Thursday, September 5, 2013

BLOGTEMBER Day Three: Advisensational!

Thursday, September 5: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

Stretch Every Day!

See, even the animal kingdom knows this to be true:
  

I had a yoga instructor once say "every day you wake up and your body is a little tighter, a little stiffer... unless you move it." Think about how many elderly people walk very stiffly, needing to take small steps and shuffle instead of walk, cause their bodies have tightened all the way up. Through stretching, you allow your body to release lactic acid from over-used, tired, or stiff muscles, and it actually elongates your muscles, there's a reason dancers have such long, lean bodies (besides the obvious potential eating disorder thing)

Her advice stuck with me and I noticed how much less tension I held in my body on days after I made sure to stretch.  

If you have a desk job, think about how often you are sitting down and the tightness in your hips that results, well, sitting cross legged on the floor before bed and melting your upper body down towards the floor is a great way to stretch your hips out. Also a lunge-based stretch is great too.
No, you don't have to even get CLOSE to this, but it can be something to aspire to
You don't even have to be a yogini like Tara Stiles or even like yoga, but but if you simply find a few stretches you like to do before bed for your back, legs, hips, and shoulders can make you feel limber and ready to face tomorrow.

Also, be sure to stretch your mind, capacity for kindness, and your funny bone everyday! I have a feeling the metaphysical mirrors the physical so if you don't want your mind, heart or humor to tighten and shrink in capacity

Here's some help on the humor front (also keeping with the animal kingdom theme):
Ylvis: The Fox



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great advice indeed and advice I need to take. I used to be a physical training leader a while back and always had everybody stretch before and after (though we warmed up before the first stretch because you shouldn't stretch cold muscles). And yet, I lost that habit. So thanks for the reminder!

Unknown said...

hahahaha the fox!

Joni said...

Love this! Simple movement and stretching really does make a difference. I'll definitely be incorporating this is into my life.