Cro666 said:

I have done some yoga for a while now not as much i should have done it lets say weekly instead of daily. but the workings i did did help me get more flexible. The way i did it was not a 100% relaxed i did put a little but presure on my body to get a little further than i was 100% comfortable with. I mean i was still pretty comfortable i didnt push myself to far, but i did move slightly further every time. at one point it seemed that i did not get any more flexible even tough i was getting more flexible but at a really slow pace.

It can also just be mentaly maybe you want to see results but you dont see it because if you do it frequently or daily you wont see much progress. just think back about how far you came 2 or 3 weeks ago. did you improve in these weeks? if not it might be handy to switch up your routine or maybe push yourself to go a little further just dont reach the point where it becomes uncomfortable.

As an example of what i said, imagine you get a pup you see the pup daily so you dont notice at what pace the pup is growing. a month later you barely see any change or growth in the pup because you have seen him/her daily. but when someone comes over that person will say: wow the pup has really grown hasn't he/she. So the growth is there but you dont notice it yourself.

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Cro666 said:

I have done some yoga for a while now not as much i should have done it lets say weekly instead of daily. but the workings i did did help me get more flexible. The way i did it was not a 100% relaxed i did put a little but presure on my body to get a little further than i was 100% comfortable with. I mean i was still pretty comfortable i didnt push myself to far, but i did move slightly further every time. at one point it seemed that i did not get any more flexible even tough i was getting more flexible but at a really slow pace.

It can also just be mentaly maybe you want to see results but you dont see it because if you do it frequently or daily you wont see much progress. just think back about how far you came 2 or 3 weeks ago. did you improve in these weeks? if not it might be handy to switch up your routine or maybe push yourself to go a little further just dont reach the point where it becomes uncomfortable.

As an example of what i said, imagine you get a pup you see the pup daily so you dont notice at what pace the pup is growing. a month later you barely see any change or growth in the pup because you have seen him/her daily. but when someone comes over that person will say: wow the pup has really grown hasn't he/she. So the growth is there but you dont notice it yourself.

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T.A.O.L. said:

Hey,

When you first start out, your body is kind of stiff. So any poses that you do right then will hurt. Keep that in mind. Imagine it like a dry elastic that breaks up when you pull it out. Now we have to turn that elastic back to its flexible state, where it had more liquid (or whatever it is) inside itself, like it were new.

Recently I've joined a few yoga lessons where they work with bands and blocks, not every lesson though. And usually the poses are done like this.. you move into them for one breath and come out, and do it again, for about 3-5 times, and then the last time you hold for longer (or until you can't hold it anymore). I noticed that the first movement loosens up the muscles a bit and increases the bloodflow, so that when you are holding it, you can move deeper into them.
Though.. sometimes you can get a bit of muscle sore afterwards like you were overusing them working the muscles out or something.

In example.. when I first started doing forward bends.. I couldn't touch the floor at all. I felt the stretch up into my lower back. I touched the floor with my fingertips (hands hanging down). After 3 months of continuous trying and stretching I could almost place my hands completely flat on the floor.
I still have some trouble with that. Its as if I need to stretch out my torso more to press them down flat completely.

You know the diamond pose from the Hatha Yoga pdf, where you place your feet together?
That one works for me a lot on the inside of the upper legs, you move forward. I still have trouble with poses like that, poses like the saddle split or something.. (But for some reason I have no trouble bending towards one leg only)
But.. recently I've been doing an adaptation to the diamond pose, starting out in the crossed legged sitting pose, and then moving my legs further apart without placing my soles together. Which makes it easier for me to move forward in a bend over them to work on rotating the hips while keeping the stretch on the legs. Currently I can place my heels in front of each other when doing so.
I know the diamond pose is meant for getting the knees to the floor though..

What my point with the above paragraph is.. sometimes you need to make an adaptation or do something different to reach what you want to reach.

Another example.. poses like downward facing dog.. If I were to get into that movement without some kind of loosening or gentle stretching of the muscles at first.. It hurts on the back of my knees. As if you suddenly yank at something too hard, but if my body has already warmed up, I don't feel that at all.
What I am also saying with this is, is that its not that I don't feel any muscles at all, I do feel those parts that are at their limit of the movement. But there is a difference between it hurting that it makes you say ouch I don't want to do this or that you feel 'ok this is the limit'.
If you stop every time that you start to feel something and keep hanging underneath it, you're not going to make much improvement, as you keep yourself from the range that you can probably take.

Just one thing though.. I was reading a book and it said that if you feel stretch or pain in your joints or near them, that you may be overdoing the pose. The stretch should be felt in the bulk of the muscle, not so much in the tendons on the ends.

Also for those who may be overflexible that may be reading this.. They may be at danger for overdoing something and getting injured because of it.. they should be focussing on building more strength, so that injuries can be prevented, as the strength from the muscle can be what keeps joints into place (in case it effects the joints a lot).
That is not just a thing for yogi's to keep in mind.. professional classic ballet dancers.. if they are too flexible without strength, if they were to stand en pointe and the shoe is too thin too unsupporting they'd just crash through their feet. The amount of stiffness in the sole is thus the indication of how much strength is in the feet, ankles and calves. The thinner the sole (the less stiff the sole), the more strength is needed to stand en pointe. Just saying.

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