Yes, it’s true. My random thoughts of the day are about stretching and range of motion!! Yippee!! How cute is this lil’ guy???????
I do have a point besides posting this adorable dog photo, I swear!! Stay for a minute and check it out. I do love perspective shifts and this is one of them things!!! 😁
OKAY, so let’s begin with: What’s the big deal with stretching??
I know that the majority of us know on some level that stretching is a good thing. I ALSO know that many of us just don’t do it!If there is tension in our bodies or someone happens to mention stretching or Yoga, we may find ourselves saying “yeah, I SHOULD really stretch more…” or something along those lines, right?!?!?! Yet it doesn’t often land at the top of the priority list, you know?
Maybe we don’t know exactly what to do or how to stretch. Maybe we feel like we are too tight and therefore incapable of stretching our bodies because of this tightness. So we just DON’T.
SIDE STORY: I hear these things often from people who refuse to try Yoga – – I hear things like “oh, I’m not flexible” or “My body can’t fold like a pretzel” or “If I tried to bend that way, I would be permanently stuck there.” And so on. All I will say on this topic is that all bodies, and especially our minds, love Yoga WHEN IT IS GIVEN A CHANCE. Why? Because Yoga is a tool for learning about our body, staying present, and becoming our best and most aware selves. Flexibility is not a prerequisite and folding ourselves into contortion poses is not the end goal, I promise!!!!
🤙🏼_____> > Pinky Swear! 😃
Yet, maybe it seems like it’s a big ol’ waste of time to do!! Like, talk about being bored, especially when we’re so used to constantly running around or at least just feeling like there are “better things to do than stopping and stretching.” And if tightness is present and we do choose to stretch or use a foam roller, it’s not actually the most pleasant feeling in the world. AKA: It can be really sucky while we’re doing it!!! I totally get it.
But, stay with me.
For a second, let’s examine how we traditionally view the word “stretching.” Usually, we think of it as lengthening one individual muscle. “THIS one is for the hamstrings” and “THIS one is for the quadriceps” and “THIS one is for the shoulders….”
Yet, now is the time when it’s useful to remember this classic song:
🎶🎵The foot bone’s connected to the…leg bone! The leg bone’s connected to the…knee bone! The knee bone’s connected to the… thigh bone! Doin’ the Skeleton Dance!! (EVERYBODY NOW!!) The thigh bone’s connected to the…hip bone. The hip bone’s connected to the…backbone! The backbone’s connected to the…neck bone……🎵🎶
DOIN’ THE SKELETON DANCE!! 💀💃🏼
😁😆👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Don’t let it fool you, though, Elvis actually does not get ANY credit for creating this particular song!! That I know of, anyways….. 🧐🤔😜
Okay, so how does the skeleton actually dance????? By the muscles that attach to the bones, right? Without the muscles, our skeleton would just crumple to the ground, thanks to gravity. Yet it’s because of our muscles, that pull on the bones and work together to counter the forces of gravity, that creates any and all minuscule or explosive movements that we do. And the muscles do this 24/7, usually without us even realizing that it’s happening. (Pssst……UNLESS our body is out of alignment, in which the forces of gravity start winning this fight and THEN we start to notice it with pain and less range of motion and the ability to move….but I shall leave that particular tangent for another day!)
In any case, if all the bones are connected like a chain, then it would make sense that all muscles have to be connected like a chain, too. Wouldn’t you agree? OF COURSE you do because you and I both know that the body is one unit and so everything has to work together in order for our bodies to function at our best!!!!! GO US!!! 🙌🏼
So then, wouldn’t it make sense that a “hamstring stretch” or a “quad stretch” would effect the calves and lower leg muscles AS WELL AS shift muscles in the hips and pelvis…which then might release some muscles in the low back….and so on, up the chain of the body we go?!?!?! OR that a “shoulder stretch” or a “neck stretch” would have a cascading effect down the length of the body the same way and even upwards, affecting the head and perhaps the muscles of the face, too? Since it’s all connected…..
😮😮😮😮😮 RIGHT?!?!?! Doesn’t that just change the perspective a bit when you think of stretching? I mean, this may not be an immediate occurrence, especially if we’re not so consistent or if we might try stretching and moving only once or twice per week/month, when and if we actually think about it. 🤔 However, this DOES mean that attention paid to the ankle joints could have amazing effects on the hips (and vice-versa) and that shoulder stretching and mobility could alleviate lower back pain symptoms, (and vice-versa), for example…and so on!!!!
Cool, right?!?!?! I mean, this guy knows what’s up:
And of course we all want to move well and stay mobile and functional!! By paying more attention to our bodies and staying dedicated to stretching and just moving more, we can reduce tightness, pain, and limitations in our movement and prevent that stuff from really infringing upon our daily life.
I think Pete Egoscue, the creator of the Egoscue Method and this postural alignment therapy, said it best: “Health is not the absence of pain, it’s the absence of limitation.”
How true is that?!!!!!!!! When we have limitations in movement and function, then that often starts to run our life. We start avoiding THIS and refraining from doing THAT and the enjoyment in our lives ends up taking a big hit. And a limitation in our movement often results in compensation and therefore pain elsewhere in the body, which has detrimental effects on mind, body, and spirit. So, I agree with Pete Egoscue that the limitation comes first and if we were to work on freeing up that limitation, and thereby diminishing pain, this may result in bringing back our health and our happiness to move more!!
One more thing. Here’s something to keep in mind: the entire body requires motion to survive. If we start to limit our activity, our cells do not regenerate as quickly, which means that less oxygen is getting to the cells and they start to die. The body and especially the brain, whose sole purpose in life is to keep us alive, does not like it when this happens and so it starts to generate pain to alert us that something in the body needs attention. However, if we’re in pain, what do we tend to do? STOP MOVING even more because “we want to give our bodies the chance to heal and we don’t want to move and hurt ourselves even more….”
But if our pain is initially being caused by motion starvation and not moving enough????? Well, then cutting off even more motion and activity will only serve to exacerbate the pain symptoms and make us feel even worse. And around and around we go, feeling pain because we’re not moving enough and continually reducing activity because we’re in pain.
Now, THAT is one vicious cycle.
^^^^ From the brilliance of Dr. Perry Nickelston!!!!!!!! Who is also known to say “think bigger, think better, think systems,” which I LOVE. Get this: The body works together – – every single cell, every single body part, every single piece of us. If there is something in our body that is unhappy, no matter what it is, it is affecting the entirety of our body in ways that we may not even be aware of or feel. It’s because our bodies cannot isolate one body part or one organ or one system – – they are meant to work together and they do ALWAYS work together, either in a functional way or in a potentially disastrous way.
Yup, yup, our bodies are definitely magnificent, complex, highly-intricate and woven-together machines!!!!!!!!! It’s super important to never forget this fact.
So, THERE!!!! Stretching, moving our joints, and improving our range of motion is crucial for happy bodies and therefore happy beings: you and me!!!
Not so boring anymore, is it?????? 🙃😁
^^ So, this is an ad for BHP (a Metals and Mining company in Australia) that I found at the Chicago Midway airport last year. I loved it because first, it made me think of a special someone that literally bends steel, so he totally can do this (Two Ton!! 😊)!! And also, to me, it made me think of the importance of removing tunnel vision, taking in the big picture (by being a “big thinker”), and realizing that possibilities are endless when you have this expansive mentality!! Like, bending steel with the mind!!
AND SO, here’s to keeping an open mind specifically with regards to our own bodies, our own capabilities, and to all of the possibilities that are still waiting for us to realize and pursue!!!! AND to the whole stretching-and-moving-more thing. 🤓
🍺🧃🍷🥃🥂CHEERS TO THAT!!!!!🍸🍹🥛🍾🍻