Bend, Stretch and Reach for the Sky

Stretching can benefit you in ways you never imaged — body, mind and soul.

As a massage therapist, I am frequently asked about stretching exercises. This is exciting to me because I feel the individual I am working with desires growth — and expanding the body is a good place to start. But it’s just the beginning to expansion.

When asked, I show my clients an array of stretching techniques to expand the multiple muscle tissue in the upper and lower sections of the body. Just as they would expect. After they perform a few repetitions, they begin to understand the theory of stretching and why it’s so important — because in a very few minutes, tension melts away and they feel relief and relaxation. But I don’t stop with the typical forms of stretching. I suggest an overall expansion of body, mind and, hopefully, soul. By this time, there is a bewildered look on the faces of the clients. The thought of stretching something intangible is, well, a bit of a stretch for them.

First I start by teaching them to breathe properly. As crazy as this sounds most of us haven’t taken a deep cleansing breath since we were smacked on the bottom and made to cry when we were born. That first smack seemed to be a cruel action, but I believe it had a two-fold objective. The obvious reason is to get us to open the ribcage and develop our lung capacity. But the very subtle reason is to remind us that when life smacks us hard, we’ll have to learn to breathe deeply to get through whatever adversity we are facing.

For this session, I put on music to allow clients to breathe to different rhythms and tones. I encourage slow, rhythmic breaths and short and quick exhalations resembling the Lamaze method of breathing. Changes in the tempo of the music are likened to the smooth or rapid changes that life brings and demands deep, deliberate breathing.

Then I move to stretching the heart muscle. This is somewhat of a by-level stretch because you must engage the imagination and the heart.

I ask my client to imagine an internal pink cloud floating within their head, permeating every curve within their brain. This cloud represents the purest love imaginable. Once the cloud is created, I ask that it become mobile and float down the center of the brain, continuing the path down into the skull, neck, into the chest and ending at the heart. I then ask that the cloud begin to grow. The client uses imagination to expand the cloud. It surrounds the heart and penetrates it with love. Every deep breath expands the cloud and the heart is immersed in love. At this point, the client may become overwhelmed with emotion — and if tears flow, a release is taking place and a mild healing is occurring.

The next stretch involves the brain and motor activity and is presented as homework. I challenge the client to scramble routine directives to the body by changing movement and actions. The brain is made to re-think the movement and coordinate any awkwardness into the routine. Some examples are:

• In the morning, if you walk forward into the bathroom, turn around and walk backwards or crawl (in any direction) into the bathroom
• In the shower, if you’re used to washing your face first and working your way down, start a new routine by washing your feet first and work your way up
• And there’s always the challenge of changing your routes to work and frequently visited places.

The slightest changes can allow the greatest benefits because the brain reconfigures it’s directives, thus permitting it to be exercised.

Now, I dare you to stretch. Stretch in every physical and mental way you can imagine.

And I promise you will be in the best physical and mental shape of your life!

Photo Credits

“so pants my soul” SaltoftheEarth @ Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

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