We all remember the old adage, “No pain, no gain,” meaning that without pain you could not achieve results in your fitness or exercise regimen. That is not the case with Organic StretchingSM. In fact, it is just the opposite; we look for the point just before pain, for the edge of our limitations. And then we allow the body to work along that border.
Going through the Pain for the Gain
In a typical class, each student is following the surface of his own body until he arrives at a point where he cannot move farther in that direction. This could be due to tightness, pain, or other physical limitation from a wide range of sources. Rather than releasing the point he has gained, he will make small shifts…perhaps in the angle of approach or by adding support to release tension, and then pause, waiting for the entanglement to unwind enabling him to continue.
Learning how to do Organic StretchingSM is learning how to listen to your own body. It is not seeing an ideal form and aiming to achieve that; it is not a competition. The ideal for you belongs only to you. The process is a deep communion with your own structure. The role of the instructor/coach is to help each student reach for and recognize the edges of her limits and to help her slow down, explore, and move through each block gradually. But this happens in layers and will be revisited time and again achieving gradually a wider and wider range of motion.
Since the character of Organic StretchingSM focuses on joints rather than muscles, if support is maintained through each move, for most students there should be much less muscle soreness, if any, following a session than with most other forms of exercise. Of course, this can also depend on the physical condition of the student. The work goes deep into the system and in unwinding may result in a release of stored toxins which may cause some soreness. Normally a hot soak with vinegar added to the water will relieve any discomfort.
It is important to note, that because we are working primarily on joints, this program relies on paying attention to messages from the body to avoid forcing a joint past its range…not going where it is painful. Therefore we are looking for the edges of our limits and acknowledging them at every point. Week-by-week these edges begin to shift as the body releases old holding patterns and allows freer movement throughout the system.
Photo courtesy of lululemon athletica
