Back at the start of my #WAWADIA bender, Jules of Jules Mitchell Yoga introduced herself to me with a provocative email: Im writing my Masters Thesis on the Biomechanics of Stretching and my argument is that the yoga community is dangerously obsessed with tissue distention. My research is building a case for the benefits of a controlled and appropriate tensile force but not on maximum distention. I am redefining how we should interpret the word stretch. And here she is in dialogue with Brooke Thomas, thesis submitted, and ready to blow open another yoga conversation. Muscles do not lengthen through stretching and loading. Range of motion increases through the intimate conversation between muscle fibres, connective tissue, and the nervous system. We dont become more flexible: we become more tolerant to expanded ranges of motion. It happens really slowly, There are many implications here, including the possibility that it may never be helpful to encourage anyone to express a deeper range of motion, unless you know how to mediate between their tissues and their nerves. Fantastic new horizon of svādhyāya right here, yogis of Facebook.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 15:15:52 +0000
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