on developing ROM in a sustainable, safe way

long story short: I'm a yoga teacher who is very interested in optimizing body performance and health of tissues both for myself and my students.

I have been practicing the foundation protocols since October 2014 and have also signed up for the Handstand and Stretching courses and really enjoying these (and so have the yoga students I have shared some of the basic exercises with in class).

I wanted to post links to a blog written by Jules Mitchell, a yogini who is doing her Master's Thesis on the biomechanics and science of stretching. She has some pretty amazing insight into how the body works (much of it contradicts a lot of what is present in common knowledge about flexibility, including the yoga world). In fact, the only program in which I have found some of the principles she is researching to be applied thoroughly is in the Gymnastics bodies' stretch program, which had me excited when I started because this program seems to have been generated through the years, likely a product of much trial and error and effectiveness in function. 

here is one of her most relevant posts to the subject:

http://www.julesmitchell.com/stretching-and-muscle-control/

A highlight of the post is that one of the main determinants for increased ROM is stretching tolerance (i.e. nervous system 'allows' it), rather than muscles that have become longer through stretching. She does a better job at explaining it than I could so I'll let you check out the link!

Happy training

It is very interesting to compare stretching methods from different schools i.e. Mongolian contortion, rhythmic gymnastics, ballet and of course the one that gets the most attention - yoga.  It is important to consider the goals, history, etc. of that particular discipline and the movement the creators wanted to achieve, for yoga perhaps the goal was to be able to sit around and meditate?  I occasionally do yoga on active rest days and am always surprised when people consider it their training but confused when people adopt a practice with a history geared towards meditation in order to achieve strength or flexibility goals.  

dmcmanam said:

It is very interesting to compare stretching methods from different schools i.e. Mongolian contortion, rhythmic gymnastics, ballet and of course the one that gets the most attention - yoga.  It is important to consider the goals, history, etc. of that particular discipline and the movement the creators wanted to achieve, for yoga perhaps the goal was to be able to sit around and meditate?  I occasionally do yoga on active rest days and am always surprised when people consider it their training but confused when people adopt a practice with a history geared towards meditation in order to achieve strength or flexibility goals.  

Yoga's history is a mixed bag of methods and practices. One definition I like of yoga is that it is the science of spirituality. In other words, ideally, it's whatever tool or method that can help an individual connect with a deeper sense of self. Ironically, the most popular form of yoga in the West, postural yoga, is one of the 'newest' versions of the practice. Even more ironic is that it has its roots in the West, most likely from Scandinavian calisthenic methods from the 19th century. These methods made their way into India and were assimilated into some hatha yoga lineages ('hatha' is a sanskrit word that means forceful). So from a handful (10-40ish depending on who you ask) of postures practiced mostly for physical and nervous system balancing and geared towards an empowered meditation practice, yoga took on this identity as a postural powerhouse. 

Having invested many years in yoga, martial arts, competitive sports, I was really happy to find gymnastic bodies as I find the foundation program is one of the most effective strength-rom-health generating methods I have come across. Practicing it, I have naturally brought a lot of its foundational principals and exercises into my yoga classes and have gotten some great feedback from students.

Anyhow, there is a small group of yogis out there who are attempting to make yoga teachers and students more accountable to deepening their knowledge about what they are doing physically, and some of these voices are quite awesome. Jules Mitchell, who is the blogger I linked in the original post, isn't just a yoga teacher but also has a masters in bio-mechanics. Her writing on connective tissue health is really really really good, and anyone involving in coaching of any kind, whether gymnastics, cross-fit, yoga, or other, would benefit from it!

I was doing some further reading into the modern roots of yoga and found out that it's likely that much of the yoga posture practice done today might have its roots in the gymnastic systems of Ling, Maclaren, and Dane Niels Bukh (and his 'primitive gymnastic' series from the early 20th century).

The gymnastics component likely fused with cultural ideas of yoga and created this very new practice of yoga emphasizing posture.

so... similar roots, eh?

 photo from Bukh 1925