It feels great to stretch. Most of us forget both how good it really feels and that we should do it more often. How odd that something so pleasurable (which for that reason alone should appeal to a sensory hedonist like me!) should continually slip my mind. And here are even more reasons to stretch frequently: Yoga requires no equipment, no specific location, no time frame, no advance preparation. Yoga takes you wherever and however you are, and shows you where you're tight, blocked, hurt. Yoga takes you out of your mind and back into your body; it tells you how you are. While you're stretching it finds your compromises, your pain, your rigidity, your resistance. As it shows you these things with grace, you can make the choice to meet them and push through them, or not.
It's difficult to hold a negative thought or emotion when you're stretching. It's as if your body is releasing negativity and unbinding your mind as you release the physical tension. Of course the two are related: Stress is negative emotion trapped in your physical form.
The NYTimes recently came out with an article warning those who are warming up before physical activity NOT to do static stretches, but instead run a bit to warm up, then actively stretch and lunge and kick and extend, all the while continuing to move. Static stretching, it turns out, is better for relaxing and post-exercise, but can actually have the opposite effect for those gearing up for strenuous activity.
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