Related Posts

• Mobility Matters!

  

  Often when people think of yoga, they automatically assume it is all about flexibility or simple stretching. But yoga is also an excellent modality to improve joint mobility. It's important to work on mobility and flexibility and a well-balanced yoga program provides both. Dynamic movement is one of the best ways to maintain or increase mobility in your joints. Mobility takes strength and requires your muscles and joints to work together. A couple examples of poses that are excellent for mobility are Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog) and Utkatasana (Chair Pose). Both poses emphasize the posterior chain of the body as well as shoulder, hip, and ankle mobility.

• 8 Reasons Why Flexibility is Important for Your Body

  

  Flexibility is the capability of your body to achieve its full range of motion. It’s needed in most day-to-day activities, even the simplest ones such as bending and walking. If you’re flexible, your muscles remain mobile. We take flexibility for granted when we’re we’re younger, but as we age, our muscles will naturally lose strength, and we might notice ourselves become less supple and more stiff. This can affect our range of movement, especially around the joints. This can have the effect of stiffness in the muscles and joints. This loss of tissue elasticity causes our bodies to tighten and we lose that flexibility. The key reason that we lose flexibility, and we become more at risk of aches and pains is from not being active. This can lead to more permanent issues such as bad posture and lack of muscle function. Keeping flexible is important to avoid this and to keep us in good health and fitness.

• Yoga for Greater Flexibility

  

  Ask any yoga teacher what the most common excuse they hear from people who don’t practice yoga is and you’ll probably receive the same answer: “I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible.” We’re not sure where the myth started that naturally flexible and bendy people were the only ones who could practice yoga. In fact, it’s really the opposite. Flexibility looks very different depending on if you are a twenty-year-old former dancer, a thirty-year-old professional athlete, a fifty-year-old desk jockey, or an eighty-years-young retiree. No matter your age, anatomy, or physical abilities, yoga can help you become more flexible. The beauty of yoga is there are several styles and levels of classes and at least one is suited for you. How wonderful is that?

• Why You Don't Need To Be Flexible to Start Doing Yoga

  

  If you’re thinking about starting yoga, but a lack of flexibility is holding you back - don’t let it stop you! The idea that you need to be flexible to do yoga is a huge myth, and flexibility isn’t essential to get on the mat. In fact - yoga practice can actually improve your flexibility, and you can see this improve over time the more yoga you practice. Every yogi started somewhere, and even the most flexible people didn’t start out being able to bend their bodies into difficult poses. Yoga can improve your flexibility if you’re not very bendy - as well as improve your posture, balance and strength, if being flexible isn’t one of your goals. Even bodybuilders didn’t start off being able to carry the heaviest of weights - they trained and started from the bottom, and the same is true for yoga and flexibility. Progress comes with effort and hard work, and starting from scratch.

• Why Lower Body Mobility is So Important

  

  Take a moment and recall how you felt the last time you stood up after spending hours sitting at your desk or taking a long drive. How was your posture? How did your lower back feel? This week we’re digging into how important it is to keep your hips and legs mobile and flexible. Our lower bodies house the body’s largest muscles and our hip joints are impacted by several muscles, ligaments, and tendons. For you to move your lower body––walk, dance, run, practice yoga––the hip flexors, extensors, abductors, adductors, and rotators must be strong yet supple. The pelvis needs to be stable but also mobile. Think of your lower body as the foundation to staying physically fit.

• Yoga for Crossfit: Why it Improves Performance & 3 Poses

  

  Yoga is not only a good way to relax your mind and body, it is also being praised for improving Crossfit performance. Yoga creates more flexibility and creates more mobility, which are beneficial for the rigors of Crossfit as well as reducing the risk of injury. While the practices are different in many ways, Crossfit and yoga actually have a lot in common, so if you practice yoga, it’s can be easier to learn to practice Crossfit, and vice versa. Benefits of Yoga for Crossfit: Here are a few reasons why you should consider using yoga as a part of your crossfit training regime. Yoga has many gentle poses that develop your core which is an important part to Crossfit. Being capable of balancing and holding the body with the core is essential. When you regularly practice yoga, you promote strength, endurance, and flexibility and have a greater awareness of how to use your core effectively. You also find your inner strength which is important in Crossfit training. You practice cultivating calm, in challenging moments in yoga, and that can really help during Crossfit. Yoga can help us have more fun in Crossfit. Studies have found that yoga allows you to become more self-aware and improves your energy levels, helping you to enjoy life more fully. Sometimes in Crossfit, training and progress becomes such a focus point that we forget to be light and have fun. Yoga can help here.