When you think of flexibility what comes to mind?
Is it someone from Cirque du Soleil doing some amazing feat?
Is if a gymnasts doing the splits?
Flexibility is so much more than the poses or asanas we see people do. It is about learning flexibility through body awareness and mental states. Seams simple and it is but, it isn’t so easy to implement in our life as it sounds.
Physical flexibly generally is easy for some poses and harder for others. If you are extremely flexible and asanas are easy to do, it generally it is a sign that you would befit by becoming more aware of the stability and strength within the pose that seams easy and if you are finding flexibly takes a lot more work in an asana, you generally could use more relaxation within the pose. What is interesting is the solution is essentially the same. When in an asana notice the muscles and tendons responding to each other as you ease into the pose. Feel the strength and support within your body. Stop when you feel a sense of harmony between easing into and finding supportive strength. That is your right place to hold the asana.
Becoming more aware of our body and the changes taking place in it while we practice is another helpful tool to generate flexibility. As we move in and out of asanas, we generally notice the body movement but many times we flow through the motion without really connecting into the muscle movement taking place. Allowing ourselves to really go into the body and notice how the muscles adjust, how one kicks off another and how our body responds to the movement will allow us an internal feeling of the flexibility of our bodies. It is through this deeper awareness of the muscles that we are encouraging the body through a mental state to improve the communication between the muscles and tendons. When we adjust into an asana and notice as the muscles react a certain way it feels better, the body will remember it because the mind said to the body that it feels better that way and it will attempt to duplicate it. That is why when I work with you one on one I frequently ask as I adjust you “How does that feel?” I’m encouraging you to do the mental connection. You can also do this yourself if you start to practice this body awareness in your yoga practice.
Another form of flexibility within the body is by the use of softening and relaxing. Take the time to scan your body and see are you holding on to or adding stress where it isn’t needed? Can you add flexibility by releasing and letting go? So often we cramp our toes or do a kink in our wrists when all that does is create more internal yet subtle stress in the body. Taking a mental awareness scan of our body and then gently releasing we are allowing ourselves the flexibility to relax mentally first so our body can respond in kind.
Mentally we all gain flexibility through our physical yoga practice but we also do so through the initial mediation and ending savasana. It is here that we use the various techniques of mediation to add flexibility of mind. To let go and to just be in the moment without thinking in the past or the future. We allow the nervous system to recalibrate and it allows us mental flexibility to make our way back to a place of harmony.
Taking the time to bring more awareness to flexibility in our physical yoga practice, off our mats and into our daily activities will allow us a deeper connection to our own flexibility. Noticing those opportunities to become more flexible is important to mastering flexibility. Make a commitment today to starting making flexibility a daily activity in your life.