Flexibility... So many people do not realize how important this is!　　　　　

Making our bodies flexible and/or maintaining physical flexibility is extremely beneficial and yet too many people just do not even think about it!

From personal experience and observation, I can say with most confidence that there are just too many good things in keeping the human body flexible.

　　　　　　　　

One example of many benefits of being flexible is, less injury due to greater range of motion in the joints, compared to bodies that have stiff and limited range of motion and therefore are prone to hyper-extending a limb.

Furthermore, the mind and body are one. By making the body flexible, the mind can become flexible as well.

In traditional eastern medicine, the saying goes "where ever a part of the human body is pulled and stretched, blood and ki (chi) will flow". Stretching exercise is practically making one's own blood and energy flow within one's body, by oneself.

Stretching exercise will give the muscles moderate amount of stimulation to maintain the tone and strength the muscles have.

Recent research is discovering that when performing stretching exercises, the human body produces hormones that actually boosts the human mind to a more positive, healthier state. 　

　　　　

Having known all these effects beforehand or not, many calisthenics from ancient times such as yoga almost always contain some form of stretch-exercise routine. And beginning to realize these wonderful stretching effects of such calisthenics or not, their popularity seem to be exploding in this stressful modern world. This "trend" will probably fade away eventually, but proper understanding of the true benefits and effects of stretching can be a lifetime treasure.

If anyone reading this page has become determined to put stretching exercise into practice, please just be sure to remember the golden rule of "taking it SLOWLY, one step at a time". No matter how easy it may seem to be, taking it very slow in the beginning, and keeping it up for days, week, and then months, is the secret as well as the biggest challenge of stretching exercises. The ultimate goal, is to be able to “relax” any part of “un-relaxed” muscle within your body. Very much easily said than done, as “relaxing one’s body” is perhaps the most difficult thing to accomplish, to us modern humans.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Considering the aim is to "loosen the human body's tension", stretching, massage, and shiatsu all have the same goal. Only the approach is seemingly different, but ultimately, the approach is actually all the same. Ideally, receiving massage or shiatsu will bring one's attention to where the body stores tension, what it feels like to have those tensions loosened, and have all that information stored in the body's memory. Once one becomes capable of locating and loosening tensions throughout his/her body, then one becomes capable of self-healing and self-maintaining. It is certainly not something one can achieve overnight, but massage and shiatsu therapists like myself can serve as a "guide" for everyone aiming to achieve this state.

If one is completely without any idea how to start or what to do in order to begin stretching exercises, receiving a good massage or shiatsu therapy may be a good start. And FEEL what it is like to be loose, and experiment on how such "looseness" can be maintained in everyday life.

What seems to be forgotten, is that we should protect our own bodies, and our bodies deserve proper maintenance. The wonderful part is, this "proper maintenance" is actually "a great-feeling maintenance". Flexibility.....enough said!!

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