Reading in Bed

I've blogged my adventures into Yoga recently. It's been quite a ride. I kind of look at it as the avalanche breaking loose and I'm riding it where it leads! Of all the stretches that have benefited me, so far, my favorite one hits the front of the thigh. It's a basic ballet barre stretch but I haven't been on a ballet barre in several years! So I had to adjust it make it a floor stretch.

The easiest way to think of it is looking at a lying on your belly reading in bed position. Raise up on your elbows, make a slight rotation to place the weight on the thigh, Voila! There are lots of variations on this theme. The skydiver being pretty advanced. It's easier to start by just lying on your belly and pushing your hamstring down with a slight rotation of the hip. Feels like "making a muscle" with the hamstring. It POPS! By slowing continuing the rotation of the hip (the thigh stays pressed against the floor) one can feel the muscles around and within the hip bone flexing the hamstrings in series. Each angle brings some new muscle fiber on board. A little extra push into and just below the hip really hits the top connector tissues. I think it's important to get the hamstring "pop" feel from the hip end before bending the knee. Turning the hands toward the face, pulling the elbows together under the belly, and placing the body weight on the forearms is, for me, an easy way to control the weight and rotation.

I've only been doing this less than a week so it's still very much a work in progress. On the third day I didn't recognize my legs. Going up steps my foot would raise up and seem to float above toward the next one. I thought I was going one stair at a time but my legs wanted two. I had to consciously push it down. The next day my hamstrings felt like balloons. Or rather, my whole body felt like the Eiffel tower on pontoons! Kind of rubbery but stronger than before. Craving movement...

During my stretches today by gluts kicked in. Felt like beach balls! But that story is for another day...