Improving flexibility

Reyesuela

New Member
I'm getting to the point in my dancing where flexibility is becoming a major issue for me. I did dance and gymnastics as a kid but never could get much flexibility, and now I really do care that I can't do the splits or a really deep back bend. I've got more flexibility now from ballroom than I've ever had, but it's enough for fairly standard moves and dips, etc., but not near enough for some of the crazy tricks.

Has anyone who's started really tight developed some serious flexibility? If so, HOW, exactly? I've had stretch routines in ballet, gymnastics, track, cross country...and nothing's ever helped much.
 
I found that Feldenkrais made the biggest difference in my flexibility. It's all about releasing habitual muscle holding (that you don't udsually even realize you're doing). It made me able to do things I never could before.
 
Check out feldenkraisresources.com. They have lots of stuff.

To try it out, this site has some lessons for free:

http://www-ccs.ucsd.edu/~falk/openatm/

If you left-click on a specific lesson, it will play on your computer. You can right-click to download the lessons.

If you're not familiar with Feldenkrais:

Feldenkrais is a movement/body awareness technique that I've found really helpful in improving my body awareness, flexibility, and posture. If you want to give it a try, the site has a series of lessons you can listen to and follow. The titles listed for the lessons aren't that informative, but a lot of lessons end up involving most of the body anyway, so it's worth it to experiment with different lessons.

If you haven't done Feldenkrais before, a couple of basic principles will help:

Bigger is not better. Small movements done smoothly and with awareness are more effective. The point of Feldenkrais is not to build or stretch muscle but to train the mind-muscle connection, so the quality and experience of the movement is more important than the exertion, speed, or range of motion. If you're moving too big or too fast to really be aware of what the movement feels like inside yourself, slow down and move smaller.

Enjoy the movement. Really try to take pleasure in it. There should be no pain in Feldenkrais. If something hurts, make the motion even smaller or adjust your position to be more comfortable. If you can't do it at all without pain, just lie there and visualize/imagine doing the motion. Your brain will react at least partly as if you are doing the motion and you'll still get some benefit from it. In fact, I've sometimes seen more dramatic results from imagining a movement than from doing it (too bad dancing's not like that!).

Enjoy!
 
Agreed with WG. Having done both, I believe it to have a slightly more profoundity than even Tai Chi.
 
i still haven't checked it out, WG, but i want to... am gonna check out someone locally this week.

how did you explore this yourself... did you see someone weekly?
 
I've taken a weekly class and some day-long and week-long workshops, as well as occasionally having private lessons. Right now I'm mostly using CDs.
 
I've recently started gyrotonics. It's another one of those body awareness/flexibility/strength things, and as such it doesn't look or feel like anything when you're doing it...but afterwards...oh my. I actually overdid my first two sessions and had to take a week off while my muscles caught up. I'm going again today.
 
one of my pilates teachers does gyrotonics at her studio... read a bit about it... looks intriguing to me
 
That looks intriguing to me too. I checked for a local Gyrotonics studio and they charge 75.00 USD per session. Is this a typical price? How is it different from more typical pilates and gymnastic movements?
 
trying to download... for some reason it doesn't give me the option to "save target as". it only plays straightaway on my PC. i'd love to have this collection of exercises on my ipod...

waltzgirl, does it let you save when you right-click?
 
That looks intriguing to me too. I checked for a local Gyrotonics studio and they charge 75.00 USD per session. Is this a typical price? How is it different from more typical pilates and gymnastic movements?

Is that for a private session?
 
That looks intriguing to me too. I checked for a local Gyrotonics studio and they charge 75.00 USD per session. Is this a typical price? How is it different from more typical pilates and gymnastic movements?
I pay slightly less than that for a private with an experienced trainer. I'll eventually switch to semi-privates with a friend, and we'll each pay something like $45 with the same trainer.

For me, Pilates is a lot more about core strength, where gyro is more about whole body fluid motion. Of course this perception is shaped by my own personal needs and goals and the teaching focus of my trainers.
 

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