Where to Stop a Stretch
Stretching is one of the most important parts of any exercise routine, and of course it’s the very heart of a good yoga practice. But taking it too far can shatter your mindset, throw you off balance, or even hurt you. But when you stay within your limits and keep it comfortable, you may even be able to fall asleep in some poses! Here’s how to keep it within your boundaries.
1. Know your pain levels.
Stretching, like most exercises, will hurt. In order to strengthen muscles, the body goes through a process of breaking and repairing muscle fibers as you push them to their capacity. But there is definitely a point past the normal “good burn” of a stretch where you risk hurting yourself. If there is an unusually sharp pain during a stretch, let off a little. It seems obvious, but there are many times when someone tries to just push through it and can’t. Enjoy that good burn, and back off if it starts to hurt.
2. Don’t be intimidated by those around you.
Looking at someone else, especially during an “all levels” yoga class, can be really intimidating. Some of those people look like they belong in the circus by the way they twist their bodies into unnatural-looking postures. Keep your own pace and your own level of flexibility. Like #1, this tactic will help prevent injury, but it will also help your mindset. If you’re focusing on someone else, giving them the “sideways eyes” to see just how much farther you think you could go, then you’re not focusing on you. When you lose that self-awareness, your ability to gain mentally and spiritually from any sort of stretch declines. It will no longer be a relaxing connection with your own body, but instead a stressful contest.
3. Stay comfortable when possible.
Stretching should be a totally
comfortable and enjoyable experience. If you’ve ever tried a Vinyasa Flow yoga class, you’ll know that one of the most feared-by-beginners stretches, the Downward-Facing Dog, is actually a resting pose. If you’re straining yourself here, you’ll never make it through an hour of “hard” poses. For other kinds of yoga, there are other resting stretches, and for many pre-workout routines, very few of the stretches should be really vigorous. So settle yourself into the stretch in a way that is right for you. If you can’t touch your toes, that’s fine. If you can’t get a leg in the air while bent over backwards, that’s fine too. If you can’t hold exactly this 90-degree angle or that half-twist, it’s still fine. I know I can’t do any of those things (yet!), but the best way to continue stretching is to let yourself keep reaching at your limit without pushing past it.
4. Keep breathing.
Some stretches will not be comfortable, no matter what, because they’re not designed to be. Many are a challenge to the limits of your body, but designed to allow you to breathe through the discomfort. If you ever find yourself in a stretch where breathing is a difficult task or has become painful, this is a sure sign you are taking it way too far. Breathing is a vital part of stretching – it keeps oxygen in your blood, for one – and losing it is sure to impede anything you try to do.
5. Don’t be competitive.
You don’t have to be in a crowd to feel the competitive urge that having a competent neighbor can give you. If you’ve seen tapes or been to many classes, you remember those pretzel people that we talked about in #2. I bring it up again in this context because it’s so easy to try and just imitate what they do – humans have a natural urge to mimic behavior. But you just can’t get your leg behind your head. If you feel yourself pushing against someone else mentally in the same way you would during a sports game, whether or not they’re present, stop. Ease off, then picture yourself in the ideal pose, and go as far as you can to imitate that. The desire to overextend yourself will be much more manageable this way.
(photo credit: Piez)
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