10) How
is Flextasy™ different from yoga?
I
stretch already so why do I need Flextasy™?
What’s
so special about the Flextasy™ Flexibility exercise routine?
Flextasy™
combines many unique types of movements, based on some rather
uncommon ideas and concepts, which over time I have discovered
are absolutely crucial in the quest for flexibility.
a. First and foremost, the Flextasy™ movements are circular
and flowing rather than static and linear. This alone sets
it apart from conventional stretching and traditional yoga
methods. It is dynamic in nature yet performed with no force
or strain. Simply stretching, as practiced by most, is ineffective
and incomplete; and too many yoga modalities are militaristic.
Remember, you cannot force flexibility into
the body. You must soften and relax flexibility into the body.
If force and torment worked, then the medieval
torture rack could be used to stretch the body into looseness.
You do not want to go that way. The attitude that the body
is something to fight with must be dropped. If you fight with
yourself, you will always lose. Working on your flexibility
needs to be a way to undo all of the armoring and aggression
heaped upon the body over the years in the name of exercise,
dieting, fashion, stretching, and "no-pain, no-gain"
approaches toward flexibility. We need to let go of the violent
ways we relate to the body and learn to dissolve the pain
we have accumulated. You need to make friends with your body.
Through the practice of Flextasy™, this goal is achieved.
b. Flextasy™ uses the movement of the
skeleton to massage, flush out, and fluff up all of the muscles,
tendons, ligaments, and most importantly the cartilage in
and around the joints. Working with the body this way is so much more effective than trying to stretch tissue which is
dense and dehydrated like beef jerky. You can not stretch
that stuff! It is this which cements the skeleton together
and it is this which must be addressed by gentle, exploratory
movements: Flextasy™.
Unlike most yoga, which is linear in it’s
execution, Flextasy™ is more like a dance, containing
circular, fluid movements. Yoga primarily stretches ligaments
and tendons to achieve the extreme contortions which make
up the majority of the poses, while the movements of Flextasy™
flush out and fluff up the gristly soft tissue (especially
the cartilage) in around the joints.
From my many years of experience working
with yoga students and yoga teachers, I have learned
that even though one can stretch tendons and ligaments enough
to perform outrageous contortions such as crossing their ankles
behind their head or doing back-bend walkovers, what is invariably
missing is the ability of the skeleton to perform the smooth,
fluid, circular ranges of motion which comprise Flextasy™.
These crucial movements are the missing link to static, linear
flexibility work. Unlike most all traditional yoga poses,
which are abstract contortions, Flextasy™
produces functional flexibility.
c. Flextasy™ delivers functional flexibility, which is free
and easy range of motion through all the joints and hinges
of the body. Again, simply being able to contort the
body is not the deepest (or most functional) level of flexibility.
Having a sense of your skeleton floating freely inside, is.
d. One chart I’ve seen shows 908 yoga
poses. You could practice for years and never make it through
that kind of routine. Flextasy™ is made up of just over
50 movements, variations on a few basic, easily grasped themes.
There are infinite numbers of possible ways to move the body
but if you can master the few movements which comprise Flextasy™
you will be in a small percentage of our society who can easily
perform this routine and I promise you that you will be very
pleased with the level of flexibility you have achieved.
e. Most yoga classes
operate in a series format, meaning that for a week it’s
forward bending, for another week it’s hip openers, the
next week it’s backbends,etc... until in a month or two
the whole body has been addressed. This piecemeal approach
of working on flexibility is confusing to the body. There
is a feeling that something is missing when many of the joints
and hinges of the skeleton are ignored from one day, or one
week, to the next. Imagine what it would feel like getting
a piecemeal massage in this manner compared to the experience
of having a massage where the entire body is addressed.
The Flextasy™ routine is "bite-size",
yet it is comprehensive, in that all the basic skeletal parts
are addressed. You will learn the routine in a one hour class
DVD which can then actually be performed in half an hour by
following the 2nd DVD.
As there are literally infinite variations
of ways you can work with the body, Flextasy™ doesn’t
claim to be the "be all-end all" of movement. What
it is, though, is a systematic, logical, commonsense methodology
which will work for you if you work with it.
This flexibility routine will change your life if you let
it. With patience and persistence you can transform your body
and you can manifest a new you. Not by struggling and straining...I’m
sure you have enough of that in your life already.
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