Is flexibility one of your 2021 resolutions?
Who has never dreamed of being able to master the most complicated yoga asanas, such as the majestic Eka Pada Rajakapotasana ([One-legged] King Pigeon Pose), or the legendary double-hand Natarajasana (lord of the dance)?
However, how embarrassing is it, when you step on the yoga mat for the first time in your life, feeling as stiff as a board, while everyone else around you looks like they were born on that mat? Good news is, you don’t need yoga classes to become a yogi, and you don’t need to be advanced to improve your flexibility.
Working on flexibility has a lot of benefits for your overall fitness
This is why setting a flexibility goal for yourself is a great idea:
- the greater the ROM around a joint, the more efficient the movements produced by that joint. This means that you will be able to target the muscle correctly, stimulating all the fibres, and recruiting as many motor units as possible. In turn, this will help you achieve your strength or hypertrophy goals;
- stretching a muscle group after exercising can help reduce DOMS and speed up recovery;
- the more relaxed your muscle, the more relaxed your mind: regular practice of yoga and/or other types of stretching have been associated with stress management and overall, individual wellbeing.
1 Item that will make your yoga practice fun and easy
Yogi-me Yoga Mat (by @yogimeuk) is a revolutionary item that will turn your at-home yoga sessions into fun moments to look forward to: it is a yoga mat, with a full, laser printed flow on. It was originally designed for children however it can be just as helpful for beginners, too.
It comes in many different colours and 2 different flows to choose from: sun salutation, or freedom flow. Choosing the right colour was hard for me, as they all looked amazing however, I decided to go for the purple one, purple like the colour of my aura, according to someone who saw it. As to the flow, the choice was hard, too, and I eventually picked the sun salutation, as it is a different variation from the one I am used to doing, and I wanted to see how easy or hard it effectively was, to learn a new sequence just by looking at the images and reading the captions.
Well, the time-lapse down below speaks for itself: easy, fun, and QUICK!!! This mat will make it possible to improve your flexibility at home, without stress, and in as little as 5 minutes a day.
Feel free to check out and support Yogi-me on Instagram, for daily yoga inspiration. If you are considering purchasing Yogi-me Yoga Mat, I would really appreciate it, if you could use my Amazon Affiliate link: it is a free way to support both me and the seller. 🙂
Namaste,
Gaia
If you are interested in bringing more mindfulness into your strength training, you might want to read this old post of mine: How to Gain more Strength with a Mindful Workout.
References
Vempati, R.P. and Shirley Telles. 2002. ‘Yoga-Based Guided Relaxation Reduces Sympathetic Activity Judged from Baseline Levels’. Psychological Reports 90(2):487-494. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.2002.90.2.487