Flexibility and Hypermobility in Yoga
One of the reasons I hear often from people that hesitate to practice Yoga is that they are not flexible enough. However, being flexible is by no means a requirement for practising Yoga, also being very flexible or hypermobile can definitely have its downsides in the long run and make one more prone to injury. How come, you might wonder.
Joints have by nature a certain range of motion, according to each one's bone size, muscle length and ligaments. Whenever we say someone is hypermobile, that means that there is a bigger range of motion on the joint level, most likely in the area of elbows, wrists, fingers and hips and they are relying more on the connective tissues when performing movement and stretching. Our joints in the body are points of contact between different bones, held together by ligaments and then surrounded and stabilised by tendons and muscles. Normally, hypermobility is not a condition that brings pain in the body, however there are cases where this condition is painful, sometimes pointing to a genetic predisposition and this affects other areas of the body or triggers other symptoms like extreme fatigue, thin skin, poor balance or digestive issues and people need to take medication and have adequate rest.
In most cases, we already have an optimal range of motion in our bodies, so we need to learn to work with a balance between excessive and reduced ROM. If our focus is only on gaining mobility, then in time we will sacrifice joint stability, strength and control in the whole anatomy of our body, as some parts will tend to compensate for others. Generally, we are not as mobile in some areas of our body as in others; we could have hyperextension in only 1 or 2 joints in the body or nowhere. Being hypermobile leads in time to degenerative diseases like osteoporosis, especially if coupled with a genetic tendency, chronic pain, fibromyalgia and injury. I myself have hypermobility in some of the joints, which made me very aware of compensating with strength training whenever I can, also as I advance in age and as a woman, since our tissues are becoming less hydrated in time and our muscles stiffer. That is why it is important to understand the physical mechanism of our body's overall structure and stability, how we can maintain good posture and alignment and step out of repeatedly poor patterns, not only in our Yoga practice but also in daily life.
The most sustainable way to work with flexibility is to focus on improved range of motion and improved strength together, not going too much into one direction or another, as too little stress on the joints creates atrophy and too much, progressive degeneration. If the focus is only on passive flexibility or stretching without concentrating on the strength to maintain it in time, then the risk of injury is always going to be present. Ideally we should never feel the stretching sensations in our joints directly, because this affects in time the ligaments which are not elastic by nature so they have a tendency to tear. We should feel the stretch in the muscle area instead. The ligaments are supportive of a joint´ s range of motion, so when it becomes overstretched, it is difficult to provide the support to the joint as before. So then the joint is more prone to injury in time, unless adequate muscle strength is developed around that joint to support the area.
It is important to tune into the body´ s own intelligence, rhythm and pace, in order to grow our own sustainable practice, exploring the edge of each posture, without ever pushing through it. In time, the edge can potentially increase if it is a matter of joint mobility and not bone structure, which has to do with individual anatomy. Skeletal variation is crucial in the way teachers understand the needs and the practice of a student and how or if to adjust any of the asanas to prevent injury. With each movement, we aim to create more length and more space, rather than compression in the body, so in most standing or seated poses for instance, we aim to keep the pelvis neutral and the spine elongated. Paul Grilley explains the concepts of tension and compression as well as skeletal variations, in his book Anatomy of Yoga, pointing us to the importance of cultivating our own Yoga practice according to individual anatomy and needs.
So how often or how far should we stretch in Yoga? The answer is often, but without overstretching. The issue is not that we are practising Yoga, but on how we are practising it. Stretching allows the fascia and connective tissues of the body to stay hydrated, and it promotes health, well-being and a sense of spaciousness in the body. However, we want to be mindful of stretching our joints past the limit, as well as our tendons and ligaments, through extreme forward bending or hip flexing, as this will create further instability in the overall structure of the body.
Any Yoga posture that requires the joint to fully extend and sustain the body weight can cause issues, especially if repeated over time and with improper posture. Some examples of working mindfully with flexibility and hypermobility and muscle engagement in Yoga is for example, to use a slight micro-bending of the knees in some poses rather than hyperextending them or keeping them locked in a certain position, like Warrior 3 or Tree pose, as well as Forward folds. Another example is engaging the muscles in the Side plank or Downward Dog, by bending slightly the elbows in case of hyperextension to engage the muscles and not relying only on the connective tissues, pressing into the thumb and index finger, noticing any subtle differences in the overall stability and alignment of the body and stepping out of the pose or backing off a little, if any pain or discomfort are present.
Yoga is a mindful practice, first of all. The effect on the way Yoga is being promoted nowadays, showing people performing asanas with different binds that require a lot of mobility, is praised and seen as the example or the go-to practice and no examples of meditation, Pranayama or Yoga philosophy are being even mentioned (the key pillars of Yoga alongside asana practice), therefore discouraging the majority of people that perhaps do not have this range of motion to actually start with Yoga. The principles behind the postures, the foundations of the movement, the right amount of concentration and awareness are paramount to the practice, beyond flexibility and range of motion. Even if in some asanas, the hands are not touching the floor (standing or seated forward folds) or the arms cannot sustain the weight of the body like in arm balances or headstands are not fully performed, this is by no means a way to assess the capacity and ability of someone doing Yoga or being considered advanced in the discipline.
Recent studies also show the impact of mindful breathing to flexibility and how conscious slow breathing can beneficially impact any stretching practice, while working with our nervous system. On long mindful exhales, the body elongates more at ease, as the blood pressure and heart rate decrease. Moreover, we can focus on cultivating some important Yoga concepts on the mat, to help us with resilience and mindfulness whenever we feel we are pushing ourselves too much into the form, and not consistently in our essence, e.g. ahimsa, non-violence to our bodies, satya, being honest to ourselves about the possibilities and also the limitations, aparigraha, non-attachment, moving away from an ideal practice, image or goal, to what really is there. Also, we can think about flexibility as not simply a physical trait, but also an invitation to become more open to understanding the language of our bodies, to releasing tension from our minds, it is an attitude. Last but not least, accepting using support and props, everything from bolster to blocks and folded blankets, they are there to help us enhance a pose or find a comfortable way to sustain it and they are not a measure of our performance or success in practising Yoga.
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