un-shrinkwrap yourself

Saying you’re too inflexible to practice Yoga is like saying you’re too dirty to take a shower…

The inflexibility or tightness in your body doesn’t suddenly happen overnight. It’s something that is slooooowly happening bit by bit so you don’t even notice how your body is sloooooowly getting shrink-wrapped overtime. When you think about it that way, it makes sense that you have to stretch your body slooooowly bit by bit as well.

Almost every time I get into a Yin Yoga pose I can feel that my body has tightened up a little bit more than the last time I held that pose to release tension from a certain area of my body.

It feels like I am not stretching my body to become “more flexible,” but I am stretching to maintain the flexibility/mobility that I had the day before… like it’s a slow process of dusting off tension that accumulated in a day.

You don’t have to push yourself to do a certain Yoga pose that looks a certain way.
You don't have to push yourself to become hyper-mobile.
You don’t have to push yourself if your body tells you that the sensation is feeling injurious.

Just get into a pose that makes you feel a dull tug in your chest, quads, hamstrings, gluteus area, lower back, wherever.
Become still by relaxing skeletal muscles that do not need to be engaged to maintain the pose. No unnecessary movements.
Marinate in the pose for minutes until you start to feel the tension that sloooooowly built up sloooooowly release.

Maybe you won’t feel a significant difference by practicing a day… or two… but imagine how different you will be if you maintained this practice over years. How will your body be in five, ten, twenty, thirty years? Your posture, the movements you are able to do, your breath, your mood, your health…

Nothing is promised, but I personally think it’s worth a try. You can thank me in five, ten, twenty, thirty years! You’re welcome!