While working with customers I have become aware of the greater need to explain muscle balancing. First of all, not enough of us are aware of the great benefits of stretching, and may only think of it during injury or post workout. While both of those times are great, the exercise of stretching can be applied anytime and anywhere. Also, I’d like to go over it in regard to balancing the muscles. I have only just begun the journey of applying balancing concepts as well, so join me on an introductory level, perhaps together we will create higher awareness.

I’d like to think of stretching as a pleasurable activity designed to bring our minds in contact with our physical space, to help us prepare our bodies for movement, to help us create an assessment of our well-being and to bring ourselves into the moment. The perfect place and time for this is in our beds. We’re warm, relaxed, and consciously aware of ourselves. The application of stretching doesn’t need to be specific, but it does need to address the whole body. Two ways to accomplish this are to pay attention to each area of the body. By that I mean, everywhere we bend, create a segment of body and place it everywhere it can reach in a stretch. An example would be to lie on our back and put a foot in the air, wiggle our toes apart or scrunch them together and roll the foot around and around the ankle, feeling all the muscles across the bones stretch, then pay attention to the ankle and the lower leg and repeat, then press the foot away toward the ceiling and back toward your head. The second way is to place our parts together as a whole section working together, such as the leg extending into the air, feeling its attachment to the hips, making circles in each direction from the hip, or reaching it from left to across the body to the right. This accomplishes everything above: stretching, relaxation, awareness, and conscious connection to our bodies in this moment. When applied twice a day-getting in and out of bed-, the body develops muscle tone.

Another awareness I want brought forward is that stretching is a pleasurable activity. Exercise in general has become a “chore” to be completed when we have time, when we have no other choice, when our heads are in need of a break, when we are injured, when we are told we must or because we know better. But when put that way, we have forgotten the pleasure of our bodies, our vehicle, our life. Each time you set down to stretch, think of our animal friends, think of their grace and leisure, their full enjoyment of this element of life as they reach and roll and stay present in their moment. Remind yourselves that you too can live this way.

The second thing I want to say about stretching is that it isn’t the only answer to pain and tightness in the body. Sure, try it, but if it doesn’t resolve the pain pattern, consider adding to it. By that I mean, muscle balancing. The way the body is designed, it has a push-pull, contract-release, front-back, top-bottom, side-side, left-right, right-left counterbalancing system already in place. What that means is that for every movement there is a counter movement (or movements) to create balance and to maintain uprightness in the face of gravity and muscle tension. We don’t need to know every specific muscle name and function to do this, but we do need the body awareness that the twice daily stretching activity brings us. We can apply the above direction to the painful area and listen to what brings relief. Then, the question becomes, what do you strengthen, and what do you stretch. Based on your assessment of the pain reduction and your range of motion, you already have the answers. Then, apply your awareness and create the change. As an example that most of us suffer from, we’ll use the thumb. Because our daily activities maximize the use of the thumb, palm down, most of us aren’t aware that the natural stance is palm up with the thumbs away. Try to place your hand in this position, and if it takes work, then with the above motions applied, you’ll be able to find that the muscles are toned to place the thumb down but not to roll it open. That would mean that the muscles on the inside of the arm, the soft part are overly strong and tight, needing stretch, and the muscles on the outside of the arm are overly weak and lacking tone. To just stretch the arm wouldn’t alter this imbalance. It would take actively rolling the palm up as well. In your next massage, try to attend to this sensation as the therapist manually works to balance these muscles. Bring your conscious awareness to each area of your body and ask it (in your head) what it has to say. My promise to you is that your body will answer, and gladly. Because, as I said earlier, let us enjoy the pleasure that we are designed for.