Session 5: Flexibility
OVERVIEW
1) Hidden relationships between different elements of the neuro-muscular system are brought to light and directly experienced.
2) By narrowing your gaze to tension and then expanding your perspective, you productively increase the flexibility of mind and body by dynamically engaging with the trauma.
3) The toolset of active visualization is made available and then applied to supercharge this process.
SESSION 5, PART 1
Working with the Neuro-Muscular System
+ Introduction
We come from nature. We are nothing without it. We don’t come into this world, we come out of it, like leaves from a tree.
When we push ourselves beyond the boundaries of our capabilities and rushing around like ants in a hive, the subtle can be easily forgotten about in favor of the dynamic, the natural, baseline, primal state of who and what we are, what we’re made of.
The myriad facets of the bodymind are all around us, but generally go unremarked. Our neuromuscular system is composed of countless invisible little variations.
That being said, there are a few major categories of connective tissue. The one we’re most interested in here is fascial tissue.
When you stretch, what is being stretched is the fascial tissue, a spiderweb network of tissue that spreads throughout the muscles, tendons, etc.
People usually think they stretch their muscles, but muscle fibers can only contract, or tear.
Tendons and ligaments only connect muscle and bone; it’s the fascial tissue that you are working with, here.
You might be asking yourself, ‘how do I know when I’m stretching my fascia, and not straining my muscles?’
You can tell very easily when your awareness is in proper alignment with your body.
When you stretch your fascia, you will feel a more globalized, tingling feeling that stretches across individual muscles. When you feel that, that means you are stretching your fascia.
When you feel tightness localized to a small part of your muscular system, that means it’s something else in play.
The question then becomes, ‘How do I stretch my fascia, and not strain a muscle/tendon/etc. then?’
Some things need to be intuited, and can’t be readily described with a series of bullet points.
The core of it is that usually, where the pain is is not where the problem is.
It’s easiest to explain with an example:
When you do a forward bend, you might find that the backs of your knees are tight, or your hamstrings. If that’s the case, the issue is not with the backs of your legs.
Fascial tissue runs all up your body. Because we walk around in shoes all the time, the fascial tissue in our feet is usually very tight.
This tension is transmitted up to the calves, and increases the tension of the entire muscular system.
So the real answer to ‘how to increase flexibility’ is something that you can figure out on your own, simply by noticing where the tightness is, and expanding your perspective from that point.
Allow the sensation of stretching to spread from that small center, and you will find, often in the most surprising locations, the source of it all.
SESSION 5, PART 2
Asana Sequence: Dynamic Stretches
Find an open location with clean airflow, free from bugs and dust, and set aside the next ten minutes or so to really let this lesson settle in. Remember: listen to your body and open your awareness. Guide your movements with your breath, and have fun.
+ The Sequence
Namaste!
The theme of this class is acceptance. Acceptance has a kind of bad rap in the “do or die” mindset. If you just accept things as they are, how can they be any different? But if you can’t accept things as they are, how can things ever be different? It’s important to notice the good with the bad, and that after all, they happen together.
So this class is about flexibility. The flexibility of mind that comes from truly accepting things as they are, and the flexibility of the body that you’ve been working with all this time.
Today we’re going to start in Palm Tree Pose, Tadasana – standing up. And again, remember to watch this sequence first, and then execute, I’ll be covering some details that you might not want to miss.
- Ujjayi breathing
- Tadasana (Palm Tree Pose)
- Uttanasana (Forward fold)
- Cettakasana (Horse Pose, Right leg back)
Acceptance is simple acknowledgement. It’s not something that you do. As soon as something appears, it is already allowed to be what it is. Acceptance has nothing to do with me. It simply is. It doesn’t need your permission, your resistance, or your approval.
- Marjari Asana (cat Pose)
- Dandasana (High plank)
- Parvatasana (Mountain pose/Downward Dog)
- Marjariasana (Cat Pose/Tabletop)
- Cettakasana (Horse Pose, Right leg forward)
Whether or not you feel accepting of what is is already accepted, as part of reality. Whether you accept it or not doesn’t change a damn thing. Trying to accept what is is like trying to arrive in time for an appointment you’re already 20 minutes late for. So cut yourself some slack. Give yourself permission to relax and recognize that everything is already allowed.
- Uttanasana (Forward fold)
- Tadasana (Palm Tree Pose)
- Sukhasana (Seated pose)
- Dandasana (Seated Staff Pose, Legs out)
- Parivrtta Vakrasana (Seated Twist Pose, Right & Left)
- Pascimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend)
SESSION 5, PART 3
Using the Power of Visualization to Improve Recovery Time
+ Introduction
Congratulations! For many of you, this is a major milestone. Don’t worry if you can’t do all of the movements perfectly. The goal of the practice is to let the pose fit your body, not to force your body into the pose. Take your time before moving on to the next lesson. Re-read the descriptions and re-watch the videos at least once, and make sure you can:
- Hold the postures without holding your breath
- Continue a steady pace of smooth breath when transitioning between postures
Generally, this should take you about two to seven days, at twenty minutes a day, to really tune into the nature of your injury. When I say ‘tune in’ I literally mean just that. Close your eyes and do the postures, and allow your awareness to rest for a moment or two on the sensations that you feel, especially if you start to approach the limits of your comfort. Pain is a signal, nothing more. It means nothing bad on its own. Only you have the power to make it matter, which means you have the power to take it away, too.
+ Homework
Do this routine and watch the video at least one more time before moving on to the next lesson.
I usually recommend at least 2 days of working with these, before trying anything else, although a week might be more up your alley.
Use this time to really understand what you are capable of, to find the limits of your expression as you currently are.
Remember, just because you are a certain way right now does not mean you will be that way tomorrow.
In fact, that’s an impossibility! We only think that’s the case because we think that change is hard, and that it takes a long time. Nothing is further from the truth.
The only thing keeping us from everything we want right now is ourselves and our ability to see what it is we want with enough clarity and devotion to make it be.
So just because you might not be able to do one of these poses 100% perfectly, with no problems whatsoever, right now, means nothing bad; it means that you know where you are.
And that’s the most important part of the whole thing!
That’s a good thing!
If you don’t know where you are, how can you ever get anywhere else?
You’ll just be running around in circles, hoping things will get better.
If you like, you can tie this sequence in with the previous, which would be great to really deepen your experience with and awareness of your body.
Continue to observe your bodily sensations and any boundaries or limits that you have discovered.
By this time, you should be able to narrow down your awareness into your location of interest (or anywhere else in your body, for that matter), and if you don’t feel that you ‘get it’ quite yet, don’t worry: it will come, it’s guaranteed.
It’s how the human body/mind works, it’s the same with everyone I’ve ever worked with.
Before moving on to the next session, session 6, make sure you can do this sequence effortlessly. That doesn’t mean picture perfect – it means you understand the limits of your own body, and that you can continue to move with respect to your body into the pose, you can hold your body’s position in the pose without struggle or strain, and you can transition out of the pose, without gasping for breath or catching yourself with pain.
This might take some time, perhaps even a week, maybe even two, but you’ll get it down. I believe in you, and you believe in yourself, or you wouldn’t be here. Make sure you get this down before Session 6. In the meantime, remember to watch this video at least once more to really let this settle in. The next lesson in this series is interlude II, where you learn some simple yet potent visualization practices to accelerate your healing, so be sure to give that a watch, too, before starting Session 6.