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Some of this information is so redundant that I almost feel silly including it within the scope of Rapid Regeneration. But, I draw my inspiration from nature and one thing that is true about the natural world is that nature loves redundancy. This is why trees have an abundant amount of branches and seeds, and why you have two lungs, two kidneys, two ovaries/testicles, etc. Totally necessary? Maybe not. Redundant? Yes. Helps us to thrive? Indeed.
I know you know that stretching and yoga are good for you. Your body is a series of interconnected areas which are held together by these circuits of connective tissue. This material is very elastic, but if you don’t stretch it, it can become more hardened and tough. By stretching out your body, surely you make yourself younger and more energetic.
Some of the benefits of stretching include:
— Increased flexibility
— Increased range of motion
— Increased physical performance
— Better posture
— Calming, relaxing effect
— Helps to lower stress
— Promotes blood flow
— Tones your muscles and connective tissue
— Potentially can help reduce injury risk
— Energizing
— Expands body awareness
This is something that really should be done daily — I personally do it twice daily. It serves as a bit of a morning and evening routine, before and after bedtime, as a way to enter the day and focus the mind before dealing with the stressors of other people’s demands, and then again to quiet the mind and degrade the thoughts and considerations of that day before getting ready for bed. It takes about five to seven minutes to stretch out the body in this way. If I don’t do this, I feel like I’m dragging myself throughout the day with less energy and less overall positive flow.
Also remember that the lymphatic system has no pump on it like the vascular system has with the heart and lungs. Stretching helps to stimulate not only your blood circulation but also your lymphatic movement, filtration and drainage. If you are detoxing intensively, stretching should absolutely be a part of your daily routine to help get toxins out of your body.
Yoga is basically a combination of stretching, breathing, meditation, cardiovascular activity, and resistance training, and is an incredible benefit to the body.
Some of the benefits of yoga include:
— Some of the same benefits of stretching like better flexibility and increased circulation
— Muscle strength and tone
— Stress and anxiety alleviation
— Sharpens concentration, attention and mindfulness
— Enhances immune system and metabolism
— Energizing
— Promotes full breathing
— Can potentially prevent breakdown and degeneration of joints, connective tissue and skeletal system
— Stimulating to the lymphatic system (detoxifying)
— Soothes the nervous system
— Encourages self-knowing and self-awareness
— Builds self-confidence and gratitude
You can do yoga and you’ll stretch yourself in ways that will surprise you, even leaving yourself sore in areas of the body the next day and indicating that you really stretched yourself out majorly. It is also a great workout and works the body in a very holistic, interconnected way, integrating the stretching, muscle building, breath work, and balancing your spiritual awareness all in one.
Personally, I like hot yoga the most which seems to achieve even more dramatic results by increasing flow and filtration through the skin via perspiration with the hot temperatures, but I enjoy yoga classes of all kinds. I have also tried following along at home to yoga instructors virtually which isn’t too bad although not quite as powerful as being there in person with the group collective consciousness and the instructor pushing you to do your best. I don’t attend yoga classes nearly as often as I would like and if I ever get more free time it’s one of those things I greatly enjoy.
If you haven’t done stretching or yoga very much and you feel like this is a lost cause — don’t worry! You can regain elasticity and flexibility in the body after just a few weeks or months of making a discipline out of personally stretching at home or regularly attending a yoga class.
I would like to include my stretching routine which I have gathered from many years of picking up stretches from different activities and different experts. Try it out and add in different moves that seem to resonate with you personally.
Here are the stretches that I do upon waking and before bed, in this order:
— Reach up towards the sky with both arms, pressing the fingertips up.
— While reaching up towards the sky with arms extended, stretch up and to the right and left, stretching either side of your torso.
— Reach your arm back while standing and press your palm against a wall, stretching out your inner arm. Turning your body to stretch out your arm, forearm, bicep, shoulder and chest.
— Face the wall and reach either arm across your torso, placing your palm against the wall and pulling your body in the opposite direction to stretch out your back and shoulders.
— Stand up straight and put both hands on the back of your head, leaning your head forward and down and pulling down — stretch out the back of your neck.
— Put your left hand on the right side of your head while standing straight and pull your head down and toward the left, leaning down on the left shoulder, to stretch out the right side of your neck. Do this again on the opposite side.
— Open your jaw as wide as you can and try and hold your jaw in this expanded, open position for a good 10 seconds to stretch out your jaw and face muscles.
— Facing the wall, go ahead and put one leg behind you and stretch out that leg, leaning forward with both hands on the wall, to stretch out your calf and hamstring. Do this on both sides.
— Using the same position, bend your knee down to stretch your ankle out with your leg back and toes by pressing against the floor — this stretches the back of the ankle. Then, flip your foot back and stretch out your foot with the top of your toes against the floor — this stretches the front of the ankle. Finally, with the top of your toes still on the floor, thrust your pelvis forward to stretch your hip and top of the thigh back — this stretches out the lower abdomen and hip flexor. Do this on both sides.
— Holding one hand against the wall, balance on one leg and with the other leg make ten circles going clockwise, rotating at the hip, and the ten circles going counter-clockwise. Do this again but rotating at the ankle with ten rotations in each direction. Finally, repeat but while rotating at the toes, focusing on the big toe. Do this again for the other leg (I only do the leg, foot and toe rotations the morning and skip before bedtime).
— Stand straight with your arms dangling down. Roll your shoulders forwards 10 times and then backwards 10 times. Then hold your arms stretched to either side, pointing outwards to your right and left, and palms facing toward the ground. Make circles with your arms so that you making ten rotations going forward, and then ten rotations going backward. Do this again but rotate at the wrist. Finally, do this again with each of your five fingers, rotating each finger on both sides of your body at the same time, clockwise and then counter clockwise ten times (I only do the shoulder, arm and hand rotations in the morning and skip before bedtime).
— Standing straight, reach up toward the sky and bring your hands down toward your feet, touching your toes or the floor if possible, stretching our your legs and back. Breath into your lower back.
— Widen your legs and continue stretching down. Grab the outsides of your feet (if possible) and pull your body down, stretching our your back and spine.
— Set yourself down on the ground (if helps if you do this part on carpet, foam, or grass/dirt), sitting with your hips back. Stretch forward and try and touch your toes, leaning forward — this stretches out your back, calves and hamstrings.
— While still sitting, spread your feet out so your legs are spread and reach to touch either foot, stretching out that side, and then lean forward, with your legs still spread., pulling your self forward on the floor
— Put the left side of your left knee over the ground and lean over your left knee, holding your body over your knee with your palms on either side, and your right leg extended out behind you, and pull yourself forward — this stretches out your left buttock, leg and hip. Do this again for the other side.
— Flip over to your back. Reach for your right knee and pull it up, stretching it and holding it with your arms to touch your right armpit area, while your left leg lies flat and your back lies flat on the floor — this stretches out your ascending colon. Then, do this same thing for your left knee — this stretches out your descending colon. Then, pull up both knees, with you elbows around the side of each leg, and grabbing your elbows to form a sort of belt around your legs. Try and keep your back and neck as flat as possible and pull up your knees to press down on your torso — this stretches out your transverse colon.
Do what works for you, and customize your movement of your body to fit what you need specifically. Whatever you do, don’t neglect this very important area. Just like a muscle needs to be torn to grow, and your bones need weight loaded on them to strengthen and build density, so too does the connective tissue of your body need to be challenged and stretched out, in order to maintain a flexibility, elasticity, and interconnectedness throughout your whole body so that you can really thrive.
Namaste!