Stretching
Muscles and joints, tensions and stresses. A stretch is both splendid as a concept and as an action. It has taken my heart for many reasons. In brief, it deserves my first ode for making oneself more limber, adjustable to the ebbs and flows of everyday life and able to master daily chores in an elegance that turns the mundane to works of art life mastery.
After the proper stretching your body vibrates on a plane where you constantly think how happy and wonderful your body is, how you should stretch more often, how much more you are able to now accomplish, how much more well placed life is! I’m not over exaggerating. Well it’s at least possible to feel that way, and like most things it takes time and consistency.
A stretch is a way for you to communicate directly with your body. You talk to it and it talks back to you. Taking yourself into a state of discomfort, not pain, you allow your mind to focus, and acknowledge that moment, the sensations, the breath, the feeling of your skin, the warmth of your muscles.
For me it’s an easy way to calm down and stop having my mind wander to all the things I need to do and whatever direction my overworked mind would take me (which isn’t always pleasant). It’s also a way for me to start doing daily activities like picking up my girlfriend’s magazines off the floor, or reaching for dishes two stories high, or waiting in line…with purpose! Not to mention my agility and dexterity has benefitted from my daily stretching ten-fold.
How can you start adding stretching more into your daily life? Think about a morning stretch routine. Notice where you especially need help, which side is tighter than the other, and focus on those areas whenever you can. Public stretching is not considered rude but a facet of multi-tasking, although the key with public stretching is to have it blend in what your typical movements so people think nothing more of it than a compliment to your elegance.
