Gravity Yoga Video Series – Double Your Flexibility

My “Stiff Office Guy” Story

I bear in mind going to a crowded social gathering in New York Metropolis in 2002. There have been no chairs left so my buddy steered we sit on the ground—and why not? Sitting on the ground is a wonderfully regular human factor to do, besides that, like most individuals, I had not sat on the ground since elementary faculty.

That is the place it bought ridiculous.

The woman I used to be with was an avid yoga scholar, so she flipped one leg on prime of the opposite sitting in Lotus place as if it have been the simplest factor on the earth. However me? My hips have been so tight, I couldn’t sit on the bottom with out my knees bent as much as my chest and my again curled up like Quasimodo.

After 10 minutes, I used to be actually sweating in discomfort, purple-confronted, and embarrassed. It was so apparent I used to be struggling {that a} man sitting close by began teasing me about my tight hips. It feels like a small factor, however it was a second of fact for me. I spotted I had let myself go, and I wanted to do one thing about it.

I used to be 23 with the pliability of a 73-12 months-previous, and my stiffness was affecting my life. That evening, I did some advert hoc self-checks at residence to see simply how stiff I used to be. I began by checking my profile within the mirror, and instantly observed my standing posture was horrible. I had decrease again ache whereas driving, sitting on airplanes, and at work in my workplace chair—I consistently needed to rise up and stroll round to work out the kinks in my neck. I used to be not match by any means, however I did go to the fitness center and exercise. All I did was experience an elliptical and raise on some weight machines, however I used to be nonetheless getting minor accidents.

After I bent ahead, my arms reached simply midway down my shins; I couldn’t attain my ankles, a lot much less my toes. Backbends have been out of the query, and my hips felt like two large blocks of ice. All that apart, I knew that there needed to be a technique to repair this. I knew this was a mushy tissue downside—not a bone downside—so I set out on a mission to discover a answer.

Why Yoga Courses Typically Fail
(for flexibility)

There’s a stereotype that yoga lessons are all about flexibility, however that’s virtually by no means the case. Most lessons concentrate on energy, stability, breath, focus, and the thoughts-physique connection. Flexibility is definitely on the listing, however it’s often on the backside of the listing of priorities in most lessons.

I didn’t know that, so I turned a yoga maniac going to class each day. The opposite college students appeared fairly limber, so I assumed it was logical to enroll in a membership. A lot to my shock, after weeks of struggling by way of lessons, I hadn’t achieved noticeable outcomes.

Don’t get me mistaken, I liked yoga. I felt extra calm, my stability was enhancing, and I used to be even shedding pounds; however I used to be nonetheless as stiff as a board and didn’t see that altering anytime quickly.

Then I met this bizarre man named Anthony.

In yoga class, you’re supposed to remain targeted, however I couldn’t assist staring. After six weeks, Anthony might lay flat in opposition to his shins in ahead bends, cross his legs in full lotus, and go 3 times as deep as I might in backbends. He had leaped from newbie to intermediate extraordinarily rapidly. No matter he was doing, it was working; and what I used to be doing clearly wasn’t.

Lastly, I needed to say one thing.

After two painful months of Sizzling Yoga torture (I used to be going each day), I lastly bought up the nerve to ask Anthony for pizza after class (this was earlier than I discovered how one can eat correctly for flexibility). Anthony reluctantly agreed, and though he didn’t eat something throughout our assembly, he did inform me three secrets and techniques to stretching flexibility that I later discovered are true for nearly everybody.