I love the feeling of muscles releasing their tension. It usually happens just before I fall asleep or if I am reclining for savasana or yoga nidra. Relaxation is an essential, but often missed, action of the muscular system. Fortunately, yoga is an excellent way to experience muscle relaxation AND teach the body to receive it more easily. 

Have you ever noticed the deeper layers of tension that often exist in the body? Even when we think we’re relaxing, we’re still gripping and holding different parts of the body. Maybe it’s a place where we have an injury or chronic pain, or it might just be a place where tension likes to regularly reside in our body. Happily, if we’re aware of these places, we can actually send our attention there so we can soften and release.

Here are two ways to practice muscle relaxation through yoga:

First, go through a yoga session and end with at least 15 minutes of savasana. Here’s the magic of yoga: it begins with breathing or meditation to corral the energy (prana), gets the body moving in all directions to spread the prana, then gently pulls the prana back just enough to balance the nervous system through relaxation. If you skip savasana at the end, you still get the stretch and strength, but you don’t get the relaxation, and the yoga session is not complete.

Second, you can practice guided relaxation. There are two ways to do this: One is active and the second is passive. The active approach is called progressive relaxation where you squeeze a muscle group (like an arm or leg), hold it in the contraction for several seconds, then completely let it go. You move progressively through the body until you end with squeezing the whole body at the same time, finally releasing into full body relaxation.

The passive approach is used in yoga nidra, a guided meditation that brings peace to body, mind and spirit. In this practice the leader invites you to bring your awareness to multiple points in the body known as “marma points,” or vital energy points. You might be asked to take a breath at each point, place an image or sound at each point, or simply place your awareness there. I find it hard to do this practice without falling asleep.

The best part about these practices is that they are also training for the times when we really want to relax, such as when we’re trying to get to sleep at night. Give them a try and discover the magic of yoga for yourself.

​We’re in the middle of a three-fer on the muscular system as we continue our exploration of how yoga affects the major systems of the body. Last post was on strengthening muscles and this one is about stretching muscles. 

Stretching is the first thing people think of when they think of yoga, am I right? So many times I’ve had the “what do you do?” conversation and when folks hear I teach yoga, their defenses go up. “I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible.” My response is always the same: “Well, you’re in luck! Yoga is especially designed to increase your flexibility, so it’s made just for you!”

If you practice yoga, you’ve either been initiated into the “static” yoga group or the “flow” yoga group. The good news is you’re going to get stretch benefit from both types. Static yoga stretches have been shown to change the shape of muscles if they are practiced in a specific way: hold a comfortable stretch for 30-40 seconds, rest and repeat one more time. Practicing more than two times is not dangerous, but it doesn’t increase the effects of the stretch. Flow stretching is usually practiced through multiple repetitions of sun salutations. As the muscles get warmer, they naturally feel more flexible and fluid. 

In a perfect yoga world, this might be the end of the story. But there’s more to our muscular system than our muscles. Especially as we age, we have to take into account connective tissues, namely tendons, ligaments and fascia. 

Tendons attach muscle to bone and ligaments attach bones to each other. If you’ve ever had an injury to a tendon or muscle you know that it can be quite painful to stretch. This is because when we stretch we can’t completely isolate a muscle from all the other structures around it, including the connective tissue, bones, joints, veins, nerves and even organs! If your yoga teacher is trained in yoga therapy, they can show you how to safely stretch when you are healing from an injury.

The most exciting developments in stretching concerns fascia (pronounced “fash-uh”). Fascia is connective tissue that covers muscles, organs and bones. Its role in stretching is to aid in smooth gliding action in the muscles. As we age, however, our fascia gets drier which makes it sticky and stuck around the muscles. This stuckness can even make stretching downright painful. But there are a couple of ways to release fascia’s hold on the muscle and increase range of motion:

√ Stretch and release: Place the muscle or group of muscles into a stretch for a couple of seconds, then release out of the stretch for a couple of seconds, going back and forth 7-10 times. Finish by holding the static stretch for 30-40 seconds as described above. For example, lying on the back with the strap around the ball of one foot, wrap the strap twice around the lower leg. Stabilize the upper thigh perpendicular to the floor. Straighten and bend the lower leg 7-10 times, then hold the static stretch.

√ Stretch with resistance: Using resistance releases anti-inflammatory chemicals into the muscles. It’s an interesting way to work because it feels like you’re stretching and strengthening at the same time, and in a way, you are! For example, lying on the back with one foot on the floor and the other knee pulled in toward the chest. Cross the ankle of the top leg over the thigh of the bottom leg. Rotate the top leg away from the body, initiating this movement from the toes, shin and thigh. To increase the stretch, lift the bottom leg and hold onto the back of the thigh with both hands. Continue to resist the stretch by rotating the top leg away from the body. Hold for 30-40 seconds, rest and repeat.

Next week: All about muscular relaxation, my favorite