Less Is More.

Hello Be You Yoga people!

Can you believe it!? Coming up on the end of November! And the Northeast saw its first snow fall of the season! That was a quick taste of winter!! I know again I am sounding like a broken record but I can’t believe we are sliding into December!!! What!? When did THAT happen??
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I am back after a packed week of learning at Kripalu with the oh so talented and remarkable Lee Albert. My head is filled to the point of overflow with knowledge about Integrative Positional Therapy (IPT) and how to use it in my practice, my classes, as well as beyond. More to come on all that! It was all very exciting.

One of the overarching biggest takeaways from the trainings I did was that less is more. You may have heard me share with you before, we are the only creatures that stretch to the point of pain. Look at a cat or dog stretch and then look at a human stretch and see who you would like to mirror - personally, any time my dog Bean stretches it just looks so good and so delicious that I want to do it too. Think of a human stretching at a gym or next to you in class and they possibly have a grimace on their face or have stopped breathing. Bean never has a grimace. Stretch like a dog not a human! In a world in which we are always doing and being told to give more than 100%, to give it all you’ve got, it can be a challenge and seem so foreign to practice the less is more technique. The thing is, when we stretch deeper we’re not getting any better of a stretch. Let me repeat that - a deeper stretch is not a better stretch. On the contrary (and this may be hard to believe) you are doing your body more harm when you stretch deeply or go to your limit because the muscle will only bounce back tighter with its stretch reflex. Gentle stretching has a gentle stretch reflex after, deep stretching has a deep stretching reflex after. Keep it gentle, keep it feeling good. This may sounds simple but it was a big lesson to learn and to continue to remember! Let go of the belief of “it hurts so good” when it comes to your stretching. Treat your body like it’s your friend! Would you slam your friend into some painful stretch? No! Your body is your friend and around for as long as you are, treat is gently and kindly! When it doubt, back off :)

Wishing you all the best,
Julia

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