Why Aren't You Flexible Yet?

New Perspectives on Flexibility Training

Maybe you go to yoga class every day. Maybe you stretch every day before you play basketball or before you hit the aikido mat. Maybe you are one of those people who has gotten more flexibility by stretching every day. Maybe you were stretched by a ballet teach or kung fu master as a child and have retained that muscle memory. But for the vast majority of people who participate in these activities, who stretch and attempt to push their flexibility many times a week or even daily, they never manage to achieve the range of motion they desire. It's easy to blame genetics, or the fact that you are too old, but studies show that flexibility can in fact be increased in nearly everyone into their 90s (https://www.hfe.co.uk/blog/exercise-for-older-adults-even-over-90s/?srsltid=AfmBOop4dMc0M5vFLs6iicJ1SViGlZJ_wj5YUOtM-2s1CiBPMVAGyUys&utm_source=chatgpt.com). So what exactly is at play when we attempt to increase flexibility and why are the results for many of us so limited? This post will delve into the science of flexibility and show how the Feldenkrais Method® can help us to increase our range of motion in a smart and safe way.

Muscles Don't Stretch: Your Mind Does

Or at least your nervous system does. The paradigm that many of us grew up with was one of "short" hamstrings and "lengthening" muscles through force. In this view, the body becomes like silly putty to be stretched, or a sculpture to be adjusted. Many of us torture ourselves by forcing stretches past a comfortable range and some even get surgery to lengthen chronically tight muscles. Neuroscience research in the 21st century has started to show us that this view of flexibility is not entirely accurate and that in reality, the most important muscles to stretch is your brain.

The sensation of limited range of motion at the end of a stretch is known as the "stretch reflex": it is your body's way of protecting you from getting your limbs ripped off. When a part of yourself starts to move in a range that feels unsafe to your nervous system, it reacts with pain and stiffness, signaling that you should cease and desist from whatever you are doing. Not a bad protection mechanism in theory. The issue arrises from the fact that the nervous system will activate the stretch reflex when you start to move in non-habitual ways, even when there is no danger present. Yogi Jenni Rawlings discusses how our habits form the stretch reflex in the central nervous system and how activating that stretch reflex limits our range of motion:

"For example, if you happen to work on your computer for 8 solid hours a day (and if you don’t take frequent intermittent stretch breaks for your shoulders - hint hint :) ), the CNS (central nervous system) becomes very familiar with the arms-forward position that you use while typing and considers that range safe. Then later, if you decide to do a chest stretch in which you take your arm out to the side and then behind you, the CNS doesn’t feel that that movement is safe because you so rarely go there, so it will limit your range very early on in the stretch." (https://jennirawlingsblog.com/blog/stretching-is-in-your-brain-a-new-paradigm-of-flexibility-yoga-part-1)

Essentially, we have trained our nervous systems to only be comfortable with movement in a certain range and of a certain quality. Our muscles are not tight, our nervous system is just habituated to a certain way of doing things, and it doesn't appreciate being changed through force. It's stubborn in that way. But this doesn't mean we can't become more flexible: on the contrary, understanding how nervous system habits control our range of motion gives us the tools to increase flexibility effectively and safely. Trainer Tyler Kleinhuizen summarizes this nicely:

"The key to improving flexibility lies in understanding how your nervous system creates movement. When you actively engage your muscles to move your body in a certain direction, your nervous system signals not only the muscles you're using but also the opposite muscles to lengthen, allowing for efficient cooperation and a smooth range of motion. However, when your nervous system detects a potential threat or danger, such as past injuries or poor posture, it may contract some muscles protectively to stop you from going too far. This protective mechanism can result in co-contraction and limited range of motion, even when there's no actual injury or danger present." (https://www.evoperformancerehab.com/blog/why-your-flexibility-isnt-about-your-muscles-but-your-nervous-system)

This might all make sense intellectually, but how do we go about developing our nervous system in such a way as to actually increase flexibility? How do we increase our range of motion to reduce stiffness and pain if we are not going to have a Russian acrobat sit on us while we are in the splits? These are great questions and the answer is: developing awareness.

Flexibility Is About Awareness

I used to train with a legendary contortion coach Gunnar Field and I remember him telling me that; "Flexibility is all about awareness - people who are "naturally" flexible often just managed to develop more awareness of their bodies at a young age." I couldn't fully understand this approach at the time, but now I think he's right on. Increased range of motion relies on your nervous system feeling safe when you move and elongate. If you continually struggle against your stretch reflex, trying to push past it, you will condition your nervous system to feel stressed in that moment of extreme range. However, if you feel strong, supported, and oriented as you move into a "stretch" you might find the same position quite easy and attainable. By orienting the various parts of oneself in space and gaining awareness of the intricate movements of our bodies, we realize how the bones can slide and move in concert with the whole system. The result is ease of motion and increasing range of motion, without pushing yourself in a way that runs counter to awareness.

Developing awareness is as elusive as it is obvious (to quote Moshe Feldenkrais), but it is also a tangible skill to develop. How do we approach flexibility and range of motion in the Feldenkrais Method®? By reducing effort and focusing on one pattern of movement, so that we can feel more. By sensing how we move one bone in relationship to another, the shape of a joint, the parasitic effort we didn't know we were holding, the weight of our arm or leg, and more, we are able to get a clearer picture of where we are in space and how we use our body. With this approach, small actions can yield large results and when we go back to our colloquial version of "stretching," we find that we have an increased range.

A New Approach to Stretching Beyond Your Limits

Here's the takeaway: the brain and nervous system are in charge of muscular action. To reach the full range of our flexibility we need to develop our understanding of how we are already moving and how we hold tension. We need to understand how the stretch reflex works and work with it, not against it. There's no reason you can't increase your flexibility right now, no matter what age or level of ability you are at. Even small shifts in awareness can start to unlock flexibility you might have

thought was impossible. Explore how these principles can work for you.