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-   -   Too inflexible for yoga? (https://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=114994)

Spotted&HerbaceousSmall 12-07-2017 12:22 PM

Too inflexible for yoga?
 
I've been practicing yoga for a few months now, but I've hit a snag - I don't seem to be flexible enough to do anything.

I don't go to classes at the minute (saving up) but I read that I should work on the 'Big Toe Forward Bend', but when I try I can make about a 90 degree bend at the waist and that's it.. If I round my back I can just about touch my ankles, but my hamstrings (at least I assume that's the one that's causing the problem- its from about halfway down the back of my thigh to the back of my knee) so tight that I can hold that position for about seconds before I physically pop up like a cork :tongue:

Is it possible to be too inflexible for yoga? Anyone got any suggestions for poses to help beat the bounce back?

Tobi 12-07-2017 11:08 PM

I should hardly comment on a yoga thread as I don't do yoga and never did.
....But...I do understand a little about the body and the way it works. And so long as you are working under some kind of guidance, I would say that daily exercises will definitely improve your flexibility.
Muscles don't want to flex because probably -they never have done, very much. You may be doing moves your body has never used or used very little. So it might take some time to loosen up. Massaging the muscles might also help....not pushing and forcing anything EVER, but each day working to extend your body's flexibility -gently. Muscles can be trained like anything else. When you are flexing, breathe into it also.
It's also a fact that anyone carrying a little excess weight in front may find bending harder.

In Flux 14-07-2017 08:25 PM

Your experience is the most common one! You are probably not unusually stiff if you can reach about half-way your shins. This was my experience when I started practicing. It's true though that some people are naturally very stiff (like I was), but with practice even stiff people can become very flexible. They half jokingly say that the first 10 years are the hardest, then it gets a bit easier. It's a very rewarding practice though, and the rewards will keep you going. In my case, the rewards started to happen after about a month or two (more energy, better mood).

What works well for many people to get started is to take an 1.5 hours class once every 3 days, to keep the momentum going. If you practice once a week, then you are almost starting back from zero every time. But Tobi's advice to do some gentle practice every day also works (if that suits your style).

PeacefulOne 15-07-2017 05:32 PM

I'm in my late 50s and have been practising yoga for about five and a half years. All my life I've had tight hamstrings - even as a child I couldn't touch my toes. When I sit in the position you described I can't get as far as my ankles - I suspect because I started yoga later in life than most people I'll never be really flexible, although I have noticed some improvement since I started.

However, it's really not important to be flexible, yoga isn't about that. I get the impression you are learning from a book - yoga books tend to have pictures of very flexible people demonstrating the poses. If you went to a class (especially a beginners' class) you would notice that not everyone is flexible. I really feel I am benefiting from yoga - it helps me to feel calm.

My advice would be, as you are practising yoga, to breathe smoothly and keep a soft face. One of my yoga teachers used to say this - if you find it impossible to do, you may be pushing yourself too hard. Yoga is not a competition anyway, you just do what you can.

Green.Heals 22-07-2017 01:11 AM

Have you seen this video called; Never, Ever Give Up. Arthur's Inspirational Transformation!" on YouTube??

That starts to utilize yoga, from assisted cane's, to full use of his own body back? Where he fails, fails, fails, falls, and fails again? Maybe it was a leg or back injury he had, I just can't remember.

He practiced at home on his own, maybe in groups too? I don't recall, over a year or two, and put on muscle, strengthened his core, mind, spirit...flexibility.

AmberLarson 17-11-2017 02:24 PM

You are so worng. Yoga is for everybody! Of course, we all have different bodies, someone is super flexible, someone no. But it doesn't mean you should give up. Just keep doing yoga and be patient.

Badcopyinc 31-01-2018 06:25 PM

I'm super flexible in some places. but not in others.

I work on the places i want to stretch better every night before practicing yoga.
I've been opening up my hips for over two weeks now and only progressed inches. but that feels monumental to me!

Keep going after what you want. don't let your brain discourage your heart!

Golden Eagle 04-02-2018 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spotted&HerbaceousSmall
I've been practicing yoga for a few months now, but I've hit a snag - I don't seem to be flexible enough to do anything.

I don't go to classes at the minute (saving up) but I read that I should work on the 'Big Toe Forward Bend', but when I try I can make about a 90 degree bend at the waist and that's it.. If I round my back I can just about touch my ankles, but my hamstrings (at least I assume that's the one that's causing the problem- its from about halfway down the back of my thigh to the back of my knee) so tight that I can hold that position for about seconds before I physically pop up like a cork :tongue:

Is it possible to be too inflexible for yoga? Anyone got any suggestions for poses to help beat the bounce back?


CLASSICAL STRETCH with Miranda Esmounde-White //// THE BEST PROGRAM you will ever find for this /////// 23 minutes a day and it is FREE on PBS , pbs.org/

ocean breeze 09-03-2018 07:12 AM

Yoga can be brutal. When i first started doing yoga all the students and even the yoga instructor started laughing at me, making fun of me for not being flexible enough. I remember on my third week i walked in the studio and the instructor said "what are you still doing here turtle legs" and everyone turned around and laughed. Eventually i got kicked out for not being flexible enough with the yoga instructor calling me a disgrace to the yoga studio during yoga class. Yelling at the top of her lungs. Be careful, yoga can be vicious. :grommit:




:icon_jokercolor:

Mr Interesting 10-03-2018 02:29 AM

Oh, I sorry to hear that Ocean Breeze. How profoundly inflexible of these people to be so judgemental. I'm hoping you'd either find somewhere else to practice or at least take up simple exercises at home. There is a good website called yinyoga which, at the moment, I'm using myself to get back into it slowly.


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