how to change your breathing, then it becomes comfortable. 

I also suggest to strongly depress the scapulas so that the point of origin and insertion on lower and medium traps are as far away as possible.

JaredL said:

I feel like my chin is jamming into my neck and it makes it difficult to breath,i wonder if i need more flexibility in my back and my neck is hyper flexible. Does this sound similar to you?

yeah I had that problem too. when I tried to touch the floor with my feet I bent further and that made me difficult to breathe.

Cole Dano said:

Some of the methods we used in yoga to help this are

 

1) Set it up with a blanket under your shoulders; here is plow pose set up with blankets, This will take the pressure off your neck and throat.

 

 

2) Rest your knees on a block

 

Also with the throat pressure, you will bring your chest to the chin, and as the pressure on the neck increases, you can try breathing from the throat. The trick is figuring out how to change your breathing, then it become comfortable. 

So pressure and pain in cervical vertebra is pretty normal. 

Putting some folds of blanket would certainly decrease pain but will this pain would go away as I get better at this stretch?

or I have problematic anatomical structure so I will suffer from this forever no matter how much I master this stretch?

also I need some clarification about throat breathing.

you are suggesting to breath with throat, because chest is not able to expand when inhaling in chin-close position, right?

but how can I breathe with throat? Do I just need to think like that and that just happens? 

Alessandro Mainente said:

I also suggest to strongly depress the scapulas so that the point of origin and insertion on lower and medium traps are as far away as possible.

oh, this advice is the one I've never heard of.

but would you clarify your comment? I don't  get it right now.

what is the point of origin and insertion?

and as far away from what? 

Whenever I do this stretch it reminds me of my days at BJJ and being in the position with someone on too of you. A little hard to breathe.

Hanlim Lee said:

 

So pressure and pain in cervical vertebra is pretty normal. 

 

Putting some folds of blanket would certainly decrease pain but will this pain would go away as I get better at this stretch?

 

or I have problematic anatomical structure so I will suffer from this forever no matter how much I master this stretch?

 

 

also I need some clarification about throat breathing.

 

you are suggesting to breath with throat, because chest is not able to expand when inhaling in chin-close position, right?

 

but how can I breathe with throat? Do I just need to think like that and that just happens? 

oh, this advice is the one I've never heard of.

Pain is never good in stretching, being uncomfortable is ok, but pain particularly in the neck is to be completely avoided. Generally as you get more mobility in this position it will be nicer to be in. In yoga, it's used in restorative sequences. But we also prop people up like in the picture if they have limited neck mobility.

On breathing through the throat. It's easy to do, but hard to put into words. Maybe this will help, breathe in such a way that instead of making noise at your nostrils it makes noise in your throat.

Cole Dano said:

 

On breathing through the throat. It's easy to do, but hard to put into words. Maybe this will help, breathe in such a way that instead of making noise at your nostrils it makes noise in your throat.

So, it's like breathing the way Batman talks.

Thank you for your clarification in this matter.

What kind of adaptation will occur over time here? Will improved hip/hamstring flexibility get the knees to the floor or does this have to do with tightness in the back? judging by the picture the back looks pretty straight. 

That picture is just to show how you can use a blanket to take stress off the cervical vertebrae,

You'd bend the knees and round the back to do the stretch from the course.

It's a trap and back stretch,

Mark Collins said:

Whenever I do this stretch it reminds me of my days at BJJ and being in the position with someone on too of you. A little hard to breathe.

what is BJJ? there are too many abbreviations that I'm not used to. 

Brazillian Ju Jitsu. It's a martial art known for its ground fighting and submission holds.