Why do we need to stretch, why is flexibility important?

 The physical aspect of yoga should give us a sense of lightness in the body.  We need flexibility for efficient movement and to prevent or minimise injury. Flexibility allows the tissue to more easily dissipate shock impact and accommodate stress, and is a vital component to general health and physical fitness. As yogis we are all familiar with static stretching where we take a stretch to it’s farthest point and hold for an extended period. In fact many yoga stretches are active stretches where the agonist muscles are employed to stretch the antagonist muscles e.g. the extensors of the back engaging to release the abs and pecs (via reciprocal inhibition) in wheel pose. In yoga we also use passive stretches where there is no effort involved and props are used, this could be the floor in janu-sirsasana or bolsters or other props in a restorative pose. During my workshop @triyoga Chelsea on Friday we’ll also look at PNF stretching and how we can use this in our practice. Click here to book online.

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