During my most recent teacher training session my asana teacher discussed things that may affect one's flexibility in yoga besides tightness of muscles. They included:
* bone structure (differs slightly person to person)
* gender (as a general rule women tend to be more flexible overall)
* time of day (ie in the morning we tend to be stiffer)
* temperature of the room/body
* amount of sleep one has had
* foods recently ingested - the more toxins, the less flexibility
I hadn't truly realised the effect of food on flexibility. This awareness may help me to curb my chocolate and coffee addictions!
Can anyone add to this list?
great list : ) so true! I'm going to add this to my blog!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you also mentioned bone structure as your first point - so often students get frustrated at their lack of power here and more often than not it is bone structure.. (along with the other points)
thanks x
yes it came as a big surprise to me that variation in bone structure could be a factor. it's definitely something I'll mention to my students (when I have some!) to try to help them relax and be comfortable with what their body can do.
ReplyDeletethanks for reading!
I am interested in the food aspect of flexibility. Did your teacher give you a list of foods that makes you more/less flexible?
ReplyDeletethanx
Mangotree, no unfortunately we haven't covered that yet, but when we do I will post about it. I did a google search about it, but most of the sites that came up were just advertising health products that claim to increase flexibility, rather than discussing foods.
ReplyDelete