Feels So Good

Few things feel as delicious as a really good stretch.

While cats have figured this out and stretch instinctively at every opportunity, us humans are notorious for missing the boat when it comes to body awareness.

However, if you do allow yourself a brief stretch when you wake up or when you have been seated for a while you may notice two things:

- it feels really good
- we naturally contract our muscles while we stretch without even thinking about it

In fact it is this contraction coupled with a sense of release that relieves residual tension so effectively.

There are so many ways one can stretch. All have their place. My recommendation is that you experiment with your own body and learn what each method feels like and what effect it achieves for you.

Again, for safety, let me reitterate that:

- you should never stretch cold muscles
- you should always move with control

In very simplistic terms a muscle attaches to a bone, then crosses a joint, before attaching to another bone. When the muscle changes length, movement is created.

When we stretch we attempt to increase the distance between those two attachment points. The theory being that if we can permanently increase this distance, we will also increase the range of pain-free, natural motion around that joint.

The reality is that most of us are taught to use the ground, our body weight, or some fixed object to support our limb at its outer range of possible motion ... then we "force" it just a little bit further until it hurts ... and attempt to endure this for anywhere from 10 to 30 seconds. Ouch!!!

This method is crude and hardly conducive to permanent improvement in available range of movement. It also hurts and carries a degree of risk because the execution is generally fairly mindless.

Learning to stretch effectively is all about personal discovery and experimentation.

Here's three distinct concepts for you to try separately from one another:

- "active" stretching, where you use the strength of one group of muscles to lengthen the opposing muscle group, unaided by any external passive resistance
- "oppositional" stretching, where you consciously contract the same muscles you are lengthening against an external force opposing the movement
- "longer duration" stretching, where you slowly ease out towards the end of your available range, then quieten your mind as you release even further over a period of at least 5 minutes

To the uninitiated, all three of these concepts will appear fairly advanced. In reality, once you start trying them and gain a fuller understanding and appreciation of what they involve, you will begin your journey towards truly loving the time you spend stretching.

And you will learn that stretching can be as much about strengthening as about release and recalibration. With time you will also learn that stretching is as much mental as physical.

Enjoy!