The
Difference Between Stretching And Release
Stretching!
I'm sure all kinds of nasty images and painful, frustrating
memories come up with the mere mention of the word. The truth
is that, as it has been taught and practiced, stretching is
painful, frustrating, and an unpleasant experience. As well
as all of that, stretching as commonly practiced, is counterproductive
to Flexibility.
Aggressive
stretching is a tease, and actually a threat, to the tissue
being addressed. It is painful and frustrating, with very
little (if any) reward of change, and unlikely to be pursued
with persistence.
Release is the vital concept and component capable of transforming
your body, your relationship with your body, and your relationship
with your movements and all of your activities.
What then is this Release? To begin with it is tied inextricably
with the Breath. It is through the mechanism of the Breath
that Release is able to occur.
As you stretch and come to the first level of resistance,
pause; take a nice slow, deep Breath, bringing the Breath
into the entire body with focus (and imagery), into the very
tissue where the pain of restriction is being felt. Aware
of the tension present in the whole body, begin your exhale,
be it controlled or somewhat forcibly, as your whole body
deflates like air escaping from a balloon and a softening
occurs throughout. If your stretch was not too extreme and
your Breathing appropriate, you will have successfully brought
about a Release and sunk or dropped into a deeper, more profound
stretch. Without forcing, without struggling and straining,
but simply by letting go-- by relaxing.
This Release will be felt as a wave of letting go spreading
through the myofascial fabric of your entire body and evidenced
by a deepening of the stretch, allowing a change in the articulation
of the bones of your skeleton.
Remember,
holding tension in any part of your body while trying to stretch
and Release another part of your body is counterproductive
and will waste your time and cause you needless stress. This
includes holding tension in your shoulders, your ribcage,
your head and neck, your feet or even something as subtle
as tension in your face as you grimace. If you are forced
to be grimacing or are tensing up other parts of your body
as you stretch, you are in too extreme of a stretch; BACK
OFF!
Release will occur far easier and more quickly if you go slowly,
taking your time proceeding through the layers of tension
one at a time. Keep in mind: the slower you go, the faster
you will reach your goal.
Understanding and practicing the concept of Release you gain
the power to change your body on the cellular (Fascial Web)
level as well as the skeletal level. Comprehending and practicing
properly the concept of Release you give yourself the abilities
of the best massage therapist, or the most skilled chiropractor,
to address and reorganize your musculature and your skeleton.
As you become adept, this practice will have positive repercussions
throughout your life, affecting your emotional self as well
as your physical body.
There is pain in your body. The stiffness and inflexibility
you experience in your body are merely symptoms of the reservoir
of pain in your tissues. Facing and owning the fear and pain
is necessary for Change to occur, and Change is the key to
Progress. The trick is to learning how to address it and dissolve
it without causing more trauma, adding insult to injury.
Learning
to differentiate between inflicting pain and uncovering pain
as you work on your flexibility is crucial. This is also true
for any modality of bodywork you may participate in. It does
you no good to hurt yourself or to have someone else hurt
you in the name of healing. Judge only by Results.
Your
goal is not to stretch your muscles in order to have long
muscles. Your goal is nothing less than changing the quality
of your tissue and the dynamics and mechanics of your skeleton.
It is possible, in fact probable, to stretch your muscles
or get wonderful bodywork (be it massage or chiropractic)
without changing the ways in which you use your skeleton to
move through your life. For the desired result it's imperative
that your habitual movement patterns are addressed and altered.
The concept of Release, as described above and if properly
put into practice and coupled with the movements of a systematic,
comprehensive skeletal range of motion flexibility routine,
not only assures a change in the myofascial tissue and the
skeletal system but also a change in the chronic and habitual
disorganized movement patterns which are responsible for the
pains and injuries which send us limping, hobbling, or crawling
to our healers of choice.
Read
my article about solutions for hip pain and low back pain.
Stretching
and releasing the muscles around your hip and back and other
parts of your body are important in addressing pain in those
areas.
You will learn about the proper tools and exercises to address
hip pain, back pain, knee pain, and any other body pain you
are experiencing.
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