Reciprocal Inhibition...Secret to improve our flexibility

I have seen many students come to Yoga class with primary focus on improving flexibility. In fact, even I started with the same intention but later moved on. I used to push myself, or get pushed to become more flexible. I went to an extent, to find some magical herbs which could make me flexible J Least did I know the nature of human body. In this blog let us discuss one of the nature’s secrets to improve flexibility. In medical terminology it is called- Reciprocal Inhibition. Let us not get into too much of details about this medical nomenclature.  

Polarity is nature’s nature. positive-negative, day-night, ascending-descending, active-passive and let us not forget male-female :) etc. These forces are apparently contradictory, but essentially they go hand in hand and are harmonious. This is why I feel equality is myth, harmony is natural. Even in our body there are such contradictory forces, but at one given point of time, only one manifests over the other. There are forces that energize our body and that calms us down and that is how activity and rest is perfectly harmonised. Even to move a limb these forces act in a perticular way that some muscles contract and some muscles expand, to allow a smooth movement. For example- To bend our elbow joint, biceps contract and triceps expand. To bend knee joint, hamstring contracts and quadriceps expand.

Sounds very simple and logical, right? Exactly! This is so simple, that this action happens so fast and reflexively without involving our mind. If we contract some muscles (Agonists) to move a joint then there are always opposite set of muscles (Antagonists) which relax or expand, reflexively. The more we contract one set of muscles; the opposite set of muscles expand more . This is called reciprocal inhibition in medical terminology. So, the more we want to stretch a muscle the more we need to consciously contract the opposite muscle (In medical terminology it is called Agonist-Antagonist pair). This is the secret to improve flexibility. We can use this logic consciously in our Yoga practice. In our practice, we need to be attentive of our breathing as well, to make optimum benefit of this concept. We need to breathe in a controlled manner, and contract our muscles during exhalations. 

A few Yoga asanas where we can apply this concept -

•          Paschimottanasana, Janu Sirsasana, Uttanasana, Adho mukha svanasana or any forward bending: Consciously contract quadriceps to extend hamstring to improve forward bending. This is the reason why in Iyengar yoga traditional classes we are asked to pull our kneecaps up when we bend forward. I have explained the need and how to pull up the knee caps in my blog "Yoga tips: Should we pull up knee caps or not?"
•          Bhujangasana, urdhva mukha svanasana: We contract buttock muscles, calf muscles to stretch your front body.

We cannot hasten the process of stretching, but, we can apply this method slowly, steadily, breath by breath, every minute. Although it appears simple, wrong application can cause complex injuries. It is advisable to practice this under the supervision of an experienced Yoga teacher. Let us discuss more about enhancing our flexibility in upcoming blogs. Having said this, it is vital to make our mind flexible to comprehend that Yoga is not mere body flexibility.

I thank my good friend, sports physiotherapist, Dr. Gladson Johnson (www.attitudeprime.com) under whom I learnt wealth of techniques related to human anatomy and its application to Yoga. 

After all, an ounce of practice is always better than thousands of theories! This concept is applicable across asana practice and I would be eager to hear more from your practice J

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References:

[1] “Anatomy of Hatha Yoga” by H. David Coulter

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reciprocal_inhibition

What is Thyaga? The concept of letting go

There are many instances where I have heard people say “you need to let go to be happy”. What should I let go? How will I know that? Does letting go mean I should sacrifice everything and run to Himalayas? Should I give money/food to needy? No one answered these questions convincingly and I realized that many use such statements very lightly. Probe a little they will be as clueless as you are :) Finally I got the answer to my question. Let us understand the concept of letting go or “Thyaga” in this blog. Before we start, try to introspect the questions I have raised. Remember, we learn only through enquiry.

Indian thought system says that we need to let go all the obstacles in our life and hold on to those that are essential. Hmm..If we think deeper, this sounds like a very subjective statement. What is essential to me may not be essential to others and what is my obstacle can be some one’s boon. For example- Some can argue that eating food 6 times a day is essential to them, or wearing an expensive jewellery is essential to them. So we should define words “essential” and “obstacle” in order to understand this concept.

Indian thought system clarifies this point by saying that essential and obstacles are those that act or doesn't act as means to ultimate realisation ("Nirvana", also called, “Samadhi” is a Yogic term). This ultimate realisation is everyone’s goal of life. (What is this ultimate realisation is out of this blog's scope. Read blog: “What is God? Let us understand scientifically…” to get an idea of God). For now imagine realisation to be a stage where we have complete control of our energy. Figuratively, we can play with our energy!!! This is the state we are talking here. Anything which acts as a means to our goal is essential, otherwise it is not. Obstacles are an end in itself and will not take us anywhere. We go to temple or worship God/Guru daily because we think temple/God/Guru to be a means to our realisation but if we think going to temple or worshiping God itself is an end then even this act becomes an obstacle. Now the question is, How do we know whether something is a means to my end goal or not?

Experience…We experience a state of happiness/bliss when we do something which is essential. Now, we may question, drinking alcohol daily gives me happiness, smoking gives me happiness etc etc. But lets ask ourself whether that is taking us anywhere closer to our goal. These experiences are deteriorating our health both mentally and physically. Thoughts, feelings, desires, relationships, possessions and the sense of me culminates in to obstacles in life in the path of realisation. Right experience of happiness is the one that uplifts us towards our goal, the one that gives us fulfillment and doesn't make us regret about it anytime. These are the kinds of experiences which we should value.

So to summarise, “let go the obstacles in life which are not acting as a means towards our end goal and learn from our experiences as to what is essential. Essentials will give us happiness/bliss and will uplift us towards our goal”

I hope you understood the concept. On behalf of you all, I would express my sincere thanks to my good friend, my philosophy teacher, Research scholar - Swaroop Sharma, for answering my questions related to Thyaga.

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