Lengthening -- what does it feel like? 

Not much at all!

Lift your arm as far as it goes comfortably.  The muscles on top are doing the concentric contractions (getting shorter and bunchier) and the muscles on the bottom are doing the eccentric contractions (getting longer and leaner.) 

And while you're comfortably lifting you arm, what does it feel like in your muscles?  How does it feel in the muscles that are lengthening?  

Pretty much "nothing" right?

When you start to feel something is when the muscle can no longer get longer even though you want to move the bones further -- like maybe you're contracting the top muscles, but the bottom muscles have hit their limit  and the proprioceptors are like, "whoa there Nellie!  this is all we can do!"    

This is usually the sensation of "stretching."  But it's really a message the muscle can't do any more.  (Which, newsflash, you're not actually lengthening the muscle at that point, you're setting up a little dialogue of resistance which feels good, yes, and also is not resulting in the bones moving further apart.)

It's an indication of "that's all folks."

Or is it?

What if, when you find this sensation, you quit lifting/stretching just a titch so the sensation goes away and then you ask the lengthening muscle to lengthen.  

The place where you felt the sensation, this is a place that is still bunchy that forgot to get long and lean.  So that place where the sensation was, think of ironing that out.  Or squishing it to make it longer.  Or it telescopes somehow so that it ends up getting longer and leaner -- in whatever way is opposite to the short and bunchy it was previously doing.

Notice what happens when you wait for the muscle to lengthen.  Did you arm move?  Or did you move your arm more easily?  Did you have greater range of motion with no sensation?  (How do we even know we're moving anything if it doesn't feel like anything?!)

  Any Yoga Pose, Any Movement Will Do

You can do this moving into any yoga pose.  Forward bend ... what do you feel 'stretching' first?  Hamstrings, calves, lower back, buttocks?   Just as you come into the sensation of a stretch, back away from it so you feel nothing and ask the muscle to lengthen.  Then move only until there is sensation.   Back away from it so you feel nothing and ask the muscle to lengthen.  Continue this way!  

Side Triangle ... lots to chose from here!  What do you feel first?  Something in your front leg, your back leg, your chest?  An arm?  Your neck?  Whatever you feel first, back away a smidge and ask the muscle to lengthen itself.  Send it a picture of it getting longer and leaner, flatter to the bones, pushing them away from each other.

In class, at first this seemed like an exercise to try the patience of a saint.  Sixty minutes into it, we didn't want to quit!

And the big movements were really quite small by the time we got done.  You find the edge, back away, ask the muscle to lengthen, move until you find the next edge.  

For me, a simple chin tuck will activate all kinds of things in my back.  At this point, it can help to know a little more about where the muscles really are, and plenty can also be done guided by sensation alone.

Did you give this a whirl?  What did you notice?  Share if you like!

More to come!

Lynn

4/6/20