http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-right-way-to-stretch.html
The Right Way to Stretch
For many people, it’s part of the morning routine: brush your teeth, comb your hair, get that first cup of coffee, and do some stretching, like touching your toes, the way you learned to do when you were a kid. After all, we know that stretching is a common exercise for dancers and athletes, who use complex stretching routines to prepare for extreme physical activity.
But there’s a big problem: it’s hurting us, and we really need to stop.
That’s the opinion of mind and body fitness expert Anat Baniel, author of Move Into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality (Harmony Books), who believes that stretching is an activity - contrary to the health and longevity of our muscles.
“Muscles aren’t meant to be stretched like that,” she says. “Muscles are meant to contract and relax. Stretching them puts stress on them, and rips muscle fibers, forcing them to constantly repair themselves after each time you stretch. Your body’s movement shouldn’t cause repeated damage. It should be more harmonious, and flow naturally.”
Baniel still believes in the ritual of touching one’s toes, but has devised a method of stretching that actually increases flexibility and motion, without damaging muscles.
“Many of us have tried to touch our toes while standing, just to discover - again and again - how out of reach they are for us,” Baniel says. “My method introduces just a few variations that should make a noticeable difference.”
Here’s what she advises. First, stand up, spread your feet comfortably, gently bend down, and let your hands move toward your feet. Notice how far you go, without forcing, and come back to standing. Then:
Stand, spread your legs comfortably, bend your knees a little, and put your right hand just above your right knee, on your thighs. Put your left hand just above your left knee. Then lean on you legs with the weight of your upper body resting on your hands. Begin to round you back and at the same time pull your belly in and look down at your belly. Then gently arch your back, push your belly out, lift your head, and look up. Go back and forth like this four or five times.
Come back to standing and simply bend forward and take your hands down toward your feet. Is there some change already?
Stand with your feet spread, your knees bent a little, and this time lean with both hands on your left leg, just above the knee as before. Very gently and slowly round your back and look down, then arch your back, free the belly muscles - push them out - and look up. Go back and forth four or five times. Then stand and rest for a moment. Feel how you stand.
Stand with your knees a bit bent and spread, and this time lean with both hands on your right knee. Very gently and slowly round your back and look down, then arch your back, free your belly muscles - push the belly out - and look up, Go back and forth four or five times.
Stand up with your feet spread comfortably and simply bend down and feel if you can bend more easily and father than before. Baniel now suggests you check to see if your toes are closer to your hands.
“They should be, because the variations provided by this exercise supplied your brain the information it needed to figure out how to let go of tight muscles and tendons,” she says. “You were able to quickly and safely accomplish much more than you might have accomplished by stretching.”
Born in Israel, Anat Baniel, who has a master of arts in clinical psychology, lives and works in San Rafael, CA and has established a reputation as one of the world’s authorities in finding ways to access the brain to overcome pain and limitation and increase vitality. Baniel is a mind/body/fitness expert who apprenticed under Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais, an Israeli scientist and one of the pioneers of the mind/body movement. It was through her work with tens of thousands of people whose lives she helped transform, that she developed the Anat Baniel Method. Her method is designed to improve human functioning through movement with attention, variation, awareness, turning on the learning switch and more. Anat’s approach to a creative and energetic life is based not only on the all-important regimens of diet, exercise, and stress management, which many of us are already following, but upon providing the brain with what it requires for us to grow, evolve and thrive.
Organic Spa Magazine is a national consumer lifestyle magazine about bringing spa wisdom into the modern green lifestyle. For a free digital subscription, click here.
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22 comments
add your comment »I'm more than a decade dancer and a lot of times people "bounce" in their stretching. It's one of the worst and easiest ways to rip muscles and seriously harm your body.
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Good information. Thanks.
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Thanks Mel!
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Yeah, there are a lot of problems with this article. I am a certified personal trainer, a yoga, martial arts, and pilates instructor and I find that this there are too many problems in this article for it to have been circulated. Regarding the tearing of muscle fibers, yeah that does happen, primarily in weight training. You want and need it to happen! They are called microtears and the healing process is what makes muscles stronger. The same happens when you stretch. The only reason stretching is dangerous is because people think that stretching should be the warm up to more strenuous exercise. Actually, you need to warm your muscles BEFORE you stretch. Envisions your muscles much like taffy, you don't pull taffy when it is cold, you warm it, then stretch it. STRETCH AFTER YOU WARM UP AND IT IS VERY GOOD FOR YOUR BODY AND MIND!!!
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I'm a Yoga Instructor, Massage Therapist and Registered Nurse, and Anat Baniel's is no base in truth that I know of.
Jean French, sorry but there is no length of time for a stretch that is right or wrong in Yoga, only what is appropriate for the individual engaged in the stretch at any given time. One size does not fit all. I can't speak for Physical Therapy except that they are bound by protocols. Yoga on the other hand is mor "Flexible" No pun intended. What is true about stretching, Is the way you engage in it. Never bounce, force or jump into a stretch. That is a recipe for tearing muscle fibers!
Regarding this article or should I say Anat Baniel's statement that stretching causes damage shows how completely ignorant she is about muscle fibers. A body builder builds muscle bulky muscle fibers with a particular method of pressing and a swimmer builds lean muscle fibers with another method. Regular stretching builds muscle fibers as well, causing the muscles to lengthen. When you cease to stretch, you lose muscle fibers. Hence, the muscles shorten and you are not as flexible or even stiff. Most people have chronic pain and stiffness because they do not stretch. Being immobile and only engaging in strengthening exercises is a formula for eventual crippling pain and loss of natural physical movement. I'm sure you've all heard the expression "use it or lose it." The same holds true for stretching. So don't stop just because of one misguided opinion.
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What a dumb article...if you're stretching so far that it hurts, well duh, obviously you are doing it wrong. Stretching shouldn't hurt and is as safe as Yoga, pretty similar actually. Also, trying to describe stretching exercises with words, rather than pictures, is pretty dopey and a sure-fire way to get more people to stretch incorrectly and hurt themselves. Think of your target audience here and try again!
I took dance as a kid, and it taught me a lot about staying limber. Any good dance instructor should be able to relate these stretches to you, or a coach at your school, yoga instructor, etc...One of the most important reasons to stretch is to prevent injury, not cause it :)
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Good stretch is akin to dance. Too many people think, in order to stretch "properly" they must force themselves to go beyond the bounds of their flexibility and this is where injury occurs. I do admit to wanting to kick aside anyone that feels they need to physically push someone else to get them to reach some extreme position. If it doesn't come naturally, don't force. Every body is different. Don't ever let anyone do this to you, even if they are a teacher or friend. They aren't the one who is going to be injured.
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I think a lot of it has to do with genetics. Some people are naturally more flexible in some ways. I can place my hands flat on the floor legs straight as arrows no problem but if I try to bend backwards forget it!!
You have to listen to what your body is saying if it hurts don't do it or ease up.
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I believe it is misinforming to call streaching bad because it provents many injuries but I like this variation on streaching. If I can find ways to make myself healthier by simply streaching differently I'm willing to try.
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Well, this article provoked a lot of controversy, which is interesting, too. I have found it difficult to feel good without stretching, but I have also definitely overdone it and felt sore afterward, so it's, like most things, probably best in moderation.
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