Episode 2: A Self-Care Strategy
Are you making the time to take care of yourself? In today's episode I break down one really important form of self-care.
Listen Here:
Show Notes:
Introduction
Importance of stretching as a form of self-care.
Benefits of a regular stretching routine, including pain-free movement, reduced muscle tension, and enhanced mind-body connection.
Finding the Best Position for Stretching
Lying on your back as an ideal starting position.
Alternative positions such as sitting in a chair or on a bed, table, or sofa.
Breathing and Stretching: A Powerful Combination
Focusing on slow, steady breaths during stretching.
Benefits of mindful breathing, including oxygen supply to muscles and calming the nervous system.
Making Time for Stretching
Scheduling dedicated time for stretching in your week.
Building a stretching habit for long-term benefits.
How Long Should You Hold a Stretch?
No one-size-fits-all answer.
General guideline: holding stretches for up to two minutes when feeling tight, broken into shorter segments or held for the full duration without strain or discomfort.
Importance of listening to your body and adjusting the duration of stretches accordingly.
The Eight Key Stretches for Pain-Free Movement
Cari Vann's top eight stretches targeting the arms, shoulders, low back, and muscles of the legs and hips.
Customizing and expanding your stretching routine based on individual needs and progress.
Conclusion
The transformative effects of stretching on overall well-being.
Encouragement to start a stretching journey and tune into the "Better Than a Pill" podcast for more insights, tips, and inspiration.
Key Takeaways:
Stretching is a crucial aspect of self-care that can lead to pain-free movement, reduced muscle tension, and an enhanced mind-body connection.
Focusing on slow, steady breaths during stretching helps to supply oxygen to muscles, calm the nervous system, and increase the effectiveness of the stretching routine.
Scheduling dedicated time for stretching and building a habit is essential for long-term benefits.
There's no one-size-fits-all approach to holding stretches; it's crucial to listen to your body and adjust the duration of stretches accordingly.
Incorporating Cari Vann's top eight stretches into your routine can serve as a strong foundation for a successful stretching practice that can be customized and expanded based on individual needs and progress.
Transcript Notes:
Hello everyone and welcome back to Better Than a Pill. I'm Cari Vann and I'm so grateful and excited to be here to share with you again today. In today's episode, I'm going to be giving you the scoop on stretching.
Now as we talked about last week, stretching is a powerful pillar to pain-free movement.
As I said before, and I'll say it again and probably keep saying it, I view stretching as a form of self-care. Ideally, you want to gradually begin to implement stretching into your week so that the stretches are becoming a habit and then part of your lifestyle.
Now, if you are able, it is best to start your stretching program lying on your back, and this can be done on a supportive mat or even a bed.
Lying on your back will allow you to relax a bit more as you begin the process. However, that is not always the case and I just want you to know that there are many ways to modify and bring your stretching to other positions, including sitting in a chair or sitting on a bed, table, or sofa.
Stretching is where you begin to pay attention, to actually learn to connect with your body and how it's feeling. This is such a lovely and needed experience to have. It is also important to focus on your breathing while stretching.
Slowing down and focusing on your breathing through a slow steady inhale followed by a slow steady exhale not only provides oxygen to your muscles and body but also slows down the nervous system. This directly relates to your muscles and can aid in reducing tension. So there is value in taking the time to slow down and breathe and really pay attention and feel each stretch position.
Now, I will say if you are limited on time, which happens, it happens to all of us and it happens to me, you will still benefit from getting in the movements involved in stretching. It is ideal, though, if at some point in your week you can spend a little bit more time and benefit even more.
So really your main focus should become when are you going to make time to schedule the simple task into your week, then you can begin reaping the benefits.
One question I get all of the time is how long should I hold a stretch? Well, I can give you some general guidelines and I will. However, I want you to realize that there is no black or white when it comes to specific duration and I've learned this over time and through experience it is more subjective and I will expand upon this.
In general, it has been my experience that when you're really tight, you may need to hold a stretch for up to two minutes. This could be done by breaking it up into smaller segments of 20 to 30 seconds coming in and out of the stretch as needed. Or you could hold it for longer periods of time, even up to the full two minutes, as long as there is no strain or discomfort.
If you're not feeling tight in a certain stretch, then guess what? You don't have to hold it, but it is still important to check in. And when we are feeling our bodies, it can vary from day to day.
So that's the value of checking in. For example, I may have no tension in my shoulders when I check in with the stretch. I could do that same stretch after 4 hours of working at my desk on the computer, and that is a totally different situation even after 4 hours.
As you begin to develop your stretch routine, you will begin to notice patterns in your own body and also patterns that seem to stay a little more consistent. For example, you may have more consistent tightness in your right hip than your left. This could be due to a number of factors, movement, history, and so on. But it's important to note and those things are always subject to change.
Now, let's say you are tight and you need to hold the stretch a little bit longer. How do you know when you feel improvement in holding the stretch? This is important. There are a couple of ways. Some people are able to sense the release in their muscle while they're holding it.
This is less common, especially in the beginning for most people, and it also depends on how in tune you are with your body. So I always recommend actually holding a stretch and then coming out of it and going back into it to see if you feel improvement based upon the first time you did it.
Most people can sense whether there has been a change or not. And if you're still feeling tight, then you need to repeat that, hold it, go back out, and come back in again.
Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about what parts of our body do we want to be stretching and checking in with? Ideally, this would include the arms, our shoulders, our low back, all the muscles of our legs and hips. This is a great starting point.
And then you can build upon this once you are used to the stretches. Now, there are actually eight key stretches that I teach to start, and they are essential for pain-free movement. These are based on my years of experience, and this is a great place to start with these eight stretches.
And again, I just kind of went through in general what those would include, and based on individual needs and knowing what positions are okay for your body, you can then add and keep adding on to this until you're armed in this department.
I hope this information has been helpful for you. Remember, we'll be here on Wednesdays every week, and I look forward to you joining next week too. Take care.