Organic Stretching® functions on a set of principles and small movements, rather than given postures and sequences. The effectiveness of this approach can be seen in the following guest post by Richard Beswick-Arthur.
I am in my second “season” of Organic Stretching® as a way to keep my body supple. Now, as a 63 year old, I want to share my experience of how one particular part of the stretching “program” has positively affected me.
Find an Edge and Turn
Pat Henry has always talked to us about ‘finding an edge’, which is to say that one should be pushing oneself to move a little farther, a little farther, without experiencing any pain. This combines very much with ‘turning’ (perhaps the word ‘twisting’ would mean more to the non-initiated). Combine the two, as indeed all factors in the OS system are meant to be combined, and one can experience wonderful sensations.
My wrists particularly have always tended to be stiff, probably due to intense and continuous writing over a 30-year period, but I have finally found something that will take all that away. In fact the ‘turning’ and ‘finding an edge’ have made exercising my wrists an absolute pleasure. The more I ‘turn’ my wrists during the exercises, the more intense the pleasure. Pat often says that the body will tell us what it needs once it has experienced appropriate movement in Organic Stretching® and we have learned to listen; my specific interpretation of this is that when the body feels exquisite pleasure it wants to do more of the same!! Exercise with results AND pleasure is hard to believe, but it happens!
