I received this email from my client struggling with West Nile on her Flow Stretching practice (used with permission):
“It’s amazing to hear the remarkable changes that come from something so simple as flow stretching. I’m a true convert. After doing the flow stretching for such a short amount of time, I find any of the stretches I do, yoga included, can be done with more awareness, less ‘get it done’ mind set. I didn’t know Anderson’s book was still around. I’ve used my dog-eared copy, highlighted with scribbled notes, since my early running days.
Now I’m coming up on 2 years since the West Nile, still having issues with back and hips. I can’t imagine what I would have done, had I not started coming to your practice a year ago.”
Thank you!
Just yesterday, I was talking with a friend training to be a yoga instructor. We were musing on the idea of a class that focused completely on the sheer ecstasy of the stretch. Simply feeling the way each muscle moves, each breath in the body, the breeze in the park (we both thought early morning yoga in the park would be great). Talk about a great Hour of Sensuality.
It would alleviate all that worry about competing with your neighbor, stretching too far, getting it right. And while I do believe that form has an important place in many types of movement, it shouldn’t come at the expense of awareness, enjoyment and ecstasy.
