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Yoga advice

SillyPuttySillyPutty Veteran
in Diet & Habits
As I was upstairs doing some yoga (or, as I like to call it due to the stage I'm at, "glorified stretching"), I began to really become frustrated with myself. I used to be extremely flexible. I'm talking legs-behind-the-head sorta flexible. Now I'm lucky if I can bend down and touch my toes without falling over.

So for anyone out there who is proficient in the practice of yoga, how do I get back to that flexible state? My hamstrings are extremely tight. What are the best methods to focus on loosening them up first? My downward dog is more like a kneeling cow at this point. Help. :o

Comments

  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Yoga is not a race, even against your former self.
    If you insist on warming up, do as many salutations to the sun as you can.

    . . . However . . .
    If you follow each posture by two minutes of corpse asana, you will be doing yoga . . .
    Anything else is mind agitation in physical form . . .

    If you really want quick results :bawl: then try astanga yoga.
    I wish you every success . . . :wave:
    SillyPuttyInvincible_summer
  • John_SpencerJohn_Spencer Veteran
    As an ex-physiotherapist I suggest warming up slowly (getting heart rate up and warm blood pumping)- then relaxing into stretches.

    The mind does the relaxing and the body allows the stretching.

    You will get looser - it is inevitable if you create the right conditions.

    Yoga has little to do with stretching and everything to do with 'posture' (both bio-mechanical and psyhic).

    Good Luck!

    SillyPuttyInvincible_summer
  • SillyPuttySillyPutty Veteran
    Nevermind said:

    SillyPutty said:

    So for anyone out there who is proficient in the practice of yoga, how do I get back to that flexible state?

    Do yoga regularly.
    :lol: True... but I want to speed up the process. So I guess the next reply would be, "Do yoga all day long"?
  • John_SpencerJohn_Spencer Veteran
    Do yoga all day = long.

    Yes.
    SillyPutty
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    SillyPutty said:


    but I want to speed up the process.

    If it were a quick and easy process then everyone would have their legs behind their head.
    Invincible_summerkarmablues
  • SillyPuttySillyPutty Veteran
    I guess I'm just impatient because I'm worried that I'm not feeling "in the groove" like I used to. Perhaps my body has just permanently changed and I won't be able to do splits and the sort again without a trip to the ER. I usually could bounce back quite quickly... kinda like riding a bicycle, or muscle memory. Ah well.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    I think if you stretch every day you would progress, but it's hard to get back to youth. I am getting better running but I still can do only 4/10 of a mile straight jogging (go 1 or 2 miles including walking). I have been going to the gym twice a week since the end of December. In my youth I could sprint and jog a whole soccer game. I will never get as good as my golden days, presumably. So take it 'in stride' that your body is older. Not much else one can do. Good luck.
  • SillyPuttySillyPutty Veteran
    Thanks, @Jeffrey. I guess this is the first taste of my youth slowly slipping away. :lol: I'm really not upset, but just frustrated that I'm so far off from where I used to be. Just have to keep trying, that's all. This body is merely on loan, so it's not a big deal, really. But I just feel so much better when I'm able to stretch to my fullest potential.
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    If you do it regularly (say, 4 or more times a week) flexibility will return fairly steadily. I was a gymnast when I was younger (ALOT younger, lol) but after 3 kids and desk jobs, I lost most of it. But when I started doing yoga again, it came pretty quickly. I wouldn't get back on the horse or anything, lol, but I can do a full bridge (wheel, in yoga I think) and shoulder stands and some other things that I couldn't even attempt. That happened over a period of, oh, maybe 4-6 weeks. I have a lot of yoga dvds (class isn't an option for me) and actually the P90X2 yoga is one of my favorites. I do that twice a week and add some shorter routines in otherwise. The impact was pretty fast. Especially compared to how long it takes to see results from other forms of exercise, LOL.
    lobsterJohn_Spencer
  • John_SpencerJohn_Spencer Veteran
    Watching the paralympic games (here in the UK) gave me perspective that, as a 50 year-old, I can't really complain that I get a dodgy knee and a stiff neck once in a while!
  • BarraBarra soto zennie wandering in a cloud in beautiful, bucolic Victoria BC, on the wacky left coast of Canada Veteran
    SillyPutty said:

    I guess I'm just impatient because I'm worried that I'm not feeling "in the groove" like I used to. Perhaps my body has just permanently changed and I won't be able to do splits and the sort again without a trip to the ER. I usually could bounce back quite quickly... kinda like riding a bicycle, or muscle memory. Ah well.

    Yup. I can relate. every time the instructor says that we should consider downward dog to be a relaxation pose, I want to say "are you freaking kidding me?"
    Don't obsess about the poses that you can't do, and start loving the ones that you can. After a while you'll see that they've all become easier.
    Invincible_summer
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